An image of Marlborough at dawn. It is a very pretty town, but difficult to take photos of. I often think that it would be nice if the centres of many lovely Englisch towns and villages were made car-free. I am now sitting in "The Green Dragon", waiting for Baggy to pick me up so we can go on to Bath, where we are booked into a B&B for the night.

And his ashes are buried at the beautiful graveyard of St Mary church. I came here to pay him a visit as I always do when I come to England. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place.
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My father was born here in 1929. In one of these houses.

The bakery. Isn't it lovely?

The post office and the traditonal stone masons that unfortunately had to close a few years ago.

Great Bedwyn. I caught a bus to Marlborough, had tea and a slice of delicious Victoria's Sandwich at Polly's Tearooms and then got on a bus to Great Bedwyn, which is a delightful small village.

Temple Meads train station in Bristol. A very nice old building. And the black cabs are blue here. I accompanied Sabine to the airport, took a bus back to the city centre and then got on a train to Swindon. I was expecting to meet Baggy there at about 15:00, but that didn't work because she and my sister missed the ferry from Calais and would be arriving late.

Envious?

The lovely tearoom where we had our ladies' afternoon tea

The tiny square in tiny and very pretty Morthoe

Pembroke beach. We drove to Woolacombe, went for a walk on the beach and then drove on to Morthoe, parked the car and went for a short walk to Bull Point lighthouse and back to Morthoe.

The very long beach below Saunton. We left our farm after a late breakfast, in the rain, but later the weather improved. We stopped a couple of times to admire the great views from the smaller roads in the coast.

"The Bell Inn" in Parkham, some five miles from Woolsery. It was the second night we have eaten here because it is such a nice pub and the food is really really good. There is also a jolly and relaxed atmosphere in the pub. And it isn't expensive either. Highly recommended by pub specialist Fiona B.

Hartland Point. The lighthouse is no longer in use. Would make a nice B&B. We walked back to Hartland Quay, got the car and went to the Lavender Tearooms, a nice place with local and organic produce. Then it was back to Higher West Town Farm, into the shower and then out to the pub.

Ups and downs on the coast path. When we started to walk the weather seemed to improve, but then the rain came again. It still was a nice walk.

Oh, by the way, have I told you about my house on the coast path? (in my dreams...) This is Blackpool Mill Cottage, a lovely cottage, where - as I have just found out - parts of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" were filmed. You can rent it. As did Prince William on his stag weekend, so I have been told by the locals. It belongs to the same family who owns Hartland Abbey, where we watched a bunch of men playing football in the morning. The same bunch suddenly showed up at the cottage and were having a barbecue (in the rain!) when we passed by. Later we encountered them again at "The Bell Inn" in Parknam. Stag night.

Hartland Abbey. We had considered visiting it seeing it was raining when we got up and continued to do all morning, but it is closed on the weekend. As we learned, after having walked through an open gate and approached the building, we weren't allowed to be on the grounds, so we trod off again, parked the car at Hartland Quay and walked to Hartland Point.

Higher West Town Farm, the farm we are staying at for two nights. It is just outside Woolsery, a small village not far from Clovelly. It is a nice place and cheap compared to everything else (except yhas) so far. I hope the weather will still be good tomorrow so we can walk on the coast path a bit.

A detail of the gardens. Such a peaceful place and full of positive energy and trust. You walk into the tiny shop, pick up tomatoes, figs, apples, squash, pears, herbs or whatever and leave the money in a box.

Giant rubarb. Found on the very nice path back to the church and gardens of Lord John Rous.

In the old days it was the donkey that did the job, so I have been told. There are still around, but now more as a tourist attraction...

There are no cars in Clovelly. Only sledges. The inhabitants of the village have to bring their shopping down to their houses on these sledges, which is quite hard work.

Loving detail of the village with one of the many cats that live there

Looking down the steep cobbled road of Clovelly

Devonshire Ladies' Tea. And considering we are ladies we had to have some...

The yard of a very nice cafe in the village. The same cafe Baggy and I had a cream tea on a very hot day a long time ago. Nothing has changed, how nice.

Looking out to sea from Clovelly harbour...

 

Clovelly. Possibly one of the prettiest coast side villages. Have you ever heard of having to pay to visit a village? Well, the proceeds go into maintaining the houses. You can by-pass paying your entrance by walking the coast path. But the money goes to a good cause.

...and a detail of the graveyard.

The church...

The mansion of Lord John Rous, a descendant of the Hamlyn family, who owns the pittoresque village of Clovelly. We visited the gardens and church belonging to the mansion and the land before walking down to Clovelly. Lovely huge vegetable and fruit gardens, the fruit is sold in a shop on the premises, the money used - just like the fee for parking and walking into car-free Clovelly - to keep everything as beautiful as it is.

Boscastle harbour. We drove there this morning because it is a lovely place and I wanted to see what it looks like. Baggy and I had been there and slept at the "Riverside" shortly before the flood in 2004. I couldn't remember everything, but it largely looks like it did in my memory.

Lovely beach we walked by while continuing a bit on the coast path towards Boscastle

Tintagel castle, on the horizon Tintagel village and on the bottom left the pretty cafe where we had tea and a bite. We arrived at Tintagel quite early and decided to visit the ruins of the castle built by Richard Earl of Cornwall in 1233. It is said that Richard built his castle on this spot to link him forever to King Arthur, who, according to legend, was born here.

It could just as well be Tunisia or the likes. But is Tintagel. A view of palm trees and Tintagel church on the cliff at sunset.

The pub where we had dinner. The south west IS cheaper than the Lake District and Wales. Now it is possible again to have decent pub food for less than ten quid. And the jacket potato that came with my food was simply delicious.

The old post office in Tintagel, property of The National Trust. We walked into the village for dinner. It was a lovely 20 minute walk on the coast and Terry, the friendly volunteer at the yha, lent us a torch, so we would manage to get back in the dark without stumbling.

Tintagel youth hostel. This place is magic. Pure magic. The hostel is in a phantastic position and is very cosy and welcoming. Definitely one of my favourite places on the south west coast path, maybe my most-loved place. And it was also very quiet, we were only six guests in all.

Beautiful views, beautiful weather.

The path, carved into the coast..

Looking back towards Tintagel church around the corner of Tintagel youth hostel. We parked the car at the hostel and walked over to the castle.

The view from the beautiful cliffs of Tintagel castle

 

Okehampton yha in Dartmoor. It is an interesting building, a converted railway goods shed, but a bit run down and depressing. We had planned to stay overnight at Exeter, but for various reasons decided to drive a little further towards the south west. It rained heavily for most all of our journey, which we interrupted at Cheddar. We had expected Cheddar to be a nice place, but the attraction is mainly the gorge and caves, which we chose not to visit because it was so expensive. So we ended up in Okehampton, where we had dinner at an Indian restaurant. Sadly, the food wasn't very good and didn't really taste Indian at all.

Typical house in Stratford-upon-Avon

As seen above the door of a very inviting tearoom. We resisted the temptation and carried on with our journey towards the south west.

Shakespeare's birth place. We went for a nice stroll through Stratford-upon-Avon in fine weather in the morning. It is pretty albeit very touristy place. It is all Shakespeare, Shakespeare. Shakespeare...

Stratford-upon-Avon yha, yesterday in the sun, this morning in the fog. The hostel is great, it is a 18th mansion, newly renovated and very clean and comfortable with everything you need. It is a bit outside Stratford, in Tiddington, where we had dinner last night at "The Crown Inn". Now we are off to where Shakespeare was born and then onward towards the south.