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Myths And Legends At Tintagel
There is more than just a sense of history as we approach the remains of the castle: Tintagel is the home of legends and mysteries, of royalty, magic and intrigue. Its setting is utterly dramatic on the colossal Atlantic coastline where rocky cliffs tower above the relentless ocean, the ruins split in half where erosion has broken through the rocks to turn a former headland into an island. Consequently half of the ruins of this complicated structure remain on the Cornish mainland, the other half on the island joined to the land by a bridge of recent construction. The voices of history echo in the walls and outcrops, the wind…
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The Unique Village Of Clovelly
Venturing out of Cornwall and up to the north Devon coast, we take in the self-proclaimed “unique” village of Clovelly, knowing of its beautiful setting but knowing little else about it. We are in for a treat. The first thing which strikes us as “unique” is that we have to pay to get in to the village! At first we are a little baulked by having to fork out £8.25 each just to enter, but once we see Clovelly and learn about its status it all becomes clear and we don’t begrudge a penny of it. Clovelly is perched on a seemingly almost vertical slope, cascading from clifftop to shingle…
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Framlingham Castle
If someone asks you to name ten English castles, our guess is that unless you live in Suffolk, you won’t have Framlingham on your list. Certainly we didn’t know much about it and only stumbled on it this week whilst fitting in a last minute visit to Michaela’s Mum before we head off to Greece, yet it turned out to be an interesting destination. Like many of England’s castles, Framlingham was granted to and confiscated from the gentry in equal measure depending on whether the monarch required the support of the local barons. As it happens, this was the sum total of any conflict seen at Framlingham: its walls were otherwise…
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Nostalgia Trip #2: Warwick
Leaving Brownsover we avoid motorways and take the short countryside route via the appealing Dunchurch to our next destination, Warwick. So many visitors to England make Stratford-on-Avon a high priority; we have to say it’s their loss if they miss out on visiting the splendid nearby town of Warwick. Steeped in history, packed with gorgeous historical buildings, straddling the River Avon and boasting one of England’s most magnificent castles, any visitor would surely be thoroughly enchanted by Warwick. So why are we here on our nostalgia trip? My (Phil) parents moved here in 1979 and lived in the town for their remaining years, with Dad dying three years ago in…
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Michaela on tour – week two continued- Stratford upon Avon
The town of Stratford-upon-Avon is known across much of the World as William Shakespeare’s birthplace, and remains a major destination for tourism, with good reason. Of course, the town milks the Shakespeare theme to the limit, but in its own right it is one of the best preserved old towns in all of England, with many stunning ancient properties and a wonderfully quaint character. It simply oozes charm. The town dates from a charter granted in 1196, but it was of course Shakespeare who changed the course of history here, culminating now in a town which has less than 30,000 inhabitants yet welcomes 2.5 million visitors per year. It loses…
