Trip Report – London, Devon and Somerset

Hi rickmav - Looking forward to the rest. I'm leaving in 2 days for London... curious to see where you visit this time around.

I still remember your description of that awful hotel in London you stayed at last time. Hopefully the London apartment is better.

Your food budget is really low... $920 for 2 people for 3 weeks comes out to $44/day. Did you eat-in a lot?

Hi yk. Hope you have a great trip. Yup, we did eat in a lot. That and the cottages were our way of saving money. Spending almost $8000 in these times was kind of a scary proposition, so we cut corners where we could. But we still had some great meals out! Accommodation was much better this time in London, with some caveats.

Just noticed that you bought lottery tickets on your trip. Did you win back your $8000?

We bought the tickets at two National Trust properties. The top price is £10,000 each - and we were assured Canadians or Americans could win. Wouldn't that be lovely!

That should be 'prize', not price. The tickets were actually only £1 each.

rickmav, you said,
" I suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems"

May I use the above line? I get so tired of explaining my conditions; your's is the perfect phrase. I'm not dying from any of this, but I certainly "suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems."

And I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.

Love your writing style and am looking forward to more. I think you did an admirable job budgeting in staying for three whole weeks at a cost of about $5000 (not including airfare.) Hope the "could be more" automobile expense doesn't happen.

Really, REALLY looking forward to hearing about this latest trip.

Was your long trip really 2 years ago?? I remember nearly every word of that trip's report.

We're WAITing...

::::tapping fingers:::::

adding my name so I'll be sure and see when this tops. I loved Devon and Somerset.

I'm typing as fast as my chubby little fingers can manage.

I'm waiting too... patiently. I should buy some lottery tickets from the National Trust properties as well. Come to think of it, I don't mind having an extra £10,000.

The 'R' Word, Boozers and Suits, Dragging My Leg Across London

I have decided that I am too old, cranky and arthritic to ever again take the tube into London, with luggage, from Heathrow. I know, it's cheaper than any of the other alternatives but there are some things that are no longer an adventure. Having done it more than a dozen times, I think I deserve something more seemly. And it doesn't help that I'm jet-lagged, I've lost all feeling in my right leg because of sciatica, and have booked an apartment that is not on the Piccadilly line. There is nothing less elegant than trying to manoeuvre luggage up an escalator.

By the time we emerge at Tower Hill tube station I am vibrating with irritation and my husband is keeping his distance. Of course, we take the long way round three city blocks before we find our apartment, stand and stare through the security door at the unhelpful porter until I remember that the apartment's owner has given me some kind of security code to punch in, and when I finally collapse on the apartment's bed I realize that the jack-hammering in my head is not a migraine but a construction site just outside our window. Welcome to London.

On our last trip, I booked the horrid Jesmond Dene B&B near King's Cross. On this trip I want something more spacious, with a proper room to watch English television (which my husband and I enjoy), and kitchen facilities to help our budget. The problem is we only plan to be in London for four nights so our apartment options are few (most book by the week).

Our choice is 1 Pepys Lane (www.vrbo.com/186892), a minute's walk (if you do it the right way round) from the Tower Hill tube station. The good news - the apartment is nicely proportioned, has a balcony, a large bathroom and is reasonable (£100 a night).

What the website photos don't show, however, are the negatives. The decor is worn and tired, the recommended pub doesn't serve meals after 5 p.m., there is no way a family could stay here (as it says on the website) and if you can see the river from the apartment (also stated on the website) you have to be one of the X-Men. And the construction next door starts at 7:00 a.m. (Thankfully, it finishes at 5 p.m.).

The location means we have to take the tube everywhere, but I knew that when I booked. What I didn't know was what a depressing place the area was going to be. We arrive the day the British banks collapse – and we are staying in the heart of British bank-land. My heart actually goes out to many of the people we pass on the street. In the days of dinosaurs, I worked in both the mining and oil sectors when the 'R' word hit – a Recession - and I recognize the look in their eyes.

I always think Londoners walk fast but they are manic this week. You hear the clip, clip of their heels, or their mumbled words on a cell phone, or smell their boozy breath (really) and have to get out of the way fast. In the area pubs, whether for lunch or dinner, I never see any of the 'suits' eat a meal. And in the amount of time it takes us to eat, each suit on average, consumes three pints. I don't know how many drinks they have before, or after. I've never seen that before.

In Canada, most corporations can fire an employee if they come back to work with booze on their breath. I know it's different in England, but I can't imagine any of these people actually doing any work after the amount of alcohol they consume. Maybe they're used to it, but as I say, I've never noticed it before.

After we settle in to our apartment, we decide to walk a bit, have some dinner, then go to bed early. That's our usual strategy to get over jetlag and it works for us.

(One note from the plane trip: I'm never able to sleep, I have an overwhelming feeling I have to be awake in case the pilot has a heart attack and I have to take over the controls – and, no, I don't know how to fly a plane. Over the summer I've started watching the 'Lost' television series, I didn't follow it when it first came out, and at some point when most of the people on the plane are sleeping, I look around at the ones left awake and realize that if the plane goes off course somewhere over Iceland, we are the ones who will form the nucleus of a new society. As I meet their eyes, I think to myself, we're in a lot of trouble.)

We loosely follow a walk I took off the internet - www.londontoolkit.com/0.00walks/pool_london_walk_tower_london.htm
We only do part of it (on the north side of the Thames) – it's exhausting lugging my sciatica-numbed leg along with us - although over the next few days, we manage to see most of the things mentioned. Some, of course, we've seen on previous trips.

The Tower of London is just a few minutes walk, it's such a magnificent building. Whether true or not, I always think of the story of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I) sitting stubbornly in the boat, refusing to go inside when she was brought to the Tower by her sister, Mary. An image that defines her in my imagination.

No line-ups to get into the Tower (this is a Monday afternoon), but since we've been before we head towards the riverfront, then turn and climb Fish Street Hill. Eventually we pass The Monument, erected as a memorial to the Great Fire of London. It's somewhat hard to get the whole effect, because three-quarters of it is shrouded in scaffolding, but the October sun reflecting off the gold flames on top makes it shimmer. Apparently, the height of the Monument is 205 feet because that's the same distance to the baker's premises in Pudding Lane where the fire started.

We pass by the Lloyds of London building and the Swiss RE building (known as the 'Gherkin' – I won't say what my husband calls it). It's actually kind of strange to see the Gherkin from ground level since it fills up the window of our living room at the apartment. Both are interesting buildings. I'm not sure I like them, but we certainly see them a lot during the week as they feature in every news story about the economic crisis.

We stop at the Leadenhall Market to buy some wine and a hunk of cheese (from Cheese at Leadenhall) and look for a driving atlas for later in the week. I want to take a picture inside for our granddaughter who loves all things Harry Potter, but there's more scaffolding. The market appears as Diagon Alley in the Potter movies.

We start chatting with a nice man behind the counter in Oddbins and he asks where we are from. When we say Canada, he tells us his mother lives in Calgary and he visits her every year. He asks why we would come to England in October. I say because there are fewer crowds, it's cheaper, and the countryside should look beautiful with the autumn colours. He says how we could come here when we have all that beautiful scenery in Alberta. I'm not sure what to say.

To change the subject I ask him if the current economic situation has affected his business. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I remember that the English aren't as eager to talk about financial things in the same way we North Americans are. He replies, coolly, that no, people still need wine. Chastened, I tell my husband to pick up another bottle.

On the way home, we stop for a pint at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (more marathon drinking going on), then pick up a tuna baguette and caesar salad from E.A.T. – a chain of sandwich shops - to take to the apartment. (I swore I would never eat caesar salad in England, because it seems to me one of those things that the English have introduced just to please North American tourists and was tainted for that reason – I know, I have far too much time on my hands to think about these kinds of things).

The food is actually quite good, or we are just jet-lagged and dopey. Having drunk the wine (we are getting into the 'last days of Rome mood'), we toddle off to bed to await the jackhammers in the morning.

Next: Sutton Loo Two, a One-Sided Conversation with Virginia Woolf and Doom and Gloom at the Crutched Friar

Yay!

Heathrow to Tower Hill is really a trek. I understand why you didn't enjoy your tube ride. Too bad about this apartment, but I guess it's still better than Jesmond Hotel.

You're the second person this week to write about Leadenhall Market in a TR. I need to go visit it sometime... not sure if I have time this trip. Sounds like the scaffolding covered up lots of the Victorian architecture?

Hi yk. Yes, there was scaffolding inside and out. But it still is a remarkable place.

Yay! I really enjoy your writing style, rickmav, even though it seems your trip didn't get off to a fantastic start. PS: I herniated a disc a few years ago that gave me the same leg pain you had. Totally impressed that you carried on with the trip.

Great report (but you're an old pro )

Your observations will help me a lot. I've been in that neighborhood scores and scores of times - but have never actually stayed there. Next Spring I'm taking 8 ladies from my book club to the UK and the first week we'll be in flats in St Katherine's Dock.

I think this is the link to your walk http://www.londontoolkit.com/walks/pool_london_walk_tower_london.htm

rickmav, Love your style! Your thoughts on the plane had me falling out of my chair. Having injured my knee and leg on a trip, I can certainly empathize with your leg issues and I, too, "suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems." Well-said. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Thanks everyone for your comments. And janisj thanks for catching the link not working. I found it a really useful site, so glad it can be shared with others.

I won't say what my husband calls it)

Well, in the early days it was known as, how can I put this politely, the device used by certain ladies of a Saphic disposition

Queen (Princess) Elizabeth got out of the boat but plonked herself on the step of Traitor's Gate and refused to budge.
I'm sure that there's a picture somewhere of her sitting there in the pouring rain.

rickmav:

Your detailed information on costs is so helpful and often under estimated by visitors, especially the need to keep small change available for parking at all times. Free parking is very difficult to find.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights about my home country.

Looking forward to more of your delighful trip report. Thanks so much.

Sandy

Thanks for the time and effort you're putting into this report; looking forward to rest!

Great report rickmav ... love your writing! I can appreciate being too cranky to take the tube ... flying 'across the pond' always leaves us jet lagged even though it's a short trip. Can't wait to hear about your 'one sided conversation with Virginia Woolf' ... we once stayed at a London B&B which was formerly the house where she grew up. Looking forward to the rest of your report ... I'm tapping fingers too!

Next: Sutton Loo Two, a One-Sided Conversation with Virginia Woolf and Doom and Gloom at the Crutched Friar

Sleep fitfully, keep anticipating the jackhammers. When they finally start, we climb out of bed and get ready for the day, even though the temptation is to stay in the comfortable bed. I am moving slowly so Rick dashes downstairs and buys a coffee and muffin at a nearby Starbucks (we rarely go to the bloody place at home, I don't know why we head for it on holiday).

A strange, and creepy, thing about this apartment is that the refrigerator and cupboards are full of groceries. Not brand new things put here for our use, but half-eaten jars of jams, sandwich meat past its due date, loaves of bread with three slices in the bag, etc. In a note she has left for renters, the owner tells us to help ourselves to whatever is there. I don't think so.

Didn't mention yesterday that we purchased a three day travel card (£20 pp), off peak, Zones 1-6. Make use of it as we head for the British Museum. We've been many times, but have never seen the items taken from the Sutton Hoo (my husband thinks he's witty when he calls it Sutton Loo) archaeological dig in Suffolk (we visited in 2006). The museum is full of school kids of every size and shape and wherever we go there are frantic teachers madly counting them off in a variety of languages. Of course, we have to stop and visit the mummies on our way to Room 41 on the second floor (Europe 300-1100 AD).

In 1938, at the request of owner Mrs. E. Pretty, archaeologist Basil Brown, excavated several grassy mounds on Pretty's land. What he found were some of the most amazing Anglo-Saxon objects ever discovered. At the interpretive centre in Suffolk, all you can see are replicas of the items, but finally we get to see the real things and they are magnificent. The metalwork on the famous helmet is exquisite, as is the shield, gold buckle, alabaster jars, etc. There's even a small bowl sitting high on three legs with beeswax inside. They believe it was a candle that was still burning when the grave was filled in. Great place to take kids.

We have a good wander around, and then adjourn to the Museum Tavern across the street for lunch. I've always imagined it as a bigger place – having to hold the egos of such people as Karl Marx, Conan Doyle and J.B. Priestley. It's very busy but Rick snags a table outside. The day has turned warm and the streets are full of people. We each have a ½ pint, Rick has fish and chips and I have the soup of the day (tomato minestrone). I've always been curious about this – do the English ever serve their soup not pureed? At home, the chunkier the soup the better, the opposite seems to be true in England. Most of the people in the pub seem to be tourists and a few office workers. Food is served all day. Tasty, reasonably priced, but nothing spectacular.

Then we set out for a walking tour of Bloomsbury I got off the Internet - http://www.londonforfree.net/walks/writers/writers.php. I've been going through a Bloomsbury phase after reading a great book by Jane Brown called 'Spirits of Place: Five Famous Lives in Their English Landscape'. It's about how place inspired the writings of people like Virginia Woolf and Rupert Brooke.

One of my favourite things from the tour is Bedford Square, a wonderfully preserved Georgian enclave, with the most interesting doorways. Bet it would look lovely in the evening. Rick was curious about the garden in the middle but apparently, it's for residents only.

Virginia Woolf lived at a number of places in Bloomsbury, as did Charles Dickens and William Butler Yeats. There are a lot of people sitting in Tavistock Square, enjoying the sunshine. Interesting to see a statute of Ghandi in the middle of it.

My leg is starting to act up again so we decide to take the tube to King's Cross. We want to see Platform 9¾ and the British Library next door. Rick feels silly but I make him stand in front of the trolley coming out of the wall to show our granddaughter where Harry Potter left for Hogwarts. While we are at King's Cross, we pick up the train tickets I booked on the Internet before we left home, from London to Taunton in Somerset. I was given a confirmation number that I present to the attendant, along with the credit card we used to book it, and everything works smoothly.

A bit disappointed at the outside of the British Library. The building looks like the factory in Taber, Alberta where they refine sugar beets into sugar. Was expecting the British Library to look, I don't know, more regal and significant. But inside it's filled with light so maybe that's the trade-off. Have to have your bags searched when you go in, and they look quite serious about it. Other than the airport, we don't have that experience anywhere else in England on this trip.

We're here, of course, to see the Sir John Ritblat Gallery and the Treasures of the British Library. I'd never heard of Sir Ritblat, so asked a library employee who he was and apparently, he's the ex-head of a large property development company and donated over a million pounds towards the display cases. The room is on the left, just past the gift shop, as you come in.

The Treasures are my new most favourite thing in London. Since they periodically change the displays, you can come back often. My only complaint is that the light is so low, it's very difficult to see some things.

There are so many things I enjoy, it's hard to pick favourites. Seeing the scraps of paper the Beatles wrote some of their songs on, then listening on headphones to the music is great. 'A Hard Day's Night' was written by John Lennon on his son's 1st birthday card! The Lindisfarne Gospels of course are amazing, and the technology that allows you to leaf through the book on the computer. Of course, I'd heard of the Gospels for many years but didn't realize that Lindisfarne is a small island off Ireland where monks kept Christianity alive after the fall of Rome.

It was a treat to listen to Yeats read 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree', one of my favourite poems and the only one I know by heart (although it did sound as if he'd had a few tots of Irish whiskey beforehand) and to hear Virginia Woolf speak, in a BBC interview, about writing. She didn't sound at all like I expected, less bohemian and more upper class schoolmistress. You can see her actual writing of 'The Hours' (the movie Nicole Kidman won the academy award for), which later became the novel 'Mrs. Dalloway'. I also listened to Cecil Day-Lewis, poet laureate of England and the actor Daniel's father, read some of Wilfred Owen's poems. Magical.

There was so much to see. Old Bibles, Lewis Carroll's diaries, a letter from Rupert Brooke to his lover, Thomas Hardy's notes for 'Tess of the D'ubervilles' with words scratched out. Really enjoyed it.

My leg was quite bad now so limped to the Tube station and we made our way home. Picked up a few groceries along the way, Fenchurch Street has tons of shops including a Sainsbury's. After a rest and our daily dose of depressing economic news we went to a pub just down the street from us called The Crutched Friar. We tried the Hung, Drawn & Quartered pub recommended by our landlady but they stop serving meals at 5 p.m., and The Ship (recommended to us as serving good ale) closed for food at 3pm, so ended up at The Friar. Very busy inside, all the 'suits' on their way home from work – or maybe not – but it is quite a large place with smaller rooms off to the side so easily found a table. I had a pint of the Landlord, it was good and Rick had lager (I know, I know, I can't convince him to drink something else). We weren't that hungry, so shared a platter of chicken and chorizo skewers, potato wedges, etc. Was okay.

