Author: admin (Page 1 of 25)

Cornwall 11.5.25

12 May 2025 / admin

Pencarrow House

Jamaica Inn will only accept bookings for two nights at weekends so we delayed our return home to Monday morning and needed to find another destination today – which turned out to be Pencarrow House.

On the way there using the A389 I find that the somewhat surprise find of rail embedded in the road between Bodmin and Dunmere where the L&SWR line used to cross the road which I first encountered in 2013 remain in situ. I gather from online resources that the same applies on other minor road crossings in the Camel Valley. Regrettably it all closed long before I could ever visit it.

Arriving by the advertised route (and ignoring the sat nav instructions) requires the car to pass through the site of an Iron Age Hillfort – so it has been an area which has been inhabited for many centuries prior to the house being built. It is possible to walk through the extensive grounds to see the Fort – but when we arrived it was raining and when we had finished the tour of the house it felt that it might rain again – although it did not actually do so but was enough to discourage a lengthy walk. Reportedly there are peacocks in the grounds but we did not see them today.

Pencarrow House, unlike most of the locations visited on this holiday, is not National Trust owned and it remains used to a limited extent by the Molesworth-St Aubyn family and so the arrangements are slightly different. We are met at the front of the property by the guide who then discourses for over an hour as she leads us around the open rooms of the house to show off the family heirlooms which remain in situ. No internal photographs are permitted as it remains private property due to insurance limitations.

Unlike most properties the front door does not open onto a magnificent hall as one might expect – it actually leads into the library – and we are assured that at some point the books have been read, many of them being State papers as family members were local MPs and similar. Why the library? We only find this out at the end of the tour when we are in what was once the hall.

One of the owners had the former front of the house laid down as an Italian Garden and visiting coaches and horses were regularly disturbing the beauty of this which led to a new front entrance into the library being constructed to prevent the garden from suffering damage and needing regular repair.

Colour at Pencarrow

Some of the stories told as we go around the house relate to relatively recent generations of the family. For example there is on display a Meissen Duck and the daughter accompanying tours used to remark that there were no mice visible, so some mice were added in a model which hides behind the duck and is brought out just in case she visits and asks after her “Mice and Duck” – much in the same way we were told a story about a Loch Ness Monster at the Castle of Mey. A couple of the other stories revolve around a rambunctious Labrador and his ability to behave unpredictably. A light lunch is taken in the tea room.

We return to Jamaica Inn for the evening meal and the following (Monday) morning we head off home. A30, A303, M3. Jackie doing just about half of the driving as far as Podmore and then I did the second half. It is one of the few long distance trips we have made over the years where we managed it in the time predicted by the AA route planner.

Cornwall 10.5.25

11 May 2025 / admin

Gallos Tintagel

Much was made a few years ago when they opened a bridge to replace the long lost land link to the ruins of Tintagel Castle. I visited Tintagel a long time ago and vaguely recall the many steps up and down to obtain access, although I could not recall the finer details – and it was a long time ago. I just understood it was now much easier.

I recall having to park in the village – that has not changed. What I did not recall was an initial steep slope down (which apparently is often covered by vehicular transport but that is not happening at present as the trackway is unsafe – so there is no alternative to walking). There is then a further long stretch to the land side of the new bridge which is uphill but not as steep.

The historic route was to continue downwards from the midway point down to the exhibition centre which is almost down at sea level and then to walk up the numerous steps to the point where the bridge now reaches across from the mainland. Indeed people can still use the old route if they wish. So whilst the bridge makes it much easier than it was Tintagel is not the easiest to access for those less mobile than the average (which is where I suspect I fall these days).

I wander around the site and take a picture of Gallos – a bronze sculpture situated on the furthermost cliff. Gallos means power. It is inspired by the Arthurian legends although the castle itself considers that it was the summer home for the kings of Dumnonia. Dumnonia is a Latinised name for the local Celtic kingdom which probably existed between the 4th and 8th Centuries AD (so commencing around the time the Romans withdrew from England). The tribe emanated from Devon but spread across Cornwall in one direction and parts of Somerset in the other direction.

