Peters Marland

Tuesday 27 August

We woke to a heavy mist which slowly lifted as the family came down one at a time to join Elaine and I around the table. However, it did not really lift until late evening. Merlin was entertained before breakfast by Elaine and Helen doing their yoga stretches.

 

After breakfast and sorting we headed into Great Torrington for the day. There was coffee with Helen before grocery shopping and a stroll around the square. By the time we returned to Helen's Gallery she needed help with some stick on signage so we helped with that until Cynthia arrived to join us for lunch at the Plough.

 

As Helen had a meeting in the afternoon Cynthia took us to her home to show us her beautiful patchwork. She also backs all her quilts with polar fleece as we do! As I had brought along some of my work to show her we had a bit of a show and tell together. Cynthia then took us up the road to a neighbour Maggie who does beautiful embroidery and painted fabric work. Both Cynthia and Maggie live in homes on a steep hill with beautiful views of patchwork countryside on the opposite hill. Two mediaeval long one-acre fields have been left intact as historical reminders of the fields designated as leper fields for the local leper colony. Between these fields and the ladies homes is the river Torridge which was the setting for the book “Tarka the Otter”.

 

While we were out Mike had taken Merlin to the vet and will have to take him back tomorrow for surgery on a mouth abscess. Helen arrived to collect us by about 5pm so we headed home with a short stop to help a lady we had seen fall as we drove past.

 

After another fabulous dinner Mike went off to a Parish Council meeting (local government is at the Parish level) and we did our normal chat, catch up on diaries and blog and a load of washing. Owen arrived home during this process and joined in with us for a while.

 

Wednesday 28 August

This morning, after hanging out washing and packing a picnic Helen, Elaine and I headed out while Mike's job was to take Merlin to have two teeth removed.

 

We headed towards Okehampton, Exeter then Buckfastleigh and Totnes with morning tea (a cream tea) at the Cider Press at Dartington.

 

We then found our destination which was Berry Pomeroy Castle. This castle was built in the 1400s by the Pomeroy family but then bought by Edward Seymour in the 1560s. He was brother of Jane Seymour and also of Elizabeth Seymour who is in my family line. The castle was quite huge and would have been magnificent in its heyday. After a slow walk around we enjoyed our picnic on the lawn outside the castle before heading towards home again.
 

 

Because Totnes was so crowded we decided to wind through country lanes then up over Dartmoor. As navigator I found it quite easy as I had my map and the signs were all correct. The highlights of the trip back were Hound Tor, trying to sing the Widecombe Fair song, and the lovely village of Chagford. All along the route there were many thatched cottages in various conditions.

 

We took a different route back on the more main roads as well, going via North Tawton and Highhampton and Sheepwash coming in along the road Elaine and I had walked yesterday through Woolaton. Home to get the washing in and settle in for the evening. It had started off a very misty day but by the time we came home was sunny and clear.

 

Thursday 29 August

Today is the halfway point of our holiday. We woke to another misty morning looking a bit ominous but after breakfast headed east to Burton Bradstock where we arrived at Hive Beach Cafe in time for lunch. Wow, what a lunch! Helen had a whole crab, Elaine and I shared a large Brill (flat-fish) and Mike had Hake and chips. The food was great.

 

We then headed west a bit to Lyme Regis to seek out the fossils on the beach. Helen decided to Park and Ride which made the trip down into the village much easier. We walked along the promenade then onto the course flint pebble beach and beyond to the narrow rocky area under the cliffs. Here there were rocks with lots of ammonite fossils both small and large. We spent some time searching through the mixture of rock types to find what we could.
 

This one was about 1 foot in diameter.

 

We enjoyed an ice cream on the way back along the promenade. It was about 4:30pm when we got back to the car and so headed for home (about a 2 hour drive).

 

Once home none of us really wanted much for dinner so we had a lovely platter of cheeses, tomatoes, crispbreads and bits. Then it was time for packing ready to leave in the morning for our next leg. We spent the evening typing up diary whilst listening to bell-ringing practice at the Peters Marland church just up the hill.

Bristol to Peters Marland

Sunday 25 August
This morning was spent playing with Sophia and Oscar to keep them quiet so Elspeth could catch up on sleep missed during the night.

The view from the playroom

Jeremy and Sophia

Breakfast then family photosn before Jeremy drove us down to the station.

 

Our first train (Bristol to Exeter) was a bit late which meant our connection was tight for our next train (Exeter to Umberleigh). After negotiating the slow lifts and even slower people getting in and out of lifts, we caught our train with about one minute to spare.

Mike was waiting at Umberleigh Station for us then drove us home to Peters Marland to meet Helen and Owen for lunch.