Eavesdropped as much as I good without getting found out because I was curious about what pub-goers talk about (there was a thread on Fodor's before we left about whether they would talk politics with an American). A lot of the conversation was about people they worked with, play cricket with, drink with, some fairly rude things about Sarah Palin, and general conversation about how much they had drank on their holidays. A couple of tables were full of men hunched over and mumbling amongst themselves, they may have been talking politics or the economy.

Walked a bit before going back to the apartment. Is a lovely evening and very quiet in this part of London. Before I went to bed, I glanced through a free newspaper we'd been given at the tube entrance. In it, there was a hilarious (from my perspective) column by a man named Andy Jones. The column is called 'Man About Town' and is kind of a male version of the column Carrie wrote on 'Sex and the City'. In it he says, (I wrote it down in my journal), "The credit crunch means we are working harder, longer, and managing to find less time to do the 'other'." He then proceeds to tell readers that London living just knocks him out and that he is finding it more and more difficult to manage to "put on a circus act in the big top." The best he can manage is a "pump and slump." He says he's half hoping that the woman he is currently seeing – who, hopefully, doesn't read his column - plays the headache card.

I also have a quick glance through the personals. Afterwards, I wonder why all these self-described witty, pretty, articulate, sexy, romantic men and women are finding it so hard to find one another. You could just draw lines from one ad to the other and be done with it. Also, interesting under the 'Women Seeking Women' column that a lady describes herself as a "bi-curious, non-butch female" and under 'Men Seeking Men', one fellow mentions that he has a goatee and is "straight-acting." Good luck with all that.

Next: Afloat on the Thames, Back to Temple Church and Touring the Globe

This is so good - too bad about your leg. London can be a b**ch if one is gimpy. Just soooo much to see and do.

(One teensy correction. Lindesfarne is an island off the NW coast of England - not near Ireland. It is accessible by car when the tide is out. An Amazing place w/ the priory, castle, village, etc)

"One teensy correction. Lindesfarne is an island off the NW coast of England"

I'm sure you meant to say north EAST not north west.

oops - And I even reviewed my post!!

Sheesh. Yes NE off Northumberland. Thanks nonconformist.

Thanks janisj once again for keeping me on my toes (and nonconformist for helping out). I'm sure I knew about Lindisfarne being off the coast of Northumbria (I think a friend of mine went to a concert there once) but I wrote in my journal 'Ireland' and when I was doing the trip report I thought I must have copied it from something I read at the Library. I wonder if you can have sciatica of the brain?

Hi rickmav---great report so far. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Somerset, one of my favorite areas in England. Any chance you made it to Glastonbury?

Hi Katie - we did make it to Glastonbury, what a strange, wonderful, time-warp kind of place.

Afloat on the Thames, Back to Temple Church and Touring the Globe

Walked down to the river this morning and took a City Cruise (http://www.citycruises.com/) from Tower Pier to Westminster Pier. The cost is normally £6.40 each but because we had a Travelcard we received 1/3 off. It's actually the first time we've been on the Thames and we both enjoy it a lot. Our original idea was to go to Greenwich, then bus it to Eltham Palace, but I'm afraid my leg won't hold up, so we just enjoy the short cruise with commentary from a crewmember. The boat is about 2/3 full, mostly school kids, and it's a lovely day so almost everyone heads for the top deck.

Along the way, you see, from the water:
- a great view of Tower Bridge;
- the HMS Belfast, a warship from WWII;
- a replica of the Golden Hinde, the ship Sir Francis Drake's sailed around the world in (apparently, they've twice traced the original voyage in this ship);
- The Old Billingsgate Market (you can recognize it by the golden fish symbols on the roof);
- the Globe Theatre (we are going there tomorrow);
- St. Paul's – seeing it reminds me of that famous picture from WWII when so much of the city around it had been bombed and it still stood;
- the Tate Modern;
- Cleopatra's Needle – according to the tour guide, the two lions on either side are facing the wrong way round. When he was told about his mistake, the architect killed himself, and the lions were left as they were. I have no idea if this story is true, the guide was a bit of a teller of tall tales;
- the London Eye – what a marvel of engineering;
- the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (which we discovered is the name of the bell, not the tower). The guide pointed out the flag flying over the Parliament buildings and said that meant that the House of Commons was sitting – "which they bloody well should be because they got us into this mess" – referring, I guess, to the economic situation. (We watched part of Gordon Brown's press conference this morning before we left the apartment, and he said that the financial crisis had started in the U.S. and spread around the world. As our holiday progressed, we repeatedly heard on news shows and read in the newspaper that the Americans were to blame. I don't know much about it, but it seems to me that greed is a universal failing.)

After disembarking, we walked along the river, enjoying the views and sunshine. This area must be popular with joggers, we were almost knocked over a couple of times. On other trips, we have enjoyed the area behind the Houses of Parliament (Cabinet War Rooms, St. James's Park, Buckingham Palace, etc.) so this time we make our way along the river to the Temple area. We've been before to the Temple Church, but want to return. I've just finished reading through my collection of Rumpole mysteries by John Mortimer and have printed off two more walking tours from the Internet – (http://www.londontourist.org/walk3notes.html and http://www.londonforfree.net/walks/legal/legal.shtml) and we kind of pick and choose from both of them as we wander about.

During lunchtime the public can enjoy the Inner Temple Gardens (a tip I picked up on Fodor's) between 12:30 and 3 p.m. What a lovely little place. Everyone is seriously munching his or her sandwiches and reading. I think in one of the Rumpole stories one of the characters gets married in the gardens, and I could see that it would be a beautiful place for an outdoor gathering. There's apparently even an Inner Temple Rose. Next, we wander about the Temple area making our way to Temple Church. The Church, of course, featured in Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code', but it's also a beautiful church and we arrive to discover that we've just missed getting into the Wednesday lunchtime organ recital (another thing I read about on Fodor's, but forgot to write down). We try to sneak in but there is a very fierce man at the door who, understandably, won't allow it.

After the concert is finished, we wander about and appreciate the beautiful stained glass windows and the Round Church, inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There has been a church at this spot since 1185, the church serving as the chapel for the Knights Templar. The effigies of the knights, which hold clues in the 'Da Vinci Code', are all portrayed in their early 30s, the age at which Christ died, and with their eyes open, ready for battle. I find this place very moving. As we wander about outside I notice many of the chambers have the most beautiful and elaborate window boxes. Does anyone know if this is some kind of tradition?

We have a late lunch nearby at the Edgar Wallace pub. In 1783, Dr. Samuel Johnson decided to form a club to meet close to his house and chose the Essex Head, an existing pub, as his headquarters. It became known as 'Sam's Club'. In 1975, the pub was renamed the Edgar Wallace after the mystery writer. Something I didn't know about him, he has had more of his books made into movies than any other 20th century writer has. Rick has what is called the full brunch – sausage, ham, scrambled eggs, toast, mushrooms and tomatoes. I have spicy vegetable soup with garlic toast. Very good. The place is comfortably full and, again, I try to eavesdrop. For some strange reason, Sarah Palin is being discussed again and the city of Boston. Huh.

We walk some more but I am getting pooped, so pick up some groceries for dinner and head back to the apartment. On the way, Rick checks outs the cost of a T-mobile cell phone (something else we've read about on Fodor's. The cost is £9 for the phone and £10 for a sim card. The clerk said all you have to do is dial a phone number every three months and keep it current, hanging up before anyone answers so you aren't charged.

A clothes note – not that it is very important to me, I tend to go with tried, true and serviceable – but there are sometimes a lot of questions on Fodor's about what to wear in London. At this time of year (October) I see: lots of boots or flat shoes (I only see one pair of running shoes, except on teenagers), jackets of every sort, but usually short and fitted, skinny jeans, black or grey dress pants, everyone wears a scarf it seems – men and women, trench coats, lots of black tights.

We have free tickets (booked through http://www.tvrecordings.com/) to watch the filming of '8 Out of 10 Cats', a news/quiz/comedy show (another tip from Fodor's) but there is no way I can make it. I feel bad because we were both looking forward to it, but I can't move. We buy a package of frozen mush peas for me to sit on and we both settle in with some wine and watch the amazing variety of channels on the SKY system that comes with the apartment.

(Have hoped to cover the next day in London in this post but will do later on this afternoon.)

Apart from the Wednesday Temple Church lunchtime concert, the Lincoln's Inn Chapel nearby also offers free lunchtime concerts on Tuesdays. I'm hoping to go to the one next week.

Robert Peston of the Beeb is quite good at explaining why the economy has gone pear-shaped
Have a look at

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7688308.stm

Thanks yk for the information. And MissPrism for the link. We watched Robert Peston almost every night while we were in England and although he had a tendency to get a bit excited - who wouldn't - I liked the way he presented the financial information. Sounds as if he had been sounding a warning for some time before the crash.

****

Don't sleep well, so Rick goes out exploring on his own in the morning. He walks to the St. Katharine's Docks and is impressed with how different it looks from the very first time we came to London in the 70s (when parts of it were pretty scary – we'd taken a wrong turn and got lost there). He said it's interesting to see a marina in London surrounded by all these luxury, high-rise apartments. Very ritzy. He meets a fellow at a coffee shop (who has a sister who lives in Vancouver) who tells him that during the war the area was heavily bombed and that his father, who was a fire warden, said that at one point they had to just let it burn because there were things stored in the warehouses that were so flammable it would have been suicide to try and fight it. The man recommends that we try the Dickens Inn and the Prohibition Bar. Unfortunately, we don't get a chance to return. Next time. (After we've read janisj's report on the area!)

When Rick returns, we take the RV1 bus and cross Tower Bridge making our way along the South Bank towards the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern. On our way we pass the London Dungeon and it's all done up for Halloween with scary characters walking about outside. Looks like it would be fun for kids. I even catch Rick looking at it, wistfully, from the bus windows. We walk along the river for a while, it really is a beautiful day and there are lots of people about. We've missed the regular Globe season by a few days, which we knew ahead of time, but really want to tour the theatre. It's the first time we use the Great British Heritage Pass saving £21 for the two of us. We have to wait about 15 minutes for the next tour but you are encouraged to wander through the exhibition area, even try on costumes on a rack if you like. There's lots of information and interactive displays. Quite well done.

Our tour guide must be an actress because her voice projects through the rooms and she's forever quoting Shakespeare. She's a bit bossy, but very knowledgeable and although I'm not a big person for tours, we really enjoy this one. On the weekend, they are putting on an opera – she says out of season, they make the theatre available to other companies – so she may not be able to talk to us in the theatre proper if they are rehearsing. But when we arrive, they've taken a lunch break and although the stage carpenters are hard at work, there's no problem hearing her voice over the hammering and buzz saw.

She tells us an amusing story about the 'lower classes' who would congregate in the yard (for a penny) and so were known as the 'penny stinkards'. The 'stink' part came from the fact that it was uncommon for people to bathe at this time – Queen Elizabeth was thought to be odd because she bathed once a month – and the groundlings would often be drunk and would relieve themselves right where they stood. Thank goodness, that no longer happens!

I go into the gift shop after the tour, looks like interesting things there, but there are 5,000 screaming school kids running amok and I decide life is too short and precious to try to fight them for a place in the queue. When a teacher yells, "Right then, everybody OUT!" I'm so scared I run out, too. Rick, safe at a distance, thinks this is hilarious. I feel like I'm being carried forward by a mob of midgets.

Then we go next door to the Tate Modern. I love the outside of the building, it looks like something out of Ayn Rand's 'The Fountainhead'. I think whoever first thought of taking a power station and turning it into an art museum was brilliant. (I read later that the guy who designed the original building also designed England's red telephone box.)

As I mentioned in my intro, Rick is not an art museum person, so although we start out together, he eventually tells me he'll meet me outside by the river. To be honest, I think a few of the pieces scare him. I love art, but only own one piece that would be considered 'modern'. We bought it in Spain many years ago. So, it's interesting to see what is considered great modern art and to think about what might be still seen as 'great' 100 years from now.

Some of the pieces, like Latifa Echakhch's installations, are strange and provocative, but not for me. I expect art to make me linger, to stimulate my imagination, to make me want to share my experience with someone, or hoard it to myself for lingering contemplation. The two pieces I see don't do that for me, although in art, as in life, each to their own. Some of the pieces I do like include: Philip Guston's 'The Return', Picasso's 'The Studio', and Juan Gris' 'Bottle of Rum and Newspaper'.

My plan was for us to take the Tate Boat to the Tate Britain but – cue the violin music – my leg has decided to go to sleep and won't wake up. I hobble across Southwark Bridge and we take the tube home. I know you're probably asking, 'Why doesn't the stupid woman take a cab and be done with it?' My only answer is that my great-grandmother was a Scot and I've inherited her stubbornness. Taking a cab means admitting defeat (this is foreshadowing). Rick just shakes his head and slows down so I can keep up to him, but he has lived with me long enough to know what battles are worth fighting and what ones you just walk away from. Or hobble away from as the case may be.

When we get home I plop myself on my mushy (not mush as I said in my earlier post – although they get that way after a few hours) and overdose on depressing news and murder mysteries. Tomorrow, we leave for Devon.

Next: On the Train to Taunton, Music at Killerton and Damn Those Devon Roads

Super report, rickmav! I'm so sorry about your leg, but I'm really enjoying your writing.

Lee Ann

"The man recommends that we try the Dickens Inn and the Prohibition Bar. Unfortunately, we don't get a chance to return. Next time. (After we've read janisj's report on the area!)"

Wow - talking about putting on the pressure 7 months before the trip

But not to worry about missing the Dickens Inn. I've been there several times (mainly because it was convenient at the time) and it really isn't that much to write home about. Not terrible for sure, but the best things about it are the gorgeous flower baskets outside, and that there is some sort of food available just about all day long.

Hopefully it was easier for you in the SW being able to drive from place to place and not have to walk for miles.

On the Train to Taunton, Music at Killerton and Damn Those Devon Roads

By the next morning I'm ready to capitulate and we take a cab from our apartment near Tower Hill to Paddington (the Novotel is just across the street and there's a constant stream of cabs). It's about 7:30 a.m. and the trip takes 40 minutes so we have plenty of time for our 9:06 departure. (It costs £20 and Rick gives the driver a £5 tip.) The route takes us along the Thamesr and by Buckingham Palace, so we get a mini-tour on the way.

I've pre-booked seats with a table so we settle in and Rick sleeps while I write and read. Normally, we'd pick up our rental car at Heathrow and drive to Devon, but this time we decide to take the train (the return journey for the two of us is £105). We arrive in Taunton in Somerset just before 11 a.m. and are met by a Europcar representative. Autoeurope were going to charge me £20 for someone to meet us, which I thought was a bit steep, so decided I had nothing to lose and emailed the Europcar head office directly and they said they would meet us for free. The paperwork is all ready, I do a quick walk-around while Rick is signing everything, and we are on our way.

(Unfortunately, even though we are experienced car renters, we make a mistake - we don't read the fine print. Normally, when we book through Autoeurope – and we've done it many times – the rental agreement from the car company is the same as the voucher that we get from Autoeurope, so we just waive the CDW (we have a gold Visa) and we're done. But later, while waiting for Rick to pay for gas, I read through the agreement and discover that there are some differences. They have, in fact, charged us £10 for the pick-up, £24 for road-side assistance, and although we knew ahead of time that we are to return the car empty (an idiotic idea), we didn't know that they would be charging us £1.56 a litre to fill it up (gas is between 98p and £1.08 a litre when we are there. None of this information is on the Autoeurope voucher. Once the billing comes through and we see the final charges, we intend following up with Autoeurope.)

It's easy to get on the M5 from the train station and we stop at the first rest stop to pick up an AA Driving Atlas. They are always really cheap there for some reason (we pay £3.99 versus £19.99 it would have cost us in London). I'm always amazed at how quickly Rick picks up driving on the other side of the road, he makes it look so effortless.

On our way south to our self-catering cottage at Strete in Devon, just outside Dartmouth, we stop at our first National Trust property of the trip, Killerton. It's between Cullompton and Exeter and just off the M5. We also have lunch here, I have the homemade soup and a roll for &pound3.95 and Rick has the cottage pie with peas for £6.95. Both are good. Entrance is £8 each, but we are able to use our Great British Heritage Pass.