However the return to the modern village is very tiring and we are in need of sustenance and I am pleased to say that one of the local pubs provided an excellent sandwich and a decent half of bitter.

Stairs to upstairs room Old Post Office

Across the road from the pub is the Tintagel Old Post Office which is preserved less because of its link to the Post Office but far more to do with the internal arrangements and construction – internally there is an explanation of how the building developed over the centuries which although only a few moments in the telling was probably a long period of discovery. The stairs to one of the upstairs room are a real challenge and demonstrative of a somewhat historic view of health and safety.

We then head across part of Bodmin Moor to find Jamaica Inn – which these days is just a little off the A30 itself – but was of course once the staging point between Launceston and Bodmin.

It is also the setting of a famous novel by Daphne du Maurier – Jamaica Inn – a gothic telling of a story of Cornish wreckers and the impact on the local community which Jackie and I have both read in advance of the holiday (well I finished it earlier in the week). Unlike so much modern television it has a beginning, a middle and an end all of them in the expected order which is unlike so much story telling these days.

We are in the Daphne du Maurier suite the best in the building – which is stunning and has magnificent views over Bodmin Moor and of the A30 – which never seems overly busy, although I remember the slow crawl past the Inn when the A30 was an ordinary road.

Dinner here is a different style to many we have had this week – generous portions and well done – even if the kitchen and staffing appears to have capacity problems. Main users of the facilities are bikers staying over as we seen them when we arrive in early afternoon and then dining in the restaurant when we go down in the evening. Even here as elsewhere the food is delivered to the table at a decent temperature – rather than nearly cold which is how it sometimes arrive in London.

Cornwall 9.5.25

10 May 2025 / admin

Trerice 9.5.25

Today we stay relatively local wandering over to Trerice, another National Trust property, in the morning. It is only a few miles from the caravan park and this time we pick up signs very quickly along the way, so no getting lost. The house was owned for a long time by the Arundell family, subsequently passing to the Wentworth family who were (again) effectively absentee landlords. In 1802 the ownership passed to the family which lived at Killerton which we visited last Saturday – so there were a lot of links between these various West Country families.

Trerice declined under the absentee landlords and in 1915 the estate was sold up with the house being acquired by Cornwall County Council who sold it onto the National Trust in 1953. The Elton family were tenants at the time and remained in place with John Elton paying for the repair of the roof and the rebuilding of the fallen North Wing which was turned into a private family home separate to the older part of the building used by the National Trust.

The tenancy eventually came to an end and then the rooms in the North Wing were preserved as they would have looked in the 1950’s following the reconstruction and so the house has two distinct periods and of course the latter period is now real history being some seventy years ago – with items such as radios and furniture from that period.

Mowhay Trerice

Following our walk round the house, we then walk around a small part of the garden – the sciatica is annoying again. This includes an area called the Mowhay – essentially the storage area – and farmyard which they admit cannot be easily re-created and so a modern approach has been taken with a vegetable garden with modern vegetables and a grass maze – which made more sense on the photo above than on the ground on the day we visite.

We return to the caravan as we have to pack and we can also enjoy the sunny afternoon as well as finishing up some of the food acquired for our stay. Not so much the alcohol as we are going out again this evening. Packing is two part – those clothes needed for a couple of nights at our next destination and the rest into the suitcase for the trip back. As seems common on holidays these days that includes quite a bit of clothing which has not been worn. This time around caused by the warm weather so that the clothes for colder weather have simply not been needed.

Our destination this evening is the Headland Hotel in Newquay which has been a desired destination for some years. The inside is inevitably a little old fashioned – it is a huge place and in consequence the dining room is large. They have a tasting menu alongside the a la carte and the quality is excellent and the price is significantly less than some of the other restaurants we have visited. We have another good meal and then we are treated to a superb sunset as we are looking westwards from the lounge / bar area. It is a lovely clear evening and we can enjoy a coffee as the sun sets. However having presented the bill the staff then disappear and it takes some time to attract attention to actually pay it!

