Lanhydrock House

We were out looking for a newer car, we had two and decided that one was enough, so we would look to sell both of ours and combine for something with lower mileage that we liked. Two to three year old cars provide a decent value for money so we were looking around that year.…

Looking back at 2024 and on to 2025

I said at this point last year that 2023 had “passed in the blink of an eye”, well I’m not sure I even managed to get a blink in, and 2024 was gone. So here I am typing up what happened throughout last year. As with previous years I’ll start with the review and look…

Rufford Old Hall and the canal

So we were heading away from the Lakes and we try to look for somewhere to stop off to break up the journey. Normally this would be in Lakeland and involve a longer drive to Plymouth, but this time we drove a bit and then headed to somewhere. Rufford Old Hall was our choice, firstly…

Cotehele

As we neared the end of April the weather started to turn a bit, more sunny days in between others with rain. But at least we now had the drier weather we would expect at this time of year. We decided on a National Trust property as one of our outings this week, and headed…

Buckland Abbey and Totnes

A post about a couple of days out for the two of us, firstly to Buckland Abbey, where I used to work and volunteer. Secondly to Totnes and a proper look around this brilliant little town, crammed full of history and around 25 coffee shops. Both places are well worth a visit and give a…

A National Trust Jubilee

Slightly different extended bank holiday outings for me. I thought about walking out on Dartmoor or the coast, the weather was certainly forecast to be good enough. But I chose instead to head to a couple of National Trust places, make use of my membership and have a couple of simple days out and a…

Saltram

A chance of a walk with the boys, but not very far at all from home. We’d spent the morning planting seeds to grow veg during the year, had some lunch before heading out for a walk in some sunshine. This walk is around the National Trust property of Saltram, the normal route around the…

Saltram

Another National Trust walk to go nicely with my last one a couple of days ago at Cotehele. The good part about a Trust walk is the grounds tend to be full of trees, and at this time of year they give good colour and help with the photos, even if they are taken on…

A short walk around Cotehele

Another week where I should be in the Lake District, cancelled again. the rule of 6 and all that. Left to make up another week of things to do in the area I live and visit most weekends anyway. I wanted to make it different than the week in August and today was another National…

Coleton Fishacre

This is a place that I walked through on fantastic coastal walk to Man Sands from Kingswear. This was a revisit to have a look at what was up the hill from the coastal path and keep using the National Trust card during these times. I was impressed at gardens and paths that criss-crossed the…

Killerton

Not Dartmoor and not the coast either. This is another venture to make the most of my national trust membership and make an early start on the bank holiday weekend. I’d booked the Friday off so I headed off up the A38 towards Exeter. Now I hadn’t been to Killerton before and I was too…

A week not in The Lakes

This was all about making the best of what we had. We’d already been on a walk around Slapton Sands and after a rest day we picked some locations, booked ourselves in and met up with some, and then all, of the family that would have been with us in The Lakes. We decided to…