The Last One of Cornwall 2016 - Lanhydrock

Before we set off on our trip to Cornwall I asked my sweet cousin, Sylvia, if there was anywhere she would recommend we visit during our stay in her cosy little cottage. Lanhydrock was one of her suggestions and so visit Lanhydrock we did.  After visiting it I would heartily recommend it too.

I would say Lanhydrock is one of the best properties under the National Trust's umbrella that I have had the pleasure to visit.

A very impressive gateway..

...leads through to the very impressive main house beyond.

Jerry and Billy reading the house's family's war service history.

We all loved the gardens.  My eye was taken by this huge and healthy yucca plant.  I didn't know that was what it was but Maureen did and she told me.  So if it's not a yucca I'm blaming her.  I'm sure she was right though.

53 rooms are open to the public.  This is the nursery which along with the kitchens are the rooms I enjoyed the most.

A cute little toy on one of the shelves.  Adorable.

Looking out of one of the windows the church was a lovely sight.

Virginia Creeper, just turning colour.  I love this stuff.

After all the tromping round the house and gardens it was time to put the nosebags on. Lunch was had in the converted stables.  See Jerry, smiling sweetly, up there?

Autumn was beginning to show her colours.

On the  way out now.

And back through that imposing entrance way.  We had spent a good long afternoon looking round this grand property and were so glad that Sylvia had recommended it for us. Definitely a special place, full of history and tales of a bygone age.

So, that ends my posts from Cornwall.  To say we had had a good time is an understatement. We had packed a lot into a short time and made some happy memories but there was more to come.  After a weekend at home we had another trip planned and waiting to unfold for us. This time a trip north to Silverdale in Cumbria. 

Until next time,

Cornwall 2016 - Fowey

Fowey is a very special place.  I've only visited it a couple of times but I have loved both those visits. The name Fowey, is pronounced to rhyme with joy, and appropriately that's what William, Maureen, Jerry and I had the afternoon we spent in Fowey - a joy filled time.

For me Fowey is all about the waterfront.  There's so much to look at.  The boats bobbing about, the wooded hillside and the homes peppering the far side.  What a view those home owners have every day!

Picturesque to say the least.

This is the town side, where we spent the afternoon wandering around, in and out of the shops and up and down the little tight streets.  After which thirst drove us to one of those waterfront pubs...

... where we quenched our thirst ...

... enjoyed the tranquil view and rested for a while as twilight fell.

Time was marching on by now and we needed to attack the steep hills back to the car park.

It was uphill all the way.

This picture makes me smile.  Jerry and Billy are manfully soldiering on while Maureen, down there at the bottom, hand on  hip, takes a breather. :-)  It was definitely a good old slog back up those hills!

But once at the top there were more fantastic views to reward our efforts.

Twilight and autumn colours made memories of this day so special.  Oh, and the fact that we got well and truly lost between Polperro and Fowey.  That is far too long a story to go into but the four of us remember it well I'm sure!

Maureen takes a last lingering look over...

..this incredibly beautiful Cornish scenery and the setting sun.

The sky was ablaze with colour as we arrived at the car park.  A fitting close to a long and happy day spent in Polperro and Fowey.

Before the day was truly over, back at the cottage there was time for Rummikub, nibbles and a tipple or two before we climbed the wooden hill to bed.

Cornwall 2016 - Polperro

Continuing with posts from our Cornish holiday here are a few pictures from pretty Polperro.

More of those amazingly narrow streets.

William and I watched one of those Escape to the Country programmes a night or two ago and Polperro featured on it.  We love those programmes but it seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to live in Cornwall or Devon.  Now the southwest of England is indeed beautiful but the UK is full of beautiful places so I really wish the programme makers would feature more of the rest of the UK more often. I live in hope.

Polperro's harbour is so picturesque with loads of brilliant-white painted houses clinging to the hillsides.

This little corner of Polperro looks kind of continental to me.  I think the old chap walking up the lane leaning on his cane and wearing a beret type hat looks French or Italian?

Another view of the harbour from the other side of the harbour walls.

Maureen and I climbed up some steps away from the harbour and were rewarded with maginificent views of the coastline. How are these for rock pools?