Cornwall 8.5.25

9 May 2025 / admin

Godolphin Wisteria

We are off along the A30 again this morning (I have covered this road more than any other in the country this year) until we follow the sat nav turning off to find Godolphin House – and once again we are on a mad trail around some narrow roads. The relationship between the Tiguan’s sat nav and the best route to a destination appears to be completely coincidental as we often seem to be heading in the wrong direction. Once we get close to the destination there are no brown signs (from our arrival direction) to aid final arrival (just like the Helston Railway a couple of days ago) and I make use of the phone only to find the blue spot (us) is moving away from the red dot (the house) when I set off. We turn around and spot a brown sign! Hooray.

The main reason for the limited signage is the limited opening time. The National Trust opens the house to the public for the first week of each month (but it worth checking specific dates as it changes) and for the rest of the month it is a rather exclusive (and I suspect expensive) holiday rental, not on AirBnB as far as I am aware.

The walk from the car park is particularly pleasant as the bluebells are in full bloom and provide a bright display as we progress along the path.

Being so far west it is not a surprise to find that once the family became prosperous they were largely absent landlords renting the house to tenant farmers who used the (now lost) Great Hall for their animals. The stonework of the Great Hall was then re-used to construct more suitable buildings for the animals and feed stores at the rear of the site known as shippons. Due to this much of the interior of the house was lost or damaged and therefore when acquired by the National Trust it made no sense to undertake a potential restatement of what was there historically and so they undertook the adaptation to valuable holiday accommodation. We get to see a very modern kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms now housed within the building.

These days many of the room guides are generally far more loquacious than I recall from historic visits to historic houses and at this location Jackie has been indicating that she believes it to be haunted. So when one of the room guides tells stories of potential ghosts which have been seen Jackie accepts that whilst the lady concerned may not have died on site she, or someone, certainly haunts the surroundings. Her hairs have been prickling ever since we entered the house and she soon determines that there is no way we will ever hire this for a place to stay.

Class 150 St Ives

Our dinner destination is Porthminster Beach Café which is the at the next beach along from Carbis Bay where we were yesterday. Behind the Café is the branch line to St Ives and we use the station car park at St Ives for parking – having become entangled in a set of road works just outside the station car park. A pair of GWR Class 150 units trundle in and out of the station regularly (and it is almost a year since I was here to traverse the line from Penzance).

The Café has a daily specials menu as well as the ongoing menu online and this rescues the choice somewhat as there is a rather large tomahawk steak on the specials which Jackie and I share as we have eaten mainly fish so far this week. Oddly unlike some of our other meals we feel really stuffed after consuming this. Again the food is excellent and we have dined well throughout the week.

Travelling home later than normal is somewhat distressing as the A30 is closed – just as it becomes a dual carriageway leaving Penzance and we follow the yellow diversion signs – which seem hard to spot in a couple of cases and then lead to a very strange point in the middle of nowhere going through a tunnel at Carn Brea under the railway line. Something went wrong somewhere and I think one of the signs either pointed in the wrong direction or there were two separate diversions in place and somehow I accidentally followed the wrong one. We do eventually get back onto the A30 and find our way back to base.

Cornwall 7.5.25

8 May 2025 / admin

Ugly Butterfly menu

Today is another planned gentler day. The original intention was to alternate such days but a change in plans meant that we have two together, although we are driving further than we did yesterday. Adam Handling has worked with the Carbis Bay Estate to develop another restaurant on the beachfront – the Ugly Butterfly.

We amble down the A30 as we have allowed plenty of time and as we drive around the water’s edge in Hayle I find a garage and can fill up the car with petrol – we have used quite a bit of a tank of petrol – but we are not quite half way through the trip – so a further fill up will be needed to ensure we get home.

