Well… what a wonderful trip we’ve had! One last breakfast at Burford… packed the car and got ready for the trip to Heathrow.
Once last pic from Burford!
An uneventful trip back to Heathrow to the AVIS depot. They apparently weren’t all that interested in the one scratch from the head lights to the tail lights on the passenger side due to an encounter with a large tractor and a hedgerow in Dartmoor! Whew!
Here’s Elaine in front of Terminal 3… what a change from December when there was snow on the ground and large tents everywhere!
We’re in the 1st Class Lounge at Heathrow and about to walk down to the gate for our 3PM take-off.
I hope you’d enjoyed this blog as much as I have in writing it! Home tonight late!
Today started off with promises of clear blue skies… but we learned that weather forecasters, no matter what country, no matter what continent, are lying liars!
Yes, I suppose we shouldn’t complain, but we were hoping for beautiful sun for our visit to Hidcote. It didn’t rain but the sun was only spotty.
After brekkie, we headed north, through Stow-on-the-Wold, to Broadway.
We had visited here back in 1992, so it’d been awhile… had a nice walk about the High Street and picked up a few souvenirs for the little ones.
Amazingly, in the midst of Broadway, the High Street is split on the one side by meadows and I just happened to catch this beautiful horse in the sun!
Elaine found the Thomas Kinkade shop on the High Street.
It was wonderful to see a real green grocer on the High Street.
At the end of our grand tour of Broadway… this pic is of the Broadway Hotel… we made our way through Chipping Cambden towards Hidcote Manor Gardens.
What a wonderful, picturesque place Chipping Cambden is! Unfortunately, parking was at a premium, so we had to promise to come back on our next trip.
Hidcote is one of those places we had been planning to visit for years, but today was the day!
The grounds are incredibly spacious and there are many, many different areas to explore.
This tree was very old when Lawrence Johnston started building and designing the gardens back in the 20’s.
I think someone’s taken a fancy to me!
I was unaware of the existence of the competition, but I’m very grateful that the Hidcote Loo’s did so well!
Idyllic vistas abound!
Elaine’s making friendly with one of the Hidcote wolves!
Doug’s warning the pheasants not to go flying into the front grill of our nice Peugeot, like one did on our trip with Gramms in 2000.
As we concluded our marvellous visit to Hidcote, we agreed that you could really visit once a month from May – September to see the different gardens come alive!
On our way back to Burford, we decided to visit some of our old haunts, so we took the little roads to Upper Rissingtion, Little Rissington, Great Rissington, Taynton, Great Barrington and Little Barrington.
In 2000, we had stayed at a B&B in Great Rissingtion with Gramms and had supper at the Lamb Inn a couple of times.
Here, a poor thirsty travellers is making the universal gesture for “Need Cider”.
“Got Cider”
… and a half of Bitter.
We both agree, the skies over England are like no others!
This is part of the Sherborne estate grounds.
Back in Burford, we took one last walk about the town. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth I stood on this bridge to address her chancellor of the Exchequer, who resided in Burford at the time.
Elaine is giving her royal wave!
This row of almshouses was built by Richard, Earl of Warwick, for the poor of Burford, in 1457.
As the sun began to drop lower in the sky, we said goodbye to Burford.
Time for one last cream tea at Burford House!
We walked down Sheep Street to the Lamb Inn (don’t you just love it!) for dinner in the pub… was great!
Then back to pack and savour the memories of the day.
We had a great breakfast at Burford House and planned what we could do, given the weather forecast. Our plan is to walk through some Cotswold villages until the rains drive us home.
After breakfast, we went for a walk around Burford, as the forecasted rains hadn’t hit yet.
We headed down Witney Street beside Burford House to see some of the beautiful homes. Apparently the ancient Burfordians must have been dwarves given the size of some doorways!
Part way down the street, we came upon the Burford Firehall.
Group Commander Kevin just happened to be outside and when we mentioned that Matt was a firefighter back in London, ON, he took us for a tour of the firehall and chatted with us for some time.
