Destination Cornwall

We awoke this morning to beautiful skies and perfect temperatures to get out and explore as we made our way to Cornwall.  After packing our bags and loading up the car, we headed towards Saltram, which is a National Trust Estate just north of Plymouth. 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but the National Trust is sponsoring its annual National Day Out, where they offer free admission to anyone interesting in visiting a property.  This actually doesn't benefit us, as we already belong to their partner site, but it certainly does account for the vast amount of cars in the parking lot when we arrived just 5 minutes after the opening of the gate. 

In 1614, Sir John Bagge purchased the house and woods on this property  from the Mayhowe family, which framed the beginning of the known history of this magnificent estate.   The name of Saltram stems from the "salt" that was mined in the nearby estuary. 

The house began in the Tudor style, but was remodeled in the Georgian style in the 1740's when the house came under the ownership of the Parker family. 

The doors did not open until 11:00, so we decided to take the opportunity to walk around the estate to admire the beauty of the grounds. 

Around the corner there were statues tucked into alcoves on the side of the house. 

And a side door is flanked by two Sphynxs which I found to be quite unusual. 

I could find no explanation for the statuary, so I can only presume that the owners thought they would enhance the outside of the house.  They are on the side opposite a walled garden.

Which was quite stunning in itself. 

I was suprised to view so many tropical trees on the grounds, including a couple banana trees. 

Along one of the paths, we came across a small temple that had an overlook. The view is limited in present day, but a tidal river stands in the distance down in the valley, and it can only be presumed that this temple was designed to sit and enjoy the vista. 

I was peering into the distance, attempting to locate the river, when I spotted a large bright green bird flying by.  I mentioned it to Marty, but he seemed confused by what I was trying to explain.  (In truth, I don't think he believed me. )  Then, a second bird of the same color flew by, and that piqued Marty's interest enough to turn on his phone app that recognizes bird calls.  And, lo and behold, it showed the rose ringed parakeet.

We never did spot them again, but I did have a fellow visitor tell me that these were escaped parakeet's and that the Magpie's detest them.  Just in case you are curious, these aren't the size of parakeet's that we are familiar with. They are about the same size as a large pigeon. Definitely not easy to miss when they are flying.  Marty and I were pretty excited about that discovery.  After all, when do you see chartreuse birds flying in the wild?

Walking along, we continued to be enthralled with the beauty of the gardens. 

On the far end of the lawn, there stood a castle folly. 

The door was locked, but I could peer inside through the window. 

I thought it looked like an enchanting place to get away for a little while.  From here, we made our way back to the house along the path that was lined with Lime Trees. 

Walking through the front door, we were greeted by an enthusiastic National Trust volunteer who was eager to explain some of the history.  She mentioned that the entrance way had been designed to impress visitors, and it's not too difficult to imagine that. 

I was certainly impressed!

The famous architect, Robert Adam, was commissioned to design the interior in several of the rooms that we toured today.  It's easy to spot his style after visiting so many of the houses that he and his brothers had been hired to enhance. I liken it to a "Wedgewood" look.  Such detail that is carefully placed resulting in a 3D display of beauty.  This is part of the ceiling in the drawing room. 

The room is huge.  The carpet itself is 44 feet long by 24 feet wide.  

The dining room was once a library, but was converted and also detailed by Robert Adam. 

As is typical of so many of these type of houses, there were myriads of paintings hanging on the walls. 

The center photo was of the Reynolds children.  

And this is Theresa Parker and her son John Reynolds. 

Marty took a photo of this painting that was rather out of place among the others.  It turns out that it is a Reuben and had been purchased for the family collection.  At least those eyes didn't follow the viewer like some others that we've seen. 

There was a room that was decorated with Chinese style wallpaper. 

And, along the one wall, there was a large cabinet filled with unusual porcelain pieces.

Could this be a connection to the Rose Ringed Parakeet?

The library contained a vast amount of books, in addition to musical instruments on the one end

and paintings hung around the perimeter above the book cases. 

The oldest book in the house, the tall grey one on the second shelf in the middle of the photo, dates back to 1460.  How amazing is that? 

When we entered the house, we were told that we could only visit the downstairs rooms because there were not sufficient guides to cover all of the upstairs rooms as well.  Although that sounded like a reasonable explanation, I have the strong suspicion that the tour was so limited because the admission was free.  What better way to entice someone to return than to tempt them with such amazing features, that they would want to come back in the future to see the upstairs as well. 

We weren't disappointed, as we felt that our tour covered a lot of ground.  The volunteers are SO excited to tell you about these families, as if they were one of the family members themselves.  Their exuberance is to be commended.  It's what makes visiting these places so entertaining!

But it was time to head out, so we made our way to the car park to begin our drive to Cornwall. 

