Great Britain

We start the day in Cardiff, where we take a lovely walk through the city center, including a cup of coffee, of course. After 5 days of countryside, a big city is nice to have a change of pace. Then we head towards Aberfan. We were inspired by the Netflix series The Crown, where season 3, episode 3, looks back on the disaster that took place in this town in 1966. That morning, the village was partially buried under a collapsing waste heap from a coal mine located next to the village. Heavy rainfall had made the heap unstable. The heap buried, among other things, a primary school, killing 116 children. A total of 144 people lost their lives. A beautiful memorial has been set up on the site of the primary school. Afterwards, we drive on to another place we also learned about from a film: Onllwyn, a town we remember from the 2014 film Pride. If you don’t know the film, or haven’t seen it yet, do it! It tells the true story of LGSM, or Lesbians and Gays Support the Mineworkers, about a group of lesbians and gay men from London who supported striking miners in Wales in the 1980s with various fundraising events. And despite the apparent antagonism between the two groups, wonderful friendships develop. One of the events is a charity performance by a good friend of the organizer, Jimmy Sommerville of Bronski Beat. Unfortunately, contrary to Google’s indication, the building, the Onllwyn Welfare House, is closed. So we drive on to Tenby, a coastal town in southwest Wales, and book a wonderful overnight stay fifteen minutes away. The B&B is nestled in a valley, and beside a beautiful lake, alpacas roam the meadows. In Tenby itself, we take a lovely walk in the evening and have a delicious meal at a local restaurant.

The temperature was around 23 degrees Celsius, and it was wonderfully sunny.

Video of the day:

Ar ôl brecwast calonog, rydyn ni’n pacio ein pethau ac yn mynd allan eto. Ein cyrchfan gyntaf yw Tintangel, lle mae tŷ hen iawn wedi’i gadw.

No, my keyboard isn’t broken, dyslexia hasn’t taken over me and we didn’t buy a bag of letters, throw them in the air, and then write down what we saw. This is Welsh for the opening line:

“After a good breakfast, we pack up and set off again. Our first destination is Tintangel, where a very old house has been preserved,”

which was one of the first acquisitions of the NT, in 1903. It’s called “the Old Post Office” because it served as the village post office from 1870 onwards. Tintangel Castle, or rather, just outside it, also stands in, and has a long history related to the legends of King Arthur. This was first recorded in the 12th century, when Geoffrey of Monmouth described Tintagel as the place where Arthur was conceived in his mythological account of British history, Historia Regum Britanniae. But a walk there, including a guided tour, and back would take too much time, so we believe the legend and move on. On our way to Wales, we want to stop at least once more and see a place called Mortehoe, where rugged, rocky coastlines create a beautiful landscape. It turns out to be very busy due to the holidays and the weekend, and the last kilometer is also very narrow, so we view the beautiful, rugged, rocky coastline from a different location. We decide to drive through Exmoor National Park towards Wales, which offers us many stunning views. Looking for a charging station, we end up in Wellington, and well, Wellington Monument is very close. It was erected in memory of the Duke of Wellington and his victory at Waterloo. From there, we head towards Wales, and now we’re in a hotel between Cardiff and Newport.

The temperature today was around 22 degrees Celsius, and partly cloudy.

Video of the day:

We woke up around eight this morning, had a delicious breakfast, and set off. Our first stop was planned at Greenway, Agatha Christie’s country house, but unfortunately, we were too early. It didn’t open until 10:30. However, we did manage to squeeze in a beautiful walk in the woods. Then we continued on to Saltram, another National Trust house that proved worthwhile. It’s a house and garden belonging to the Parker family, whose last two heirs, brothers, remained unmarried. Because the last surviving sibling would have to pay an incredible amount in inheritance tax, they negotiated with the tax authorities and the National Trust to transfer it from the moment of the latter’s death. The house and rooms are completely in their original state, and if the original residents were to return, they would barely notice the difference. Another beautiful house, and the gardens are also magnificent. Next, we plan to drive on to Marazion, where Saint Michael Mount stands. An English version of Mont St. Michel. But due to road closures caused by accidents and a malfunctioning charging station, forcing us to divert to the next one, we’re short on time and decide to drive back north, visiting the last house on our list for today, Lanhydrock House and Garden. This too is a true gem. The Victorian kitchen is truly striking, as is the 17th-century Gallery, a 35-meter-long space. We book a hotel on the spot, which turns out to be a mile away and, in addition to being a hotel, also houses a golf club. We settle down with a book and a drink on the terrace of Hole 19 and have a delicious dinner there.

