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Around the UK in Bertha
  • Happy Days Travel
  • Mark Wade
  • Happy Days Travel
  • Mark Wade

Around the UK in Bertha

Away in our campervan to attend the Destinations Show, catch up with family, and explore more of Cornwall and beyond! En savoir plus
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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    St Hydroc's Church

    7 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    The parish church of Lanhydrock is found just behind the house. It is dedicated to Saint Hydroc, thought to also be known as St. Odran, an Irish missionary who travelled to Cornwall in the sixth century.

    The current church was dedicated in 1478, although it has undergone several restorations and repairs in the subsequent centuries. The roof was replaced as recently as 2020.    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    Cotehele House

    7 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    From Lanhydrock, we drove to Cotehele, another National Trust property.

    Although there has been a dwelling at Cotehele since medieval times, the current house is mostly Tudor, rebuilt by three generations of the Edgcumbe family between 1485 and 1560. The family built another house, Mount Edgcumbe, 12 miles away between 1547 and 1553 and made it their main family seat. So, Cotehele was relegated to second-home status before it was even finished! The result of the house not being used on a daily basis is that it is a bit of a time warp with all the original 16th-century furniture still in place.

    In the mid-18th century, Mount Edgcumbe was remodelled, and all its unfashionable tapestries were shipped up the river Tamar to Cotehele, where they remain today.

    In 1947, Cotehele passed to the National Trust in lieu of death duties. The contents remained in Edgcumbe ownership until they, too, were transferred in 1974.

    We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours exploring the house and grounds.    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    Tavistock Camping and Caravan Club Site

    8 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    From Cotehele, we drove to the Camping and Caravanning Club site in Tavistock.

    The weather, as predicted, worsened overnight with torrential rain and strong winds. It made for a restless night! The forecast was for rain all day today, so we decided to have a van day. We caught up with housekeeping chores and social media posts and reflected on the fact that, in six week's time, we will be enjoying much warmer weather in the Seychelles 😂.En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    Tavistock

    9 mars 2023, Angleterre

    It was another wet and blustery morning, but we went out anyway! We caught the 10.19 bus 🚌 into Tavistock for a look around and a spot of shopping.

    Tavistock is the only town in Devon to hold World Heritage status. A market was established in the town by Royal Charter in 1105. Today, the Pannier Market continues to open 5 days a week, meaning that there has been a market in Tavistock for over 900 years. We enjoyed walking round the stalls. The town is also home to a plethora of independent shops.

    Unfortunately, the weather cut short our explorations and forced us into a pub for a cider while we waited for the bus back to the campsite! 😀    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    A visit to Greenway

    10 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Greenway was Agatha Christie's holiday home. She bought it for the princely sum of £6000 in 1938 and then spent many happy summers there with her family friends. She referred to it as 'the loveliest place in the world'.

    The original house on the site was a Tudor mansion built by the Gilbert family. In 1700, this was demolished by Harris Roope. He built the central section of Greenway House as we see it today. Several different owners expanded and improved the property over the years until Agatha bought it.

    Agatha had known and loved Greenway since she was a child. She had seen the house from the River Dart on boat trips with her mother and couldn't resist the opportunity to buy it when her agent advised her it was on the market.

    When she moved in, she was hounded by paparazzi taking photos of her and her family from boats on the river. She had to plant fast-growing trees, sacrificing her beloved views for the sake of her privacy.

    Agatha never wrote a single word at Greenway. It was purely a holiday home. She spent her time there shopping for antiques, playing games, reading, playing the piano 🎹, messing about on boats, and relaxing. She collected all manner of things - sewing stools, elaborate china, wooden boxes, pocket watches, stamp cases, and much more. 12,000 items from her eclectic collection are displayed in cupboards and cases at Greenway. The family didn't use the house for entertaining - visitors were limited to a small circle of relatives and close friends. Every summer, Agatha would bring her latest manuscript, which she would read to them, inviting them to guess whodunit! This book would be published in time for the Christmas market 😀.

