Cornwall & London in Spring

april – mai 2025
  • Troys Travels
Leisurely trip to the UK 🇬🇧 with Mark. Exploring the magical Cotswolds, breathtaking Cornwall & wonderful London Les mer
  • Troys Travels

Liste over land

  • England England
  • Australia Australia
Kategorier
Strand, Buss, Bil, Byreise, Vennskap, Sightseeing, Turer, Tog, Ferie, Villmark
  • 35,6kreiste kilometer
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  • Flyvning33,9kkilometer
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  • 35fotspor
  • 23dager
  • 605bilder
  • 197liker
  • Excitement builds..!

    13. april, Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Standby…
    Figuratively and literally!
    Mark has us booked with the plan for us to jet ✈️ out in 2 weeks time…
    Cannot wait for the adventure to start.
    The lead up to any holiday is always part of the overall experience and excitement. We are poised to leap into the exploration phase of the UK 🇬🇧 springtime discovery tour of the cute Cotswolds, magnificent Cornwall, the exciting Jurassic coastline & vibrancy of London.
    Bring it on!
    Les mer

  • Confirmed & Upgraded

    27. april, Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    ….Made you look!! 👀

    The LONG haul journey as it unfolded…

    Yes, we are confirmed… I have an aisle seat and no one next to me and lucky Mark has been upgraded to business! A dream come true for him… The luck of the draw when travelling on Staff Travel. The main thing being we are off on our first leg of the 34 hour journey to the UK 🇬🇧
    Apart for having ‘Mr. Cough & Splutter’ across from me on the Singapore Sling segment, the 8 hours was fairly painless.
    After the caramel chocolate ice cream, Tim-Tam & double chocolate cookie I’d figured I was chock-o-blocked out! 🥴

    Bad news on arrival at Singapore with our London leg delayed by another 3 hours, making a total of 8 more hours waiting & hoping we board! 😩 …things went from bad to worse when we discovered the chances of getting on the flight ✈️ tonight was diminishing fast! Using the extra time to research Plans A, B & C 🫨

    Looking on the bright side - we used the shower at the transit hotel - at $20 it was the most expensive wash 🧼 I’ve ever had but worth the Singapore cents!

    Waiting, Waiting…

    …It’s currently 1am 🕐 and officially 24 hours with little to no sleep 😴

    Finally: Yes 🙌🏾 All is well that ends well! We waited it out and got on board one of the biggest birds in the sky: the A380. Such a relief 😮‍💨

    Next stop…London Heathrow ✈️
    Les mer

  • Charming Coln St Aldwyns

    28. april, England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    With nothing but the sound of buzzing bees 🐝 and chirping birds with the sweet perfume of lilac blossom penetrating the Spring air, we arrived in the beautiful ‘blink-and-you’d-miss-it’ picturesque village in Gloucestershire’s Cotswolds - Coln St Aldwyns. A chance discovery on booking.com, chosen for it being a reasonable hour & 30 drive from Heathrow, the perfect antidote to the bedlam of our ordeal of the skies…

    Our accommodation tonight is the simply charming 16th century New Inn. The village consists of this, a quirky cafe post office and a quaint 700 years old church (…which I’m sitting inside while penning this) atop a hill with tombstones and graveyard dating back just as far. The Elizabethan “Fortress Church”: St John the Baptist has features more typical of a defensive building than a religious one. Its thick walls and battlements reflect a time when churches needed to double as refuges in times of trouble.

    We could not have asked for a more calm and sedate sense of relief to the previous two days of travel… This makes it all worthwhile!

    There is not a cloud in the sky as we enjoyed lunch of local cider and Sauvignon Blanc alfresco in the sun ☀️ with bar snacks from the local bar incorporated within the Inn.

    In the Victorian era, the local squire, William Lawrence, was known for unusual village improvements. He invested heavily in “beautifying” the village — but only according to his own strict tastes. His interventions, like insisting on building styles and tree plantings, helped preserve the village’s storybook appearance today.

