30th September - Stonehenge / Avebury

30th September- Stonehenge /Avebury visit to Enid and Henry in Midsomer Norton

Today was fine (hurray) so we made our way to Stonehenge about a 45min drive away.  The stones were amazing, they were placed in a circle standing upright with huge blocks of stone balanced across the top.  There was also a large ditch around the whole perimeter.  No-one knows why these stones were placed here, perhaps it was a religious site or something to do with the weather and the seasons.  It was great.  We had some lunch and then continued onto Avebury another town where the stone circle site is.  This site has different sized stones placed in a large circle about 100m in width, in the centre of the circle there is a pub and a few houses etc. (very strange as to why they would have built buildings in the middle).  Nobody knows why these rocks were placed here either!!  We were on a time schedule has we had planned to go and visit Grandads cousin Enid and her husband Henry.  We drove onto there house, and we all had a chat and a nice cuppa.  Enid had been given a family heritage album that had photos and information on the Chivers family back 4 generations, it was really interesting looking at all the relations from ages ago!!!  We had a nice afternoon here, and left at about 6pm, home in time for pats delicious Shephards Pie, Baked Beans and Pizza.  With fresh english strawberries, cream and icecream.  Tea and Coffee, Cheese and biscuits.

We watched a bit of football (soccer) on the t.v and mum and pat watched River Cottage.

Unfortunately, Smazz’ son Harry who is 11 has to have his appendix out tomorrow so we won’t be able to meet him.  Hope it goes o.k.

Went to bed about 10.30pm, another good day!!

29th September - Bath

29th September - Bath

Today we had a nice sleep in and it was raining, so we decided we would go shopping in Bath.   We went outside and through the ball to Ruby who loved running through the paddocks to fetch it.  Michelle (Smaz wife) had brought a couple of her horses around to eat some of the grass in the paddock. They were really friendly horses. Bath is a really nice town about 1/2 hour drive away.  We parked, and had some lunch.  We went to the Roman Baths which was really interesting, check out our photos.  We then went to Marks and Spencers to buy some hand cream that nan wanted.  Mum and Tom decided to go for a shop and Dad, Luke and I went down to an internet cafe to try and download some photos on our blog.  Mum brought some nice tops, shoes and handbag.  We left Bath at about 6pm and made our way back to Pats for dinner.  Tom loves coming home so that he can play with Ruby.

Mum and Dad stayed up talking again and we watched t.v.  Tom played upstairs with all the toys.

28th September - Littleworth Cottage> Bude> Clovelly> Chewton Mendip

28th September 2010 - Littleworth Cottage > Bude > Clovelly> Chewton Mendip

We awoke this morning to see thick fog out side our windows.  We had breakky and I packed my bag, dad and mum packed Luke and Toms bags (there so lazy!) Mum cleaned up the cottage and packed the car for our drive to Chewton Mendip.  We had a quick stop off at Bude, a big town on the seaside. It was raining so we didn’t stay for long.  We continued on to Clovelly, an ancient town on the coast where we had to park at the top of the town, go through an entrance and pay to walk down into the centre.  We walked down a really steep cobblestoned lane about 500m, trying not to slip as it was raining, down to the water.  The houses were tiny and there were 2 pubs, one at the top of the village and one at the bottom, with another tearoom and pottery shop and that was it.  In summer donkeys take you down into the centre and you can catch a lift in the landrover back up to the car park if you don’t want to walk up the steep cobblestoned lane. We had some lunch in the pub at the top and continued through the rain to Chewton Mendip.  We are staying at Pat and Dave Hellards House (Grandads cousins). Dad is looking forward to catching up with Smazz and we are looking forward to Pats big cooked dinner tonight when we arrive. 

Pat and Daves house was really cool.  A 5 bedroom farmhouse.  Luke and I are sharing a twin room upstairs, Tom has his own room opposite us and Mum and Dad are up the hall.  They used to run the house as a bed & Breakfast but they stopped doing it because it was a lot of work on top of their pool building business.  We took our bags upstairs and pat made us a nice cuppa.  They have a black labrador named Ruby, she is really friendly.  Tom loves her.

Pete (Pat and Daves son) came up from the yard and said hello.  The pheasant shooting season is starting soon and Pete was going up to a friends farm to put some food out for them so we went up in the Land Rover with him.  There were heaps of pheasants, as we walked through the heather they flew everywhere and scared us.  Pete said that he hadn’t seen so many for a long time so we were lucky.  He dropped us back to Pats and then returned with his son Sam for dinner.  Smaz, Michelle and Lizzie also came to dinner.  A beautiful big Roast Beef, yorkshire puddings, 5 vegetables.  Apple and Blueberry crumble, lemon tart, trifle.  Then cheese and biscuits, coffee, tea and chocolates. YUM!!

