Europe

West country and Cornwall

From Denmark we checked into the IBIS hotel at the airport and hired a car there and get out into the countryside.   We would come back there before flying to Romania.

We planned to begin our ramblings with a stay at Wells, from where we could easily drive to Glastonbury and perhaps Bath the same day.  Unfortunately the trip took nearly two hours longer than our TomTom GPS navigator forecast.  At times we could have walked faster.

So by the time we got to the Beryl Country House at Wells all we wanted to do was avail ourselves of the free afternoon tea and relax.  Bath would have to wait for another trip in future.  We have both been there anyway so our motivation was diminished.  The hotel itself was a draw-card.  It has extensive grounds and an ancient orchard with unusual, pre-commercial, varieties of apple and pear.  There's also a swimming pool.  But the house itself attempts domesticity with framed images of members of the family; delicate floral bone china; and sterling-silver spoons and cutlery (not EPNS).  There is an open bar on the honour system, with numerous types of spirits and fortified wines, including aged malt whiskies.  No thieves expected or apparently suffered. Upstairs, very up, because of the high ceilings below, was equally pleasant.  We had access to a small kitchen and a private bathroom (not en-suite but big, with separate shower and bath). Our bedroom was large and nicely furnished with a big, high bed; sitting chairs; tea making facilities; and a small flat screen TV to watch the news. 

Beryl Country House; Wells Cathedral & High Street - Cathedral in background

Wells Cathedral, with its interesting history, is well worth a visit as was the town itself.  It's the England of literature, on this sunny day pretty and busy with market tents, like a fete, and a bustling, flowery high street: the Cathedral in the background.  Many peaches and cream complexions, mothers and children. There were lots of fluttering Union Jacks, perhaps post-Brexit?  Yet there was more than one French, Dutch and German voice among the throng. 

Nearby is Glastonbury.

At Glastonbury we were reminded yet again of Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries.  As I have already mentioned Henry was not a traditional Protestant but had his own spin on religion.  Eventually Henry reached a compromise with the English Protestants, agreeing with many  of Luther's 95 theses.   These were the Biblical scholar's objections to Rome's practices.  Henry agreed to promulgating thirteen articles of religion that are said to be as close to Lutheran Protestantism as the English Church ever got. 

For Henry the break with Rome had one great incentive: financial.  England had long been in dispute with Rome alleging that Rome had improperly levied taxation on English lands.  Initially Henry sought to recover the disputed funds by foreclosing on church property valued at under 200 pounds and selling it to local aristocrats and merchants.  It was a popular move and had considerable local support.  It soon became something of a goldmine. 

Glastonbury was the second richest and most powerful monastery in England and worth a lot more that 200 pounds.   So when the king's men arrived unexpectedly in 1539 to take possession and carry off its valuables the Abbot, Richard Whyting objected and resisted.  Whyting had agreed to the separation of the Church and was hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor on Glastonbury Tor.

The Abby and two of its manors were then sold by the crown to a wealthy, newly created knight, John Thynne, who had been a soldier and administrator in the service of the Seymours.  Thereafter the Abbey building became a source of nicely cut stone for other building projects in the region and was reduced to a ruin.  Since that time a number of legends have been revived or invented around it including that it is the site of the fabled Avalon of Arthurian fame and/or that it was founded by Joseph of Arimathea.

Glastonbury: Abbey and the Tor

In 1882 it became a protected monument and was purchased in 1908 by the local Trust, after which the ruins were cleaned of vegetation and stabilised.  They have been a local amenity; a place of religious pilgrimage; and popular tourist attraction ever since, with over 100,000 visitors a year.

Glastonbury Tor, on which Abbot Whyting, met his demise,  is a distinctive cone shaped hill that has archaeological evidence of Roman; Saxon and probably even stone age human activity.  It looks man-made, like a very large pyramid or mound.  It is however a natural geological feature that no doubt influenced the choice of location for the Abbey.  It is presently toped by the tower of a ruined church.  Climbing it is one of the things longer-stay holiday makers can do in the region.  Another is to visit England's oldest Safari Park at Longleat, country seat of the Marquis of Bath. I have mentioned elsewhere a 10' LP record that I still have titled The Best of Sellers. On one of the tracks Peter Sellers sends-up the commercialisation of Stately Homes, so Longleat became a place of comic inappropriateness in my mind.  

I also had a childhood recollection of a family being attacked there by the lions and remembering it as funny(?).  On looking it up I discover that they were a family of dummies, set up by the BBC, in less correct times, to see what would happen.  The dummies were torn asunder and the resulting hilarious news item, like those April Fools items about pasta trees and so on, must have been circulated to the ABC in Australia, probably in black-and-white to This Day Tonight.  Apparently a man in a soft-toped car had almost met the same fate but was able to escape. Nowadays only lion-proof cars are admitted.  So Longleat has become less amusing.  Now it's just another private zoo.

Our next base for touring was in the village of Kennford (near Exeter), from which we travelled as far as Port Isaac in Cornwall, setting for the TV series Doc Martin.  It's on that big toe on the foot of the map of England.

Port Isaac (above)
Plymouth and Rock? (kids were dangerously jumping from here)

After Cornish Pasties for lunch we headed down to Plymouth and back along the coast via Torquay (of Faulty Towers fame); stopping off in Sidmouth for a meal and to drop by the St John's International School, where Wendy's daughter Jordan worked in her gap year (on exchange) before returning to Kennford. 

Once in the country driving became a pleasure with narrow country roads and archetypal English countryside, farms and dwellings.  Here TomTom came into its own, obviating the need for a road atlas; complex navigation and domestic disharmony.

I've already summarised our rambles in the introduction so I'll just add a couple of highlights.  The pubs are worth a mention.  We enjoyed a number of very nice meals at quite reasonable prices in a goodly number of establishments.  In several others we just popped in for a drink while walking around various towns. Thirsty work walking. Among these was one in Exeter at which Wendy was so taken with one of the unusually numerous 'Hens Parties' in town that she asked to take some photos.  The girls were in a particularly excited state, perhaps on account of a giant inflated penis that one was carrying, or possibly because the entire town seemed to be overrun with excited girls at similar events.  Exeter also has a large shopping precinct that attracted Wendy, so I spent some time in the Cathedral and a surprisingly good coffee shop, as the English weather had become inclement.

Fortunately we had planned to return to the IBIS Hotel at Luton Airport before our morning flight to Bucharest or given the almost stationary traffic on the so-called motorways it's doubtful if we would have made it.  TomTom had chosen the shortest but possibly most congested route and it took the best part of a day to return there from Exeter, more than double the nominal journey time of three and a half hours.  When we finally arrived it was dark cold and raining. It was grim.

Google Pictures Generated album - Southern England:  Click here...