    Drove along lanes and passed meadows to nearby Bibury for typical English pub fare of fish, chips and peas. Will be more than happy to hit the hay 🛌 tonight!
    Les mer

  • Lunch with the King 👑 (…almost!)

    29. april, England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    What a scrumptious breakfast 🍳 we had included at our accommodation. Arguably the best one we’ve had in a long time! Full English breakfast with all the trimmings! Yum! 😋 (…after, just quietly, the most needed sleep in our own luxurious rooms)

    William Morris called it “the most beautiful village in England” – The famous Arts and Crafts designer was enchanted by Bibury in the 19th century, helping cement its reputation as a quintessential English village. This was our next magical village location…

    Biburys’ Arlington Row has starred in Hollywood films – The iconic row of weavers’ cottages appears in movies like Stardust and Bridget Jones’s Diary (it was Bridget’s parents’ home in the second film).

    Arlington Row is featured on UK passports – A drawing of the row appears inside every UK passport as an example of historic British architecture.

    Home to King Charles III’s private residence – Highgrove House, just outside Tetbury, is the private home of King Charles III. Unfortunately, we did not get to go to the gardens because it is booked out for the entire year from February. We did get to go to the Highgrove shop in the main street which was full of delectable delights including an entire range of teal products of which Mark took great delight in purveying. He may have bought a little something, as did I. I’m trying to resist buying ‘stuff’
    but when a special King Charles organic tea 🫖 blend is on offer how can one resist 😜

    We found a cute little garden Cafe and had coffee and scones with clotted cream and jam - making sure to put the clotted cream on first which is what the locals do!

    Meandering along roads which are designed for just one vehicle was a little stressful at times, although Mark managed very well. I must admit, I had white knuckles by the end of it! Our next (and final) Cotswolds stop is also known as “The prettiest village in England” – Like Bibury, Castle Combe is often called the prettiest in England, thanks to its honey-colored cottages, medieval streets, and total absence of modern signage or satellite dishes. It has no street lights or new buildings – The village maintains its historic charm by banning street lighting and preventing modern construction within the old village area.

    Yes, it was a whirlwind exploration of the Cotswolds but both Mark and I have been to many of the other villages on previous trips so we decided to concentrate on what we had not seen and venture onward to areas new to us both…
    Les mer

  • With Love, from Lynmouth 💋

    29. april, England ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Too beautiful not to share…
    Dramatic Devon! 🇬🇧❤️🤍💙

  • Through meadow & moors to the sea 🌊

    29. april, England ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    “Little Switzerland” of England – The twin villages of Lynton and Lynmouth earned this nickname from 19th-century Romantic poets and early tourists because of their dramatic cliffs, wooded valleys, and alpine-like beauty.

    Devastated by a great flood in 1952 – A catastrophic flood swept through Lynmouth in August 1952 after 9 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. Over 30 people died, and much of the village was destroyed. It’s still remembered today with a local memorial and museum exhibits.

    Perfect blend of coast and moor – The village lies where Exmoor National Park meets the sea, offering dramatic coastal walks alongside moorland trails—rare in the UK. The drive through all these was dramatic and tiring; as Mark will attest to! It was well worth the effort. Tonight‘s accommodation is at the quirky Bath Hotel which overlooks the bay. I think Mark and I were the only guests because we seem to have the run of the place… the village must be ‘heaving’ during the summer months but in this period, just before that, it is fairly quiet and many of the shops and restaurants are closed… Makes for a very atmospheric and peaceful experience!

    Perched at the meeting point of Exmoor’s wild beauty and the North Devon coast, The Bath Hotel in Lynmouth is a delightful blend of Victorian heritage and modern charm. Established in 1878 and family-run since 1951, this quirky, character-filled hotel overlooks the harbour and the Lyn River, offering guests a front-row seat to the village’s dramatic scenery.

