The Gardens at Highgrove

I visit gardens the way most folks watch MasterChef, I love to watch someone else perform but I haven’t a clue how to garden. Still, when the announcement arrived from my daughter’s school that tickets had been obtained to tour the Prince of Wales's gardens at Highgrove, I leapt at the chance. MasterChef Grand Finale here I come.

It’s a bit complicated getting oneself to Highgrove southwest of Tetsbury in the Cotswolds. First, you must pre-book a ticket from the website or you can call the booking office on 0207 766 7310.  I’ve been told tickets for the season go fast. On arrival, you must show a photo ID to get in. Public transport involves a train journey and a pre-booked taxi. Highgrove maintains a strict timetable so don’t be late. No phones, no cameras, no binoculars. But then, this is the home of the heir to the British throne so with that in mind, the rules seem pretty reasonable.

And the gardens? In a word - wonderful - and completely worth the effort. For the past 30 years, Prince Charles has engaged in an environmental project so full of vision, passion and empathy for nature that it totally lifted my spirits about the sorry state of the world.

The guided tour takes about 2 hours. Groups are small and the feeling is intimate. Our guide was terrific, knowledgeable and lots of fun. We had a delicious light lunch after our tour and of course, an opportunity to buy very tasteful things from the shop where all the proceeds go to support the Prince’s many charitable endeavors.

If you are a gardener beg, borrow or steal a ticket. If you are travelling in the Cotswolds, ditto. Even if you are a garden nincompoop like me, go. After 20 years of living in the United Kingdom, I would rank my day spent at Highgrove as one of the very best.

All This From Poop

“William Gibbs made his dibs

 Selling the turds of foreign birds”

I just love visiting country houses in England where you can step out of the pages of Evelyn Waugh or Jane Austen and into the lives- and stuff – of others. Most houses have a great story.  Tyntesfield, a Victorian Gothic revival estate 8 miles from the centre of Bristol may be one of the best stories of all.

Because the spectacular house, the extensive gardens and parkland and the room after room of stuff that was owned by William Gibbs (1790-1875), the richest commoner in the country, all came from bird shit. Guano to be exact, the poop from seabirds that has been harvested from islands off the coast of Peru since the time of the Aztecs.

At Tyntesfield, I learned that guano is great stuff. It’s got lots of phosphorus and nitrogen and doesn’t stink like manure. But I also learned that guano can buy you the most amazing things from a seriously great chapel (Gibbs was very religious) to a 43 bedroom house and 2,000 acres of countryside not to mention the fabulous clutter that was so fashionable at the time: the porcelain, the books, the Moose head, a walk in safe in the kitchen for the silver, a wooden sink for the glassware. It’s extraordinary what they packed in there.

And it is extraordinary that it still exists, saved in 2002 by a massive fund raising effort that prevented the sale of the house, contents and land after the death of Lord Wraxall, a reclusive bachelor, in 2001.

So all in all, it’s a place with lots of great stories – built from the proceeds of poop and saved for all of us by a national concern for conservation and the generosity of the British people. If you are ever heading southbound on the M5 near Bristol, be sure to stop and see it.

The food in the on-site restaurant is not bad either.

For visitor information for Tynsfield, click here http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield/

Hadrian's Wall in Four Easy Steps

I once met a journalist in London who was about to retire. She had been at the forefront of world events over a long career. “So what are you going to do next?” I asked her expecting a reply about consulting and board membership. “Walk Hadrian’s Wall” was her response.

And boom - the idea was planted. It sounded so iconic. Hike across England along a wall marking the northern edge of the Roman Empire. But not the kind of thing one would do by oneself. So I mentioned this cool idea to a good friend who was (conveniently) 5,000 miles away in North Carolina.

Step Number 1 – Just mention Hadrian’s Wall to one keen hiker and watch what happens

Before I could say ‘lets think about this a little more’ there were 10 keen Carolinians, mostly from the mountains, mostly lawyers who were all packed and ready to go.

Now what?

Step Number 2 – Get support

 You could organize a walk by yourself. But you don’t need to and, I would argue, you don’t want to. There are several companies that can help you organize your walk providing everything from itinerary planning to accommodation booking and luggage transfers.  We used Hadrian’s Wall Ltd run by Gary and Stacey Reed whose passion for the region, local knowledge and organizational skills turned our experience into something much more than a walk along a wall. From the company’s extensive range of services, we chose the 7 Nights Part Guided group option that included a custom itinerary, an orientation meeting on arrival, top of the line B&B accommodation, baggage transfers and 2 days of guided walking with Gary. It was an article in the Observer by Jane Dunford that convinced me that we had to hike with Gary and you can read that article here. And yes, he was every bit as good as his press.