But wait!  Are there any Jane Austen fans out there? You might be interested in knowing  that Saltram was featured in filming of Sense & Sensibility starring Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson.  It was just a short scene, but this was the home that the family had to leave after the death of their father.  Just an interesting tidbit to share. 

It took us a few hours to make the trip from Saltram to our destination, but the drive did not involve hedgerows (thank goodness!) and the views along the highway were outstanding. 

We are staying in Penzance at a B&B on the edge of the town.  Our room is actually that upstairs extension with the windows and it looks out over the street.  It's really quite lovely. 

We decided to head to mass which was about a half an hour's walk away.  The church had a beautiful stained glass window with an unusual crucifix hanging in front. 

Afterwards, we walked to the Singing Rooster, which was a small Polish restaurant that I had spotted while arranging the trip.  Luckily, I made reservations as the young man in charge had to turn away numerous walk ins as the tables had all been booked for the evening.  That being said, there were only six tables. But, there was only one chef, who was obviously the owner, and one member of staff to wait the tables.  

We didn't see any singing roosters, but we certainly did view quite a variety! Someone's surely had some fun with the theme!

Dinner was not only delicious but also entertaining as both the chef and the waiter took the time to chat with us and share some humorous stories. 

We headed back to our hotel, and I felt compelled to take a photo of this giant palm tree.  I was pretty surprised to find these trees growing here as I had associated them with a warmer climate.  But it appears that I was wrong on that mark.

That's it for today.  We have an early morning adventure, so it's time to hit the sack. 

Until next time...

An Exciting Adventure in the Moors of Devon

Today was another "dodging hedgerows" adventure, where the roads assigned to our navigation are barely wider than the car, and edged with 8 ft high prickly bushes on either side.  Certainly not for the feint of heart, that's for sure.  

But, Marty handled the driving well, and we only had two instances where he needed to reverse the car nearly as far as he'd gone on a particular road, because the car driving the opposite direction gave no indication of yielding anywhere along the way. 

Nail biting certainly would have been appropriate, but we actually found ourselves laughing at the absurdity of the situation.  And, we're fairly certain that locals must have some secret directions to these places, because we are always surprised by the full parking lots when we arrived.  Just where did these people come from in these extremely remote places?

Our day began with us awakening to yet another morning of  brilliant sunshine.  Then, a tasty breakfast

before heading out to our intended destination, Buckland Abbey which was on the opposite side of the Dartmoor Forest.  We decided this was the perfect opportunity to drive through the forest, even though we knew it would be a bit more challenging than taking the highway.  We are on holiday, so why not enjoy the vistas we'd miss otherwise?

As I mentioned, we did have more than our share of hedgerow adventures, but once in the moors, the scenery changed dramatically.  And instead of dodging greenery, we found ourselves on the lookout for free to roam creatures.  

This fella came right up to Marty's window when he stopped to let the rest of the group pass along.

As you can see, the scenery was magnificent. 

A little further up the road we spotted wild horses

where this fella stood and refused to budge for quite some time, before one of the stallions convinced him to move along. 

Just down the road these cheeky sheep acted like they owned the road.   And, well, perhaps they do.  

We were thrilled to be welcomed by this bovine beauty. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Just on the other side of the moors stands a residence called Buckland Abbey.

As the name implies, it was actually a Cistercian Monastery founded in 1278. 

But similar to Mottisfont, where we toured on Wednesday, the abbey was subject to the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII.   The king seized the property and eventually leased it to Richard Grenville in 1541. 

His grandson was responsible for converting the abbey into a fashionable home. 

In 1581, the abbey with its property was sold to Sir Francis Drake,  newly knighted by Queen Elizabeth in gratitude for his defeat of the Spanish Armada. The property stayed in Drake's family until 1946 when it was sold to a local retired soldier who was primarily interested in the land.  He then gifted the property to the National Trust in 1946. 

During the transition period, an artist known as Roland Pym, was commissioned to paint four murals that featured the adventures of Sir Francis Drake.  In the ground floor of the building, these murals are featured along the walls. 

Many of the rooms held artifacts that belonged to Sir Francis Drake and his family.  There was a portrait of his one wife, Elizabeth Sydenham, among the collection. 

and there were replicas of items as well.

In the corner of the dining room, a glimpse of a Biblical figurine from the Abbey is featured in the corner. 

One of the rooms features a fireplace with the coat of arms granted to Sir Francis Drake from Queen Elizabeth.  

In the main part of the lower floor there stands a great hall that still has the original tile from the days that the monks lived in the abbey. How amazing that it has held up all of these years considering that we were welcome to walk on it ourselves. 

Exiting the house, you can see the beauty of the magnificent surroundings. 