The Great House on Witney street was built in 1690 and easily dwarves any other building in town.
The Royal Oak Inn is just down the lane from Burford House.
Our car was parked for some of the time in the town car park which has the mill stream pond beside it… a favourite spot for ducks and other water fowl.
When we left Burford, we were heading for some of the off-the-beaten track villages… Swinbrook, Asthall and Worsham towards Minster Lovell.
The footpath leads down to a lost village near Witford. On our way, I literally stopped the car on the little single lane road we were on, backed up and took this picture of cows in the meadow.
After a pleasant drive through Cotwolds white roads, we found the Lamb Inn for a great lunch in Shipton-under-Wychwood.
After lunch, we took a nice long walk around Shipton-under-Wychwood. Just down the road were the gates to Shipton Manor.
Across the road was the entrance to the Shipton Gardens which have many woodland walks.
Once again, there were so many beautiful Cotswolds homes along the streets, we could only include a couple for this blog.
The Shaven Crown Inn.
The village green.
After leaving Shipton-under-Wychwood, we drove over some more white roads to the village of Bledington.
There was a great village green with a stream running through it. Ducks and Bantams were found in the stream or walking over the roads.
So many of the buildings were build with the golden stone of the Cotwolds it was beautiful.
St. Leonard’s parish church in Bledington.
Oldest parts of the church date back to 1170.
There were many such carvings around the outside of the church.
The Kings’s Head Inn, Bledington.
We had a drink in the bar at the King’s Head… looks like a good place for dinner.
The rain finally hit the area while we were inside, but Burford was only 5 miles away, so the drive back wasn’t bad.
We had dinner at the Royal Oak in Burford, where we had dinner with Bruce and Natacha last December. It’s changed hands since then and while the food was ok it wasn’t as good as then.
Tomorrow is promising to be sunny and warm for our last full day in England. John and Debbie were schedule to arrive today, so hopefully they’re safely ensconced in their B&B in Bath by now.
One final note, I hope these pictures have given you a little glimpse of what the Cotwolds are like, but the reality is that the pictures don’t come close to the actual beauty you experience as you stroll through the villages. Sorry but you’ll all have to come for yourselves.
Time to leave Dorset… what a beautiful county! We really enjoyed being back here again.
We said goodbye to our host and hostess, Annie and Colin, who made us feel very welcome and appreciated.
Around 1PM, we stopped at the White Hart in Burbage for lunch… the food wasn’t spectacular but it fit the bill.
A few miles away from Burford, we drove through the village of Lechlade on the Thames. When we spotted the little bridge with river boats along the riverside I quickly turned into a parking lot and took some snaps.
We arrived in Burford around 3PM and checked into Burford House. It was nice to finally see the village without snow!
But when we arrive it was just full of cars and tourists! Gack! Hopefully they’ll all be gone by suppertime.
Back in December, we walked up to the church gates of St. John the Baptist parish church in Burford. The snow was too deep for us to walk across the cemetery to the front porch.
This time it wasn’t a problem! 🙂
This is a shot looking up the Nave to the Chancel… beautiful church!
Of the many large remembrances in the church, this was certainly the largest. The tomb of the Tanfields, who were the lords of the manor back in the days and apparently quite hated by the townsfolks.
It’s been overcast all day so I just took a few pix of the streets of Burford… hoping for sun later.
We had a nice dinner at the Mermaid Inn on the high street in Burford, took a stroll up the hill and back down to Burford House. We’re now sitting in one of the guest lounges resting before going up to our room for the night.
Tomorrow’s weather isn’t looking too promising, so we’re not quite sure what we’ll end up doing. Wednesday, our last full day, is supposed to be sunny and nice! Fingers crossed!
We had a light brekkie at Munden House, as we were going for a large lunch in Cerne Abbas.
The weather was not very accommodating as it poured most of the morning! We took the time to actually relax, do some reading and basically nothing…it was nice!
