EXETER.

Of gardens and moors.

And then we’re off again to Exeter to stay in an old house that’s been made into a hotel, the Best Western Lord Haldon. We're breaking the trip up on the way to Penzance so we're not here long. I wonder as we try to find this place that the daughter has led me astray as we are in tiny, curving one way laneways and I dread the thought of someone coming the other way but there it is, just a right turn near a lovely old stone bridge.  

It looks out over artistically placed fields and so we wander off for a walk and we come across an open garden with proceeds going to charity.  We take a peak and then we walk into a wonderland. It is beyond any garden I have ever seen.  We walk through rhododendron forests, gnarled ancient trunks dating back a hundred years are laden with flowers, the ground beneath covered with coloured petals.

There are dells and streams lined with spring flowers, small waterfalls and ducks. A huge garden of multi coloured azaleas shimmer in the afternoon light. Fuschias hang delicately over man made lakes, yellow irises and arum lillies hugging the edges. There’s a lilac circle - a lilac circle! Can you imagine the perfume, there’s even a two toned one. 

We are still looking for where to donate our money when we come out into a clearing behind the house and there’s a stall full of cakes and a woman who manages it (and an Air BnB close by). They don’t take credit card and I haven’t got English pounds out yet so she takes Euros and gives a huge slices of her cakes to take with us.  A carrot cake, a Devon tea cake. A ginger one and a cherry cake with marzipan icing. We have breakfast sorted.  

We walk back, satiated with the incredible garden and sit in the garden and have a large Cider. Then we eat a strange Indian curry meal at our hotel and I look out over the fields at the slow setting sun.

Next morning we’re on our way via stone circles that the daughter keeps finding close by in the Bodmin moors.  By the time we get off the highway and drive on tiny roads across flat land they’re not so close but they’re so interesting. Then we stop at St Austell for a ruin that the girls walk up into, or rather go up ladders into what was once an old monastery.

Supposedly someone had died of leprosy there, other rumours abound.  The girls run into two women and one of them leaves as she said the energy is too sad. And then we stop for a meal in yet another wonderful old pub, The Victoria , on our way to Penzance.

Stratford-upon-Avon and surrounds.

We stay in a hotel Macdonald Alveston Manor Hotel & Spa dating back to the 16th century and built over a monastic settlement from 960.They say Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night;s Dream was first staged in the grounds here.  It is full of oak panelling and carved doors with stained glass and a tiny rickety staircase leading up to our room which is lovely. 

The river Avon is beautiful, an arched bridge straddles the river where swans gather and a small protected island where ducks are sitting on their nests, except for one I see who is stranding away from her nest, just thinking about life and whether she’ll go back and sit for a while longer. There are colourful house boats moored and punts to take out. 

And the Tudor architecture is stunning in black and white and the narrow boats on the river are so colourful.

The next day we go to Hidcote Manor garden which is superb. The flowers! The little streams and waterfalls and back to Stratford looking at the Tudor houses, the local asparagus season is underway as well.  We go to another garden - The Courts Garden smaller but nevertheless as beautiful. Loving the meadow lawns and wonder why we in Australia manicure ours within an inch of its life.  Bees love these lawns full of clover and daisies and all manner of wildflowers. 

Then we’re off to Devizes to stay on a boat of a friend. So beautiful this life on the waterways and such an interesting group of people that do it.  Ones that stay forever, others that move on continually.  We meet a lovely couple, the lady makes the most beautiful crocheted cushions and jackets and they live on their narrow boat with two biggish dogs! Fascinating.

In the morning we cradle our coffees on the front of the boat watching as the geese, ducks and swans float by.  Another world, a different way of living upon the water.

We head into the town of Devizes North, cute Tudor houses, post coronation flags, lovely galleries and shops and on our way back home, we see Avebury Henge stone circles and in the distance of Cherhill, the huge white horses made of white stones, some of which are from the 18th century but others in the country date back millennials. We eat at Melksham at an old pub, I have a fantastic crispy tart with a huge slab of goats cheese, roasted baby tomatoes, a balsamic glaze and beetroot.

Oxford. Spring has sprung.

The next day I’m off on a bus to Oxford.  There’s a train strike which isn’t unusual here I’m told. I arrive at the station and get into a taxi that has seen better days, all the windows are open as the aircon obviously doesn’t work and the driver has to open my door for me as it’s half fallen off but I arrive at my hotel in one piece and leave my bags at the hotel and walk into town.

I haven’t been here in over thirty years and my memories are so different. I find a wonderful old pub, Nicholson’s dating back to 1355 when it was an Inn and I go traditional and have a chicken a mushroom pie with mashed potatoes, gravy and great vegetables.

I walk and find cute shops, the church, the Covered Market which was opened in 1774 and then I’m off to the Ashmolean Museum which is extensive, covering my favourite painters, the PRB's and fascinating including the Roman artefacts and their history from when they ruled England. 

The walk back home was long although they did say it was close to the centre but it goes quickly as I keep stopping to look at the amazing array of spring flowers. Dinner is an excellent lasagna at the hotel because I’m too tired to make my way back into the centre.

Next day, I walk again stopping for the most amazing blueberry and almond brioche and then walk through the park to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History which is mind blowing.  If you’re ever in Oxford, this is a must. The building itself is spectacular, built in 1860, the columns of which are made of different British stone. The stonework and iron pillars incorporate flowers leaves and branches. The whole building was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of nature. I lunch there on a fantastic goats cheese and vegetable tart with amazing healthy salads. Great experience. 

Then it’s off to the Botanic gardens alongside the river with the punts moored and back via the cute independent shops.

More photoes of flowers and an amazing dinner at another Ivy Oxford Brasserie, a Korean inspired chilli chicken dish. Love the toilet decor - again!

Oxford in the spring is a place of flowers. So beautiful. Not to be missed.