We all had a good chat, and Pete and Smaz had to leave to go and play skittles (like 10 pin bowling).  We will catch up with them later in the week.

Mum and Dad stayed downstairs and chatted until midnight, and we were tucked into our cosy beds.

27th September - Mouse Hole/ Lamorna/ Lands End

27th September 2010 - 18 degrees Mousehole / Lamorna / Lands End

Beautiful sunny day today our last day before we leave for Somerset.  We have taken a drive down to Mousehole a tiny seaside village on the south coast of Cornwall.  There is a tiny harbor with lots of colorful row boats and the tide was way out, there was no water what so ever. We had morning tea in a little tearoom (2 scones each with Jam and Cream, I had half of mums as she couldn’t eat the other half) then we walked along the sea path towards rocks and a mini beach with a rock pool. Then we jumped back into the car and took the tiny country lanes, (only one car wide, if another car comes towards you, either one has to reverse up the lane until there is enough room to squeeze through).  As we were driving along we came across a whole field of huge cabbages!  We reached Lamorna Cove , after driving down a tiny road, through a semi rainforest.  The water was blue and there were people in wetsuits ready to go for a dive.  The beach was surrounded by large rocks on the left and a brick pier and restaurant on the right.  A great spot for a swim!!  Tom, Luke and I were playing on the rocks close to the sea and a FREAK wave came up and soaked my pants and shoes. The other two thought it was hilarious. I had to take off my pants and sit on the rocks in my undies!! (not happy Jan) We then continued into Porthcurno, we parked the car a short walk away from the beach, as we came over the hill the beach came in to view.  The best beach we have seen in the U.K. It had beautiful sand and the water was bright blue, mum and I saw a large seal swimming along in the shore.  It reminded us a bit of the Whitsunday's, but it was surrounded by cliffs and the water was minus 20 degrees!!  Up on the right side of the cliff there was the Minack Theatre. It was built all out of stone and right on the edge of the cliff. They have live theatre shows here from April to September, it is a fantastic spot!!!  We had lunch up in the cafe with a great view right across the beach and up the coast. We stayed in Porthcurno for about 3 hours and then left to check out Lands End, the southern most point of the U.K. I was the most southern person in the England!! This was very open sea and country, and we followed a tractor all the way along the road. From Lands End we drove to St. Ives.

The countryside into St Ives was spectacular, with lots of stone fencing, heather (red hedges) and paddocks all the way down to the sea.  We passed through old little villages with tiny stone houses.  As we were driving along, the car in front stopped and we had to wait for a young farmer to walk his cows along the middle of the road!  They were not scared of us at all and took over the whole road.  

St Ives is a really nice town right on the coast with a nice harbour and lots of shops.  We had some drinks in the Harbour Boat Inn and dad bought us a packet of crisps (chips).  We headed back to our car and started our drive home....... to pack our bags  :(  Another long but great day!!

26th September - Walk to Dolzmary Pool/ Dartmoor Nat Park

26th September 2010 

• Walk up to Dolzmary Pool / lunch at Jamaica Inn / Dartmoor Nat Park

Awoke to a nice sunny day.  We had breakfast and Tom and Dad built a bonfire to light tonight. We decided to take a walk up through the back paddocks and head for Dolzmary Pool the largest fresh water pond in Cornwall.  It was a good walk, trying to be quiet so we didn’t scare the rabbits.  There were cows and sheep in the paddocks, they were pretty friendly.  We reached the Pool and had to climb over a few farm fences to make it around to the other side.  Legend tells us that this Pool is where excalibers sword was raised out of the water.  We walked home along the road, that had cows wandering along it and got changed for lunch.  We had lunch at Jamaica Inn just up the road, it was packed for Sunday lunch, they had a Hot Roast Beef Buffet with Yorkshire pudding for the menu today , so we piled up our plates, it was very nice.  We updated our blog.  Sorry but we can’t load any photos yet, the wi-fi connection isn’t strong enough, hopefully when we reach Somerset we will be able to load them.