The property had been in the Acland family since the 1600s. It was given to the National Trust during the Second World War when Sir Richard, a new convert to socialism, decided to get rid of the property. It's not as grand as some we've seen, but it looks like a comfortable family home and is beautifully situated with extensive grounds and the trees are truly ablaze with colour. The grass is like green velvet. One of the first rooms you come to on the main floor is a music room with a piano and organ and while we are there, an elderly gentleman starts asking questions about the organ and the steward says if he wants to have a go, he's more than welcome. It's lovely walking through the rooms hearing music, it makes you feel as if you are there for the week-end and one of the guests is providing the entertainment.

An interesting piece of trivia from the guidebook: In 1808, the ponds on the property froze over and 30 men were employed for five days filling the Ice House, with ice that lasted three years! During WWII most of the furniture was stored in a warehouse in Exeter and was all destroyed, but for one piece, when the city was bombed. The piano in the Music Room, built in 1802, escaped because it was stored in a loft in one of the farm buildings and wasn't discovered until 1994.

The best part of the house is the Costume Collection. It was donated to the National Trust by Paulise de Bush and includes over 9,000 items, although they only exhibit about 50 at a time (wouldn't you like to rummage through those cupboards?). There is a dress belonging to Queen Victoria – man, was she short – and a wonderful flapper dress from the 1920s. Most of the collection, however, dates from the 17th and 18th centuries – Ms. de Bush rescued the clothes from an old house in Berkshire. They were going to be thrown out.

There's an interesting little hut in the garden called The Bear's Hut. It was built in 1808 and at one point housed a black bear brought back from Canada. The floor is apparently paved with deer knucklebones (whatever they are).

Spend about an hour and half at Killerton. As we leave the M5 and start going further south into Devon the roads get narrower and narrower. The A379 that runs by our cottage is equivalent to our back alley at home. Yikes! You certainly have to keep your wits about you.

We've rented the cottage through Toad Hall Cottages http://www.toadhallcottages.co.uk/property/Coleridge%20Lodge/. It's nice. Very clean, with two bedrooms, a full bath and a shower room. It has some beautiful views through the windows of Slapton Sands. It's quite unlike any English cottage we've stayed in before, very modern and spare in its decor. It costs us £375, which isn't really a deal, but £25 of it is for heating and a percentage goes to the agency. That's one of the reasons I prefer renting directly from owners – and they never charge you the VAT. The owners actually live just down the road and are helpful but not intrusive.

We've stopped at a Morrison's just outside Totnes on the way and bought our first batch of groceries, so settle in, unpack and have dinner. It's lovely to be able to hear the ocean as you fall asleep.

Really enjoying this! I remember your last European adventure and how pleasant that report was. Keep it up and thanks for sharing.

rickmav,

Really enjoying your report and all the lovely details of your trip to London. As others have said, I really appreciate you breaking down how much you spent, and where you spent it.

I was amazed how little you spent on parking in the countryside, but I'm guessing you didn't need to pay for parking most of the time.

Really cute cottage in Devon - was it redone recently? I like the large kitchen and living room areas, and I like that it is slightly modern. Sometimes cottages in Britain can seem a bit worse for wear. I'm not really familiar with the area, but it looked like there was a little beach below your cottage!

Hope everything worked out with the rental agency later!

Forgot to add...how did you like dealing with Toad Hall cottages? Any problems?

I know you mentioned that it wasn't that great of a deal for you, but I did notice it slept up to 5. That's a really good deal for a family...too bad I can't leave now

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments and questions. Anna13, I'll have to tell Rick what you said about not spending much on parking. He has the 'George Costanza Syndrome' - he hates to pay for parking - so he thinks anything is a lot and is comparing it to other visits. I told him England is a small country and there are more and more cars - they have to charge for parking everywhere. (One way we saved money was parking in a Morrisons, Sainsbury's etc. lot, and then picking up some groceries before we left and they would refund part of the cost of the parking.) But I'll tell him that you think he got a deal, that will make him feel better.

Yes, the cottage in Strete was done up recently and you're right, for a couple or family it would be a better bargain. We weren't able to go right from the cottage to the beach, there were no sidewalks or even room to walk on the A379, so you had to drive. It was less than a mile.

I forgot to say what my next report will be, Next: An Art Deco Surprise, the Butterwalk in Dartmouth and Jail Ale

very much enjoying your report!
I especially like hearing about the cottage rental experiences because on our next trip, we think that we will rent a cottage.

Just caught your report, so well written, thank you.

Thanks everyone. Anna I forgot to answer your question about Toad Hall Cottages. We did have one problem that was quickly resolved. We dealt exclusively via email which worked fine. My only peeve was that they charged extra for using Visa, plus their booking fee, plus the VAT, etc. so at one time I felt I was being nickled and dimed to death. But the property was exactly as it appears on the website, they answered the emails promptly and they have a lot of very nice cottages on their books.

I'm so glad you got home safely and are posting your report so soon after! It is really great reading, thank you for all the detailed information.

I'm so sorry we didn't get to meet up this time, and hope you are feeling much better now. But maybe next time you come to England...

(I still need to get back to Berkeley Castle!)

All the best, Julia

(I still need to get back to Berkeley Castle!)>>>>

As Edward II would never have said.

I quite agree CW, but I live less than 20 miles away and yet haven't visited the castle since a school trip sometime in the 70s!

However I've been to the village of Berkeley to an antiques fair, a party or two, one of the pubs, the nuclear power station, the cricket ground (now that was a nice afternoon), and one day back in the 80s I bought a lovely embroidered firescreen (phoenixes no less) in a junk shop for just a few pounds, which I can now see as I type.

So I have some fond memories of Berkeley, unlike poor Edward!

wonderful report. Thanks so much.

Hi Julia. One of my great disappointments from this trip is that that we weren't able to meet you. Rick said you sounded like a very nice lady on the telephone. We didn't get to Berkeley at all because of the 'troubles' (less said about that the better). Following CW's comments, I'm sure Edward II was in worse agony, however.

Thank you for your comments, Julie.

********
An Art Deco Surprise, the Butterwalk in Dartmouth and Jail Ale

Have our coffee outside this morning, looking over the ocean and listening to the birds singing. Think it's going to be warm today. We've obviously come at the right time, we've been told by many that we just missed lousy weather.

Our goal today is the National Trust property Coleton Fishacre on the Kingswear side of the Dart and the Food Festival in Dartmouth (http://www.dartmouthfoodfestival.co.uk/?mxmroi=6695181/429215/false).

Dartmouth seems very busy, so we decide to visit Coleton first, then return when the crowds have died down. The tiny car ferry (signposted Lower Ferry in Dartmouth) costs £3 each way and the trip takes about five minutes. It reminds me of the King Harry ferry you take in Cornwall near Philleigh. The salt air smells so good, I think I may have been a sailor in another life.

Can't believe how narrow the roads are, lots of gasps and groans (from me). Rick is stoic and focused. When we finally stop for a moment he says, in that very quiet voice that I dread, that I am not to gasp and grab hold of the dash ever again. An unspoken 'or else' is left hanging in the air. I mumble under my breath, 'aye, aye, Captain'. I can't help it, I come from a family of flaming extroverts.

Coleton Fishacre sits in a gorgeous garden overlooking the ocean. I just have to win the lottery because I deserve a place like this. There is a gurgling brook (is that a rill?) that starts somewhere behind the house, goes all the way through the different levels of gardens and comes out over the ocean. Wonderful.

According to the steward in the first room - the poor dears look as if they are going to burst if they don't tell you something, so I've started asking each one of them a question and they almost kiss me they seem so happy (well, maybe not, they are English after all) – the main reason the house exists is for the garden and the proximity to the sea.

The family, the D'Oyly (pronounced doily) Cartes, didn't much care about the inside of the house. Another steward told me that weekend guests were always put to work weeding in the garden. Some, he said, never accepted a second invitation.

The house was built in the 1920s by the son of the man who was responsible for bringing Gilbert & Sullivan together. Rupert, the son, went on to build the Savoy, Claridges and Berkeley hotels and the house very much represents the modernity of the Jazz Age. None of your moats, squints or Solars here. Rupert was said to be the inspiration for P.G. Wodehouse's character Psmith.

The National Trust bought the house in 1982 as a way of securing part of Devon's coastline and it wasn't until 1999 that the house was opened to the public.

My least favourite part of the house is the preponderance of limed oak for furniture, doorways, baseboards, etc. Looks like whitewashed plywood. My favourite room is the Saloon. You can just imagine Noel Coward or Cole Porter coming into the room at any minute. There's a lime-green rug, original to the room, taking up three-quarters of the floor and the entrance is down three shallow steps, made for a grand gesture. The sofa suite is darker green with splashes of yellow.

Lady D'Oyly-Carte's room has been made up exactly as it looked in a 1930s Country Life article, complete with a 1919 print by Raoul Dufy on the curtains and pillows.

We return by the car ferry to Dartmouth and are able to find parking in a good-sized lot just off the marina by the information centre (£3 for three hours). Throughout the trip we have good luck in following the i signs into a town and usually there is parking nearby.

It's a beautiful day and there are still lots of people but not as much of a crowd at the cooking shacks, where they offer all kinds of food and drinks. We pick up lots of fresh vegetables and fruit at the Farmers Market, there are also cooking demonstrations, and we taste our way through the narrow streets. Lovely nibblers of local sausages, cheeses, I even try cataplana (a Portuguese dish I didn't even try in Portugal), beautiful ham, shrimp, kebabs, crab, etc. It's not only our lunch but our dinner, too.

The harbour is full of yachts and multi-coloured houses spill down hills on either side of the Dart to the water. There is so much to see, all the different sized boats doing all kinds of interesting things, the steam train that goes from Paignton to Kingswear, locals enjoying the sunshine and food.

We watch a number of people getting into little dinghies on their way to their yachts, they wear the most interesting life jackets. Like two, thin squares held together by a whisper of webbing, wouldn't want to trust my life to one of those. One elderly gentleman asks if we are 'Yanks', and when we say no, he talks on as if we said yes, saying that one of our billionaires, a fellow named Baree (that's the way he pronounces it. I later find out from the woman at the information centre that it was Barry Diller) came into town with a yacht that was 300 feet long and cost more than a million pounds. I imagine that would have been a sight.

We pick up a brochure from the information centre that has a self-guided walk of the town and we find all kinds of interesting things. One of the old buildings near the harbour has a very interesting porch-like thing on the front of it and according to the brochure this is called 'The Butterwalk'. This was where farmers' wives used to sell their dairy produce, in the shade of the arcade. King Charles II once dined upstairs. More importantly, there's a wonderful bakery, called the Sloping Deck, right there and we buy fudge and shortbread for later. (It's delicious!)

There's also a good bookstore in town called the Harbour Bookshop and it used to belong to the real-life Christopher Robin, A.E. Milne's son. The brochure says that after WWII the Americans volunteered to build a bridge at the entrance to the harbour linking Dartmouth to the other side, but the city turned it down. Nearby Bayard Cove one of the departure points for Utah Beach on D-Day.

Dartmouth was the last stop the Pilgrim Fathers made when they left England in 1620, on their way from Southampton, for the New World, and it's featured in many movies, including the French Lieutenant's Woman. On our way out we stop at the Royal Castle Hotel, built in 1639, for a pint each. Mine is called Jail Ale – I have no idea why – and it's very good. On the way out of town, we pass by the gates of the Royal Britannia Naval College. If I'm not mistaken, I think Prince Philip was a cadet here.

When we get home, we look over our market treasures, drink some wine outside and have an early night.

Next: A Tank in the Sand, Lunch by the Water, and Drowning in the Sunday Times

rickmav,

Thanks for answering all my questions about your cottage - I just like to know as much as I can about companies in case I ever get back Did they charge you extra to pay on your Visa because they wanted payment in cash? Seems a bit odd. Did you have to pay before arrival?

I laughed when you said your husband hates paying for parking. We never have to pay for parking where I live(expect at County/State buildings)and when we went to England last year we were a bit taken back at how often we had to pay to park in different parking lots. Your husband should feel really good - I remember reading someone's report recently and they said they paid 200(pounds!) for parking. My jaw has still not gotten off the floor.

It's not unusual for companies to make a small charge for credit cards.
It's easier and cheaper for them if you pay by cheque or debit card.

Hi rickmav,

what a lovely surprise to find your report this am. i love reading "foreigners'" views of england, especially when they talk about places I know or have known like the Temple gardens.

sorry I can't help about the window boxes - i don't remember them being a particular feature when I worked there; however, i have a recollection that they have a new head gardener so perhaps s/he has brought them in.

looking forward to more,

regards, ann

Hi Anna - we ended up deciding to use the credit card instead of, as Josser suggests a cheque (it had to be in British pounds which would cost us $37 at the Royal Bank - outrageous), because with our gold card we get cancellation insurance (the cost to use debit or Visa was a 1.75% of the total fee).

Hi Ann - glad you found me, too.

*************

A Tank in the Sand, Lunch by the Water, and Drowning in the Sunday Times

A lovely Sunday. I woke a couple of times during the night thinking, 'what is that sound?', only to realize that it was the ocean. Lovely.

I had put it off for as long as I could but this morning I tackled 'The English Clothes Washing Machine'. We've done battle many times and it always wins. Today is no different.

As soon as we hang our sopping wet clothes on the line, we head off for a day of beaches and sun. Our first stop is Slapton Sands, about ½ a mile from us. You have to pay for parking (only £1). We walk to the water first, it is very cold (although there are about five people swimming), take a quick look at the nude bathers who have set up a little encampment further along the beach ( a bit disconcerting to see a bare, white bottom strolling about) and sit on our blanket and watch the waves. It is called a 'shingle' beach, which I think means a combination of sand and rock. It's kind of like really small pea gravel.

In 1944, the Americans were practicing on Slapton Sands for the D-Day landings (the exercise was called American Tiger) when they were attacked by German torpedo boats. Over 900 American soldiers died. A lot of accusations of incompetence went back and forth between the Americans and the British and the true story about what really happened has never been told. In 1984, Mr. Small, from Devon, and locals raised a submerged Sherman tank and placed it just down the road at Torcross as a memorial. It's sad to think about all that human waste on such a beautiful day.

There is a pretty little church in Slapton called the Church of St. James from the early 14th c. and a great looking pub called The Tower. We only see if from the outside, as it isn't open yet. Inland, is Slapton Ley, a large, freshwater lake and nature reserve. It looks a bit strange when you are driving up to it on the A379 – on one side of the road is the ocean, on the other a lake. We walk about for a bit, running into what I can only assume is a flock of bird watchers. Armed with walking sticks and binoculars, in sensible boots and anoraks, many with backpacks and a few women in long skirts, they seem serious and a bit suspicious of us. I feel like a gatecrasher at a private party.

It's a tortuous route to the lighthouse at Start Point but the views are worth it. We had intended to go to Prawle Point as well, but we are getting hungry, so back on the A379, then A381 into Salcombe, with frequent pull-outs to let cars pass by. I think these roads are even narrower than the ones in Cornwall. A little while ago, there was a discussion on this site about what place in England would be the equivalent of the Hamptons and there was some suggestion that perhaps it would be Salcombe. It is a very pretty place but our route doesn't take us near any large estates, although there are plenty of yachts in the harbour.

The town is quite busy, it's a beautiful Sunday, and we have a few hair-raising adventures (but no gasps) finding parking (at one point we are backing up a hill). Once we find a spot, we wander about the town, then lunch at the Ferry House Inn. It's so nice being right at the water's edge, the pub is beside the little boat that goes back and forth to a great looking beach at (I think) East Portlemouth. Rick has a fresh crab sandwich, caught locally, and I have local ham. Both are good and we linger over our pint. (Lunch costs £15, parking £2.50.)

As we people-watch, we notice how attached English people seem to be to their dogs. And how well behaved (man and beast) are when it comes to standing in a queue to take a gulp from the water bowl. There is a tap against one wall outside and a large bowl for dogs to refresh themselves and although there are a lot of pets, of all sizes, everyone is polite.

Afterwards, we wander up and down the narrow streets, picking out the houses we will buy when we win the lottery. On the way home, we pick up the Sunday Times and spend the rest of the day reading, debating, snoozing and watching the clothes dry.

Next: A Canadian Link to Compton Castle, Exploring Cockington and a Slight Accident During Rush Hour

rickmav:

'What is that sound' only to realize it is the sound of the ocean - lovely indeed. I miss that since I now live in the Midwest, USA.

