There and Back

The home we booked for this holiday was larger than we needed, but the photos and reviews swayed our decision - we were not dissapointed! It was brilliant, possible one of the best we have stayed in. A couple of images of Tidewood, our holiday home A view from the balcony  - just fancy looking at that all the time! A slightly zoomed image showing the Old Smithy, the lovely thatched inn which was our nearest neighbour, with the sea behind it. On the wall of the local, the Old Smithy, was this Victorian post box. Not too many of those about now. So now that we are here, where shall we go today? - Bude! Like most of these places, we had visited here before, but we hadn`t walked along the beach in the direction we did today. It was interesting, as the rock formations on the beach and the cliffs behind, give another dimention to the normal Bude image of loads of sunbathers and surfers. There were however a lot of surfers today as there was a competion on, but fewer people sunbathing. T...

When the town of Glastonbury crops up in a conversation then the first thing that springs to mind is the famous music festival. However, there are other intersting things about the area - one being the TOR. Having now been into the town, one has to ask "is it held actually in Glastonury?" and the answer is "No, the Glastonbury Festival is not actually in the town of Glastonbury. It's held on Worthy Farm in Pilton, a village about 7 miles (13 km) east of Glastonbury" However, our daughter wanted to see and climb the Tor, which is what we did. She has been to the festival with her brother many moons ago! Here are my daughter, wife and grandaughter posing at the bottom of the Tor, poised and ready to go. Daughter and grandaughter, part way up, looking down to the start. .... and the town of Glatonbury when we were part way up. We had a good climb to the top and all enjoyed it. After a walk around the Tor we headed down. The 13th-century tower which forms a landmark...

Today was for a visit to Longleat. Despite having visited the place before, this was a visit without drivng around the Safari area.  Nevertheless, much enjoyed by our grandaughter. First the house itself - not to go in, but to obtain a couple of images for the album. You can go in for a tour but we were not up for that! As a matter of interest, in 1949 Longleat House became one of the first privately owned stately homes to open to the public commercially. But its history extends much further back. Built between 1567 and 1580, it has been lived in by sixteen generations of the Thynn family. Today it is the family home of the 8th Marquess and Marchioness of Bath.   Posing at the front of the property. So onto a few images of the creatures who live here, although through glass it was a bit difficult at times. A pleasant day worth visiting to see the pleasure it gave the family. The onto something rather sad but which brought back a few memories. When I was just a teenager (ages a...

This holiday was a family holiday to an area, most of which I had already visited in previous times. However, our family had not, and were rather attracted to one or two places in the area. So, here we are! We stayed at Rowden Manor,   in a converted building on the site. The converted building in the grounds, part of which we stayed in. We had full access to all the gardens and grounds of the Manor. The first place we took the family to, was Lacock Abbey, in the National Trust village of Lacock. If you are in this area of the Cotswolds, this is well worth a visit. The village itself is a beautiful place to wander and the Abbey too. In its 800 years of history, Lacock Abbey has been many things. It started as a nunnery in the 1200s before becoming a Tudor family home. Since then it has evolved with every owner and in 1835, the first photographic negative was captured in the Abbey. Today Lacock is a well-known location for a host of film and TV productions including Harry Potte...