Step Number 3 – Take your time

There are several ways to trek Hadrian’s Wall. You could focus on how quickly you can do the distance but then you will probably miss the full experience. Hadrian’s Wall Path is really an 84-mile encounter with the Roman Empire filled with some of the most important archeological sites in Europe such as the Roman Vindolanda fort. Go too fast and you miss the chance to revel in the history. If you are short on time or don’t want to walk too far each day, go for the middle bit considered by many to be the best of the wall. Our group did a wonderful 47 mile stretch from Carlisle to Chester Fort near Hexam which allowed us to walk a reasonable 8 to 10 miles a day (with the prevailing winds to our back – this is important), enjoy the landscape, explore the antiquities and meet the  people.

Step Number 4 – Meet people

I am a city mouse so my natural instinct is to be wary of strangers. But I learned something on this trek from the gregarious Carolinians and thanks to them, we did meet just about everyone.

From the young barkeep at the Hallmark Hotel in Carlisle who was so chuffed (UK slang for a state of delighted satisfaction) to have made his first American friends, to the ‘Miss Marple’ pair of ladies we kept bumping into on the trail to innkeepers Dee and Gary at the marvelous Battlesteads in Wark, we made so many new friends and exchanged countless stories.  In the pantheon of great walks, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Walking the Cotswolds

What’s your take on the Cotswolds - pretty and picturesque or crowded and commercial? No matter what side of the argument you are on, you’re right. I can say this after touring for two days this week while the Editor was at a conference near Chipping Norton.

Determined to have a No Crowds experience, on Day One, the first thing I did was get rid of my car. That is an easy thing to do in Chipping Norton because this handsome market town has lots of parking. The next thing I did was head for the Tourist Information Centre in the Guildhall and asked the nice gentleman manning the desk for a good circular walk lasting a couple of hours that I would be fine doing on my own. He printed out an annotated map and sent me on my way. For the next two hours, I meandered and explored. There’s a lot to see. A lovely church and an amazing looking factory are highlights. I passed a couple of folks also walking but not many and I had a lovely time. The walk was not at all difficult. On the way back into town, I did pass a couple of traffic jams.

On day two, I became even more adventurous and drove to Bourton on the Water and again, got rid of my car. I chose Bourton because I read they had lots of parking, which they did but I didn’t like the town much. It was packed, and I mean packed, with busloads of tourists who looked a lot like the morbidly obese space refugees in Pixar’s Wall-E. But walking from Bourton-on-the-Water to the villages of Lower and Upper Slaughter was wonderful – meadows, streams and two of the loveliest places I have ever seen. If you are looking for the Cotswolds of your imagination, with the honey-coloured stone houses and delightful views, look no further than Upper and Lower Slaughter. Best of all, there is no place to park a big bus.

So here’s my verdict on the Cotswolds. It’s a lovely, lovely destination as long as you stay out of your car. The villages with lots of parking make great jumping off points. The Tourist Information Centres have lots of useful suggestions about walking and cycling. Now I am really psyched to walk the 100-mile Cotswold Way that runs from Bath to Chipping Campden. But I need a walking buddy. Anyone interested?

The Writer's House

Rudyard Kipling. We grew up with his stories. We memorized his poems. We watched the movies based on his writing. Who can forget Mowgli, Baloo or Gunga Din? In his day, Kipling was as big as J.K. Rowling and the most famous writer in the English-speaking world. You know him well, but have you ever been to his house?

Well, you can and you should and here’s why. Bateman’s, Kiplings family home and refuge for more than 30 years, and now a National Trust property, has just reopened for the season and of all the literary sites you can visit in the UK, Bateman’s may be the best. First, because Kipling’s life is a gripping story full of contradictions and filled with professional triumphs and personal tragedies, and second, because the house exists today just as it was when Kipling lived there. His Rolls Royce is in the garage. His books and papers are in the study. His Nobel Prize sits proudly on the table.

One of the first things you see as you enter the house is the little window in the entry hall where his American wife, Carrie, who he once described as the ‘Ways and Means Committee’, would screen his visitors. The clues to this man’s life are everywhere, just as he left them. For this, we can thank the ‘Ways and Means Committee’, who bequeathed the estate to the National Trust as a memorial to her husband in 1939.

Wandering around the house it’s easy to see the world through Kipling’s eyes. His fascination with the Indian subcontinent, his need for privacy, the garden he designed and built from the proceeds of his Nobel Prize, his love of children and the tragic loss of his own. As far as drilling down to the details is concerned, the place is staffed with endearing cult-like volunteers with encyclopaedic knowledge of Kipling and nothing pleases them more than when you ask them a question. In addition to the house, there are extensive grounds and gardens with a working mill that was used by Kipling to generate electricity and a tea room that, on the day we were there, was packed with picturesque pensioners enjoying a spring outing.