Of course, a brilliant blue sky certainly does enhance the beauty. 

Moving on, we made our way to Cotehele, a family home to the Edgecumbe family.  It has existed since Tudor times, staying in the family until it was gifted to the National Trust. 

Richard Edgcumbe earned a knighthood from King Henry VII due to his valor during the Battle of Bosworth.   By the 18th century, the family had built a new home in Plymouth and this gem was used primarily as a second home.  It was noted that tin 1789, King George III and his wife, Queen Charlotte, visited for breakfast one morning. 

In 1941, the home suddenly became the primary living residence when the house in Plymouth was bombed during the blitz.  After the war, the family decided to rebuild the bombed house in Plymouth and at that point, gifted Cotehele to the National Trust as they could not afford to keep both. 

Walking to the entrance, I couldn't help but chuckle at the large apple mosaic featured in the front lawn. 

 The giant apple is made up of real apples, all taken from trees that are located in an orchard on the grounds. How clever is that?   

And it smelled quite delicious entering the courtyard. 

Each of the rooms had a detailed framed drawing that was used to base the recreation of what the house looked like in the late 19th century.  The main hall at the entrance maintains its original Tudor look and decor. 

One of the unique features of this property is the vast number of tapestries that hang on the walls. Every room that we entered had huge, heavy, silk tapestries lining the stone walls.  They were not "made to order" as you see in some of these Georgian homes.  Rather, these were purchased by the family from private collectors, then cut and bound to fit the required spaces.  It really was quite remarkable to see. 

The original chapel in the house, built in 1411,  still exists, and is presently a consecrated Anglican church.  But the original items from the days of Catholicism still exist in windows as various items like a large framed altar cloth and painted wooden Triptych. 

All of the bedrooms featured very large fireplaces with extremely ornate bedding as well as the tapestry lined walls designed to enhance warmth.

This property is certainly unique in the fact that it continues to have many of the collectibles that were accumulated by owners over the years. The Trust has done an excellent job in preserving them. 

The house is located up hill from the River Tamar where an old mill still stands but is not functioning.  We walked down for a quick peek, and a refreshing cream tea before making our way north for a stop in at Lydford Gorge. 

We arrived just half an hour prior to closing, but we were told that we were welcome to enter, and just exit on our own at the completion of our walk.  So, I grabbed my walking sticks and we began the journey to Devil's Cauldron, located at the bottom of the Lydford Gorge. 

We crossed a bridge that stands over the stream

and made our way along the narrow, rocky path.  I spotted this marker that looks like a telephone, and wondered what that might be.  Marty was able to confirm that the number is a location marker.  So, if one runs into some sort of physical problem, and needs to call for help, one gives them the number on the marker. 

How clever is that? 

At some points, the water was eerily still as you can see from the photo. 

Making our way down was a bit tricky.

And we came to the spot where one could enter through a gate to stand on that viewing platform.  Although the photo doesn't look that fearful, those rocks are have no barrier, and the surfaces were very slippery from the rain.  There was no way that I was going to attempt climbing down them, and, luckily, Marty was happy to refrain as well.  Whew!  That was a relief. Just below that platform is an enormous rush of water.  It is referred to here as a giant pothole, which is far different than what we describe as a pothole.  

We could glimpse  the rushing water  in sections as we climbed back up and out of the gorge. 

Having successfully completed that venture, we drove up the road to a second site for Lydford, but this time with the intention of seeing the White Lady Waterfall. 

We began the walk from the parking lot

and soon spotted the entrance below the old railroad bridge. 

This path was relatively long in comparison to the gorge walk, and it involved a long stretch of decent, which I found to be quite challenging.  I had just wondered if I would be able to continue on, when I spotted the bridge in the distance. I had presumed that we needed to cross over.

Much to my delight, I turned the corner to look, and lo and behold, there was the waterfall!

Pictures don't do it justice. It was literally right above my head tumbling with a large crash into the water below.  Well worth the hike down, and back up as well! 

The hike back up the hill actually took much less time than the decent, and we were soon making the hour drive back to our hotel. 

Dinner was in a fabulous pizzeria named San Benedetto and also owned by the Benedictine Monastery.  It was an easy walk from the hotel, and as you can see, quite lovely with the turning waterwheel on the outside of the adjacent building.  

And, in the opposite direction, Buckfastleigh Abbey in the distance. 

Dinner was like revisiting our recent trip to Tuscany in May:   The wine was excellent, the pizza perfect, and gelato delectable!

But, by far, the best part of the dinner was our entertaining waiter, born and raised in Italy but living now in Buckfastleigh.  He loved to talk, and we enjoyed listening. 

And, he even agreed to take our photo for our memories. 

The perfect evening to a lovely day!