The afternoon was spent pottering in the garden. We picked vegies for dinner and erected some bird netting over the raspberries. There were dozens of butterflies,(small tortoiseshell  peacock, and cabbage whites) and bumblebees as well as birds on the bird feeder (blue tits and great tits, nuthatch, woodpecker, robin, and chaffinch). Pussy (Merlin) whom I had met last time I visited with Surrey still rules the roost.

Merlin

Bristol Walks

Saturday 24 August

Today Elaine and I explored Bristol. Jeremy walked with us to Brunel's Suspension Bridge which is breathtaking in its height above the tidal section of the Avon River. We walked across while Jeremy went for his run. Back on the other side we saw a lookout in the cliff face so determined to walk through the Giant's Cave to it. This was another OHS nightmare but well worth it.

 Once on the surface again we walked around the Iron Age hill fort before going back into Clifton Village for morning tea at the Rainbow Cafe just behind Elspeth and Jeremy's.

We then decided to walk down to the harbourside to the old town and markets. The walk was great, often down very steep hills but the markets were a bit overcrowded and claustrophobic for me. We found our way back to the quiet side of the harbour and enjoyed our snack lunch watching the boats.

Continuing our walk in search of an ice cream I took a slight tumble on the gutter of a cobbled walk way. I have a small bruise on one thumb, a small scratch on my glasses, and a tiny graze on my nose but was up quickly and on our way after a chat with a local lady.
 

Back at the College Green outside the Cathedral we caught the #8 bus back up all the steep hills home again. We even recognised where to get off. The afternoon and evening were balanced between chats, children's activities and blog updates until eventually I was basically packed and ready for our next leg tomorrow.

Bristol - Stonehenge

Friday 23 August

Up early before the family to be breakfasted and outside ready for out taxi to the station for our Mad Max tour. After arriving in Bath for our day trip we walked around a little then to a bridge over the Avon River where we saw Anna walking towards us. She had booked to join us on our day trip and it was great to meet up with her so easily.

Anna

One person was a bit late for the bus but eventually we left for Stonehenge. What an amazing structure it is. Such huge stones! We spent about an hour there but then one family was late back to the bus by another half hour. There is always one (or in this case two) who can't keep track of time.

Off to Avebury which is an even larger stone circle with a small village in the middle of it.

Charles, our guide

Anna in the Devil's Seat

Silbury Hill

The next two stops were two Cotswold towns that have been left in their time warp by fairly strict building codes. The first was Lacock which was used as the village of Cranford in the series with Judy Dench. It was also used for pats of the Harry Potter movies. Unfortunately we did not get to see the abbey which was apparently the great hall at Hogwarts. We did have time for a very late lunch at The George Inn though.

 

The second village was Castle Coombe used in a variety of movies and TV ads. One old lady actually has various groups into her garden which is just stunning. Back then to Bath to catch the train back to Bristol.

 

We arrived at Elspeth's in time for the kids to finish their dinner and baths then for us to have a barbeque of delicious steak and tasty lamb sausages. It was lovely to relax for a short while with a wine and a chat with Elspeth and Jeremy.  

South East Wales

Monday 19 August

Jane, Bron and Denis arrived at Ned's to drive us and our luggage to the station. I went with our luggage and Denis who overshot the turn off to the station Getting back to the station was a breathtaking series of manoeuvres that included driving the wrong way up a one-way lane on a major road. However, thankfully Elaine and I had left tonnes of time to get to the station so we met the others and got onto the correct platform with about 20 minutes to spare.

 

The train trip was good and through new scenery. We had to argue with people to claim the seats we had booked but then had window seats for the journey. Passing along by the Severn River was amazing. It had changed from the countryside river at Highley to wide tidal flats from just south of Gloucester.

 

We met Ian at Newport Station recognising him from the photo that Valerie had sent. I collected the tickets for some of our onward journeys that were on hold for us and then we were off on a quick tour before leaving the area.

 

First drive-by was the Transporter Bridge that takes cars across an inlet on a gondola. I did not know such things existed and apparently there are only two in the world. Then on to Caerleon to see the Roman arena that we'd seen on Time Team some while ago.

 

 

Ian then drove us home to Kemeys Commander near Usk to meet Valerie and have a quick lunch. We met Ruth (youngest daughter – 18) but not for long. Off again with Ian to the Big Pit at Blaenavon where we three went down into a real coal mine (90m down). It was one of the shallower ones and was now not used for mining but was cold, wet, rough and slippery with very low roof in places – and OHS nightmare. We were donned with hardhats and miners head lamps that had huger battery packs on a belt around our waist and had to put all battery powered items like phones and cameras into a locker. Our guide was informative and humorous and spoke in such a lovely lilting Welsh accent.