Sorry to hear about your trials with the English washing machine. Your clothes should not have been sopping wet. It sounds like they didn't go thru the spinning cycle.

I didn't think anything of going into the North Sea as a child, thought everyone did and yes it was very cold.

Very much enjoying your writing and look forward to more.

Sandy

Bringing back so many memories

A couple of times I've rented a place just west of Salcombe/Kingsbridge. I found Slapton Sands very moving and very very sad. Have eaten at the Ferry House a few times.

rickmav Thanks for filling my boring Saturday night with fun and laughter. And I know what you mean about the boozy breath. I smelled it a lot during my first trip to London. But everyone was so nice to me.

Hi SandyBrit. Yes, those washing machines are a challenge. I think it's all the options. In Canada, fortunately, I have only two decisions to make; in England it seems I need an engineering degree.

Janisj - Salcombe/Kingsbridge area is beautiful. I could see spending a lot of time there. What parts of England haven't you seen?

Mamaw - Glad to be of service!

********

A Canadian Link to Compton Castle, Exploring Cockington and a Slight Accident During Rush Hour

Visit Compton Castle today, just west of Torquay. One of the cheapest National Trust properties we've been to at £4 each. (Don't think I mentioned the cost for Coleton Fishacre - £12 for the two of us.) So far, we've saved £58, the 15 day Great Heritage Pass cost us £118 for two.

In 1995, some scenes from Jane Austen's novel, Sense and Sensibility were filmed here. I'll have to watch it again to see if I recognize any of it. The Gilbert family still live in part of the castle, so there aren't a lot of rooms on show, but it is a moody, small, atmospheric example of what a 14th c. wealthy family, not royal, would have lived in. The family have been here since 1329, except for 146 years between 1785 and 1931. At that time, the current owner's father bought it back, then gave it to the National Trust.

One of the Gilbert ancestors, Sir Humphrey, colonized Newfoundland, on the east coast of Canada, in 1583 and there are a lot of gifts in the house on display from the people of Newfoundland celebrating different anniversaries. His motto was Quid non – Why not? Great motto. Sir Humphrey's half-brother was Sir Walter Raleigh who, of course, colonized Roanoke in North Carolina.

There are a lot of things here that you see in much larger castles, like a portcullis with the machicolations (isn't that a great word?) – holes through which missiles could be dropped. There are iron bars on some of the windows and high castle walls with loopholes to shoot from. The Old Kitchen is quite amazing, I can't imagine having to cook a meal there. One whole wall is a fireplace with three flues, bread ovens and cast iron kitchenware. The kitchen was kept separate from the house because there was always the danger of fire.

A few strange things: the family has a squirrel on their coat of arms so sprinkled around the property are some modern, small, stuffed squirrels in strange places; and in the room called the Sub-Solar you can see at the back, part of the modern kitchen still used by the family – I think I would have put a screen in front of it. But then I guess it shows how real families try and make these ancient properties work.

There's a connection between this property and Greenway, Agatha Christie's home, which we see later in the week. Sir Humphrey's older brother, John, as Deputy Lieutenant of Devon, took control of the first ship of the Spanish Armada to surrender. He put the Spanish crew to work rebuilding the walls of his estate, Greenway.

After Compton, we make our way to Cockington, just a few miles away. I'm a bit reluctant to go. From what I've read about it, I'm worried it will be a bit 'twee'. It is, but it's a lovely day and there are great walks through the park and we enjoy the pub, called 'The Drum Inn', designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1936. (Parking is £2.)

Cockington is a thatched-cottage village, surrounded by 460 acres of parkland, where people live but the whole place seems stopped in time. There are gift shops, a cricket field, a park, an old church and ten working craft studios and tearoom in the original manor house, Cockington Court. You can also travel by horse-drawn carriage to the seafront.

The church, St. George and St. Mary, dates from 1210 and although, a bit musty smelling, is interesting. Every chair has a needlepoint cushion for kneeling, someone did a lot of work. Apparently, the place is popular for weddings, you have to book four years in advance!

We have lunch at the Drum Inn, which is large and busy. Rick has fish and chips – the fish is the size of a mini-whale – and I have a chicken sandwich with chips. Costs us £15 with ½ a pint each. Just okay.

Wander through the park afterwards, then through the craft centre. Some lovely things. We buy some stained glass items from the Hayward Decorative Stained Glass shop and the artist, Derek Hayward is there, and we have a chat with him about his work and his wife's watercolours also in the store.

We hit rush hour on the way home and coming through a village where a huge moving truck has parked in our lane, we join a queue of cars trying to pass each other in the small space left and ding the driver's side mirror. We still haven't heard back from Europcar how much that is going to cost us, but we do have the CDW through Visa, so hopefully everything goes smoothly. The traffic is crazy on the A380 and A385 near Paignton and we decide to just head home. Stop at Totnes to pick up a few groceries, looks like a nice place.

Enjoying watching British television in the evenings. That's the great thing about renting a cottage, you can kind of settle in and don't have to worry about packing and unpacking every day as you bounce from B&B to B&B, or hotel to hotel. Last night, we watch a special with Jo Brand (Through the Cakehole), hilarious.

Next: Our First Rainy Day, Saltram House and Between the Waves at Bigbury

rickmav,

Lovely post as usual - you're visiting Compton Castle perked up my Jane Austen radar, and when I looked it up, I'm pretty sure it's the house Willougbhy(it still takes me ages to properly spell his stupid name!)is to inherit, and Marianne is looking upon it as she is standing in the rain...it's more toward the end of the movie.

That family has alot of cool links throughout history. I'm interested in hearing your report about Agatha Christie's house.

As much as we enjoyed our B&B's, I really love the idea of renting a cottage next time. How far away were most of your day trips? I'm guessing you tried to pick a cottage that was sort of in-between everything you wanted to see.

Hi Anna,

I think you're right about where Compton Castle appears in the movie. I'm going to try and watch it this week because we visited Saltram next and it was also in the movie.

Our day trips were no more than 1 1/2 hrs. each way, although we'd only do that once in the 7 days. Most destination were within an hour.

Our method of picking where to rent is simple. We start by looking at the map that comes with the Great British Heritage Pass, zero in on the greatest amount of properties we want to visit in the area, then do some research on other things to see. Then I draw a circle around all those places on a regular AA map, and look for a town in the middle. I put the name of that town into google +"self catering" or +"cottage rental" and go from there.

As I mentioned earlier, I always prefer to book with an individual owner, but once in awhile, when we find a cottage we like, we go through an agency.

There was a post a litte while back where someone asked for cottage agencies that people would recommend. I will try and find it and post it for you.

Take care.

Great trip report, Rickmav. Even though I live in England, it gives me a great insight into what visitors think of our country. Regarding washing machines, I only ever use two of the cycles on mine-there's a choice of 12! There's usually an automatic cycle which washes and spins a general load.

Hi Anna - here is the link re: cottage suggestions:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=35159514

Hello Bellini - I'm always fascinated at what people think of Canada - even when it's not flattering, so I understand what you mean. Thanks for your comments.

Our First Rainy Day, Saltram House and Between the Waves at Bigbury

A rainy, drizzly kind of day so we have a bit of lie-in. We're missing a B&B kind of breakfast, so we have a traditional, stick-to-the-walls-of-your-bowlels fry-up. It's very good, although we feel a bit loaded down with all the extra cholesterol. We watch the morning news and decorating shows, then when the rain lets up, decide to drive into Dartmouth and explore it further.

Check our emails at the local library, just down the street from the Information Centre. As a visitor, you get the first ½ hr. free, then £1.50 for every ½ hour after that. We also find Internet service at Cafe Alf Resco (yup, I spelled that right) on Lower St. – also called Alf's – for £1 a ½ hour. (They also rent out a flat and B&B rooms http://www.cafealfresco.co.uk/.)

There are pockets of blue sky just staring to poke out amongst the clouds, so we decide to walk the mile to Dartmouth Castle (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.15498). When we ask a young man for directions, he suggests that because the path might be a bit muddy with the rain, we could take a local foot ferry that will drop us off near the entrance.

Once we have a look at the foot ferry (http://www.dartharbour.org/harbour-river-guide/ferries/ - about half-way down the page under 'Castle Passenger Ferry'), nothing more than a big canoe, we decide we'll try the path and if it's too muddy, we'll turn around. As we start out, we encounter an elderly lady walking with her dog who says if we stick to the road, and don't take the shortcut through the woods, we'll be fine, so that's what we do.

I'd read beforehand that the castle isn't much to see, but the views are magnificent and that's pretty well true, although there are some interesting displays. It costs £4 each, but is covered under the GBH Pass. It was built in the 14th c. to protect Dartmouth merchants (the gun battery was still in use during World War I and II) and there are wonderful views over the Dart estuary. Across the river is Kingswear Castle, which isn't open to the public but is rented out by the Landmark Trust as a holiday let. At one point, to repel invaders, they put a huge chain across the river, from Dartmouth to Kingswear Castle.

The man who built the fort was supposed to be in the inspiration for Chaucer's 'Shipman' in the Canterbury Tales. It reminds me a bit of looking across from St. Mawes Castle to Falmouth in Cornwall.

The site is quite deserted, we only run into one other couple and a family of three. We sit for a bit in St. Petroc's Church, which from some views almost overpowers the views of the castle, but it's very damp inside, so we head back to Dartmouth. I think it would be a great place to take kids who want to let off a bit of steam - going by ferry/canoe on the way there, then walking back.

We decide we've walked off breakfast, so deserve a pint at The Cherub (I have Doom Bar Ale – what a great name). A very old-fashioned pub, quite small, with settles on the side of the fireplace. Full of dark timbers and a mixture of elderly couples, and a table of characters who eye us suspiciously as we enter. I think the entire place could seat 30 people – and that would be crammed. The pub dates from the 14th c. and is supposed to be the oldest timber-framed house in England.

The landlord is friendly and asks where we are from. When we say Canada, of course he has a relative there (a cousin and her husband). He tells us that Dartmouth was made rich by the fish off Newfoundland. Glad we could help. He also says that at one time, with all the fishing boats and merchant ships about, Dartmouth had a thriving red light district. He looks a bit disheartened that the ladies have, apparently, moved on.

Check out the shops after our pint, we are looking for a gift for our granddaughter. Discover a lot of interesting little restaurants, bakeries, boutiques etc. around every corner. Decide we really like this place and if we end up back in England for Christmas next year (that's our plan unless the economy continues to ruin everything), we might come here. I don't know how cold it would be near the water in December. Anyone have any experience?

It starts to rain again, so we head home. Chicken Kiev for dinner – my favourite – and Coronation Street and The Bill. How much better can life get?

The next day we head for Saltram House (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-saltram), near Plymouth. It's a bit of a drive, but I'm excited about seeing the house that also (Anna!) appears in 'Sense and Sensibility'. (It's Norland Park, the home of the Dashwoods.) Some of the 'A' roads – which next to the 'M' roads are main highways –are unbelievably narrow. I estimate it takes us about 3-4 minutes to go one mile, as opposed to 1 mile/minute in Canada. (Good news today – gas has dropped to 99p/litre.)

Saltram (cost: £8 each) is one of the National Trust's main properties in Devon. One of the room stewards tells us that there are 90 rooms in the house, although the public is only allowed to see 13. Wouldn't it be fun to open a few doors and see what's behind? The name of the house comes from the salt that was harvested from a nearby marsh (salt, according to another steward, was important as a food preservative). The house has been in the Parker family since 1712 and what is remarkable is how much of the original furniture still remains. We've visited a lot of these places, and it's rare to see this.

Robert Adam designed/improved much of the house and it is loaded with Chippendale furniture. Many of the rooms are also painted in those pastel colours you associate with Adams, complete with white plasterwork ceilings and beautiful rugs. There are four rooms in the house decorated with Chinese wallpaper, popular in the mid to late 1700s, and they are beautiful. And everywhere there are bowls of potpourri with lavender and rose buds. In the Velvet Drawing Room (that's what it's called), there's a card table with a trompe l'oeil card game and the steward told us someone had recently taken a penknife to the table to try to dig a card out!

The Great Kitchen is amazing. There are over 600 copper pots, moulds, etc. around the walls. There is also a room where they would bring the meat, cut it, salt it and hang it. The steward told us they would also keep eggs here over the winter, immersed in some kind of lime concoction. There's also a huge doll's house upstairs, and a Victorian boudoir.

The Parkers were great friends of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the famous portrait painter, and many of his works hang on the walls. There are also 12 paintings by Reynolds' good friend, Angelica Kauffman, who in the 1700s was one of the few women making her living from painting.

Another Jane Austen link to the property – a later Lady Morley (one of the Parker's titles) corresponded with the author (Austen's brother was the family chaplain) and was one of 12 people at the time who received an early copy of 'Emma' to review. You can see the correspondence on display in the house.

During WWII, the American army set up in the woods (there are all kinds of pictures in a family album you can look through) and the 4th Earl and his brother kept fire watch on the roof. According to a room steward, it was a miracle the house was never bombed because it is only five miles from Plymouth, which was heavily damaged. The property was turned over to the National Trust in 1957 in lieu of death taxes.

On the way to Bigbury on Sea, we stop at the Riverford Farm Shop (http://www.riverfordfarmshop.co.uk/riverfordfarmshops/kitley.html) near Yealmpton for lunch (thanks Bellini for the original suggestion). Oh my goodness, what a wonderful place. If we lived here, I'd shop here all the time. It's like an Aladdin Cave of great-smelling, looking, tasting, organic bread, vegetables, wine, sausages, olives, cheese, etc. We want to get to Bigbury before the tide cuts off Burgh Island, so walk through the place quickly, picking up some home-made soap as gifts, then a beef and stilton pasty for Rick and a cheese and bacon tart for me. We share a slice of ginger cake that is so good I can still taste it. (Total cost for food: £4.50.)

Then on to Bigbury (another thanks to Bellini). The wind has picked up and the waves are crashing and lovely. We park (£1.20), then walk across to Burgh Island. We stop to watch the para-sailers – oh, I would love to do that. It will have to be in my next lifetime, assuming I don't come back as a cockroach. It's such an amazing view, with the ocean crashing in from both sides as you walk across this hard sand in between. We have a pint at the Pilchard Inn, a tiny pub where the public are only allowed to sit in the small front room. The back area is reserved for those people staying at the Burgh Island hotel (http://www.burghisland.com/). (You aren't allowed any further on the island than the pub; the hotel and the walks around the island are for hotel residents only.)

Part of the reason I wanted to come here is because I am a great fan of Agatha Christie's and she stayed at the hotel (they have a room named after her) and used the island as her inspiration when she wrote 'And Then There Were None' (which I saw performed in London many years ago with Koo Stark – Prince Andrew's girlfriend) and 'Evil Under the Sun'. Some of Christie's stories have also been filmed here. As we are drinking our pint in a little porch attached to a side of the pub, so we can see the waves better, an English man stops a young woman who is climbing the hill to the hotel. He asks her how much it would cost to stay here and she says £364. He says, "A week?" And she answers, "No, a night" and keeps on walking up the hill. The fellow turns to us and says, "Is she serious?" And I tell him that I think she is.

We start chatting and, of course, he has the requisite relative in Kingston, Ontario. As he's leaving, he advises us to get a move on because the tide is coming in and if we get caught we will have to go by sea tractor through the waves (it costs about £1.50 per person). Although that appeals to me, it doesn't to Rick (remember I was a sailor in another life), so we down our drinks and make our way back. A long drive home, but we have a lot to talk about and it seems once you've been on a particular route once, the return trip isn't quite as scary.

On the news tonight, Madonna and Guy Ritchie are getting divorced. No one seems surprised in England. The coverage on the television is quite restrained - Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood at home are probably having a field day. I don't read the English tabloids, so don't know what they are saying. Also on the news, a town in Gloucestershire (Coleford) has put up their Christmas decorations today. Yikes!

Next: A Boat Trip on the Dart, Getting Lost at Greenway, Cream Tea at the Spinning Wheel

rickmav,

Thanks for the link you provided and help in answering all my questions. You way of picking cottages is not only simple, but logical.

Was this your first time driving around England? You mentioned that the routes get easier after you have done them once, so you are definitely better about getting around than I was!

When you put up the link for Saltram, I have to say, I had no idea what house it was used as in the film...and I consider myself at being quite proficient with things in Austen adaptations! Is it just me or does it seem really, really white? Perhaps it was cleaned since the movie?