Once we reach Beach Road in Carbis Bay I pass the public car park and given that it is a long way above the beach and indeed above our destination I am very glad that we can park close to the restaurant. We find the road terminates at the hotel entrance and there is parking adjacent to the restaurant but no obvious spaces so we swing up and park in the hotel car park. They confirm that is acceptable to park there and we walk down the steps to the restaurant.

We have an initial drink in the bar and find that the Maitre d’ today was at the Tartan Fox when we were there earlier in the week. Within the dining room we are centrally placed over-looking the beach. The sun is shining and it is much warmer than anticipated and we can watch the people and more especially the dogs on the beach romping around.

Both the bar and dining room have been beautifully decorated and are a pleasure to sit in for some hours as we work our way through the 7 course menu. Unusually it is hard to determine which was the best course as it was all excellent and I am torn. The crab may have been the best – but then that would imply that the duck or scallop or cod was less than perfect and that would not be right. Apart from the scallop and the rhubarb everything was sourced from within Cornwall and so the magic food miles were low – although so far from home ours were not.

Ugly Butterfly treats

It is a long lazy afternoon as the diners come and go around us. As we leave through the bar others are simply having fish and chips and enjoying the view over the beach as we have been doing alongside our meal. (Photographs copyright Jackie Whitbread).

We eventually head back up the A30 returning to our caravan where we can again enjoy some sunshine.

Cornwall 6.5.25

7 May 2025 / admin

Camel Estuary Rock 6.5.25

When planning the holiday originally the plan was a busy day then a less busy day and so today we are not doing very much at all. The original plan was to visit Port Isaac not for the obvious televisual connection (no I have never watched Doc Martin) but to partake of a meal at a Nathan Outlaw restaurant (he has a couple). However the menu at the selected restaurant was changed to a very limited option shortly before we came west (no doubt the majority like it – but the lack of choice was off putting) and so we decided to change horses and moved the booking to a restaurant in Rock.

As the sun is shining this morning it is pleasant to sit in the caravan and make progress with reading – the magazine backlog plus some chapters of Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier are being tackled as I need to complete the latter prior to our last stay on this holiday. So far Mary Yelland has experienced a strange death, comings and goings and an entertaining Christmas Eve and the wilds of Bodmin Moor (which somehow seems less fearsome with a dual carriageway through it!).

We stayed in Rock on our last Cornish holiday (2013) and Nathan Outlaw was then resident in Rock in a hotel where we had an excellent meal as I recall, so the lost excursion to Port Isaac is regretted. Our new lunch destination is The Mariners in Rock which is owned by Paul Ainsworth who competes against Rick Stein across the River Camel estuary in Padstow although I suspect the outpost here is more the control of the resident chef. Parking is at the very far end of Rock and it is a few minutes’ walk back along the front to the pub.

We are very lucky in that the sun has come out today and it is warmer than we might have anticipated. We had an early lunch booking and there we could select a table outside – later diners could only sit indoors as the downstairs outside tables had all gone when we arrived as had some of those on the first floor. In front of us the Camel estuary has a number of sailing boats navigating their way around plus the ferries going back and forth to Padstow which add to the entertainment. Oh to have been here some 70 years ago watching the Southern Region services going back and forth along the line along the opposite shoreline into Padstow from Wadebridge. Sadly a different era – but it would have added to the activity. And from here would have looked like a neat model railway.

We go for a fairly simple option of fish and chips for main course and this is excellent. It may not be the largest serving on this coast having seen some of the competition – but it was first class and was followed with an excellent trifle which probably (after some consideration) is deemed better than the one we consumed in the Tartan Fox.

We wander back to the car and then back to Piran Meadows. Coming into Rock we had noticed a pastry shop so on our return journey we pull over and pasties are acquired for dinner later in the day. Very tasty and recommended if you are passing.

Given the weather it is ideal to make use of the hot tub once again – what a pleasant way to spend the day doing virtually nothing for once. And in the sunshine. Bits of me might even turn brown.