 

On then down a most scenic drive to Waitrose supermarket in Abergaveny to do a bit of shopping for Valerie. Home again to chat, do maps and diaries and prepare dinner.

 

Tuesday 20 August

After a fairly cold night I am now back in a cotton singlet. Ian went off to work early and we eventually went down for coffee and breakfast.

 

After Valerie had breakfasted we three girls went upstairs to our patchwork show and tell, some lessons on mitred corners and then to working out Valerie's new sewing machine (a Janome similar to mine).We worked out the walking foot and how to do free motion quilting then Valerie had a few practice runs.

By lunch time we were all quite tense from such concentration so were pleased to sit and chat around the lunch table for a while.

 

After lunch Catherine (a friend of Valerie's) came to drive us all into Usk to look around. We visited the Usk Rural Life Museum then visited the street where Surrey's ancestors came from. Here I learned that their address was not “4 Ash St” but “Four_Ash St”. Now I have more homework to do to find out what number. I knew they were buried in “the churchyard Usk” but most of the old headstones were worn down or in such random order that we did not find the ones we were looking for.

 

On then to the library and the beautiful market square before heading home in time for Valerie to go to work at 4:30pm.

 

I was then able to use Valerie's sewing machine to get as far as I could on my next little Japanese hanging. Elaine and I were on dinner duty so reheated the shepherds pie that Valerie had prepared in the morning. We met Adrian (#2) in the evening. After dinner Ian took Elaine and I to Goetre Wharf on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. There were dozens of canal boats waiting to be hired. We took a loop walk along the towpath then back through a pine wood that was an awesome experience. Along the way there was a carved log chair with the words of “What is this life ...” which was apparently written by William Henry Davies or else Arthur Machen, a local in this area.
 

 

On the drive home the full moon rose slowly over the patchwork fields and woods of east Wales while the pink of the sunset faded in the west by the time we arrived home. We then had a peppermint and aniseed tea while discussing maps and diaries before going to bed by about 9:30pm.

 

Wednesday 21 August

Our first appointment of the day was Penny (another Rainbow quilter from Wales) came to meet us and go down to the next “farm” which was actually a craft gallery, Craft Renaissance. Elaine and I chose to go over the stile into the golf course and walk down inside the fence rather than on the narrow roadway.

There were plenty of beautiful things at the gallery but I only succumbed to some poppy-coloured ceramic buttons for my England quilt. We enjoyed a coffee there before returning home and chatting for a while.

 

After lunch at home, Valerie, Elaine and I walked down the lane, over a stone stile to cross the churchyard, over another stone stile, down the lane, past the 6 or so houses that make up Kemeys Commander, across a paddock to the Usk River. We stopped there for a while watching the very swift flowing water then retraced our steps taking a little time to look inside the tiny parish church of All Saints (1535).
 

 

Our next job was to get dinner for 6pm so that Ian could drive us to Newnham to see the Severn Bore. There was a crowd of onlookers on the bank and quite a few surfers in the river waiting for the tidal wave to arrive on the incoming tide as the river began to narrow. The anticipation was exciting for the small crowd of onlookers on the grassy bank. At about 8:20pm it came just as light was disappearing. A wave of water about 2 feet high which gets higher as the river narrows further up.

 

 

After the bore had passed, with most surfers falling off, it was amazing to watch the amount of water that followed it up. It was a quiet but interesting experience to see such an event. This was apparently a 3-star bore. Tomorrow night a 4-star bore is predicted and the 5-star bore will not occur this year. We were very lucky that we were here on one of the better tides of the year, that Ian and Valerie had never seen it, and that they thought it would be exciting enough to drive the hour there and then back for the experience.

 

Thursday 22 August

This morning we did a bit more sewing with Valerie then she took us for a walk across the golf course to Betws Newydd where ther is an old church (1563) and a Yew tree that is over 3000 years old. Back across the golf course in time for lunch.

Ian had taken the afternoon off to drive us to the station but this was via a circuitous route past the reservoir, past Pontipool and Cwmbran and on to Tredegar House. This was a huge estate and house now run by the National Trust  We only had time for a walk around the outside but the walled vegetable garden was magnificent with loads of produce.

 

On then past the Transporter Bridge and to the station for our train to Bristol. The trip was quick and after we had bought tckets for Bath tomorrow we piled bags into a taxi and headed to Elspeth and Jeremy's.

 

A hot afternoon was spent with Elspeth, Sophia and Oscar preparing and sharing dinner. Jeremy arrived homein time for children's baths and stories and a wine outside in the cooler dusk before settling in for the night.