    There was a lot of driving today and I think we will cut back on that moving forward… more time for coffee ☕️ and contemplation 🦆😉
    Les mer

  • Leisurely morning in Lovable Lynmouth

    30. april, England ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Our body clocks 🕰️ are all over the place (17,000km from home will do that to you!) so both of us were awake most of the night… I decided not to fight trying to sleep after while and got up at 7am to explore the Sunrise beauty of the quaint fishing Village we have called home for the night…

    Another absolutely amazing breakfast: full English with all the trimmings set us up for the day!
    Les mer

  • Lovely Clovelly

    30. april, England ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Clovelly is a postcard-perfect village clinging to the North Devon coastline, where time seems to have stood still. Its steep cobbled street tumbles dramatically down a 400-foot cliff to a tiny 14th-century harbour, flanked by traditional whitewashed cottages with brightly painted doors and tumbling flower baskets. With no cars allowed on the main street, deliveries and luggage are still carried on wooden sledges, just as they were centuries ago. Donkeys, once used to haul goods up and down the hill, are now more of a symbol of Clovelly’s charm, occasionally seen giving rides to children in summer. The rhythm of life here is slow and peaceful—waves lapping against the harbour walls, seagulls circling above, and the scent of salt and honeysuckle in the air.

    Charles Kingsley, who spent part of his childhood in Clovelly and later immortalised it in his novel Westward Ho!, perfectly captured its haunting beauty and enduring character when he wrote: “My spirit walked once more, as often of old, through every dear alley and flowery nook of that quaint mountain village, climbing from the pebbly beach to the topmost garden-crowned crag.” His words remain true today. Though time has passed, Clovelly retains its soul—unchanged, unhurried, and utterly unforgettable.
    Les mer

  • All the residents and workers use these homemade sleds 🛷 to carry goods, groceries around Clovelly

    Clovelly by Night

    30. april, England ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The cobbled street lies hushed and steep,
    Where moonlight spills and shadows sleep.
    A lantern flickers on a wall,
    The sea below sighs soft and small.

    No engines hum, no voices rise,
    Just stars reflected in dark skies.
    The harbour dreams in silver light—
    So still, so steeped in ancient night.
    Les mer

  • In search of King Arthur 👑

    1. mai, England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    First stop on our journey from Clovelly was Bude! We took a brief ‘spin’ on 2 of the towns’ beaches, one of which had a fantastic rock pool which was very inviting, especially on the unseasonably warm weather that we are experiencing!

    Boscastle is a small, picturesque village on the north coast of Cornwall, UK, known for its dramatic coastal scenery, historic harbor, and mystical folklore.

    Boscastle was severely affected by a flash flood on August 16, 2004. Around 2 billion liters of water swept through the village in just a few hours, damaging buildings and infrastructure. Remarkably, no lives were lost. The flood led to major environmental and engineering efforts to protect the village in future.

    Oh! And we had our first true Cornish Pasty which, to be honest, didn’t really rock my world! I’m told they are different in different areas in Cornwall so I will try another one in a couple of days!

    Perched dramatically on the craggy cliffs of Cornwall, Tintagel Castle is less a “castle” in the medieval sense and more a collection of ruins with ambition—and an absolutely killer sea view. Today, it’s best known as the alleged birthplace of King Arthur, that chivalrous fellow with the sword, the round table, and a penchant for dramatic exits.

    Today, Tintagel is all windswept ruins, stone steps, and dramatic selfie spots. English Heritage has added a stunning footbridge to reunite the castle’s separated halves. Mark and I decided to forego the effort of crossing the bridge to the island, instead, choosing to wander around the outside: saving lots of steps and £22 (for dinner!)

    In summary: Tintagel Castle is where myth meets mist, history shakes hands with fantasy, and tourists try not to trip on medieval stonework while imagining Arthur being born in a candlelit drama of sorcery and scandal.
    Les mer