When the sun did threaten to come out I ran into the garden and took a few pictures of the back of the B&B.
When we arrived in Cerne Abbas, we were a bit early for lunch so we walked up Abbey Street to the Abbey.
Many of the buildings are obviously from Tudor times.
The door to the Pitchmarket.
The Abbey is at the top of Abbey Street.
About 1000 years ago, the Benedictine monks built the original abbey here in Cerne Abbas. Much of it was lost during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.
This large building has portions dating back to then but is now a private home.
This building was the Abbot’s Guest house and was reserved for special visitors only!
This was the Abbot’s residence.
St. Mary’s Church is the local parish church in Cerne Abbas.
Here’s an example of the unique and somewhat humorous carvings on the church!
We had booked ahead for Sunday lunch at the Royal Oak in Cerne Abbas, as we had with Mom all those years ago.
Elaine had Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pud, while I had Roast Loin of Pork with Yorkshire Pud… was fabulous!
Brendan the publican took our picture while we’re about to feast on our Sticky Date Pudding dessert with hot toffee sauce. Yumm and more Yumm!
After our amazing Sunday lunch, we needed to take a walk, so we poked about many of the streets and lanes of Cerne Abbas.
On our way from Cerne Abbas to Sherborne, we took a small diversion to see the small town of Sydling St. Nicholas, which turned to be a hamlet and not very interesting.
The road had an actual ‘ford’ in it!
Sherborne was a very important market town during Medieval times. We parked at the south entrance to the town and walked up Cheap Street, which is the main shopping area and has many very old buildings.
Just by chance, we glanced down a side street running off from Cheap Street and saw a corner of what looked like some kind of church.
Little did we know that it was the Sherborne Abbey and Cathedral.
While the outside was impressive, we were totally unprepared for what we’d see inside!
My jaw literally dropped once we entered through the doors and took a look down the length of the cathedral and then let my eyes lift to the ceiling! These pictures can’t possibly describe the experience.
One of the school ‘boys’ from next door was in the cathedral practicing on the magnificent organ shown here! The music was ethereal!
This is above the high altar in the nave of the Abbey.
We had a real change of pace going to Tamborino Gold, an Italian restaurant in Sherbourne and enjoyed some bruschetta and tiramisu!
As we drove back to Munden House, the sun was peeking out under the clouds and an fantastic full rainbow appeared. We actually just stopped and snapped this picture!
Our Dorset stay is now at an end… on to Burford and the Cotswolds!
Today started out a bit cloudy, but soon cleared up and turned sunny with a bit of cloud. We had a great breakfast at Munden House and then drove through the Piddle Valley down towards Corfe Castle. Lots of memories as we drove through Piddletrentheide and Piddlehinton where we stayed with Mom in 2000.
Amazing views of Corfe Castle were everywhere we looked!
We stopped for Macaroni & Cheese at the National Trust Tea Room and sat where we had 11 years ago with Mom.
What memories!
When we left Corfe Castle, we travelled through the Purbeck Hills and the Royal Army’s tank target range.
The views from the Whiteways Viewpoint were incredible.
You don’t normally see a sign like this beside the roads of Canada!
As we arrived in Lulworth Cove, the rains started so we sat in the car for a bit, then walked down to the beachside to have a look. Then as we were about to start the long, high coastal path walk to Durdle Door, it really started to rain.
So we drove over rather than walking and sat in the car having some Cornish Rattler and Black Bomber cheese until the sun came out.
The sun was shining and the wind was whistling as we started our long walk down the hill to Durdle Door.
The views on either side of Durgle Door were absolutely spectacular!
Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch near Lulworth Cove… it’s one of the most photographed places in all of England!
Elaine was just amazed by the beautiful limestone (chalk) cliffs.
We asked a fellow to take a picture of us with Durdle Door as a backdrop…
… and us with the lower hill and path down to the beach.
On the long and winding road (or path) back up to the top… puff, puff!