Cornwall 5.5.25

6 May 2025 / admin

Kingswood Helston Railway

We are heading further afield today and we are sent by the sat nav along some pretty narrow roads, once we turn off the A30, to find the Helston Railway which (at least on the route we used) has zero brown signs and indeed I drove past the entrance as the placards are not that obvious. As we perambulated through the countryside we passed a horse being ridden and accompanied by a cyclist and another man walking a tiny pony (or possibly just a very large dog – but I am told it was a pony). The car park is approached through a farm and it is not direct access to the railway.

The Helston Railway is the heritage line sited furthest west in the country. They have now preserved a section of line about 1 1/4 mile long between Prospidnick and Truthall Halt. The latter is an exact replica of the original. There have been various calls for further extension but these seem unlikely at present – possibly to a new terminus closer to Helston but this requires a large viaduct to be restored – some clearance of the track bed has been undertaken.

Our transport has a diesel engine at the Prospidnick end of two coaches with a driver position at the front of a former DMU vehicle at the Truthall Halt end of the train. There is a coach for buying tickets and a buffet car sitting on a length of track and then one takes a path alongside the track to the platform which is the other side of a viaduct. The locomotive “Kingswood” is an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 which is all the two coaches need.

The journey takes about 10 minutes, then 15 minutes to change ends (and we change coach) and then ten minutes or so back. All of the volunteers around are very friendly and there are a few other passengers this morning – although not a large number. Operations are on a limited number of days so we are lucky to have included a bank holiday Monday in our week away to permit travel.

We then head onwards to Marazion – eventually finding a more major road having wended our way around some more narrow back lanes. At Marazion we park in the long stay car park but finding signs to the boats to St Michael’s Mount and the promised guides proves a real challenge. If you say you will have friendly guides to show people the way then please provide them!

St Michael’s Mount 5.5.25

St Michael’s Mount is linked to the main land via a causeway which today is underwater and so a boat journey is needed. Decent sized boats and here again I feel the online advice is far from accurate. Much is made of booking a specific time and being there significantly in advance of the stated time. Which would be good if people knew where to go, how far the long term parking is from the boat ferries and the need to find the information booth first. Then as far as I could tell absolutely no-one was interested in the time we had actually booked, despite all the online warnings (and I assume a bank holiday Monday is one of the busier days!).

Once on the island I head over to the gardens first – which are up and down a lot of steps on the side of the rock which supports the castle at the top of the mount. Like Stourhead there is some decent colour and I take many photos as I slowly climb up and down. At various points I let other people overtake me as they are moving more speedily.

The climb to the castle is also pretty hard – no easy routes for those less able here – and the stones are far from even, although unlike the Giant’s Causeway they are all dry so not a slip hazard here. I make it to the castle and take quite a few photos again before steadily descending.

We have booked an afternoon cream tea in the Harbour Loft and apart from slightly dry scones it was nice to have some decent sustenance after the heights scaled and then returned from so far today. I had decided to wear my heavy coat – who knows what the weather is going to be like so with the sun out it is warm but there is also a breeze today so I preferred having the cost as I might have been cold without it.

We rejoin the A30 just outside Penzance and head back to St Piran. For the first time we have covered the current A30 all of which is dual carriageway until it reaches the developed areas outside Penzance – and certainly the road seems to flow really well most of the time. There are some traffic lights on the initial road out of Penzance which delay our departure but the rest of the way is good – although the satnav is unaware of the recent extension to the dual carriageway and from time to time show that we are “Offroad” even though we are very definitely on the recently opened sections of the A30!

Cornwall 4.5.25

5 May 2025 / admin

Tartan Fox

Having spent three days travelling down to Cornwall in stages we are not going very far today as out lunch is booked at the Tartan Fox which is situated inside another holiday park about 5 miles from the one where we are staying. It feels further as the road away from our park is quite narrow for a while and not being a local and not knowing the road I take it slowly in case we meet some other cars – although soon it is wider and progress can then be made.