 Dad decided he wanted to go for a drive, so we headed off East to Dartmoor National Park and the Two Bridges.  The scenery was beautiful, really open Moors with wild ponies, cows and sheep dotted all over them.  We pulled up on the road a couple of times to go and pat the ponies, they were very friendly.  There were little streams running through the paddocks and it was very green, but quite cold. 10 degrees.....  Mum and Dad said that they would like to come back to Dartmoor and stay for awhile, it is really nice.  We stopped off to buy some bread and fill up at the servo on the way home.  When we pulled up to our long driveway, 3 deer jumped out and ran across into the long grass.  They were small so they must have been young. That was the first time I had seen deer in the wild. Dad,Tom, Luke and I went out and started our bonfire, it was nice and warm and really dark and cold, mum stayed inside had a nice hot bath!!

We came inside as it was getting a bit chilly and mum made us bacon and eggs for dinner, and peaches and cream for dessert. YUM!!  We watched x factor on t.v, then I went to bed and read my book.

25th September - Bike Ride from WadeBridge to Padstow

25th September 2010 - Wadebridge>Padstow   Padstow> Port Isaac > Constantine Bay

Awoke to a bright blue sky today. We headed out to Wadebridge about a 20 min drive for a bike ride along the camel trail. We hired our bikes and rode off on the trail an old railway line that has been covered in cement and goes right along the Camel River.  Our destination was Padstow about a 6 mile ride away (10kms) there and back.  The trail was flat and we rode through paddocks with cows, horses, sheep and lots of birdlife along the river.  We came into Padstow and parked our bikes on the seafront for 50 p a bike.  Padstow is really nice, with lots of little shops on the harbour.  There was a lot of people here as it was sunny and saturday!!  We had lunch at a cafe up on the hill over looking the harbour a really nice view. The tide was out so there was heaps of sand. After lunch we walked along the sea path to a large sandy beach, the water was really rough as it was pretty windy.  We walked back into to town and dad bought some meat and vegetable pasties which we will heat up later at home.  Picked up our bikes and took the bike trail back to Wadebridge.

Caroline text us to let us know that the Dragons beat the Tigers to play in the grand final by 1 point!!!   Dragons v Roosters grand final next weekend. Don’t mind who wins, though we usually go for any team that plays the Dragons!!!

After our bike ride we headed off to Port Isaac a beautiful village (where Doc Martin is filmed).  Took a photo of the house used as Doc Martins Doctors Surgery for Vicky (Nics mum)  Dads Aunty and Uncle live here so we called in to see them, but unfortunately they were up in Somerset getting ready to head over to Turkey tomorrow on holidays.  We parked the car and walked on the coastal path into town.  A tiny harbour with little shops and houses surrounding it and paddocks right down to the cliff face.  It was really cold and windy so we all had 2 jackets, beanies and hoods on.  From here we travelled to Constantine Beach about 20 min drive away. The beach was long and sandy and really rough!! There were lots of surfers out catching a wave.  They even had a lifeguards hut and flags. We had a play on the beach and kicked the soccer ball around, but didn’t stay too long as it was really windy and cold.  We drove down some really skinny country lanes on the way home.  Tom has been keen to build a bonfire outside so we made our way back to collect some sticks for the fire.  Another great day in Cornwall.

24th September - St Mawes Castle

24th September - St Mawes Castle, Porthleven, Penzance

A bit  cloudy today so we decided to take a drive down south to St Mawes.  We travelled through green pastures with stone fences and made our way down to the car ferry, across the river to St Mawes.  This was a lovely small village with a few small shops and a passenger ferry to take people across the water to Falmouth. We walked along the water and headed to St Mawes Castle right on the point of the coast.  This castle was one of King Henry VIII coastal fortresses.  It is round in structure and has a moat around the outside. It is 3 stories tall and the middle level has 5 cannons pointed out to sea. On the other headland opposite  stands Pendennis Castle, both of these castles were built to defend the land against enemy entering by sea.  The castle had nice green grass and gardens around the outside.  It was cool.  We walked back to the car and drove to Porthleven another small seaside village for some lunch at the Red Lion Pub it was 3pm and we were all starving.  We went down to the footy field and had a kick around with the soccer ball while mum did a little food shopping to top up our supplies.  We left Porthleven and drove down to Penzance to have a look at St Michaels Mount,  a castle on an island off the coast, took some photos and headed home.  Dad dropped mum and I off at the pub so that we could update our blog and check our emails for an hour, he saw a fox and nearly ran over a rabbit on the way back.  It was only 12 degrees so we lit the wood fire and watched the movie Troy on t.v.  A long but fun day!