We drove back to Munden House to freshen up… as we drove past Cerne Abbas, we stopped for a quick view of the “Giant”.
Apparently, he was a ‘giant’ in many ways! 🙂
BTW, those bugs on the hill are cows!
We then returned to Cerne Abbas to have dinner at The Royal Oak, where we took Mom to dinner twice!
That’s it for today… another wonderful day. Hoping for one more nice Dorset day before heading to the last leg of our journey.
After another great brekkie, we finished packing up and said our goodbye’s to the staff and to Gill our hostess at Ennys.
Then we traveled quite a way on the most schizophrenic highway in England, the A30… you’re driving along a ‘dual-carriageway’ highway (like the 401) when suddenly, it shrinks down to a two-lane highway… and then even more suddenly, you’re driving around a corner where the road isn’t wide enough for two full lanes so the centre white line disappears! And the traffic jams are horrendous… we lost at least an hour driving time on our way to Dorset.
We stopped for lunch at The Rising Sun pub just outside Altarnun… had great Tuna melts with Gruyere cheese! Yumm!
There was quite a unique Pack Horse Bridge beside the church in Altarnun.
We finally arrived at Munden House, just outside Sherbourne, Dorset, around 4:30PM… about an hour after we’d hoped.
Here’s a shot of the outside of the main house.
We are staying in the Garden Suite, which has it’s own entrance…
… and its own patio out back.
The gardens are pretty, but would be even nicer earlier in the spring and summer.
The B&B’s own border collie, Cassie, would play fetch with a tennis ball until your arm fell off!
After have a cup of tea and a bit of Cornish Rattler, we went for a walk of the tiny hamlet of Alweston or Allweston as we’ve seen both spellings.
Many lovely thatched cottages, a large working farm and a new section that look like homes in an English bedroom community for Yeovil, Sherbourne or Dorchester.
We booked to have dinner with the hosts at Munden House for 7:30, so I’ll finish up early tonight. On to Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door tomorrow, weather permitting!
Our last full day in Cornwall dawned sunny and warm!
After another great brekkie, we drove around Penzance toward Treen, where we were planning on a coastal walk.
When one is in one’s wellies… one is ready for anything, including another day of walks in Cornwall!
We visited a neolithic stone circle of 19 granite monoliths locally known as the “Merry Maidens”. Apparently said maidens were making merry on a Sunday and the rest is history.
Onwards to Treen and our next walk.
Being prepared for the exertions of a long walk includes the most basic of planning!
The views of Logan’s Rock and Treen Bay from the coastal path were spectacular!
Onward and upward through the heather!
Beside the coastal path is this large pyramid with a plaque affixed saying that “On this spot stood the wodden hut housing the end of the submarine cable… linking England with the Ameridan Continent”.
Pretty cool!
Porthcurno Bay
There were several WWII era pillboxes dotting the landscape along the coast.
Doug and Logan’s Rock.
Porthcurno Bay, which has a great, sandy beach, is also famous for the Minack Theatre.
The Minack Theatre uses an outdoor ampitheatre built into the rocks of the hillside.
Wild blackberry bushes lined both sides of much of this segment of the coastal walk… yumm!
When we completed our walk, we stopped at the Logan’s Rock Inn for a fabulous veggie lasagna for lunch… with cider of course!
After leaving Treen and Porthcurno, we drove past Lands End and over to Sennen Cove, which has a wonderful sandy beach.
Here’s me with my feet in the Atlantic Ocean! Wait a minute, I can’t feel my feet any more… let me out of here!
Babe’s enjoying the sandy beach and sun… in England!
Sennen Cove is a major surfing destination in Cornwall.
Up, up, up the many, many stairs to the Mayon lighthouse and viewpoint!
Woodland walks… bah!
On top of the Mayon viewpoint… another “we did it!” moment.
Looking west from Mayon Point, we see Lands End… the most westerly point of mainland England.