    We loved our time at Greenway. The room stewards were so knowledgeable and enthusiastic. We learned so much about Agatha. The visit made we want to go away and reread all her books!!    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    Catching up with old friends

    10 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    As soon as we got set up at Lemonford, Sarah arrived to pick us up and take us back to her and Matty's place in Newton Abbot. It's eleven and a half years since we saw them! Mark worked with them for two seasons on Ca' Savio, and I used to see them when I went down for weekends. It was lovely to catch up with them after so long! 😊

    We met their two daughters, Emma Rose and Summer, who are now 6 and 4. When Matty's mum, Joyce, who lives next door, arrived to babysit, we went to their local pub for a few drinks.

    Later, Joyce kindly drove us back to the campsite. Hopefully, it won't be so long before we see Matty and Sarah again!    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    Lunch in Buckfastleigh

    11 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    It was a really wet day today, and the forecast for tomorrow is even worse! With no Sunday bus service, we decided to go out for my birthday lunch today. We went to a pub near Buckfastleigh and had a decent steak. The towns of Ashburton and Buckfastleigh both looked good from the bus, but we'll leave exploring them for another day - it was just too wet today!!En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    Tyntesfield Estate

    13 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    We packed up and left Lemonford by 10am. It was another wet morning! We were driving to Malvern but decided to break our journey with a visit to Tyntesfield, a National Trust property near Clevedon, Bristol.

    Tyntesfield was created by the wealthy businessman William Gibbs, who bought the original late Georgian house in 1844 and 20 years later hired John Norton to remodel it as a family home. He doubled its size, creating a splendid country house in the High Victorian Gothic style.

    The house was occupied by four generations of the Gibbs family. When the last occupant, Richard, died in 2001, the property came into the possession of the National Trust. Tyntesfield today is fascinating - the Victorian house, chapel, servants' quarters and most of their original contents, as well as the formal and kitchen gardens, Home Farm, estate buildings, farmland, and plantations have survived largely intact. The family chapel is the largest and most elaborate I've ever seen, reflecting the fact that the Gibbs were the wealthiest non-noble family in England.

    Heavy rain prevented us from exploring the gardens fully, but we really enjoyed the house. We will have to return on a drier day 😀    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    The chapel at Tyntesfield

    13 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    The chapel is the architectural climax of the house. It was not unusual for a Victorian country house to have a chapel, but this is one of the finest - a superb gothic creation that has survived virtually unchanged since it was completed in 1875.

    It was designed by Arthur Blomfield, the son of a Bishop of London, who initiated a programme of church building in the capital. Blomfield was inspired by the medieval Sainte Chapelle in Paris. The chapel is accessed from the house through a covered bridge which was based on the Bridge of Sighs in Venice.    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    A visit to Worcester

    14 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    The sun 🌞 was shining when we got up this morning - the first time in quite a few days!

    We caught the 10.03 bus into Worcester from just outside the campsite. It's not a city either of us is familiar with, so we spent a couple of hours wandering around the shops and admiring the Tudor architecture. I didn't know that, like York, Worcester has its own street called The Shambles!

    Worcester is the birthplace of Edward Elgar - there is a statue on the High Street commemorating the fact. The River Severn flows through the centre of the city. It was very high today, the result of recent rains.    En savoir plus

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  • Around the UK in Bertha

    Worcester Cathedral

    14 mars 2023, Angleterre ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    The cathedral church of Worcester has stood on the banks of the river Severn since the year 680. Today, it continues to be a place of prayer and worship, with at least three services every day. It's somewhere that I have wanted to visit for a very long time, not least because it is the final resting place of King John of Magna Carta fame, and of Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII and older brother of Henry VIII. The cathedral did not disappoint!

    Throughout the building, there are windows and monuments commemorating bishops, nobles, city merchants, musicians (including Sir Edward Elgar), writers, soldiers, and many more.

    The sheer scale of the cathedral is incredible. It is impossible to take it all in. The painted ceiling in the quire is stunning, as is the glorious circular chapter house dating from 1100. These are just two highlights in an unequalled building. We were blown away by the two hours we spent in Worcester Cathedral and will definitely revisit it one day.    En savoir plus

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