From Bristol to Plymouth we drove via Hestercombe House – a reconstruction and renovation of a wonderful garden (partly designed by Gertrude Jeckyll) and a grand home – built in the 1700s by some aristocrat made rich by lucking into the tobacco/slave trade. The restoration of the gardens – from a hundred years of neglect has been underway for 20 years. Nice way to break up our drive

 

In Plymouth our apartment was in a converted Navy barracks – called Drakes Wharf – part of the port area used to supply the ships – from the 1500’s onwards. Now a fabulous conversion into apartments on the upper floors and restaurants and bars and offices /shops on the ground floor.

 

Not a bad view from our window

Also  some good views from around the grounds of the complex. Drakes Island in the background – containing fortifications to protect the channel to the port. Some old codger in the foreground spoiling the picture



Thank god he’s gone – that looks better

.

Day trips out of Plymouth took us to Bigbury-on-sea. On the way we saw mostly the overgrown sides of hedgerows on each side of the one lane “roads” thanks to our canny Satnav system. Devon’s beautiful rural views were there somewhere!

At Bigbury, the Burgh Island is cut off from the mainland at high tide leaving the pub and the hotel accessible only by a converted tractor that has an elevated cabin. Of course the pub opens at 12pm regardless of the tide times.

A ferry ride across the water to visit two villages in Cornwall (Cawsand and Kingsand). We were sure we would find Doc Martin here. Just a quick exploration then back on the ferry after a pub crab sandwich.

 

Another day trip to see the famed Eden Project in Devon. A huge government sponsored project within a disused mine site – with domes built to create temperate and tropical environments to house a wide selection of plants from around the world. We were pretty underwhelmed by the whole thing even though we did find a slice of home in a beautiful Western Australian wild flower section. Maybe we have travelled too much and seen everything already!

At 27 Euros per head we were expecting to see herds of wilderbeats or bison. Despite the price, the place was packed with visitors.

Back in Plymouth we spent a couple of days exploring the old town and some of the delights of the Hoe.

As it turned out, our week in Plymouth was pretty much the UK summer – 5 days of sunshine and 28-30 degree temperatures. Perfect for us – but apparently a risk to the health of the locals!

Now off to find those pesky ancestors in Morchard Bishop and then play some golf.