Hedge Funds To Hedgerows

Friday: Relaxed day today as I strolled around Oxford with Alasdair in the morning and then it was back to the craziness that is London (well….Kensington, to be precise!) to restock and then head down to Scott and Selina’s. Scott taught me how to make a brew and I think it’s safe to say that I’m quite an expert now. Nothing like learning from a master in his field. Just think witches, couldrons and big wooden spoons (and the scent of something along the lines of porridge) and you get the picture.

Well, I have to say today and yesterday were the first time that I’ve been warm in about three weeks! It really does feel like Summer has arrived. And I can’t think of a prettier place than Gloucestershire in Summer. Warm sun (it was just t-shirts at 8am!!!……..and actually achieved that hard earned result of a farmer’s tan by the end of the day!), the heady scent of wild flowers and pretty houses make it a very nice place indeed. Off to ride Scooby again with Jayne and then it was over to Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds. An old favourite and so close to where I was, that I couldn’t resist a visit. In these parts you feel compelled to find big shady tree and sit there with a stack of Jane Austen novels and be transported back into an other time of big dresses, estate houses and Summer picnics with Mr Darcy. Swoon. Oh, the good and genteel folk of Gloucester! Lots of very friendly Japanese tourists too, falling over themselves to say “hello” to you. Strange. It does feel like you’ve been transported back in time with the little, organic looking stone houses that seem to have just sprouted out of the ground of their own accord. The fields at this time are picture postcard too….all full of yellow rape and little lambs.

Time to put on my Mary Anning hat today and go looking for buried dinosaurs! After being told off by an old man for having the audacity to park on a public road (why do old people think they own the whole darn world?????), it was time for a quick look around Lyme Regis (a favourite also with Jane Austen and the setting for her Persuasion.

It was up early for the adventurous day I had planned. Rugged coastlines, as many ancient sites as I could squeeze in, picturesque old ghost mines tumbling into the sea and then a relaxing time at St Ives.

Tuesday: Sennen Cove is about as close to Land’s End as you can get, so It was a bit of a novelty to spend the night here. The morning had me walk just up and over the cliff to Land’s End proper. I thought it would be desolate and lonely, but I was met by a multitude of shops and even the “Dr Who Experience” What’s that all about???? However, it’s in places like this with the unforgiving coastline, that you realise how easily all those shipwrecks I mentioned earlier could have taken place. It’s a really rough environment.

Up quite early today and off for a two hour walk from Lizard Point around past Old Lizard Point. Go Figure. Did the old one get so eroded that they had to change the most southerly point?? There’s an old lifeboat house in between the two points and a lighthouse above. The cliffs are made mainly out of serpentine stone and the grey rock is still carefully and beautifully worked by local masons in the village. It was also from this point that the Spanish Armada was first seen from British shores in 1588. The origins of the name Lizard are still not known for sure. Was it the shape of the cliffs? Or, the more accepted version that it was from an old Cornish word meaning “high court”. Whichever is correct, the coastal walks here are beautiful.

Up and on the road down to the famous Lost Gardens of Heligan. Now, what I can’t understand is how you can just conveniently forget that you have 1000 acres of amazing gardens surrounding your home and have it become lost. What were you doing, Tremaynes? Counting your money? Anyway, somehow this happened and the gardens which were in their prime from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s just disappeared! The manor was built in the 1200s and was purchased by the Tremayne family in 1569. It seemed WWI proved a bit of a distraction, wounded soldiers moved in, then the American military moved in during WWII and so on and so forth. It wasn’t until 1990 that Tim Smit (yes, you’ve heard his name before….Eden Project) and John Willis rediscovered the gardens and the enormous effort to bring them back to their former glory began. And glorious they are! Rhododendrons whose seeds came from India (ENORMOUS!!), a handkerchief tree, a Jurassic maiden hair tree, artistic black tulips and other psycadellic ones, an Italian garden, flowers that look like marshmallows, a small beacon hill from the days of the armada and perfect camellias that look exactly like the the sacred flower of life, hundreds of bluebells, charcoal burning pits, the biggest veggie patch ever and a jungle area with ginormous rhubarb from Brazil. It really is all quite stunning. All quite easy to forget you have, I guess. Tut, tut, Tremayne family!

I think I had a visit from aliens last night. I go to bed in England and wake up in Australia. Did I get teleported back home during the night? I drove from the town of Newquay to Fisteral Beach and I really could have been in Australia. Sand, surf and sun…and quite an impressive beach it was too. The swell wasn’t so great today so there was a lot of just bobbing up and down on boards but it was a bit too cold for me…being the Atlantic and all. Next time I’ll pop the wetsuit into the suitcase. Next it was up the coast to the little fishing port of Padstow. It’s nothing like the Sydney version. Luckily! Padstow is very cute and quaint and has seen monks and Vikings before today’s tourist raids. The nearby craggy cliffs bring to life the thought of pirates and those of you who went to Brazil with me know that I have a bit of a pirate thing going on. Hey Tom? So many perfect hiding spots for tall ships where cargo could be secretly unloaded and taken inland, perhaps resting on the way at Jamaica Inn!! Ok Rebecca…back to present day reality. There are some great little walks around the village, along the cliffs and beach and then you can later dine at Rick Stein’s restaurant. I’m figuring that’s impressive if you’re a foodie. To be honest, I think Rick Stein has purchased the whole of Padstow. He has restaurants, fish and chip shop, patisserie, cafe, hotels, bistros, seafood school, deli and a gift shop scattered throughout the little town. Nothing like a bit of overkill, huh??!

Ok…it’s not funny anymore. I’m manifesting the sun from here on in. South West England is supposed to be like “another country”. That’s what they tell me. Someone forgot to tell the weather!

Question of the day is what does the title mean? The hint is that the secret location was Greenhead, which is the perfect starting point from which to see Hadrian’s Wall. “Ecce!! Hadrian’s Vallum!” Ok…so my year 7 Latin isn’t what it used to be. First stop was the Roman Army Museum. They’ve done a really good job of it and there is a great little film about the wall commissioned by Emperor Hadrian in the 120s. He did visit the place once, but only during the construction. The rest of the time he was busy travelling his Empire with his toy boy. He had trimmed the empire back a bit and even here in Britannia he pulled the northern boundaries south a little. The crags in this area have proved the saviour of the wall in these parts today as it was too rough for the locals to come here and steel the stones to build churches etc, so it’s quite well preserved. It was originally timber and stone with milecastles every mile (funnily enough!). Most of it was built and manned by auxiliary solders (you couldn’t have your precious legionaries out here surrounded by barbarians!) However, contrary to being a lonely a desolate place, villages popped up around the forts, a major one being Vindolanda. This is a brilliant archaeological site today and just 7miles east of the museum. I highly recommend a visit. It’s extensive, well laid out and they’re still making finds. A lot of textiles and leather shoes etc have been found here. It’s very unusual to find such things after 2000 years, but the anaerobic soil in these parts has been a blessing. The most famous find to date was been wooden writing tablets now housed in the British Museum.