Isn't it fun to see buildings that were in films! I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to things like that, and last year we were able to visit Lyme Park, which was Mr. Darcy's house in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. My friend and I were nearly giggling with delight, while my much more sensible sister tried to bring some decorum to our party.

So did Agatha Christie live on Burgh Island? Loved your descriptions of the food and the farm house - can't believe your entire lunch(plus dessert) was only 4.50 pounds! Quite a steal!

People always seem to look at us weird when we tell them one of the best things about traveling to England is watching what's on the tv - so glad to find a kindred spirit! Isn't watching all the tv shows, including the morning shows which are far superior to ours, great?

By the way, you are right - all the news shows couldn't shut up about Madonna getting divorced here. I'm surprised it wasn't bigger in England.

Hi Anna. No, we've driven in England many times, but never through that part of Devon until this year. Saltram House is fairly white, particularly if the sun is shining on it, although it may have been recently cleaned. I don't believe Agatha Christie ever lived on Burgh Island, although she stayed there while writing sometimes. Her Devon home was at Greenway, near Dartmouth, which we visit in my next report.

Ah...got it. Awaiting your next report!

Oh Riverford! I've not been to their farm, but every week I get a wonderful veggie box from them, delivered to my door! Have just eaten some delicious cavolo nero from last Thursday's box.

Burgh Island and Bigbury-on-Sea conjure some great memories for me - for many summers we stayed in Thurlestone near Salcombe and Kingsbridge and always spent some time on the beach-between-two-seas. I have lovely photos of my children as little more than babies on the beach because the sand was the best for digging and sandcastles, at the Pilchard (I don't remember any segregation between the hotel guests and the visiting public back then!), the sea-tractor (totally safe, just a very high railed platform with a motor to carry you through the waves!). I didn't know you couldn't walk over the island any more - one year we met Whoopi Goldberg and her beau (I think this was after Ted Danson, and he was a theatre producer) up there, and we had a short conversation without us ever mentioning we knew who she was!

The hotel has featured on Poirot several times, and was the inspiration for the location of that Agatha Christie thriller, the title of which was changed to And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie only ever visited there, and it is still a perfect example of Art Deco architecture, style and design.

To my regret I never got to Saltram in all those years I went there, so it is lovely to read your report about it. Please continue with this wonderful report.

Have just eaten some delicious cavolo nero from last Thursday's box.>>>>>

Everything you ever needed to know about the Cotswolds summed up in a sentence.....


(WTF is Cavolo nero? is it a poncy lettuce? No really, what on God's good earth is it?)

No, it's a poncy cabbage.

That's the Cotswolds for you. Even the cabbages are double barrelled and poncy.

CW - Aware that this is a bit rich....

Hello David, might have known you'd put in your tuppence worth LOL!

Cavolo Nero is a poncy cabbage, of Italian origin. Often used in minestrone soup. And now commonly grown in English fields, and widely available in supermarkets like Waitrose, though I have seen it in Sainsbuggers as well.

I use Riverford for my veggie box because I consider it way better value and contents wise than the local option of Prince Charles' Duchy box. I tested both a couple of years back, and Riverford came out tops. Anyway I can buy Duchy farm stuff if I can be bothered to drive a few miles to Tetbury, which I usually don't.

Actually, re the Cavolo Nero, I cooked it this evening briefly in boiling water, drained it then soused it in olive oil and lots of black pepper and chili flakes a la Jamie Oliver and lo and behold my teenage boys ate it alongside their fish'n'chips!

So not that much wrong with it except you haven't heard of it, eh?

So not that much wrong with it except you haven't heard of it, eh?>>>

i've heard of cabbage.

I went to public school.

Me and cabbage go back a LONG way.

I don't care if cabbage scrubs itself behind the ears and adopts an exotic name. It will always remind me of five mile runs and mad geography teachers.

It's the smell......

CW - who was 25 before he found out that carrots aren't in nature soggy orange discs.

A poncy cabbage?

This is what I am now going to call people that I'm not that fond of.

Thanks Julia for the info. on Riverford, Burgh Island, etc. We should have met.

CW... I too went to the equivalent of a girls public school. I remember overboiled cabbage, along with spam and beetroot, and many worse inedible offerings we were forced to eat.

OK, so you were 25 when you discovered carrots were ok to eat.

So maybe when you are 45 you will discover that when properly cooked, cabbage is not so bad, nor is properly cooked beetroot. As for spam, the less said the better, that definitely does NOT improve with decent cooking or the age of the eater.

PS to avoid the smell of cabbage - any sort, and also broccoli and cauliflower, add a bayleaf to the pan, and it neutralises the smell.

Rickmav, sorry to hijack your thread, I will try not to respond to any more from CW, but I had to put him right on cavolo nero and Cotswold eating habits LOL...

PS to avoid the smell of cabbage - any sort, and also broccoli and cauliflower, add a bayleaf to the pan, and it neutralises the smell.>>>

Alternatively, don't let the bloody stuff in your house in the first place.

You do know that mustard gas is made from cabbage don't you (CHOLMONDLEYTRUFACT)?

A Boat Trip on the Dart, Getting Lost at Greenway, Cream Tea at the Spinning Wheel

A lovely day today. We head for Greenway (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-greenway/), the home of Agatha Christie, now belonging to the National Trust. On the Trust website, it advises visitors to take the ferry from Dartmouth as the road is very narrow, so we do just that. We buy tickets for the Dartmouth Belle from a little kiosk on the quay and then walk to the place opposite the Harbour Office to wait for it. (It costs £14 for the two of us, return.)

There are so many big ferries around that we're shocked when our little boat comes chugging along. It reminds me of Humphrey's Bogart's 'African Queen'. We climb down some steep steps to the water and are helped on board – some more gracefully than others – by a nice-looking, young man. The back part of the boat is covered over, which gives you some protection from the wind, but most people want to sit at the front or along the sides. It takes about 25-30 minutes to get to Greenway Quay, and there are wonderful things to see as we go. Some interesting yachts, a boat builder, and isolated houses on the hills.

Greenway Quay is right across from the small village of Dittisham. There's a small, small boat going back and forth from it to Greenway; for someone who wanted a shorter ride on the river that might be an option. There is quite a steep climb to the reception area and I am embarrassed to say that elderly English people, some with two canes, frequently pass me. They must have the healthiest lungs and hearts.

The house itself isn't open, which is a disappointment, although we knew that ahead of time. It was supposed to be open to the public in the fall of 2008, now they are saying sometime in 2009 (renovations are costing £5.4 million). The second floor of the house is to be let as a holiday apartment – wouldn't that be a treat? On one of the walking trails, you pass quite close to the house and there is a lot of construction going on. It is quite a large, built of a lemony-white stone and at one point on the trip upriver you can see it quite clearly - but only for a moment.

The house is first mentioned in 1493; the Gilberts (remember Compton Castle) lived here in the 16th c. Agatha Christie and her archaeologist husband, Max Mallowan, bought the property in 1938 because she was born in Torquay, was a very private person, and they both loved to garden. During the war, the house was a home for child evacuees, but with increasing enemy flights over the Channel, the children were moved further inland (for a great interview with one of the evacuees see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2008/05/30/greenway_evacuee_feature.shtml).

In 1943, the house was taken over the U.S. Admiralty and it became the Officers' Mess for the 10th U.S. Patrol Boat Flotilla.

In 1959, Agatha Christie gave the house to her daughter and retired to her home near Wallingford in Oxfordshire. Rosalind and her husband, Anthony Hicks, ran a commercial nursery at Greenway, buying up nearby farmland. The estate was given to the National Trust in 2000 by Rosalind, and Agatha's grandson, Mathew Prichard.

The garden is huge, over 36 acres with hundreds of acres of farmland surrounding it. There are different routes to take, and there were times when we feel lost because it is so lush and there are so few people about. I think it would probably be prettier in the summer, when many of the flowers would be blooming, but it's still a great place to explore on a sunny day in October. According to the guidebook, Greenway is described as "a charming, secret garden held on the edge of wilderness."

There's a Tennis Court, a Walled Garden, Putting Green and a variety of statues and fountains. But my favourite place is Raleigh's Boathouse, named after Sir Walter, who used to visit his half-brother here. It appears in Dead Man's Folly as the place where one of the characters is strangled, and there is a small saloon with a balcony and two fireplaces that seems right out of the 1930s.

The return boat trip is a bit nippier (the young assistant, who virtually lifts me on board, tells us that the Belle makes seven trips a day), but once we land at Dartmouth the sun comes out again. We decide to have afternoon tea at the Spinning Wheel (£4.95 each for two pots of tea, two scones each with homemade jam and Devonshire cream) and it is very good. The cream is different from what we've had in the Cotswolds, for example, (denser) but just as yummy. The shop has some delicious looking desserts on display, as well.

Then we window-shop, enjoying the October sunshine and I buy some Christmas cards at the National Trust store. We go home and pack up - tomorrow we leave for Norton-sub-Hamdon in Somerset. We have really enjoyed our holiday in Devon and will definitely come back. There are so many things we didn't see that were on our list, but we wanted to savour what we saw and not rush from place to place. I think we've done exactly that.

We have our final dinner at The Laughing Monk in Strete. Wonderful, wonderful place. We're not foodies, but I think if you were, this would be one of those 'must eat' places. We are able to take advantage of the Early Bird special (6:30-7:30 p.m.) which is £15 each for two courses. I have the roasted vine tomato soup with basil pesto, and pan-roasted chicken breast with potato gnocchi and figs (I've never had a fig before!), and Rick has citrus flavoured salmon with a cucumber and orange salad, and a local caught sea bass with sweet and sour peppers and a potato rosti. We share a selection of vegetables. We order a bottle of white wine, and although the desserts look scrumptious, we are absolutely stuffed. What a nice way to end our holiday in Devon.

Next: Exquisite Montacute, Garden Cottage and Dinner With Lord Nelson

rickmav:

Very interesting to read the positive account of Doreen Vautour as a child evacuee. Amazing that someone actually took photos of her as a child evacuee.

Sandy

rickmav,

Enjoyed all the historical fact about Greenway - never realized AC loved gardening. Why is it that the National Trust sites hardly have pictures of the estates? That always frustrates me...were you planning to put up some pictures for your trip report?

Your cream tea sounded very good - I have to actually go to Devon one day so I can have real devonshire cream!

Was "The Laughing Monk" a gastro-pub? The name just sort of reminds me of the crazy, kooky names pubs have Your meal did sound very good, and an incredible deal - too bad you didn't have room for dessert!

Exquisite Montacute, Garden Cottage and Dinner With Lord Nelson

Today we are up early to finish tidying up the cottage and get on the road to Somerset. Get bogged down a bit in traffic outside Paignton, but once we get on the M5 we really make time.

Our plan is to go Lytes Cary first, then Montacute House (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-montacute), then check into our cottage. But when we get to Lytes, it's closed. I check the GBH Pass catalogue and it says it's open on Fridays, but for some reason it isn't today. So, on to Montacute. What at amazing place. (We used our GBH Pass again, saving £17.)It reminds me of Hardwick Hall (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-hardwickhall) in Derbyshire. (Note: Anna – Montacute was also used in the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility.)

Sir Edward Phelips, Master of the Rolls to Queen Elizabeth I, built the house in the late 1500s. It has been described as "the most beautiful Elizabethan house in England." Unfortunately, the house was repeatedly stripped of its contents – usually to pay death duties or gambling debts – so what you see inside has been brought from somewhere else. The house was last lived in by the Phelips in 1911, they leased it out to those with enough cash to keep it up.

One leaseholder was Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, who lived here with his mistress, Elinor Glyn – a writer I'd never heard of. (There's a stack of her books in one of the bedrooms). From the titles, they look like steamy romance novels.) According to one of the room stewards, Glyn coined the word 'It' referring to a woman's sex appeal. She was also a Hollywood screenwriter – after Curzon dumped her – and made Mark Twain blush with her frank discussion of sex. (Glyn apparently read about Curzon's engagement to someone else in the Times. She moved out of the house and never saw, or spoke to him, again.)

Thomas Cook's grandson bought the house in 1931 when it was going to be demolished, restored it and handed it over to the organization that preceded the National Trust. In 1975, it became affiliated with the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Long Gallery at the top of the house displays much of the museum's collection of Elizabethan portraits. It was perfect seeing pictures of the very people who may have walked these halls.

There are also portraits of many of the Kings of England and their consorts and I never realized before how unattractive Henry VIII's wives were. They all look somewhat cranky. Of course, being married to Henry would probably put you in a bad mood. Saw a portrait of Stephen I, whom I've read about in Ellis Peters' Cadfael mysteries. He looks almost cross-eyed. John I was no Tom Cruise either. There's also a great portrait of Bess of Hardwick, looking determined, intelligent and wise. It must have been a time of very strong women.

One of the volunteers who came here after the war to get the house in shape so it could be opened to the public was Vita Sackville-West, the owner of Sissinghurst in Kent. She apparently helped with the planting. If you like samplers, there's also a rare collection of here from the 17th c., donated by a Dr. Goodhart (what a great name for a doctor!).

Followed owner Jacky Fisher's instructions to Garden Cottage (http://www.stilwell.co.uk/affiliates/asp/detail2.asp?id=187&searchId=soa036&DetailId=soa036/1)
in the very small village of Norton-sub-Hamdon (not to be confused with Stoke-sub-Hamdon, just down the road). It's perfect for two people with a great bedroom on the second floor that's open to the rafters, 1½ baths and beautiful views over Jacky and John's garden. They have two very friendly dogs, Izzy and Polly. Taking a walk around the garden, I can't believe the size of the dahlias. They are enormous. When I ask John what his secret is, he says he doesn't take them out for the winter, but cuts them down and covers them with ash from the wood stove.

We unpack, get settled in, then at 7 p.m. walk to the local pub, The Lord Nelson. John warns us that there are new owners and he's heard it's noisy, but we think it's great. Very friendly, nicely decorated and the food is good. I have the spinach and ricotta tagliatelle with plum tomatoes and pine nuts, and Rick has the steak, ale and mushroom pie. Mine comes with a side salad and Rick's with potatoes and a variety of vegetables. With a pint each it comes to £25.

Have a stroll around the village before we return to our cottage; we can pretend that we live here. It's very quiet, full of stone houses and a little brook that runs along the road just across from our cottage. You can see some photographs of the village at: http://www.nortonsubhamdon.org.uk/villviews.htm.

Watch an inane but hilarious show called Celebrity Ding-Dong with Alan Carr. A team from I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Strictly Come Dancing compete for charity and one of the questions the audience has to vote on is which of the team members they think is the most unhygienic. David Gest – Liza Minelli's ex – 'wins' and he looks like he's going to cry. I can't believe he's still in Britain (we watched him on I'm A Celebrity when we were here in 2006). Maybe he just won't leave.

Then we watch Jonathan Ross (who, according to the BBC website, is in a lot of trouble for a prank call he made) interview Ricky Gervais and Gordon Ramsey. They are all extremely rude to each other and it's very funny. Ross teases Gervais about his fang-like teeth and actually brings his own dentist on stage for a consult.

The next morning we go to Sherborne (just down the road but technically in Dorset) to check out the farmer's market. Load up on fresh produce and cheese, dishcloths that I always buy in England, and a few other odds and ends. Lovely town, with lots of shops and medieval architecture. Has a nice feel about it. We follow the signs to a book fair. Oh my goodness. I could have bought the lot. Rick reminds me of our limited suitcase capabilities, so I only buy three.

Next, we explore the Abbey (http://www.sherborneabbey.com/misc/panorama.shtml). There has been a church here since 705 A.D. (dates like this always blow my mind. Canada hasn't even been a country for 150 years.) Lovely ceilings, stained glass and alter. Very atmospheric. Sir Walter Raleigh used to worship here (that guy got around). There's also a famous public school in Sherborne, our landlord's son was a pupil (as was Jeremy Irons and John le Carre). Goodbye Mr. Chips was filmed here.

Have a quick sandwich, then off to visit the castle Raleigh built on the edge of town called, of course, Sherborne Castle (http://www.sherbornecastle.com/). There's an old castle, in ruins, across the lake. The Wingfield Digbys moved into Sherborne Castle (also covered by the GBH Pass – savings £18), in 1617. (According to one of the room stewards, the family can no longer afford to live here.) You can rent Sherborne Castle for weddings, and during WWII, the house was Commando HQ for the D-Day landings.

