Barras Nose, lashings of ginger beer and Tintagel Castle

May 23, 2015

So today I'm sharing the final part of our visit to Tintagel Castle; last week I left it as we paused briefly to look at Tintagel Haven and set about finding the perfect lunch spot on the National Trust's Barras Nose. And Tintagel Haven - or should that be heaven - it's not a bad view is it?

Tintagel Haven is infact the small sand, shingle and stony beach you can see in the photo (and at high tide there's no beach) but it's better known for a spectacular cave, known as Merlin's Cave which provides the only access to the small and stony Westside Cove the other side of the headland. While we'd have loved to check it out, we were heading upwards to check out the views from Barras Nose, which was the first English Coastal acquisition by the Trust in 1897.

It wasn't long before we spotted this stone with the inscription and spent some time twisting our heads round to read it and determine where it should start and end!

Well actually some of that head twisting to read the quote was a cunning plan to pause and take in the moment for a bit. Shortly though we were off again and found the perfect place to stop and eat the picnic we'd brought with us.

And it was here that I realised I'd made the wrong choice. I totally should have packed cans of ginger beer and not cloudy lemonade in our picnic! It really was a "lashings of ginger beer" kind of place and I'm pretty sure Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Timmy the dog had some adventures at Tintagel at some point. I just wish I'd remembered that before we were there!

Ah well a picnic with this as our view wasn't so bad after all, despite the wrong kind of fizzy drink...

But the more we looked, the more we saw - and then we realised we'd missed out on a trip to the lower part of the castle. We'd clearly missed the signs to get down there and peer through that hole in the castle walls you can see in the photo above. That was disappointing and most likely as a result of not having a site guide, and we briefly considered going back to visit this spot.

But then we remembered it was at least 148 steps up, then the steps down there and all that in reverse and we still hadn't explored the Medieval section of the Castle on the mainland, which also had some steep steps up to it. Yes we it was only briefly considered! However we consoled ourselves with the fact that our lunch spot provided a view of it that many people visiting the castle that day weren't getting!

While we were on Barras Nose we had a wander around after we'd demolished lunch - there's a route for a one mile walk on the National Trust website, but it's just as easy to follow your nose (around Barras Nose!) It too had some stunning views, just look:

Full from lunch and of the views, we headed back over to Tintagel Castle. This time though we didn't cross the bridge we turned left just past the ticket point and headed up these stairs. And they are as steep as they look - I'm not ashamed to admit I had a couple of pauses along the way and not just because I wanted to admire the view!

These took us up to the section of the castle on the mainland - and the advice we got on arrival was spot on. That was to start on the headland and leave the mainland section until after as there's a path from there leading back to the village. What they didn't tell us though was that that path means no steps down again (well maybe a few, but not like the way up!). And that advice also meant avoiding a trip around the shop on exit, always a plus!

As with other parts of the castle there were stunning views every way you looked!

My friend the seagull at Tintagel Castle

I tell you the seagulls in Cornwall are very photogenic - and no chips in sight for these ones either.

Parts of the castle have sadly slipped into the sea, but as you can see from the pictures it is right on the edge and it's surprising that more hasn't been lost. Huge buttresses prevent the rest of the Grand Hall from sliding into the sea, and it shows just how important the work of English Heritage and the National Trust are in preserving our history.

We had a great time during our visit, the scenery and vistas were amazing - we were lucky of course that the weather was so good, I imagine we might not have had quite such a magical time in the wind and rain! And if I'm honest, the day was better than I expected it to be - this was one of MOH's choices and somewhere he'd visited as a child so he was keen to see it again.

And after an inspiring day we took the relatively step free path back towards the village, and the pub and instead of the ginger variety we opted for a pint of the local brew and people watched while we got our breath back! Then it was onto the Old Post Office at Tintagel, which I must dig out the pictures from and share with you too.

Three Grand Gardens

May 21, 2015

I was surprised - pleasantly surprised infact - to stumble across some show gardens at Grand Designs Live. I hadn't remembered them being there when we'd visited before, but we may not have found them then. After a day of walking around the Excel it was nice to discover these and breath in some greenery, even though it was indoors!

1. Reclaimed by nature, reused by people - Colin R Smith

The aim of this garden is to attract wildlife to the garden, especially our dwindling bee population. As well as wildlife it's designed to welcome the visitor and provide a relaxing environment. The sound of running water of as a stream meanders alongside the rustic path to the seating area.

On the board next to the garden Colin, the designer said "the garden had to have the feel of being just found, hidden away allowing nature to partly take back what was once hers."

Lots of the items used in the garden have come from reclamation or landscape yards and it certainly had an aged, but relaxed look.

I'm a big fan of the brick path and how it winds through the garden and I like how the planting is also vertical. I'm also surprised at how natural the garden looks and if you didn't know it you could be fooled into thinking this wasn't smack bang in the middle of an indoor event space!

2. Wild Life - Mark O'Neill

This one too is a secret garden, but one that's densely planted where children and grown-ups alike can enjoy the natural world and develop their imagination.

And yes that's a copper tube pipe structure in the middle - well actually it's a "bespoke, reclaimed tubular copper pavilion" and its surrounded by a living walls of ferns and evergreens and is on a lawn of chamomile.

While I recognise the work that's gone into this garden, I don't think I get it and it all looks a bit too overgrown and too secret for me. I did like the stepable chamomile lawn though, I bet it smells divine when the sun's out (well if it was outside that is!)

I liked the copper bird house and feeder too, although it seems my camera didn't so much - it's just under that green square in the photo on the right.