We had avoided actually going to Lands End due to the crowds of tourists and the rampant, tacky commercialism of the place.
The view of Sennen Cove from the Mayon Point lighthouse.
Apparently not everyone in Sennen Cove is happy about tourists!
Back on the road again.
It’s afternoon tea time and we’re in St. Just. Someone has an idea of where we can do that, as you’ll see shortly.
Visiting the church in St. Just… not to be confused with St. Just-in-Roseland church from the other day!
The light was just hitting the stained glass perfectly.
As you can see, the interior of the church was incredible!
Making a beeline to The Cook Book cafe and book shop… just made it before they closed at 4PM.
Cornish cream tea! Yumm!
We drove through some very interesting and tiny roads to get to Zennor. The moorland was spectactular.
The St. Senera Church in Zennor had a circular churchyard and a church pew that has a carving of a mermaid on it in remembrance of an old story about a favourite son of the parish who fell in love with a mermaid and was never seen again.
Our last walk in Cornwall was from Zennor down to the coastal walk.
With my trusty backpack… we’re on our way!
The views inland are also spectacular!
Looking west along the coast… breathtaking!
We made it back to Zennor in time to have a great dinner at the Tinner’s Arms pub.
As we travelled back across the peninsula one last time, we crested a hill and there was St. Michael’s Mount in Mount Bay again! Wow! As you can see, the tide’s in, as the causeway is submerged.
We were back to Ennys in time to phone Gramms, Val & Rog before they went out to lunch!
What a wonderful time we had in Cornwall… we’re very sad to leave, but we have so many great memories to cherish.
Today, as per usual, it rained during our breakfast time… but then cleared up and was sunny all day long!
We drove through some tiny back lanes to get to St. Erth Station, as we were catching the train to St. Ives on the coast. As there are so many tourists there and the streets are NOT really meant to handle the traffic they get, taking the train was a brilliant way of getting there. 12 minutes of scenic bliss on the train versus 1/2 hour of hell in traffic!
All aboard!!!
One of the beaches near St. Ives.
We’re in St. Ives and ready to go!
Disembarking from the train dropped us into what looks like a tropical seaside town in the Mediterranean.
While in St. Ives, we visited the studio of the world famous artist, Barbara Hepworth, who spent the latter part of her life and work at St. Ives.
The tourist crowded seawall walk in downtown St. Ives.
The St. Ives harbour at low tide.
The sea wall.
One of the churches by the harbour.
You can find all sorts in St. Ives during special events!
I’m enjoying a Cornish pastie with another bottle of Cornish Rattler!
Elaine is standing with one of Barbara Hepworth’s statues, overlooking the beach.
Here comes our train to take us back to St. Erth Station… right on time!
We’re now going to drive about 5 miles over to Godolphin House.
Leaving the car park for Godolphin House, somebody is all ‘wellied’ up!
Godolphin House is the 15th century mansion of the Godolphin family who had made their money in the tin mining industry in Cornwall.
It is believed to have the oldest formal gardens in England, although they are just now being rebuilt by the National Trust.
The inner courtyard of the house.
One of the many aisles between the formal gardens.
While the grounds are still in the beginning stages of reclaimation, these wild flower beds were magnificent.
Elaine finally found the hidden entrance into the King’s Garden.
One of many bee hives in the King’s Garden.
This wing of the house overlooks the King’s Garden.
The beautiful path leading to the path (known as the Slips) from the manor home up to the top of Godolphin Hill.
Musing about the advantages of woodland walks over hill walks.
Taking a much needed break on a National Trust stone on the way up!
The 360 degrees view from the top of Godolphin Hill were spectacular!
We could see from St. Michael’s Mount (which we visited yesterday) on the South Coast and facing the English Channel…
… to St. Ives (which we visited today) on the North coast and facing the Atlantic Ocean.
A fellow walker took our picture at the summit of Godolphin Hill… we did it, we did it!
I’m the King of the Castle and you’re the dirty rascal!