I start a conversation with one of the room stewards and it turns into an interesting discussion/debate as English tourists join in. The topic is the economy and, as I plead to Rick later, I didn't even start it. The room steward begins muttering about death duties and the lousy government and I ask a simple question – and we're off. The gist of the discussion is that the Labour government is responsible for the financial mess the country is in – even though Gordon Brown acts as if he is some sort of hero for rescuing England, Europe, and the World. There seems to be a consensus that there will soon be (protest) marching in the streets.

From there, the discussion goes on to the government taking away the Queen's sovereignty – I didn't follow this part, but I was too scared to ask a question – and Brown knew he was doing something wrong because he visited her at night and made her sign some piece of paper. At this point, there is a rallying cry to support the Queen and then everyone either looks embarrassed or resolute, and leaves to continue touring the house. Rick drags me away before I asked another question. Livens up the day.

The Green Drawing Room is spectacular and I don't know why I'm always fascinated by the kitchens in these places. It's not a room I inhabit that regularly at home. I guess I keep imagining a Tudor banquet, or a Gosford Park weekend – and marvel at how the heck they fed everyone.

The Castle overlooks a lake and gardens created by Capability Brown (another guy who got around). The lake covers 50 acres, the grounds another 40. The gardens are supposed to be beautiful in the spring; we wander along the lakeshore, appreciating another lovely day in England.

One of my other recurring medical ailments decides to take over at this point (Rick has forbidden me to write any more about the sciatica in this trip report, he said it's just plain boring), so we decide to head home and enjoy the garden at our cottage. The owners are about and we have a nice chat – I don't know why so many people in England seem to think that the French and English in Canada are at constant war. We're just not that exciting.

Next: A Call to Julia_t, No Room at Stourhead and Croquet at Lytes Cary

I'm curious - as I haven't been to any of these castles and historic homes - but do you find them kind of boring after a while? Do they start looking the same?

Say when we were in the Loire Valley last year, we visited many chateaus over just a few days. But each one is very unique and different from one another. Would you say that's comparable to the places you visited on this trip?

[There is a TV series called Treasures of the Trust done by the National Trust, and I've watched several episodes of it. After a few, I had a hard time keeping track of the houses as they seem to look quite similar.]

Anna - yes, I will post pictures once the report is done (multi-tasking is a challenge for me) and I agree with you that the National Trust doesn't have a great website re: the individual properties. Perhaps, they only show you enough to tease you into coming there. And The Laughing Monk is a restaurant, I probably didn't make that clear.

yk - No, I don't find the houses boring, or I wouldn't go. More importantly, I wouldn't be able to get my husband to go (He has a built in bore-ometer.)

I find that each of them are unique because of their stories, which is the part that interests me the most. I also love English history and literature and I find the stately homes, gardens, castles, writers' homes, etc. create a context for what I read, or even the movies I watch.

The only time I've found that the edges blur a bit is if we see too many too quickly, and don't either purchase a guidebook or read the information sheets in each room.

rickmav,

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Hardwick Hall was also used for the recent Jane Eyre adaptation with Toby Stephens. I really hope Lee Ann gets to see your trip report since I know she a Austen fan also.

Do you think you could explain the idea of death taxes. I shamefully only know bits of it from watching 'Monarch of the Glen', but as you mentioned, it seemed like if the family couldn't pay them, they could lose there estate.

I wish I could have been in the room when all the locals started talking about their government - I must never go to the right places!

I found it hilarious that the English think the French & English in Canada have such animosity with each other...until I started wondering the same thing - I'm very easily influenced. But then again, I still find it hilarious that the English & French still think they are at war with each other in Europe.

Stourhead - yay!

Anna - I suppose the death taxes in the UK is similar to the estate tax in the US? I don't know anything about it except when I visited Wilton House (home of the earl of Pembroke) back in May, I was told that the family had to sell a very valuable diptych in order to pay death duties in the early 1900s. The diptych is the famous Wilton Diptych at the National Gallery in London.

>>I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Hardwick Hall was also used for the recent Jane Eyre adaptation with Toby Stephens. I really hope Lee Ann gets to see your trip report since I know she a Austen fan also.<<

I've been reading and greatly enjoying this report, Anna - thanks for thinking of me!

Mr. Pickle's favorite film is Sense and Sensibility; I know we would love to visit those filming sites.

To be pedantic, Haddon Hall was used in Jane Eyre, not Hardwick, though. It was also used in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice as well as The Princess Bride.

Lee Ann

yk,

I have about zero knowledge when it comes to anything estate-like(when it comes to business matters), so I wouldn't really know how it is in the US either. I also woefully know little about art, but I'm guessing that the family had to sell a piece of art to pay off the debts?

Lee Ann,

I'm glad you have been reading this, as I think you've visited some of the same areas. Thanks for clearing up my mistake - I'm pretty sure I just saw that the house started with and "H" and ended in hall...I guess the wealthy in Derbyshire weren't that creative

Did you mean S&S was your husbands favorite Austen film, or favorite film in general - either way, I'm impressed! At the rate of going totally off-topic(sorry rickmav) have you seen the most reason BBC version of S&S? Bit different in parts, but did you know the cottage the Dashwood family lives in (post-Norland) is available for holiday stays? Amazing views, but apparently you need to bring your own linens!!

Sense and Sensibility is Mr. Pickle's favorite film, though he likes most of the other Austen adaptations I own as well.

I saw that cottage is available for rent, though I don't think I would want to haul linens in my luggage!

Lee Ann

Ah, Elinor Glyn - she was associated with the image of mad passion on a tigerskin rug (can't remember if this was a scene in one of her pieces or a publicity photo), giving rise to the verse:

Would you like to sin with Elinor Glyn
On a tigerskin?
Or would you prefer to err with her
On some other fur?

Can't quite imagine stuffy old Lord Curzon with her, somehow.

The death duties problem arose from old-established estates having inherited capital tied up in heritage buildings and artworks while running the business side on credit a lot of the time. If the owner died at the wrong time, the tax bill required chunks of the capital to be released in a hurry - or "goods in lieu" to be handed to "the nation" to cover it.

A Call to Julia_t, No Room at Stourhead and Croquet at Lytes Cary

Had originally planned a long drive to Berkeley Castle and Dyrham Park today, and to meet fellow Fodorite, Julia_t, for lunch/tea but my 'troubles' require more constant proximity to washroom facilities and I am not really a shining example of that battered species, The North American Fodorite. Rather than let all sides down, Rick phones Julia and offers our regrets. She is very gracious and hopefully next year, if we get to the area for Christmas, we will be able to meet her.

We decide some October sunshine and a brisk walk at Stourhead Gardens may cheer us up. Stourhead is one of our very favourite places in England. For those of you who may be interested, my first and only short story was about Stourhead (you can read it, if you are bored out of your mind, at: http://www.writersblock.ca/fall2000/fiction.htm).

A few miles from Stourhead, we realize something is going on. It seems as if every vehicle and person in this part of England is trying to get to the same place. Not tourists, but Brits with their children and dogs, picnic baskets and walking sticks. It's incredible. We had envisioned a romantic stroll around the grounds but this has the feeling of a forced march, all in the same direction, hoping to God that no one slips and falls.

Everyone is in a cheerful mood, however, and lots of people ask where we are from (I have come to believe that half of the people living in Canada are actually British), offering us delicacies from the backs of their cars where they have an entire dinner service set up.

After we park, we debate whether to give up and try to find our way out of the back, back, back, overflow, back parking lot, but decide we'll see if Stourhead House is open and how busy it is. I've seen it once before, Rick never has.

There's only a small crowd, so we venture in (save £21 with GBHP). The house belonged to the Hoare family and was given to the National Trust in 1946. One of the conditions of the gift is that their descendents can use two apartments on the second floor. As we walk through the house, we pass through a sitting room still used by Amanda Hoare on weekends. Imagine, watching telly on a Friday evening in the midst of all this splendour.

I like the library the best, and think I recognize a photo of Thomas Hardy on the desk. When I ask the room steward, she says that he and Alda Hoare were great friends. I covet the mahogany library stairs on wheels, wouldn't that be great in our downstairs den. The Saloon has a decidedly Edwardian feel to it, with palm plants and groupings of furniture. You can easily imagine people gossiping, smoking pipes and cigars, bemoaning the state of the Empire.

After the house, we walk toward the gardens, but it is still a madhouse. We stop in at the Spread Eagle Inn, but it is so crowded they are no longer taking reservations for meals anytime during the day. So, we decide to take to road and see if we can catch Lytes Cary open today.

Lytes Cary is a little gem. Reminds me of Baddesley Clinton, north of Warwick, and Great Chalfield Manor, which we've seen on other trips. Lytes Cary was built in the late 1300s and has an Elizabethan feel to it, but on a small, small scale.

Part of the property is actually available as a holiday let, and one of the room stewards tell us that it costs £2000 a week, but has 7 bedrooms. You can play croquet on the lawn and some club is in the midst of a rousing (for croquet) game and it makes such an interesting image with this ancient, little house in the background with Victorian-looking (some actually look that old) croquet players, all in white, in front.

You enter through The Great Hall, which, in this case, is very small. The steward asks where we are from (we, obviously, have the look of the perpetual tourist about us) and when we say Canada, he tells us that he has spent many lovely holidays in Montreal. And then he says a very strange thing. He says he always thought that if the English and French-speaking people had worked together instead of hating each other so much, Canada could have been a great nation. I don't know whether to slap him or just move on. (I am reminded of the heated discussion on this site on 'great' nations.)

If he means Canada could have been a world power, most Canadians don't believe that is our destiny. We wouldn't want the headaches. Living next door to one is close enough. But I don't know where he gets the idea that the French and English are at each other's throats all the time. I can only think that the FLQ crisis in the 1970s still lingers in the memories of late, middle-aged Brits.

The house was built and owned by the Lytes family, fell into disrepair, and was rescued by Sir Edward Jenner, son of Queen Victoria's doctor. (Weren't there rumours that Dr. Jenner was Jack the Ripper, or is that someone else I'm thinking of?) It's quite dark, cold, and medieval feeling.

Most of the flowers in the garden are finished, but the lawn is that lovely, velvet-like green. The front garden is full of these strange topiaries that look like witches, but I think are suppose to imitate the shape of a dovecote in a further garden.

We pick up a Sunday Times on our way home and spend the rest of the day reading it. Our landlord stops by to warn us that the weather is supposed to turn very bad, lots of wind and rain.

The night is very windy and as the rain beats against the French windows, we decide to have a lazy morning, then venture into Sherborne to do some gift shopping if the rain lets up. After a few hours, it doesn't look as if it's going to get much better, but we are stir-crazy, so decide to go into Sherborne anyway and plop ourselves in front of the computer at the library to catch up on what's happening at home.

Someone, I don't remember if it was on this site, recommended the Pear Tree Deli & Cafe in Sherborne. Oh, what a treat. We have to wait for a table, but it's worth it. The place smells heavenly and as you wait in line, you get to peruse all these wonderful shelves and coolers full of all kinds of tempting treats. Rick has the lunch special – chilli shepherd's pie with thick, brown bread and a small salad, and I have the chicken and bacon salad. With a Coke, comes to £15. We buy some macadamia nut cheesecake to take home.

Spend the rest of the day reading, drinking wine and eating crisps and cheesecake.

Next: Wonderful Wells, Groovy Glastonbury and Busy Bath

rickmav - another question for you: Why did you decide to go during October, instead of May or June? (I'm truly just curious, not a criticism.) Since so many places you visited are famous for their gardens, I would imagine a Spring visit would be much nicer than late fall.

Looking forward to the rest.

(Weren't there rumours that Dr. Jenner was Jack the Ripper, or is that someone else I'm thinking of?) >>>

I suspect you're thinking of Sir William Gull.

Anna - I'm glad others took on the task of explaining death duties. I know I read and hear a lot about about them when visiting the Stately Homes but have never really understood them.

Anna and ElendilPickle re: bringing your own linens, we find about 1/3 of the cottages we look at either want you to bring your own linens or pay extra for them. The cottage in Somerset charged us £3 per person, per week for linens.

Thanks PatrickLondon for the Elinor Glyn info. She sounds fascinating, will have to see if I can find any of her books.

Thanks CW for Gull. I will stop maligning poor Dr. Jenner's name.

Hi yk, missed your message last time around. The short answer to your legitimate question is October was the only time my husband could get off work. But we've been to England many times over the past 25 years and like to shake things up a bit, never knowing if we'll discover something really interesting because we go when a lot of other people aren't about. Of course, there are trade-offs but as long as you know you can return, I think it's worth it.

One year my sister-in-law and I went in February and it was one of the best times I ever had in England. It was wretched at home, weather-wise (we were living in northern Canada), so England felt positively balmly. We stayed for a week in London and went to a play every night, plus two matinees - no husband complaining "I'll kill myself if you make me go to another play" - saw snow on the moors, were the only ones at Stourhead, almost the only ones at Hampton Court and booked cottages with fireplaces. The pubs were full of locals, we visited some long-lost cousins, and the roads seemed far less busy. Her and I still talk about returning at that time of year.

Patricklondon,

Thanks for explaining death duties.

rickmav,
Was it a holiday when you visited Stourhead, or did everyone just have a burning desire to go there the same day you did?

Thanks CW for Gull. I will stop maligning poor Dr. Jenner's name. >>>

I should hope so too! Edward Jenner has probably saved more human lives than any other man.

He introduced the smallpox vaccine.

BTW William Gull was the person who identified Anorexia Nervosa (and wasn't the ripper).

CW - Full of it.

The Edward Jenner Museum is in the village of Berkeley, where he was born in 1749, and the museum is in the house where Jenner lived as an adult. You can walk there from the Castle.

http://www.jennermuseum.com/overview/index.shtml

His discovery of vaccination has developed into one of the most important branches of modern medicine - Immunology. This science helps the world to fight and treat many infectious diseases. In addition to this profound discovery, Jenner made several other contributions to medicine. He was probably the first to associate angina with hardening of the arteries. He also described Rheumatic Heart Disease. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789 for correctly describing for the first time, the curious nesting behaviour of cuckoos and he studied hibernation habits of hedgehogs. He was also extremely interested in hot-air balloons and experimented with them. You can read all about him on the above website.

Wonderful Wells, Groovy Glastonbury and Busy Bath

The next day the sun is shining as we head off to Wells, a small city at the foot of the Mendip Hills. We park in the town centre, very easy (£1.20). Lovely place. Jammed full of shops (including at least six charity shops – my favourites) and we explore most of them as we make our way to Wells Cathedral (http://www.wellscathedral.org.uk/).

The west front of the Cathedral of St. Andrew (from the 1200s) contains one of the largest galleries of medieval sculptures in the world (some 400 figures). On the lower levels are biblical scenes, then kings, bishops, angels, the apostles, and then Christ.

I'm not a big churchgoer, but places like this and York Minster and Lincoln Cathedral uplift my soul. Full of all the voices that have prayed here. You're asked to make a donation when you go in and it costs £3 for a camera permit. Amazed at the famous scissor arches, created in 1338 to the keep the towers from sinking. Beautiful stained glass and lots of little chapels off to the sides. Delicately painted ceiling. We light candles for family members.

The Chapter House on the second floor is atmospheric. It's octagonal-shaped and is where the canons would meet to conduct church business. It's all stone and has places for the important clergy, with their diocese and a carving of them above the seat. It was completed in 1306.

Enjoy watching the great clock – one of the oldest in Europe – that chimes the quarter-hour. As soon as the chimes begin, a group of jousting knights ride round and round on their horses and the same fellow gets bashed at the same place on every turn. Entertaining in a weird kind of way.

Outside the Cathedral is the cobble stoned Vicars' Close, which is suppose to be the oldest continuously inhabited street in Europe – who keeps track of these things? The houses were built for the male choir and were finished in 1363. One story is that the sheltered street was built to keep the choir members away from temptation, since they had a habit of womanizing. It is also built sloping upwards, getting narrower as it goes, to make it look longer. Would love to live in one of those little houses. Will definitely return to Wells.

We want to get to Glastonbury so we can climb the Tor in the day light, so skip the Bishop's Palace, which you can see through the trees. Pick up a sandwich at a bakery called Gregg's. Think it's a chain. Full of school kids in their uniforms. I have to laugh at how dishevelled some of them manage to look, even in a uniform.