It's hard  not to take pictures in places like this.  Every which way you look is a scene begging for a snap or two.

Like this little trio of hungry, thirsty tourists - I couldn't help but snap a picture of them.  As I remember it though we didn't actually dine here.  Nobody found anything of interest on the menu.  I wasn't  bothered about the menu I just wanted the table with a view.  A view of the harbour which was right in front of us. However I was a minority of one.  The majority vote was to find somewhere else to eat and that's exactly what we did, further up the village.  It wasn't a problem, these little villages are full of places to eat.

The day didn't end in Polperro.  From here we made our way to Fowey, in a very roundabout way that is. We got lost and saw most of the rest of Cornwall before we drove into Fowey!

Cornwall 2016 - Port Isaac

One of the places high on the list of places to visit for Maureen and Jerry, Jerry probably more than Maureen, was Port Isaac.  Port Isaac being the location for television's Doc Martin series and Doc Martin is one of their favourite programmes.  So, when Port Isaac was only fifteen minutes away from where we were staying there was no reason not to pop over and take a look.  

The car park for Port Isaac is way up on the cliff tops and on the walk down to the village magnificent views of the coast line, like this one, immediately come into view and just demand that you stand and marvel at such natural beauty.

Walking on down to the village it's hard not to stop and marvel too at all the immaculately kept, higgledy piggledy cottages.

Making our way down to the village centre we detoured up, down, around, in and between the side streets.

Seeing peculiar shaped houses like this one.  Attractive, but peculiar all the same.

We were able to look down across the rooftops, all cheek by jowl with their neighbours.  Town planning, regulations and bye-laws obviously weren't an issue when this town came into being.

Finally arriving in the village centre at the Lifeboat Station.  All lifeboatmen and women in the UK are volunteers.  Their main aim is to save lives at sea.  Everything they do, which includes putting their own lives at risk, is done out of the goodness of their hearts and not to pad out bank balances.  The Royal National Lifeboat Institute is a charity run on donations only with no help from the government.  It''s incredible isn't it that such an amazing organisation is self supporting?  Follow the link to read more about them.

From the lifeboat station it's just a short walk uphill to Fern Cottage which may be better known to lovers of Doc Martin  as Dr Ellingham's surgery.   Here Jerry is taking a look in the window.  It was okay, there was nobody at home.  The cottage is a holiday let and there's an information notice in the window for people to read.

Now Billy is playing "nosy parker" while Jerry admires the view across the bay in front of the house.  He's seen that house and view so many times on the television screen in his living room thousands of miles away on the other side of the Atlantic and now here he is standing right in front of it. Unreal, eh?

Tourists being tourists.  After all, that's what holidays are all about.

And this is the view in front of Fern Cottage, usually minus this happy pair of tourists.

You can imagine after all that wandering up hill and down dale through this lovely little Cornish village it was only fitting that we stopped in a cafe, just a couple of houses down from Fern Cottage, for a Cornish Cream Tea and a rest.

After which it was time to wander back up those hills and spy more quaint cottages along the way.

And step out of the way of the odd car bravely driving through the narrowest of roads!

A last look at the harbour as we climb higher up away from the village centre to the cliff top car park. 

Now this house really is something special.  I love its perfect symmetry.   See the plantation shutters in the downstairs windows?  William has an obsession with them at the minute.  He points them out everywhere we go!

One last snap before we reached the car park.  I couldn't resist this one with the seagull proudly sitting there.

The day wasn't over yet though.  We called in at Padstow for fish and chips from Chip Ahoy chippy ...

.. and ate them sitting on a bench overlooking the quiet and peaceful harbour.  October, with its lack of crowds, is definitely a good time to visit this very popular corner of England.

Eating fish and chips makes you thirsty so we popped into The London Inn again for a cold drink and a relaxing hour or so to finish off the day. 

Nighttime had fallen while we were snug in the pub and there was a chill in the air now.  Another photo ..

... or two and it was back to the ranch to batten down the hatches, while the night away with a game of Rummikub, a drink or two and intermittently watch the news which consisted mainly of the American Election palaver.  It wasn't yet certain who was going to be king or queen of the White House but one thing was certain - we four had had a brilliant day!