The Tartan Fox is an Adam Handling restaurant and we indulge ourselves with some cheese balls before the main event of a Sunday roast beef lunch – excellent and for once the gravy is served on the side and not touching the Yorkshire pudding at all without even asking. To follow Jackie chose a trifle and I had the deep fried Mars bar. However we swapped half way through but I know I made the right choice in the first place.

Ellie @ Lappa Valley

Another couple of miles away is the Lappa Valley Railway which I visited something like 40 years in its very early years and it has subsequently changed out of all recognition. The road route from lunch to the railway is along some quite narrow roads and we do meet some other vehicles – but passing places are usually quite close – so we get past the oncoming traffic without problem in most cases.

So much has changed since my previous visit that to be honest little is recognisable. We are taken along the route of the old Newquay – Chacewater as before to the East Wheal Rose mine site – where a small lake now houses pedaloes, there is a pitch and putt course and an indoor play area for children (The Engine Shed) which has been built quite recently. We do not sample the resources other than the other railways.

There are now two other railways here – a small 7 1/4 inch gauge circular trip around the lake and a 10in gauge service to Newlyn Downs station which picks up the route along the former main rail line; I do not think either existed on my prior visit. At the far end of the line here is there is another playground – so plenty to exhaust any number of children – which of course we do not have!

The Lappa Valley has just won an award as the Heritage Railway of the year 2025 and as it falls a little out of the mainstream of railway activity one might wonder why. I would say however that the training given to the volunteers (as I am sure most of them are) to enthuse the travelling children to shout at the shark in the lake or going through the tunnel is important and in my case one of the team kindly showed me into the two engine sheds so with luck I have some photos of the locos which are not in service today.

The line changed hands about 10 years ago and it is fair to say that the new owners have invested a further small fortune in developing the resources. We all know that such facilities are not huge money spinning activities in terms of profit making enterprises – but hopefully encouraging youngsters with the right approach might light a fire for future volunteers on other railways across the country.

I certainly wish them well.

Cornwall 3.5.25

4 May 2025 / admin

Killerton Park Music Room

We partake of breakfast and then before departing survey a little more of Lympstone Manor – we visit the pool and the pool house – all of which looks beautiful. We also see more of the statues and other sculptures and art installations round the hotel – all of which looks very lovely. We see a tennis court and see signs for a croquet lawn – so no doubt catering for a wide variety of tastes.

The car decides this morning that it will talk with a female voice – which has been changed from the usual male voice without human intervention. Also at one point it gives an instruction to go to one destination – which I spot on an overhead sign – so get in that lane – but she then starts recalculating as I am not on the route she anticipated! A little later I am following the brown signs to our first destination – but then I am told to turn off to the left – but there is an extra left turn whilst the real route is straight ahead. The turning I have taken proves to be a dead end. I am not a happy bunny at this point. The male voice was re-instated later.

We eventually get to Killerton Park and once parked we head to the house and find that our timing is perfect as the main house is about to open. We will not be doing the grounds today as we walked far enough yesterday. After a brief introduction we are encouraged to go upstairs first. On the first floor there is an extensive fashion collection from the 1920’s which makes for something different and then downstairs they are showing the house as it would have been in the same time period first with the music room. Then a little way round a corner there is a room setup for dancing the Charleston which then leads to a library for a quiet time later in the evening when a breather might be needed. Finally the dining room is laid up for breakfast to enable the guests to recover after the excesses the night before. All rather well done and with the usual room guides filling in details for visitors.

Killerton Park Breakfast

As we arrived a herd of cattle were being let out into one of the fields and whilst I am not sure they were skipping as they went they were certainly going faster than normal cow walking pace and the three leading animals could be seen heading across to the far side of the field which the herd had been put in and it looked as if they were assessing the eating available, the shade (it is another warm day) and would later be reporting back to the remainder of the herd later.