It's always nice to hear birdsong in the garden and here we're regularly spot blackbirds, tits and robins and of course very fat pigeons (I'm less keen on those though, you might have noticed!).

3. The wildlife all-around garden - Caroline Jenkins

This was my favourite of the three gardens, and if I hadn't told you that I think you'd guess by the number of photos I'm including.

This garden is based on a circular theme with a "contemporary rustic chic feel." The wooden supports around the patio provide support for climbing plants but the round "windows" still allow you to glimpse views of the garden, which I thought was a nice touch.

I was very taken with the stones though - just look at how neat they are. There's even a ring of larger stones carrying on the circle theme. I'm not sure how long it would stay looking so neat if I were to have this in my garden though...

The bench seating area also serves as a wildlife habitat with a number of wooden bug hotel modules, another nice idea.

And as with all good bug hotels there's room for everyone with each module catering to different bugs. I do like this, but I'm not sure I'd be using it as my only seating area in the garden - well, because if it's occupied I'd be concerned about bugs using my legs as a quick route to change rooms...

The other thing I liked about this garden was that it was real enough to incorporate a compost bin and log pile and the board next to the garden summed it up for me with "[the] attention put in at the design process through an understanding of what wildlife really need in today's urban gardens make this a truly well-rounded wildlife garden the whole family can enjoy."

Yes I'd be very happy with this as my garden - just as long as I could have a bug free deckchair too!

I liked these gravel stepping stones too - I'd not seen anything quite like them before. After reading the board to see if I could learn more (I couldn't) I spotted a lady hanging around the garden as well. And one that looked very much like the lady in the picture on the board...

Was it the garden designer? Well I hoped it was as I was about to ask her about those gravel stepping stones.

Bingo. It was Caroline and we had a lovely short chat about the garden and those stepping stones. It's quite easy really - you take a length of metal, shape it into a circle where you want it add a small amount of cement-type stuff on the base and then load in the gravel. Simples.

And effective too. I've decided I like circles in gardens - we were already thinking of making our lawn into a series of circles - and I'm keen on some kind of bug hotel in our garden too. I've got the perfect spot for it too at the back of our garden, and I've been collecting potential materials now I just need to make it happen. And initially for that I'll need some of MOH's sawing skills...

Do you have a bug hotel or box? And has anything taken up residence? If you've any tips on what to include I'd be interested to hear them.

Tintagel Castle and 148 steps for starters...

May 16, 2015

It was last September that we were in Cornwall - I'm not sure how it can be quite that long ago already but either way it's about time I shared the pictures of our visit to Tintagel Castle with you. Looking back at them this week, it was quite a day and there's a few to choose from and I've a feeling it'll take more than one photo-heavy post to tell you more about the place which is the legendary birthplace of King Arthur...

The site of the castle has been inhabited since between the 5th and 7th centuries AD when a prosperous community was based there but it wasn't until later in the 12th century that it gained international literary fame and named by Geoffrey of Monmouth as the place where the legendary King Arthur was conceived.

English Heritage, who maintain the site think this "may have been what inspired Richard, Earl of Cornwall, younger brother of Henry III, to site his castle at Tintagel in the 1230s. The castle had fallen into disrepair by 1330, but its associations with the Arthurian legend have helped to foster the site’s continuing international renown."

Despite the disrepair, the ruins provide some stunning views and an insight into what life in a castle might be like. Sadly on our visit there were no maps of the site available as English Heritage "had run out" so we wandered around slightly in the dark, making do with the signage available. We were though offered the chance to buy a full guide at the full price, which we declined and if I'm honest I was a little disappointed by this and by the lack of foresight to provide some basic information - for me, a photocopy of the layout would have helped put things into context and helped us plan our visit. It's probably the only time I'll visit Tintagel Castle and it's the first English Heritage site I've visited, and as they say you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

But map aside, you can see we had fabulous weather and the castle and the scenery were fantastic.

We started by exploring the castle on the headland - there's 148 steps up from the bridge to the wooden door - at the top we paused and looked over to the part of the castle on the mainland, and the steps up to that, and decided that was probably on the "after lunch" exploring list!

There's spectacular views along the Cornish coast too, and as seemed to be the case for this trip I quickly found a seagull that was happy to pose for a picture or two!

It wasn't long before we found The Tunnel and although little is known about it, including its date, it is known that it was cut using metal tools and while its purpose is also unknown, it's thought it may have been used as a medieval cold store.

This is the entrance and as we stepped down into it we weren't quite sure what to expect.

But as you get further into the tunnel, it opens out and you can see all the way through. The workmanship is incredible, but it's a shame that more isn't known about it.

And once through the tunnel this is your view, inside the temperature was definitely lower but I do wonder if it was intended as a cold store, why it was made as a tunnel rather than a cave...

Out of the tunnel and we continued to explore the headland admiring the strata of the rock and the views out to sea, the whole place had a special atmosphere which I wasn't expecting, but maybe that King Arthur legend really did have roots here.

Once we'd had our fill of the views and been entertained long enough by the seagulls, we decided some lunch was in order - and we saw the perfect spot on the next headland along, and from our vantage point we could make out some paths too.

So with a rough plan in place we set off and of course what goes up, must go down. And then down some more!

With the steps under our belt (for now) we briefly admired the view from Tintagel Haven before setting off in search of the perfect lunch spot. I'm going to leave it there for today and will continue our visit to the mainland part of Tintagel Castle and some views from where we had lunch on the National Trust's Barras Nose next Saturday - hope to see you then!