Uffculme - Cullompton Devon

We stayed on a small property in the country cottage called High Park Barn, which I am guessing was a barn conversion. We had a lovely green hill facing us with a horse feeding off the grass. Very quiet with a town centre consisting of a pub and a grocery shop. There are diary cows and chickens down the lane and sheep and a horse in a paddock across the road. 

The roads here are very narrow and the hedges high so you can't see around corners for traffic. It got very spooky when a car would come the other way and you had to find a way to move over or a siding to pull into for safety. 

As this was a base we took off for other towns. We visited Exeter with lots of young people as there is a university there and a huge cathedral which we visited when an orchestra was practicing for a concert so we got to hear them play and the choir to sing. The city is large but we will still able to get to points of interest on foot.

We visited smaller places like Topsham which is a beautiful sea side village with lots of small boutique shops and the Saturday had a market in the hall.  They had advertised that a food festival would be on that day we visited which was to have a 'long table' where the community enjoys a meal together on a long table in the Main Street. On arrival we found out that it had been cancelled for 2013 which was disappointing. We still enjoyed looking around at the harbour and shops. 

We travelled across to the 'English Riviera' aka Torquay to discover a different landscape. I rather liked Paignton as it had some very old looking guest houses and was what I thought Torquay might be like. We drove to Brixham which is a quant fishing village with a replica of the Sir Francis Drake ship the Golden Hind in the bay. It was very busy with loads of tourist but we enjoyed walking around the harbour. 

Our small village in Uffculme has a Woollen Mill called Coldharbour Mill and when we visited and got a guided tour of the machinery that used to be used for weaving wool. 

We had to laugh when we noticed down the road a security camera directed at a heap of dirt. Not sure if the dirt was special or what but it was being guarded out the front of a property. Very funny. 

Ludlow take two

Yaa we now have a car to get around while we are in England. It's a Vauxhall Corsa and drives very well. We took off to Ironbridge which is the home of the first cast iron bridge and the area is a World Heritage Site. The bridge was finished in 1781 and the area was seen as the birth place of the Industrial Revolution as cast iron foundries were established and industries sprung up in the district. 

The Abraham Darby III  followed on from his father and grandfathers work in cast iron to make the sections for the bridge. The family were Quakers and we learnt a bit about their philosophy in that Quakers see all as equals and treat women as equals ensuring they were educated. They dressed more plainly than the other town folk but their homes were very warm and well appointed. They welcomed anyone into their meetings but were treated badly for their beliefs. Quakers refused to go to war, swear an oath and were against slavery.  This did not go down well with the rulers and as a result they were not allowed to go to university and could not become doctors or lawyers. They moved into business and commerce which brought the Darby family to Coalbrookdale and their work with iron. Later a town built up around the bridge and the area was renamed Ironbridge. 

We visited the houses of the Darby family and even got to dress up in period clothing. We visited the Museum of the Gorge which has a miniature town displayed and information regarding the problems associated with the polluting of the river over the ages. 

Last day in Ludlow:

We both took ourselves off to get hair cuts and for me some colour other than grey. Had a very chatty young women do my hair and enjoyed hearing about her travel plan for her honeymoon. 

Time to get packing and ready for tomorrow's drive to Exeter. We will miss this place and its beautiful landscape. Our next stop is a cottage on a property 30 minutes from Exeter. They have horses there but not sure what over animals.

Ludlow England

In one day we left our hotel at 5.30 am to get to the airport, flew from Istanbul to London, caught a bus to Reading railway station then caught a train to Hereford via Newport where we had to change for the Hereford line. It was a busy day for us and when we arrived in Hereford station we walked to the hotel dragging our bags behind us. Now I know you will be feeling sorry for us but we travelled past some of the most beautiful country side we had ever seen. Green lush rolling hills, lambs feeding from their mothers, green trees of every possible colour of green, wild flowers dotted along the edges and cows relaxing in the shade of the trees. It doesn't get much better than this. 

Ludlow is a Tutor town with loads of old buildings, a castle where Catherine of Aragon spent her honeymoon with King Henry (which was before she married Henry VIII) and a lovely river with 3 weirs. Everywhere you turn it's a photo opportunity. Our cottage is fantastic with two bedrooms, one holding our suitcases, modern kitchen, washing machine and dryer and everything needed for our stay of two weeks. If anyone is contemplating coming to UK or Ireland then we would suggest booking a cottage. We are using Sykes Cottages website and so far it's been fantastic. 

Ludlow is a great place to walk and you can cross through peoples farms through kissing gates and stile its called the 'right of way' and as long as you stick to the path and don't do any damage you can walk through their properties. We walked to an antique fair on Saturday and the round trip was about 14km. We walked along the river Corve, along paddocks of wheat and potatoes and through land with sheep and lambs grazing. It was fantastic and topped off by an antique fair that was just like the ones I have seen on TV. If we could have got them home cheaply we would have brought a set of wine glasses dating back to 18 century, a wooden set of drawers with inlay and a large glass and brass oil lamp. I didn't seen any bow ties but lots of colourful jackets on the men selling their expensive wares. 

We were lucky to find out that a local group of full contact medieval fighters were going to be doing a show at the Ludlow Castle so we headed off to see what it was all about. Apparently they have international tournaments with the guys dressing in knights clothing and use metal swords and women dressed in period clothing. We got to talk to them while they were getting ready for the match and asked about the rules, clothing and weapons. They can get hurt but mostly its bruising or sprains. They really got into it and hammered each other on the head and arms. Their amour protects them but it is also very heavy and the day was hot so they need the women to come around and give the drinks of water via a straw. Each contest only lasts a few minutes as its exhausting for them with their amour and their swords being so heavy. 

There is lots to do here and great places to visit. We have been catching buses to towns like Shrewsbury and Hereford but today we picked up a car which we will use to visit other towns and to move to our next location near Exeter on Friday.  We enjoyed an afternoon at a local pub down on the river listening to a jazz band and took ourselves off to the movies to see Love is All You Need with Piers Brosnan in the lead role. It was set in Sorrento in Italy and it was a lovely love story which made us remember how much we loved Italy.