We now return to the M5 briefly and the A30 through Cornwall. It is some years since I have been this way and until we turn off at Bodmin it is now all dual carriageway and I note at least one section I can tell is new and elsewhere it certainly seems that it flows better than I remember. However although I drove to Launceston a few years ago to visit the railway we have not been deeper into Cornwall. I had anticipated having to ignore the satnav to head into Bodmin to find a supermarket but somehow the man (we hit it with a hammer, found the right setting and got rid of that terrible woman) seemed to know that I wanted to go into Bodmin and was telling me to turn off at the right turning – and luckily Aldi was right where it needed to be for Jackie to do some shopping.

We then proceeded onto Piran Meadows through the middle of Bodmin which was not quite the preferred route, having been advised that our caravan is available earlier than expected so can go straight in. Goods put away. Cases unpacked and then it is time to use the hot tub for the first time this evening.

Hopefully a better night’s sleep tonight.

Cornwall 2.5.25

3 May 2025 / admin

Stourhead 2.5.25

The room in the Nog Inn, Wincanton is a decent size and we were forced to have the window open because of the high temperatures – some of the warmest ever days to start May. Consequently we also discovered that Wincanton has some pretty noisy birds as the sunrise bird song was impossible to ignore, added to which people in one of the adjacent rooms were very early departures and were not as quiet as they might have been.

However breakfast is excellent and was a great start to the day. Car loaded we then headed ever so slightly east as we finally make it to Stourhead. We had been due to visit it at the end of July last year but our plans fell apart when we encountered a pub room that was not a patch on the excellent quality of the Nog Inn and decided to drive home rather than to endure two nights in a less welcoming environment. No names – but we had intended to visit Stourhead then but headed home instead.

We had never been to Stourhead before, although have obviously seen pictures of the gardens and one or two appearances on television programmes, so the views are known – but until one is actually standing there it is perhaps hard to visualise the reality – which is beautiful. We did most of the main walk – taking one shortcut at the expense of a steep gradient to leave out some of the meander.

The house was reconstructed by the Hoare family with monies originally derived from goldsmithing and banking until such time as more difficult periods were suffered as is often the case with later family generations. The grounds have been maintained and have now matured perhaps beyond what the originators could ever have imagined. Visitors to the Hoare family were required to navigate the full garden walk – but I suppose it was a good way of developing an appetite.

The inside of the house is currently open only at ground floor level – but perhaps the most stunning room for me was the library. However the picture gallery on the other side of the house again has a size and contents which were intended to prove to the visitors of the wealth and standing of the family in a fashion similar to that demonstrated by Bess of Hardwick and Hardwick Hall which we visited a few weeks ago.

Leaving Stourhead we then took to the A303 and traversed the Blackdown Hills. I first remember driving this road with an uncle in 1973. There was one particularly sharp curve at Barton which I struggled even then to believe should be allowed on an A road. In the intervening 52 years the curve has been eased a little through road widening, but it remains a huge surprise on an A road. Much of the remainder of the route (except at Stonehenge) has changed significantly over the intervening period and indeed this trip encountered a completely new section a Sparkford (opened in November 2024) which was unknown to the satnav as it tried to tell me which exit to take at a now non-existent roundabout.

Our destination today is Lympstone Manor which is almost in Exmouth even if it is called Lympstone. Road works slow our final approach as we are diverted around the countryside and then get caught in particularly slow traffic due to an invisible set of lights for the road works (invisible in that we turn off before reaching them).

Lympstone Manor is a gorgeous hotel, owned and run by Michael Caines. He has developed the property and it has some wonderful views out over the Exe estuary and with the clear fine weather we can see large numbers of little boats in the estuary.

Pre-dinner we sit on the terrace in the sun – it feels warmer out there than in the lounge and sup a glass of the hotel’s own sparkling wine from the vineyard in view between us and the water. And a great start to the evening. Unusually we decide to go with the fish only menu – most of which is local.

Lympstone Manor menu

Regrettably something goes wrong and we get the courses in the wrong order and that takes the shine off the evening slightly. Apologies are made and charges reduced – so the right things are done but it is a shame that it was not right. The ravioli lobster course and the rhubarb soufflé were both excellent but perhaps because of the mix up we felt it was not quite as good as last night.