The temperature is around 21 degrees Celsius, but it was cloudy.

Video of the day:

We woke up early again. First, a walk through the immense garden of our B&B. We spotted two deer playfully chasing each other, or is it rutting season after all?

We booked breakfast at 8:00 AM. Last night, we could tick off whatever we wanted. A truly personal and attentive approach.

Around 9:00 AM, we headed to McDonald’s. No, not what you’d expect, but to load the car.

Our first stop was Hinton Ampner. The estate was partially open, so we could visit the garden and a small church on the grounds. But the house itself didn’t open until 11:00 AM.

After about an hour, we drove on to Mottisfont, an estate where everything was open, so we strolled among the many visitors scattered throughout the estate and visited the garden and the house. The nice thing about this house was that Ian Fleming was a family friend there.

Around two o’clock, we set off for Stonehenge.  The navigation system shows a huge traffic jam just before Stonehenge, and we feared it would be a very busy tourist attraction. However, it turned out there had been an accident, and once we’d passed it and parked our car, we could quickly show our National Trust passes and hop on the bus shuttle to the stones. It was a truly impressive experience. After a circuit around the stones, we took the shuttle back and drove to the Cerne Giant, a 55-meter-high hilltop figure of a bald, naked man with a prominent erection, holding his left hand out to the side and wielding a large club in his right. The figure is formed by shallow ditches dug in the grass and filled with limestone rubble. It’s estimated that it was created around 700-1100 AD.

And then it was time to book a hotel; we found something in Torquay and drove there. On the way to Exeter, we loaded up the car and had a chimmichurri steak at Beefeater.

After checking into the hotel, we decided to take an evening stroll to the sea.

The temperature was around 19 degrees Celsius, and despite mostly sunny weather, we experienced our first English showers on the way in the car.

Video of the day:

It’s with a heavy heart that we leave Sissinghurst Castle Farmhouse. We do so after a lovely walk through the estate, followed by an even more delicious breakfast. Our next stop is Bodiam Castle. A castle that fulfills all your medieval castle dreams. It’s a beautifully preserved castle, at least from the outside. We have a lovely conversation with a volunteer who has been working there for at least 15 years. After a while, we have to move on, and we head for Scotney Castle. Because the original building was too dilapidated, the last owner had a beautiful new mansion built on the estate. So beautiful that Margaret Thatcher rented an apartment there. When the owner died, he bequeathed it to the National Trust, with the stipulation that his wife could live there until her death. However, she lived to be 102, so it wasn’t until 2007 that it was opened to the public. We’re having a wonderful time here too.  Yet, even now we must move on, to Chartwell, the house where Winston Churchill lived with his family for about 40 years. It’s another magnificent estate, and the English know how to preserve their national heritage. This is evident from the many visitors we encounter throughout the day.

Temperature today was around 23 degrees wit a lot of sunshine.

Video of the day:

We start the trip with a travel day. At six in the morning, we close the door behind us and begin the journey to Calais. With a stop for coffee and the first load at Hazeldonk, and a second stop for more loading and lunch just before the tunnel, we arrive at the Passenger Terminal around 1:00 PM. Our train was scheduled for 3:30 PM, but all the train announcement boards already indicated a half-hour delay due to the holdup at customs. Anyway, we’re on vacation, so an hour more or less doesn’t matter. Finally, we leave at 4:33 PM and arrive in England at 4:08 PM, Greenwich Mean Time. We drive straight to our first overnight stay, Sissinghurst Castle Farmhouse. A truly beautiful place, on a large estate with stunning gardens. A five-minute drive away, we found a pub, also known as a restaurant, called The Three Chimneys, which shatters all preconceptions about English food in one fell swoop. Delicious. Early to bed tonight, and tomorrow we’ll visit and see the first things.

The average temperature today was 21 degrees Celsius, with lovely sunshine.

The video of the day:

This is were we spent most of our time today