Spring 2006 Newsletter

Not Sardinia but Cornwall in South West England.

The Best Touring Guide Books Without a doubt the very best visitor guide books on England as well as for Ireland, Wales, Scotland and many other countries were written in the late 1920s and 30s by the incomparable H V MORTON. They are very well worth the search and though dated will give the reader more than pleasure and the visitor fun in hunting the old traces and making comparisons with the country as we find it now. Surprisingly not all has changed utterly. A fully recommended buy. Try The Folio Society ( www.foliosociety.com ). I got my much loved copy of "In Search of England" from them.

May 2006

As I write the bluebells are coming into their prime. The snowdrops came in January just to encourage us and went. They were followed by the crocuses, the daffodils and now the glorious bluebells. Three apple trees and one plum are in a riot of blossom down our avenue, their scent is totally intoxicating. This has put me into a reflective mood. Over the years in which I have been your guide and companion we have seen castles, cathedrals, ancient monastic buildings to say nothing of the finest stately homes and rustic cottages - all very HV Morton. Like him we have travelled the highways, trying to avoid the characterless motorways, we have ambled along country lanes and narrow roads.The mountains, lakes and dramatic sea coasts of Britain and Ireland are now well known to us. We have wined, dined and wandered in France and Spain. We have even taken in the odd bull fight. The great vineyards of Burgundy, of Bordeaux and Champagne have all seen us as we wander, glass in hand, through Chablis, Beaune, St Julien and Epernay. We have made our own private pilgrimages to the D-Day beaches in Normandy. We have seen the battlefields of the First World War around Verdun and we have followed the path of the World War II Allies through Bastogne, the Huertgen Forest, over the Rhine and finally to Berlin. Let me now open some new treasures to you in this and in future Newsletters. (I promise to be more diligent in writing them. I will do one every two months and the previous ones can be viewed as Back Numbers.). So let me open the batting with a view of where I live, in England's sublime South West. This consists of all south west of Bath to Land's End, the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

England's Sublime South West

Come on! - let's wander the green lanes of Thomas Hardy's Wessex down to the horseshoe cove on the Channel coast at Durdle Door close to the Purbeck Hills and the sleighted Corfe Castle. Then on through the red farmlands of south Devon along sunken lanes which link thatched villages. We will find many pre-historic stone circles, daughters of the majestic Stonehenge and Avebury. As far as hillforts are concerned there are so many but Maiden Castle near Dorchester is the granddaddy of them all. Then to Somerset the home of the best cider in the world to accompany our succulent lamb and beef with the finest of fresh vegetables. And did I mention the mouth watering locally smoked eels. For these we MUST have a light lunch of smoked eel (etc) at Michael Brown's farm at Ham Bridge. Then a lazy dawdle along Britain's very best kept secret - the beautiful Quantock Hills which rise from the Somerset Levels a prehistoric inland sea. There are many old monastic houses of "time decayed" here. The finest of which is Glastonbury Abbey, the believed burial place of King Arthur and his Queen Guinevere. Not far away is Muchelney a much smaller monastic house close to where King Alfred ( AD 849 to 899) burnt the cakes while hiding from the Danish usurpers. (Actually he beat them at nearby Edington.) We will pass the site of the last battle on English soil in 1685 at Weston Zoyland. Here the, shortly to be deposed, Catholic King James II defeated his Protestant nephew the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitmate son of King Charles II .

After a couple of days here we can continue on to Exmoor to explore Lorna Doone country. Then on around the coast with its dramatic valleys in which we will find some of the most loved small seaside towns. I am thinking of Lynton and Lynmouth and so will you once you have seen them.

West beyond Exmoor rises the last true English wilderness of Dartmoor. The area covering many hundreds of square miles is made for walkers but be careful of the sudden mists which sweep over the Moor. Then you could so easily hear the Hound of the Baskervilles howling mournfully. South of Dartmoor is an area with its own micro climate - the South Hams. Here are many creeks and inlets where many of Sir Francis Drake's small ships were built which, with the aid of storms, routed the Spanish Armada in 1588. The voices of his seamen can be heard in the soft burr of the country folk around here. In the heart of the area is the jewel of the South Hams, the naval town and harbour of Dartmouth. This has been a home to the Navy since at least the time of King Henry VIII in the early 1500s and it still houses the Britannia Royal Naval College the officer cadet school for the Royal Navy and other navies of the world. Be here at the Bank Holiday. At the end of August each year. You will not be disappointed but book early.

Then on past Plymouth across Devon and Cornwall's boundary river, the Tamar. In passing do have a look at the famous railway bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1859 undoubtedly the most famous engineer of the 19th century. The traveller will certainly feel that this country is a Celtic land of its own. Barely a half hour's drive connects the surfers' paradise of the Cornish Atlantic coast with the milder southern Channel coast. We swim here as Cornwall has a virtual sub tropical climate. This allows a profusion of magic gardens and ther is plenty of rain which is now in short supply elsewhere in England.

And if it is seafood you seek you will need to go no further than Padstow and Rick Stein's restaurants. I know of no better anywhere and that's a fact.

A Few more Gems of the South West

Then think of : Dunster Castle - The Tarr Steps - St Michaels Mount - Clovelly - Daphne Du Maurier - The Eden Project - Falmouth Maritime Museum - St Ives - Tintagel - Wells Cathedral - The Cheddar Gorge - Slapton Sands - Clotted Cream Teas - Tiddy Oggies.

And so much more ..

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