On to Glastonbury, about four miles away. Of course, the first thing you notice from every direction is Glastonbury Tor (http://glastonburytor.org.uk/) - the rich green hill rising out of the plain with a ruined tower at the top. Some believe Glastonbury Tor was King Arthur's Avalon, the island where Excalibur was created and where Arthur went to recover from wounds. The land is managed by the National Trust.

You can't park right at the Tor, so we park at the Rural Life Museum (free) (map - http://www.somerset.gov.uk/media/40E1D/MAP2.jpg), then walk. There are supposed to be buses from the town centre that take you a bit closer but we can't locate them.

The Rural Life Museum (free) (http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/culturecommunity/museums/somersetmuseums/somersetrurallife/) is worth a quick peek, it follows a typical farm worker's life from birth to death. And if you're interested in Victorian farming tools and equipment (we aren't), there's also the Abbey Barn.

The material I read before our trip says it's about half an hour to the top of the Tor. It takes me longer than that, and I'm glad there's only one other couple about and an elderly gent with a dog who looks as if he climbs the bloody thing every day – because I'm red in the face by the time we get to the top (too many crisps) – but it's worth it. I've seen pictures of the Tor in the mist and think that would make a very cool photo, but I'm glad it's a perfect autumn day because the views are remarkable.

One of the reasons I want to climb it, besides the crisps, is because I have a very dear friend who suffers from debilitating migraines. They've turned her into a recluse and since the Tor is supposed to be this magical place of healing – and she believes in that kind of thing – I hope I can tap into some of that healing energy. I'm not really a believer in that kind of stuff, but she's tried everything else the traditional medical establishment has to offer and I figure, what the hell, it can't hurt.

I don't start speaking in tongues – I couldn't have spoken a word anyway, for the panting – but with the warm sun, a cool breeze, the amazing views, there's certainly a feeling of peace and eternity up here. I'm glad we went.

You always know what muscles aren't working when you come down a hill and I'm hurting by the time we get to the middle of the town of Glastonbury. But the site of a market in full swing instantly revives me, as does the weird and wonderful High Street. It's as if I've time-warped back to the 1960s/early 70s. The smell of incense hangs in the air, almost every shop window is decorated for Halloween – with an emphasis on the voluptuous witch-end of things, and the most interesting people are wandering the streets, or providing entertainment. Some of the shop names are great: Speaking Tree Bookshop, The Goddess & The Green Man, The Psychic Piglet, Yin Yang.

I've never been to any place like Glastonbury. It's surreal. There's a guy playing the bagpipes with a mohawk, no shirt and a kilt over jeans. The woman who waits on me in St. Michael's Hospice, where I buy a pink fairy for my Christmas tree, wears a pentagram around her neck. A man stops an English woman and asks for some change and she tells him to: "Bugger off. I'm already living on my overdraft." There's a group of flautists, playing the most haunting music, who could have stepped off the cover of a Celtic Dreams CD, except that every conceivable body part is either tattooed or pierced. Wonderful.

We go into Glastonbury Abbey (£5 per person) (http://www.glastonburyabbey.com/index.php?&sid=1432a8260a4ba317aa84300d49c5fa9d&rpn=grounds), just off the High Street, and it's as if you've entered another time entirely. Although it's now in ruins, the Abbey was once the richest in England and is considered the earliest Christian sanctuary in Britain. Arthur and Guinevere are supposed to be buried here. It's very peaceful, people are feeding the ducks and relaxing on the grass or sitting under the trees – and in the distance, you can still hear the bagpipes and the flutes.

We leave Glastonbury in a very mellow mood, and decide to drive to Stourhead. As I mentioned before, it's a place we both love, and we both want to continue enjoying this feeling of peace and tranquility. The gardens are beautifully lit with the late afternoon sun, which heightens the oranges, reds and yellows of the trees. There are hardly any people about and we sit and walk, walk and sit. I take far too many pictures – I could produce a coffee table book on Stourhead with all the pictures I've taken over the years – and just enjoy the end of the day. We finish off with a pint in the Spread Eagle Inn, then head for home.

Decide we aren't going to watch the news tonight, don't want to ruin our calm mood, so make dinner, open a bottle of wine, and talk about our lovely day.

Leave early the next morning for Bath. We've been before but are scouting out locations for our next Christmas in England, hopefully, 2009, and have heard that Bath celebrates the season right. Rick doesn't like Bath, he's not sure why, so we are going to see if it was just that first visit (I've been with my sister and mother as well) or something else.

Lots of lorries on the road, which makes travelling, slow. It rains, then the sun comes out, hope it stays that way. One of the reasons Rick didn't enjoy his first visit to Bath was the traffic, so we plan on parking in the Newbridge Park 'n Ride, but unbelievably it is full to the brim. After making a couple of loops through, we decide to take our chances and drive into the city centre.

Have to go around the block once because we miss the first turn into a parking area just off Charlotte St. (Bath parking map - http://www.cityofbath.co.uk/bath_map/body_bath_map.html).

Lots and lots of school groups around, half of them are either French or French immersion. Go in the wrong entrance for the Roman Baths (http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/), so take a shortcut through the Pump Rooms. Not hard to imagine Jane Austen and her group gadding about here. We don't stop, we've had tea here before, which we enjoyed, complete with background music from a small orchestra, but make our way to the Baths (covered with the GBHP – save £28).

Again, lots of school groups and it seems as if the teachers have lost control. The teenagers are taking advantage of all the dark corners and I keep coming across pairs of them unexpectedly. And, I don't know if it's my imagination, but the whole place seems so much darker than previous visits. Perhaps, the teenagers have found the dimmer switch. Where the sunshine is spilling in, however, there's lots of interesting things to see.

Everyone is carrying around the telephone-style guides. It reminds me of some science fiction B movie from the 70s, we all look like a pod of shuffling zombies. The commentary is interesting – although, why would they have Bill Bryson on there? – but I prefer to wander about out of order (which could be my family motto). Shop for a bit when we finish at the Baths. Lots of lovely things. Pick up some bath bombs at Lush – what great staff they have there.

Decide to have lunch at a place recommended on Fodors (I think it was yk who was there) – Raphael (http://www.raphaelrestaurant.co.uk/). Rick is pushing for O'Neils, an Irish pub, but I'm getting a bit tired of pubs, so we venture into Raphael. For some reason, I'm reminded of the Paris bistro in Victor/Victoria where Julie Andrews gets thrown out for bringing in a cockroach. (I am constantly amazed and frightened by the associations my mind makes.)

We are the only customers and the waitress makes us feel very welcome. There is a fixed two-course lunch for £10.95 each and Rick has the bruschetta for a starter, I have the carrot soup with orange. The bruschetta is very different from what we had in Italy, but it's good. It has tomato, caramelized onions and a thick slab of mozzarella on top of a piece of French bread. More sweet tasting than vinegary. The soup is good.

For a main dish, Rick has the local sausages with Dijon and chevre mash, and I have a frittata with roasted peppers, baby spinach and brie. Both are good and filling. We share a bottle of water.

Then on to Bath Abbey (donation requested at entry, no charge for taking pictures) - http://www.bathabbey.org/. Kind of underwhelming after Wells. Hordes of school kids, chasing each other from one chapel to the other. They all have clipboards, looks like they are on a kind of religious treasure hunt. Listen to one teacher as he explains to a group of 12-year old boys about the tablets on the walls. "Just imagine that you died and your mates had a whip 'round (I think that's what he calls it) and collect some money to buy something to remember you by. That's what these plaques are."

Then we walk on to the Fashion Museum (http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/). The entry fee is included with the Baths/GBHP. I've been here a number of times and have always enjoyed it, but this time it is disappointing. They warn you when you go in that there are a limited number of exhibits open, although they don't say why, and what you see isn't that remarkable. One thing I notice from my last visit, which was a few years ago now, is that instead of presenting the clothes in chronological order, they have them all mixed together with some questionable themes connecting them.

Although I don't wear the latest fashions, I've always enjoyed following different designers' work and I can't believe what the Fashion Museum is showing is the best of the best. The only part I enjoy is where they compare Georgian, Regency and Victorian styles, with descriptions about how and why the styles changed. I don't even like the telephone-style guides. The commentary is more mini-essays on fashion instead of imparting worthwhile information. (How can you tell I didn't enjoy it?)

We get turned around when we come out of the Fashion Museum a lovely woman gets us on the right track to our car. I'd hoped to stop by the Jane Austen Centre, but Rick notices that the traffic is picking up and would prefer to miss rush hour so we leave.

Watch the news tonight and reporters and politicians are finally using the 'R' word, recession. Also, notice that the reporters seem a bit obsessed with Sarah Palin, there is usually one news item about her every day. Always kind of a 'tabloid' angle – although, possibly, she is an easy target. I don't like her but I still find it sexist and exploitive.

Kind of a grumpy day. I don't think Rick has changed his mind about Bath, and I think I've been influenced by him. Perhaps, it was just such a contrast to Wells and Glastonbury.

Next: A Perfect Day in the Country, the Dorset Coast and Fabulous Forde Abbey

"But then again, I still find it hilarious that the English & French still think they are at war with each other in Europe."

Not quite.

We know we are. The French aren't quite so sure.

I continue to enjoy your journey through England. Your description of Wells and Glastonbury brought back some lovely distant memories for me. I visited those places (by public transportation) back in 1993... overdue for a revisit!

I don't know why Bill Bryson recorded the "alternative" audioguide at the Roman Baths, but I found him quite funny, at least more entertaining than the official audioguide descriptions.

I cannot take credit for Raphael restaurant... it was julia_t's suggestion as she's the expert on Bath.

I can't even recall what it's like inside Bath Abbey; altho it has a very unique facade with angels climbing up/down the ladders.

A bit off-topic, rickmav, do Canadians use British words instead of American words? I didn't realize you guys use lorries instead of trucks, for example.

Still enjoying your report! I love the little details you include and the turn of phrase you use. ("the teenagers found the dimmer swtch" overheard on the street "I'm already living on my overdraft")

I too prefer Wells to Bath, though I can't put my finger on why. Perhaps it's that Wells has a smaller feel to it. However, that said, if someone offered me a trip to Bath, I'd grab it! Likewise, if I were in the area and someone in the party said, "Let's go to Bath today," I'd go just to see if I were wrong the first time.

Anna1013 - I don't think it was a holiday when we went to Stourhead, just a beautiful Sunday. Although the National Trust was having some kind of membership promotion, but I can't think that was enough to bring everyone out.

Thanks CW and Julia_t for Dr. Jenner info. Another reason to - one day - go to Berkeley. One of the tourists, a Scot, at Lyte Cary
wondered if it was the same Jenner associated with a shop(s) in Scotland. The room steward thought yes. As far as you know, is that true?

yk - I don't think Canadians use British terms deliberately - although with so many Brits living in Canada - their lingo may have made its way into my subconscious. It's just that being middle-aged and having read English books for probably 40 years, watched English television and movies, and travelling there every two years for the past 25, I've picked up terms that I no longer filter out. When I was teaching I would often say something and the students would look at me and say, what does that mean? I would have used an English term for something instead of a Canadian one. Of course, they thought me a bit batty.

irishface - interesting to hear that someone had a similar reaction to Bath and Wells.

A Perfect Day in the Country, the Dorset Coast and Fabulous Forde Abbey

It's our last day in Somerset and we really haven't got anything planned, so after a leisurely morning, we decide to really put the miles on the old Vauxhall and drive through parts of Dorset, East Devon and Somerset.

(Last night, we were sitting watching television and the bell ringers at the local church started practicing. We experienced this once before when we were staying in a cottage just outside Banbury. The weird thing is that the day before we'd watched Midsomer Murders and it was the one where the bell ringers are killed off one by one.)

Last year, on an episode of Relocation, Relocation, we saw a town called Burton Bradstock. It looked charming and when we study our driving map, it doesn't look that far away, so we decide to check it out. It's a bit overcast and windy, but not too cold.

By the time we get there, it's time for lunch, so we stop at The Three Horseshoes in the center of this tiny village. This is one of the best pubs we've been to in England. Not only is the food great, but there's no piped music or video games, it's bright but full of character (beams, fireplace, etc.), and there's a nice, middle-aged crowed enjoying their pints and lunch. (I can't stop staring at one woman; she is a doppelganger for Virginia Woolf. Eerie.) And the staff is friendly and helpful - they stop by our table twice to see if everything is okay and if we need anything).

The pub has two 'Special of the Day' blackboards, one is for regular dishes, the other is seafood. Rick has fresh salmon with new potatoes and salad. I have lasagne and chips – I never understand why the English serve you potatoes with pasta – and a side salad. They also have a house dressing which is very good – kind of like a creamy Italian. Both meals are very tasty.

Although Rick orders at the bar, it's the first pub we've been to where you don't pay when you order (food or beer), you pay when you are leaving. Costs us £20 for meals and a pint each.

We wander around the village after lunch, then decide to head for the coast, which we saw as we drove in. We follow the road to West Bay. Lots of caravans off to one side, which kind of spoils the look of the cliffs and the bay, but there is a beautiful shingle beach and the ocean is wild and gorgeous. Rick has to hold on to me so I can take a picture. In the distance, we can see a pier, so decide to try and find it.

We find the pier, on the outskirts of Bridport. The waves are absolutely slamming into the beach. We're both mesmerized by it. You don't see much wave-slamming action on the Prairies in Western Canada. Rick says he wishes we'd just camped out here for three weeks. We watch a family with two boys who are further down the beach. The kids are seeing how close they can get to the water without actually getting wet, when all of a sudden a huge wave comes in and douses both of them. The parents scramble to drag them out of the water and for a moment, my heart is in my mouth as I think I'm witnessing something really awful.

(Later, we see them in the parking lot and all of them are drenched. They are standing at the trunk of their car, sort of staring inside, hoping that somehow a change of clothing will appear.)

There are some people out on the pier, but they come in soon after we get there because the waves are getting so wild. I've often wondered why on CNN you always see these idiots standing on the shore as Hurricane Tallulah towers over them, but it must be something primeval. Today, I realize I could be one of those idiots. The air is so fresh, and when you lick your lips, you can taste the salt on them.

We follow the A35 through Bridport and along the Jurassic Coast (http://www.jurassiccoast.com/) to Lyme Regis. A nice drive, with beautiful views of the ocean. The area was England's first Natural World Heritage Sight and is rich in fossils.

We have every intention of stopping in Lyme Regis, but it is a twisty, steep, complicated place to drive through (reminds me of Lynmouth in North Devon), with cars on each side, and both of us are paying such close attention to not having an accident, that we can't find an available parking spot. So, we decide to keep driving on to Forde Abbey. But we both agree one day we will return to this part of Dorset.

Lots of narrow, country roads before we find Forde Abbey (http://www.fordeabbey.co.uk/pages/index.php). It's overcast and we are the last four people to go through the house, which is kind of fun because there are no crowds, but some parts are little scary and I'm glad Rick is with me. It's the kind of place I imagine where a country house murder could take place, with accompanying thunderstorms and no electricity. Rick thinks I'm demented when I tell him. Doesn't everyone come up with one good murder mystery idea a day?

The house was originally a 12th c. Cistercian monastery (as was Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire) and is now a private home (covered under the GBHP – we save £18). At one time, the monastery owned 30,000 acres in Devon, Dorset and Somerset. One of the abbots even became the Archbishop of Canterbury and died on the Crusades with Richard the Lionheart.

Forde Abbey was passed around a bit after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and now belongs to the Roper family who still live in one part of the house.

You approach Forde Abbey through the Kitchen Garden which is so lush, you want to stop and pick a big basket full of cabbages, onion, etc. I love the way the English grow flowers in amongst the vegetables. From this angle, the building looks like a large church with something built on, but from the front it is a dark, regal, huge manor house.

One of my favourite rooms is the Saloon. According to the room steward, the walls are covered with Mortlake Tapestries woven from cartoons painted by Raphael, on display in the V&A Museum in London. The originals were commissioned by Pope Julius II; this set was made in London at the Mortlake factory in about 1620. Even the sofa is from 1670!

The Upper Refectory is pretty cool, too. It was originally built for meat-loving monks. The order had originally been vegetarian and when that changed, some of the group were disgusted with the carnivores so they had a separate place built for them. Today, it's done up as a library with a 21 ft. long table made from a single tree on the estate. The Monks' Dormitories are on another floor, although you can't go into the cells, they were converted in the 1800s for the servants.

As it is getting cold and it's time to close we don't explore the gardens, but they look extensive, with some interesting fountains and vistas.