We could have taken another path to the neighbouring hill… but we didn’t! 🙂
We took frequent breaks on the way back down the hill just to admire the view!
At the end of our day, we went down another very, very small lane to Prussia Cove where there is a start to a nice walk along the coast.
We had a great dinner at the Falmouth Packet Inn and collapsed back at our B&B.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Cornwall, so we’re hoping the great weather continues! Cheers!
I have to apologize for the length of today’s blog, but it was hard to pick only a few pictures from the 100+ taken today.
As usual, the weather made us wonder what luck would bring us today! There were several showers while we had brekkie, but soon after, the sun came out and the wind really started blowing. It looked promising enough for us to head to St. Michael’s Mount.
This iconic rocky island is crowned by a medieval church and castle-the oldest buildings dating from the 12th century. After years of dreaming and planning, we’re finally actually going to go visit it!
At low tide, you can walk across a stone causeway; at high tide, small boats ferry people to and from the mount.
We were lucky, as we were able to cross over at low tide.
We lost track of the number of steps! Then it turned into cobblestones the rest of the way up to the top. Thank goodness for a few spots to rest and take pictures.
Us beside the “Giant’s Well”… ancient tales had a giant living on the mount; he’d come over to steal sheep; until the town’s people found a way to kill the giant, who’s head can be seen on the way up the hill.
After walking around the battlements with all the cannons protecting the harbour, we walked the grand staircase into the castle.
Couldn’t take too many pictures in the castle due to ‘no flash’ policies, but did manage to get one of the family coat of arms in the great room.
A trio of gargoyles!
The wonderful terraced gardens below… unfortunately, we couldn’t visit them due to problems with some of the rock walls above them were under repair.
More of the gardens, but from a view point looking straight down…very steep!
This the church… an original part of castle from the monastery days.
A view of the harbour from the top of the battlements with the town of Marazion in the distance, back across the causeway.
One of the very striking stained glass windows in the church.
As the sun streamed through the windows, the colours danced on the ancient stone floors.
Resting for a few minutes at the top, before making our way back down the stony path to the harbour.
Pausing along the way down! Fate and tide times were in our favour… we walked back across the causeway and didn’t get our feet wet 🙂
We walked about Marazion a bit, took some shots and had lunch in the Godolphin Inn overlooking the beach… very nice!
The Marazion beach is a favourite for wind surfers and kite surfers!
After our lunch, we said goodby to Marazion and St. Michael’s Mount and headed down the area of Cornwall called the Lizard. On our way down the peninsula, we discussed options of where to go and Elaine said that her feeling was that we should head to Kynance Cove. Sporting her new ‘wellies’, we’re ready to walk down, down, down from the car park to the cove.
Apparently, we weren’t the only ones interested in exploring the cove!
All along the pathway down the valley, beautiful patches of flowering heather were everywhere!
I really had no idea what to expect, but was blown away as we started down the many, many steps to see the utterly beautiful cove open up before my eyes!
Kynance Cove is one of the most awe inspiring coastal scenes we’ve ever come across.
As the tide started to roll in the breakers, already high due to the strong winds, just pounded against the rocky cove.
Having a Coffee Lodge latte back in Sarnia will never compare to having lattes and a Cornish tea cake at a picnic table overlooking Kynance Cove! We sat and sipped and stared at the incoming tide and roaring surf for a long time! 🙂
So sad to say goodbye, but once our lattes were done we headed back up the road to the headlands. By that time the tide had come in far enough that we couldn’t return the same way as we had come down.
After walking back to the top of the headlands, we walked along the paths taking multiple shots of the rugged coast line.
After leaving Kynance Cove, we took a spin through Lizard (used the WC) and then drove back to The Halzephron Inn at Gunwalloe for dinner… just gotta love the Cornish place names!
As we were enjoying our great pub dinner, the sun set over the sea. What a great way to end a perfect day!
Looking to enjoy another great day along the Cornwall coasts tomorrow!
