I definitely recommend taking the Eurostar train from London to Paris. The transport links are so easy (city center to city center). There’s great leg room (I bought my tickets the first day they were available, so I was able to snag one of the table seats for the three of us. Oh, and the […]
Day 12: London to Paris Read More »
Since we had our car until the end of the day Saturday, and had to clear out of the cottage by 10:00 AM, we figured we’d be silly not to stop off somewhere on the way back to London. Using my trusty National Trust handbook, I located Stourhead House and Garden, in Wiltshire (so not
Wiltshire, Day 11: Stourhead Read More »
I feel as though I should address the driving situation, even though I barely got any pictures, because I was usually too busy navigating. I should first say that there are a lot of roundabouts in England. So a lot of navigating involves spotting the warning signs so you can tell the driver
Heligan isn’t just the kitchen gardens – it was an estate, so has plenty of ornamental gardens, and wild space. There’s a section called the Jungle that’s stuck inside a steep walled valley, so it’s got a warmer microclimate than the gardens near the house. During Victorian times, it was planted with tree ferns and
Cornwall, Day 10: The Lost Gardens of Heligan – The Other Gardens Read More »
The Lost Gardens of Heligan were another one of my must sees in Cornwall, after I’d run into a couple television shows about the gardens. The very basic back story: the garden staff all volunteered to go off and fight in WWI, and unfortunately, as in many other places, they didn’t come back. Fast forward
Cornwall, Day 10: The Lost Gardens of Heligan – The Productive Gardens Read More »
Cotehele was the home of the Earls of Mount Edgecumbe back to Tudor times, but they eventually built a much nicer home, and Cotehele became a dumping ground of old furniture and knick knacks. That’s the beauty of Cotehele. All of the rooms still have walls covered in tapestries (which means they keep the inside
Cornwall, Day 9: Cotehele Read More »
Our other stop in Devon was the market town of Totnes. My mother was interested in visiting because it’s a Transition Town. It’s a really neat old town. The main street (see the gate across it in the first picture) is a crazy one lane street up a steep hill. Lorries were driving on it.
Devon, Day 8: Totnes Read More »
For our next day out, we headed into Devon. Our first stop was Buckland Abbey, which was originally a Cisterician abbey, founded in the 13th century, until the Dissolution. In the 16th century, it was converted into a home, which came into the possession of Sir Frances Drake. The house has a lot of interesting
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The next day was actually forecasted for rain (as opposed to the days where it was supposed to be sunny and still rained), so we figured it was a good day to head to one of the stately homes. We ended up at Lanhydrock (along with pretty much everyone else in the area, but I
Cornwall, Day 7: Lanhydrock Read More »
With the weather improving, our first trip out in Cornwall was to Tintagel Castle, the legendary birthplace of King Arthur. The castle is on what is now an island, but was once linked to the mainland. Notice the insane amounts of stairs involved with visiting the site. There were also wind warnings the day we
Cornwall, Day 6: Tintagel Read More »