Rick does a marvelous job in getting us back onto two-lane roads and by the time we get home it is raining hard. We spend the evening packing, tidying up and bemoaning the fact that in 48 hours we'll be back in Canada.

<Next: Packed in Like Sardines, Sweating in the Hilton and Laughing with French & Saunders

"Not quite. We know we are. The French aren't quite so sure."

I'll try to keep that in mind


rickmav,

Your descriptions of Glastonbury tie in to the only thing I know about the area. I think it's called the Glastonbury festival, and I believe it's held during the summer. It always sounded alot like Woodstock to me.

I always find it interesting that there is a Jane Austen Centre in Bath, when she basically hated living in Bath.

Too bad you couldn't stop at Lyme Regis - I've never been, but I hear it's a great place to visit.

Packed in Like Sardines, Sweating in the Hilton and Laughing with French & Saunders

The next morning we are up early. Before we leave for Taunton, our landlord reads the meters – we have to pay extra for heat, elec. and linen – and our bill comes to £24. (We paid £20 for heat in Devon.) We chat about the financial situation and John tells us he mistakenly followed Warren Buffet's advice (!) and invested another £50,000 (!) in the stock market a few days before and it was not doing well. (I thought the English were supposed to be reticent about discussing their finances with strangers?)

We are dropping the rental car off in Taunton, then taking the Great Western train into London Paddington. Our car is from Europcar, booked through Autoeurope, and we are told to bring the car back empty because they will charge us for a full tank of gas, regardless of what is still in it. What an idiotic scam. The guy who dreamed it up probably got a big promotion and thousands in bonuses. No matter how hard we try, we still return the car more than a quarter tank full.

(We are shocked when we receive Europcar's final bill to discover that we've been charged £1.57 per litre for the gas. The highest we saw petrol when we were in England was £1.08, the lowest 99p. Plus they charge us VAT on top of that – I thought the VAT was included in the price of the gas? We never paid VAT at the pumps. For a small Vauxhall Astra, they charge us £71 for a full tank of gas. That's almost half of what it cost us to rent the car for two weeks. We spent £56 total for petrol the entire time we were travelling through Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

Plus they charge £24 for 24 hour service – which was not on the Autoeurope voucher, and £10 for pick-up, when I had an email from their office saying they would do it for free. Autoeurope have said there's nothing they can do about any of it; we are currently waiting to hear back from Europcar re: our list of complaints. They did not charge us, however, for the small ding on the mirror, so maybe we should just keep our heads down. I don't ever remember car rental being such a crapshoot.)

The one thing I do like about this car rental experience is that we were met at the train station with the paperwork and car, and when we drop it off, we leave the keys with a taxi company located just outside the station. Very easy.

The train is packed to the rafters when it arrives at Taunton. A young woman who steps on my toe tells me that it's the beginning of half term so everyone is going somewhere. Good thing we booked these tickets ahead of time (at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk:80/).

I would definitely travel by train again. We traditionally rent a car at Heathrow, but this was nicer, particularly if you are staying in London first. You get the advantages of still seeing the countryside without having to worrying about the driving part.

We have booked the Hilton Paddington (http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/LONPDHI-Hilton-London-Paddington-hotel/index.do) for our last night in London, since that's where this train goes and is where the Heathrow Express leaves from tomorrow. We could have booked it for £109 before we left on an internet deal, but didn't, thinking we might get it cheaper if we waited. "He who hesitates....". We end up paying £119.

We like this hotel a lot. Although on the smaller side for a Hilton, compared to North America, it is bigger than any of the B&Bs we've stayed at in London, with a luxurious bathroom and a mini-bar (which we never use except for keeping our water in it), safe and flat screen TV. The linens and decor are lovely, too. And it is very quiet. The only problem is that there is something wrong with the heating system on the upper floors of the hotel and even with the air conditioning on, we are very hot. We should have changed rooms but we are spending most of the day out and won't be back until 11 p.m. so decide to put up with it.

It was wonderful to get off the train, cross the main concourse, take an escalator up one floor and check into our hotel. When we go out later, we only have to go down some stairs to the underground station. I know others have commented that Paddington is a kind of no man's land for restaurants, etc., but for our needs, for one night, it's perfect. Besides, there are lots of quick food places at Paddington, bookstores, drug store etc., a great coffee shop in the hotel and a Sainsbury's open until midnight for the panic bottle of wine or last package of crisps.

Our plan is to go to Covent Garden, shop for last minute gifts, wander about (loosely following a Theatre Walk from the internet - http://www.londonforfree.net/walks/theatre/theatre.php), have a nice lunch, then return to the room to freshen up before we go to see French and Saunders at the Drury Lane theatre. Part of the plan works.

We pick up some of the tacky gifts we've been asked to buy at the Covent Garden market – Rick likes the haggling – then have lunch at the Nag's Head. It's very good and very busy – as is the entire area. Rick has fish and chips, I have the lasagne, plus ½ a pint each – costs £22.

But on the way home, the tube doesn't move for some time before there's an announcement that someone has fallen ill at Baker St. so the trains are delayed. We wait for about 15 minutes, then decide to try our luck with the buses. We emerge into Friday afternoon, half term, rush hour. We eventually get back to the hotel, after taking a bus and two tube lines – to discover our room is hotter than ever.

The rest of the night is fantastic though, we really enjoy the French & Saunders Farewell Tour. We pick up our tickets about 45 min. before the show begins. We ordered them through Broadway Box - http://www.broadwaybox.com/ - based on a suggestion on this site and everything worked very smoothly. We saved £40 on the two tickets (we pay £40 each, they were selling for £60). We just go to the counter at the theatre with our confirmation email and the tickets are waiting for us. The fellow at the Drury Lane box office tell us you can't pick up the tickets before 5:30 p.m. because that's when the company sends them over.

On our way to the theatre, we pass by a lingerie store window and both of us jump when one of the models in the window winks at us. I move Rick quickly along before he starts slobbering. There's lots of entertainers about and one fellow, with a beautiful voice, is singing 'Lady in Red'. It's a pretty song – but didn't Chris de Burgh leave his wife for the babysitter after writing it? Someone should correct me quickly if I'm wrong, I don't want another potential libel case.

I have been a fan of both French and Saunders, individually, for years, but never really knew much about their joint act. The place is sold out and if you can imagine an entire theatre jiggling with laughter you'll get an idea what fun it is. There's a skit with references to Dawn French's 'Vicar of Dibley' and the two women do the original skit –theirs – which became the basis of Jennifer Saunders' 'Absolutely Fabulous'.

I'll only mention two of the things I like the best – to Steppenwolf's 'Born to be Wild' (Get your motor running, head out on the highway...), the two of them come out as their lady pensioner characters on scooters and do a kind of motorized synchronized dance. Hilarious. The final encore skit is with the two male pensioners they do, peeing up against a wall and not able to get their flies up because of their big stomachs. One eventually helps the other and then they stare at each other, moving closer and closer, and French says to Saunders – "I'm having a Brokeback Mountain moment." Even Saunders broke down laughing.

Rick's favourite is a take-off of the British television show, 'Strictly Come Dancing' with both ladies dancing with those dummies that are attached to their shoes, and a send-up of Brits who retire to Florida.

Afterwards, we stop for a drink at the pub directly across the street, Nell's. It's very busy, but we take our drink outside and sit on the steps of the theatre people watching. I don't know if we are allowed to, but no one seems to care. Lots of great outfits, and some kind of scary ones, fascinating couples, groups of men obviously enjoying a stag night. The weather is warm, but there's a crisp breeze. Great way to end our last night in London.

We get home quite late and the hotel has put a big fan in our room that helps. Have a good sleep and since you don't have to check out of the Hilton until 12, our flight doesn't leave until 3 p.m., and we are taking the HEX to the airport, we don't rush.

We enjoy taking the Heathrow Express. It takes 15 minutes, the seats are very comfortable, there are little televisions in the cars with the news and places to put your luggage. Nobody stepping on your toes or giving you dirty looks because your luggage is blocking the aisle. No stops and very easy. You pay for the comfort, however. It costs us £33 for the two of us. I feel less guilty when I remember all the cabs I didn't take but could have in London. In our opinion, it's worth it. I think you can get a cheaper fare if you book over the internet some days ahead.

Getting through all the security hurdles at Heathrow looks intimidating, but actually goes quite quickly. First, they check the number and size of your carry-on bags. You have to hold in your hand a plastic baggie (the mid-sized one, not the big freezer bag) with your liquids as you go all the way through security. None of the liquid/gel bottles can be more than 100 ml. No water is allowed.

Then they check your boarding passes and everything is put through the scanners, including everything you are wearing, except for pants, with a zipper. Then you go through passport control. Then you have to take your shoes off, even sandals. There's something 'levelling' seeing rich, poor, all nationalities walking around in bare/sock feet.

We have lunch/brunch at O'Neils (Rick gets there after all), partly because we are hungry and partly because we'd prefer to sit at a table – so I can write in my journal – then the hard chairs in the waiting areas. Rick has the all-day breakfast and I have the soup. Expensive at £22, but we 'rent' the table until our gate is called. Rick picks up my favourite perfume and booze at duty-free while I write.

The Air Canada flight is completely full and we are about ½ hour late leaving because of the number of planes on the runway. But it is otherwise uneventful – always a good thing – and before we know it we are flying over a very brown Calgary (but no snow – hurrah!).

A couple of overall thoughts about our trip. We continue to enjoy England and each time we go discover something wonderful about the country, people, culture, etc. We also learn more about the real England vs. the chocolate-box image. But we both agree it's time to go somewhere else. We've never been to Normandy or seen parts of Germany. We haven't been to Rome and only spent a day in Paris. We've never been to Central Europe. Outside of Europe, we've never been to Egypt or the Caribbean. We've had this love affair with England that makes it always seem better than any other travel option, but I think it's time to cut the heartstrings. For a while, at least.

Thanks for your comments. My travel experiences are richer because of Fodor's. Cranky, flattering, curious, wise – your viewpoints constantly expand the way I see the world.

rickmav - I hope you get some money back from Europcar/Autoeurope. They should refund you at least the 24-hr service and the pick-up fee. There has been a few success stories on the "Beware Europcar" thread on getting *some* money back, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Did you write to the Hilton to complain about the heat? I would, and I think you should get some compensation back.

Which Heathrow Terminal did you fly out of? I flew out of T3, and no, we didn't have to take our shoes off. That has been my experience in Europe - shoes stay on.

Last comment. Do consider Germany. I find it one of the cheaper West Europe countries to visit, esp if you stay in smaller cities/towns. Food is also cheaper there too.

Thanks again for indulging us with such a wonderful trip report.

rickmav writes, "We have every intention of stopping in Lyme Regis, but it is a twisty, steep, complicated place to drive through with cars on each side, and both of us are paying such close attention to not having an accident, that we can't find an available parking spot."

If you do return, you really aren't supposed to try to park on that amazing, narrow street - there is a large car park above the village, near where John Fowles lived for the last 35 years of his life.

Hi yk - I've got my fingers, arms, etc. crossed, too. I've been following the Beware Europcar thread and hope that my impassioned email to them will do some good.
I forgot to say that the Hilton did give us £10 off the room. Not a lot, but we should have moved.
We also flew out of Terminal 3 - isn't that weird. We had to take them off at Heathrow in 2006 as well, but not in Italy. Thanks for recommending Germany. Rick has seen a bit with his family when they went on a World War II anniversary trip twice, but I've never been. Sounds like a good research project for the long, cold, Canadian winter.

ron - Thanks for info. on parking in Lyme Regis. We'd had such luck parking in the middle of places that we just assumed Lyme Regis would be the same. I think we missed an opportunity to see a great place. Well, it just means someday we definitely have to go back there.

rickmav,

Thanks so much for finishing off your report. I learned so much about the countryside in England, and hopefully I can return soon. I understand your love of England, since I'm feel the same way about England and Paris - you want to try new places, but it would just feel wrong going all that way to Europe(about half-way across the world for me), and not spending time in your favorite places.

I feel so bad for you about your horrible Europecar experience. Wasn't it Kristina that said they told her she had to clean & vacuum her car or she would be charged for it? Did they tell you that also?

What was the 24 hour service charge for? We used Autoeurope, but used National for our car in England. The agent was very nice, and at least we had the option of pre-paying for gas when we returned the car. 71 pounds for gas! That's huge, especially when you've been budgeting other parts of your trip.

The French and Saunders play seemed fun - I've known about Abfab, but only recently started watching Vicar of Dibley...I really love Dawn French.

Agree with you about Heathrow - it does seem overwhelming, but all our experiences have been good. No lost luggage, and all the security workers have been very nice to us - especially compared to the stormtroopers at SFO who were about to take down a woman for not removing her water bottle 10 seconds before she got to the x-ray machines...ugh.

Thank you for finishing this wonderful report, I've really enjoyed reading it, and your writing is so descriptive and evocative. Now I have to find time to visit Stourhead! I now also have Lytes Cary and Montacute on my list of places to visit. Somewhere I think you would enjoy on a future visit would be Tyntesfield, near Bristol.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-tyntesfield


I don't know what to say about your experience with Europcar, just don't use them again lol. Though if they haven't charged you for the mirror then maybe you have got off lucky!

I'm sorry that parts of your trip were marred by ill-health, and that we were prevented from meeting, but when you decide to return to England's green and pleasant land - is Christmas 2009 now being reconsidered in favour of Germany or somewhere else? - then we will no doubt meet.

Until then, happy travels!

rickmav - If you are bored during the long Canadian winter and want to think about Germany, I whole-heartedly recommend this excellent trip report by Fodorite Artstuff: a 17-day journey through Southern Germany by public transportation. It is as good as your TR (if I have to compare the 2 ).
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=35116484

Anna1013 - glad you enjoyed the report. You're right, England is one our favourite places and I normally can't wait to return. But I'm not getting younger, and I think we better start seeing some other parts of Europe. No, we didn't have to clean and vacuum our car - wouldn't that be strange? Still waiting to hear back from Europcar, hopefully they will be reasonable. I'm assuming the 24 hour service charge was if we broke down - it never explained it on the rental agreement. But that's the first time we've been charged for it - by anyone - and there's always been a sticker in our rental car with a number to call if you have car trouble.

julia_t - Tyntesfield looks really interesting, particularly that you can see the National Trust in the process of restoring one of these houses. We've visited Chastleton and it was also a different experience because the Trust basically repaired it so people could walk through and then left it. An interesting contrast to most of the places we've been. My assortment of ills does put a damper on things at times, but I love travelling so much, I refuse to let it stop me from going somewhere. I'd rather be sick overlooking the sea in Devon, then staring out the window at our condo complex in Calgary. Our plans for Xmas, 2009 are still uncertain but we enjoyed ourselves so much in 2006, we will probably come to England for part of it, plus somewhere else in Europe. Of course, that depends on whether the economy continues to implode. If it does, my husband may not retire, but work another year or so. I'm a great optimist and know there will be some kind of adventure in the future! Would love to meet you then and as I said before, if you're ever in our part of Canada....

rickmav - did you win the lottery? BTW, the National Trust places I visited last month didn't seem to sell the lottery tickets. I didn't get to them until after Nov 1, so I wonder if the sale ended in October?

Nice report, but have to admit to scrolling over what you said you ate and where, and I have to say I felt a bit sorry for your husband. Unless I missed something I didn't see one mention of going to a "guy" site. No military museums, mostly fluff stuff. Now having said that I am sure he, as well as you, had a truly grand time. Me, I do "her" one day and the next is "his". Of course, perhaps he doesn't care for tanks,planes and ships.

Good report...glad you both enjoyed it.

Hi yk - I'm not sure when the sale ended, but we didn't win. The National Trust posted the winners on their website. It's unfortunate because I'd already spent the money - in my mind.

Hi rogeruktm - I won't tell my husband that you've basically called him a wimp, but after almost 32 years of marriage we kind of 'give and take' around things only he enjoys, what we both enjoy, and places I like best. I'm not sure if that's the secret to a successful marriage, but I guess it doesn't hurt. That said, we've been to England many times and have spent days in the Imperial War Museum, have visited most of the castles in the UK, except for Berkeley, have spent, it seems, a third of our holidays in pubs, watched all kinds of sports - live and on television, visited Duxford, Bletchley, his cousin's submarine at Portsmouth, etc. All of which, I must say, I enjoyed immensely. As to fluff, I'm not sure if that's what you would call the National Trust estates, cathedrals, gardens, etc. but he doesn't see it that way, thank goodness.