Westonbirt Arboretum and Broadway

Took advantage of a couple of days of late October sun to view the autumn colours at Forestry Commissions Westonbirt Arboretum, near Tetbury in Wiltshire. It was a late decision to go, so we spent Tuesday night in the Cotswold water park at Cirencester. The remaining short drive next morning was thru some very nice and no doubt very expensive little villages en route to Westonbirt and we then spent most of the day walking in the arboretum. Ideal time and weather to see the brilliant colours of the acers and take lots of photographs of course. Its the national arboretum and as such it covers a big area with a huge variety of trees, but at this time of the year 2 walks are signposted, of about 2 miles each to take in the best of the Autumn foliage, which we did before and after lunch. We were not alone - thousands of other like minded people were doing the same. Click link in the Blogroll for a selection of photos.

Then drove up to Broadway in the late afternoon and arrived at a CL behind a farm shop, Rosemary's favourite kind. There was no reply from phone number but the gate was not locked and it was getting dark, so we let ourselves on to the field anyway. We were on our own, needless to say, with lovely views over the Vale of Evesham. I cooked a full evening meal in the van for the first time (I usually do BBQ's) and in the morning we shopped in the farm shop and later in Broadway itself before heading home. A rather long diversion via Banbury took us to the national herb centre for a lunch break in the car park and a bit more shopping. There were 17 varieties of Rosemary and 16 of Mint to choose from - so we bought Sage and Basil plants instead!

Arrived home early evening with a strong following wind as the rain started - just timed it right for once.

Home run

Once again the day started sunny, but after the disturbed night, we treated ourselves to breakfast in the cafe. Amazingly the Haven stay worked out at £14 for the night for the two of us, including a full English breakfast with coffee and toast!!! Had a look at the two fishing lakes (for future reference) and a walk down the promenade just outside the site, to the Yacht club. The tide was out which means Burnham is just one big expanse of mud flat - not very attractive.

By lunch time we were north of Bristol, still sunny, so decided to find a NT place to stop for a couple of hours and Newark House near Wooton under Edge seemed to fit the bill. Turned out to be an interesting old hunting lodge on the southern edge of the Cotswolds with uninterupted views down to the Mendips. It is still lived in too and has recently been used for filming some of the TV series 'Tess of the D'Aubervilles' including the final episode murder scene on Sunday. The northward journey home thru Stroud and up the A46 is classed as a 'scenic route' and it certainly was, with the leaves just turning golden in the afternoon light. Not visited this part of Gloucestershire before but certainly worth returning again sometime.

Arrived home at 7.00pm after 18 days away, which included most of this years summer :-)

Exeter and Burnham on Sea

After a very stormy night, Wednesday started surprisingly sunny and we enjoyed a nice run down to Okehampton to see Barbara and John and an equally pleasant onward journey. So pleasant in fact that we decided to stop off in Exeter to see the Cathedral and the old quay area whilst buying a replacement mini Wok from Lakeland. Judging by the number of people shopping in the High street and queueing to pay £2.35 for a Costa coffee, there is not much of a credit crunch in Exeter! Booked the Haven site at Burnham on Sea (£5.60 a night !!!) and headed back to the windy Devon coast for the night. Rosemary 'thru together' a meal of fresh Mackeral fillets from Oakhamton, with Goan masala paste from Rick Steins deli and leftover pillau rice (plus added peas and peppers), with a bottle of Pinot Grigio. So pleased with the result it has even made the blog!
We were awoken at 4.00am by a loud clap of thunder, which shook the van, followed by hours of rain and hail !!!

Padstow, Port Issac and Bude

We headed back along the north coast and by the time we got to Padstow the weather was not bad at all, so we parked right on the side of the quay, much to Rosemary's horror, for a couple of hours. Enough time in fact for Rosemary to find a weird fish rucksack and a take away form Rick Steins fish and chippie. It was actually local caught squid, which we ate in the van and was delicious.

Next stop Port Isacc, which is too narrow even for us to attempt, so we parked up on the cliff car park and walked round the coastal path and down to the harbour. Very exposed and blowing a gale on the headland! We browsed the gallery, found Doc Martins cottage, had a cappuccino and retreated back up the path.

Bude looked a good place to stop the night so I looked for sites while Rosemary did a bit of shopping. Passed 6 big TV crew caravans by the beach. If they were filming rough seas it was perfect - waves crashing onto the shore. Eventually found a cheap £9 site just out of Bude for the night, with some shelter, but it was still a very rough wet night.

Newquay

After 14 dry and sunny days the forecasters were predicting a period of wind and rain so we decided it was time to turn around, but not until after a flying visit to Newquay. We parked near the front with good views over the sea and had a traditional fish and chip lunch overlooking the beach. The wind was starting to pick up and we found a rather windswept 'night halt' on the Hedre holiday park just outside Newquay. As they wanted to charge £4.95 for electricity we decided to be 'unplugged'. It was a very blustery night and we had our first rain for 15 days. Mike and Margaret decided they would head straight back and we would call on Barbara, as promised, after another night further up the coast.

The sensitive plant needs to be cushioned in towels to save it from total collapse when travelling!

Heligan - found the gardens

For our fourth and final day day at Pentewan we went to find the lost gardens of Heligan - not very difficult as it turned out. Getting in was a bargain as we were caravan club members and qualified for a BOGOF (thanks to ticket office for telling us). The gardens were every bit as good as the Eden project, even the jungle walk was pretty authentic. We took tea and cakes on the lawn and then spent some time in the bird hides. The farm shop provided some good food for a barbeque which we took back to site and managed to finish just as the sun went down behind the hills. Days were warm and sunny but the evenings cool.