On May 30th last year my wife Susan and I arrived at Heathrow airport London .We were met by my sister
who lives in the U.K. who had to wait almost three hours for us to emerge from immigration and customs
because of some police operation that particular afternoon at the airport. Not what we wanted either at the
end of a twenty four hour flight!
As we drove to her home in Camberley in nearby Surrey we were immediately struck by the lushness of
the countryside and the amount of growth at the sides of the roads. This was in such stark contrast to the
dryness and brown condition of drought stricken Victoria. At this time of the year the days are so long that
it was still sunny and warm at 9.30 pm. One of the advantages of going to this part of the world in June is
the beautiful long days. After enjoying some days at Camberley visiting nearby places such as Windsor,
Henley on Thames and Oxford we hired our own car for a week and headed off towards the south west of
England.
We followed the M3 motorway for a short distance to get past the large dormitory towns such as
Basingstoke that surround London. We then picked up the A303 heading to Winchester. On the way we
spent a lovely hour or so in the small village of Stockbridge enjoying a coffee in a quaint tavern called
“Three Cups Inn” in the main street.
From here we travelled a short distance to the beautiful city of Salisbury. As with many such cities in
England parking is a pain. We finished up learning the hard way that it is easier to park the car on the edge
of the city in a “park and ride” and then take the bus into the centre of the city. We enjoyed very much a
visit to the glorious cathedral and the chancery that has an original copy of The Magna Carta. As we left
Salisbury I experienced a bit of a shock as I filled the small Vauxhall Corsa we had hired with petrol at
about AUD2.50 a litre. (like our petrol it has become cheaper in the U.K. since last June)
Later that afternoon we stopped at a small and picturesque village called Barford St. Martin where there
were many lovely thatched cottages in perfect condition and these gave my camera quite a workout. We
spent our first night at a B&B in Shaftsbury in Dorset. This is Thomas Hardy’s village and it is situated on
a hill which overlooks the nearby beautiful Dorset countryside. Nearby the Kings Arms Hotel where we
enjoyed a hearty meal there is a famous street called ‘Gold Hill’ or sometimes Hovis Hill as the scene was
apparently made famous by a TV ad in the UK for Hovis brand bread.
Next morning we drove on to another delightful town, Sherbourne where we wandered around an
interesting street market. Outside Sherbourne there is cut into the white chalk of a rather steep hillside the
outline of a giant man. It has been there for centuries and no doubt caused considerable mirth to many
visitors and locals because of the size of the chalk man’s appendages! Not far from here in the small village
of Cern Abbas another unfortunate occurrence took place when my wife happened to take a photo of me
under a street sign with the quaint name “Piddle Lane”!
Later that day we had a very different place to visit. We reached the coast at Lyme Regis which I believe
to be a fairly typical English seaside resort. The beach at Lyme Regis was well worth a wander along even
if it is composed a rather large pebbles! We had no problem obtaining accommodation at this time without
prior bookings.
From Lyme Regis the next day we traversed the Dartmoor National Park It is very different country to
Wiltshire and Dorset – very windswept and rather bleak but still beautiful on a sunny day. I especially
remember the rather isolated village of Dunsford at the beginning of the Moors. It had a great typical
English pub, very narrow streets, picturesque cottages with flower gardens in the front and back and a great
old church and churchyard with cemetery on the highest point of the village. I even wandered past an
attractive small school at the end of the main street where the school kids were enjoying morning recess!
There was no evidence of a teacher on yard duty!!
In the afternoon we stopped and enjoyed a walk along a very busy main street in Tavistock. We bypassed the
large city of Plymouth where we had been some years ago and went through the village of Looe and stayed
at Polperro.
Polperro we had been told was well worth a visit. With perfect weather and such a delightful Cornish fishing
village it was a highlight of the trip. One would have to say it was picture postcard perfect. The village is
built on fairly steep hills on either side of a protected harbour with just a small entrance from the sea. Car
entry is restricted to people who live in the village or when you have a confirmed B&B or hotel booking. We
had a great fish meal at a small restaurant overlooking the main part of the harbour. It was a truly
enchanting place. We could have easily stayed another day.
The next morning to save some time we drove for six miles on the narrowest road I have ever driven. There
was nowhere to pass an oncoming vehicle except there were inlets every so often. So when I encountered a
van coming the other way I had to reverse for a few hundred metres so we could pass. We reached a car ferry
at Polruan (think that is the spelling but I am having trouble reading my own writing in the diary I kept!).
The ferry took us to another Cornish fishing town, Fowey. We spent time and had a wonderful lunch in this
busy place.
That afternoon we visited a fairly new attraction called the “Lost Gardens of Heligan”. Well over a century
ago an eccentric and wealthy Englishman had travelled the world and brought many exotic plants such as
Rhododendrons, bananas and even pineapples for his private botanic garden. Some many years ago after his
death the gardens fell into disuse and became completely overgrown and almost lost. But in recent times
they are being brought to their original glory. They were well worth a visit.
From Heligan we turned back towards London and crossed Bodmin Moor passing Okehampton on the A30.
We stopped at a tiny village of Belstone near Okehampton .It was a most attractive village with a delightful
old pub, village green and even a set of stocks near the entrance of the village.
The following day we were in Wells which has what I think has one of the great cathedrals in England. The
front of the cathedral is stunning in its masonry detail and the still working medieval clock inside is
marvellous.
Another interesting town was
Glastonbury the centre of the
thriving witchcraft and occult
industry in England. Quite a few
refugees here from Nimbin! The
next place that is worth spending
time is the city of Bath. We took
many photos of the Royal Crescent
and Circus. Having seen the
historic roman baths on a previous trip we headed on minor roads from here across some beautiful Dorset
countryside back towards Camberley.
Several days later we caught the Eurostar train from the newly refurbished Euston Station in London and two
and a quarter hours later we were in Paris at the Gare du Nord station. Having been in Paris a number of
times, on this occasion we did not rush around all the time trying to visit as many as possible of the famous
tourist sights. We simply enjoyed some wonderful lunches, strolls along the riverbanks and gardens
observing the people and taking in the ambiance of Paris.
To be continued next issue