To reach Bateman’s near Burwash in East Sussex from London, you can either take a train from Charing Cross Rail Station to Etchingham and then by bus or taxi to Burwash or you can drive. Either way takes about two hours. There is an excellent Journey Planner on the Bateman’s website with all the details. If you have a car, Sissinghurst Castle and Garden, another site with rich literary associations, is nearby as is Bodiam Castle, one of the best preserved moated castles in Britain.

The house is open from March 14 to November 1 every day except Thursday and Friday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. The gardens and tea room open throughout the year. Opening times can be found here.

Contact Details

Tel: 01435 882302
Fax: 01435 882811
Email: Batemans@nationaltrust.org.uk

Photo courtesy of the National Trust, Geoffrey Frosch

Hartland and the North Devon Coast

The Hartland Quay Hotel on the North Devon coast of England is a romantic kind of place. Not the romance of the pampered paradises featured in travel magazines. The view at Hartland Quay may be just as spectacular as a luxury five star hotel perched on a seaside cliff, but the appeal of this simple and quirky hotel is all about the location. A hotel since 1886 but before that a bank, an oast house and a stable, the hotel exudes the romance of Treasure Island (the 1950 version was filmed there) of shipwrecks, rugged coastline and crashing seas. This is a place for ancient mariners and seafaring tales. On a good day, you can easily imagine Long John Silver striding up the pier exclaiming “Aaarghh, them that dies is the lucky ones.”

The Editor and I spent the night there recently based on the recommendation of a local resident. We arrived late in the afternoon, just in time to see the Hartland Quay Museum opposite the hotel. This small, independent museum, devoted to the rich history of the Hartland Coast, provided the perfect introduction to the area. Shipwrecks, smuggling, fishing and the old coastal trades of lead, lime and coal feature prominently in the meticulously documented displays. After our visit, we retired to the bar where we met backpackers from all over Europe who were there walking the 630 mile long South West Coast Path. Everyone took their drinks outside to sit by the cliffs on a particularly beautiful evening. The atmosphere was friendly and informal.

For dinner, we made our way to the Red Lion Hotel in nearby Clovelly which is an extraordinary village hanging off of a 400 foot cliff. The carless main street descends spectacularly through flower festooned 16th century cottages ending in a restored 14th century quay. All of Clovelly is owned by one family which is one of only three since the Norman Conquest. Being too steep for motor vehicles, for centuries, donkeys were the main form of transportation. Today, each cottage has a sledge in front which is still used to haul goods up and down the street. Nowadays, the donkeys spend their time ferrying children and posing for pictures.

Dinner at the Red Lion Hotel was magic It was June 23rd, one of the longest days of the year. The sun was shining over the picturesque harbour. We ate red mullet and turbot which tasted as if it had just been pulled out of the sea and watched the boats go in and out. The waitress laughed at the Editor’s jokes although I suspect she thought he was “unusual”. The local teenagers provided the after dinner entertainment, diving off cliffs, throwing each other into the still freezing water and pulling off each others pants. I couldn’t decide which I enjoyed more, the food or the show.

After dinner we retired back to Harland Quay, grabbed some beers and watched a spectacular sunset. Breakfast the next morning was full-on English which we walked off on the coastal pathway. In honour of Jane Austen, we hiked over to see the cottage, part of the Hartland Abbey estate which was recently used in the recent BBC version of Sense and Sensibility. Watching the film at the time, I wondered, “Where did they find such a beautiful, remote, unspoiled location to make this movie?” Now I know, they made it in Hartland on the North Devon Coast. If you are looking for something beautiful, remote and unspoiled, you will find it there too.

Useful Addresses

Hartland Quay Hotel
Hartland, Bideford, North Devon
EX396DU, England
Tel: 01237 441218
Fax: 01237 441371
info@hartlandquayhotel.com

Red Lion Hotel
The Quay, Clovelly, Bideford, North Devon
EX39 5TF, England
Tel: 01237 431237
Fax 01237 431044
Email: redlion@clovelly.co.uk

Hartland Abbey
Hartland, Bideford, North Devon
EX396DT, England
Tel: 01237441264
http://www.hartlandabbey.com/

Historic Wales Delivers Family Fun

It’s a real invitation, emailed my friend Liz. We’d love it if you would visit us in Wales. Be careful what you wish for, I fired back, we’re coming. With a child to occupy during the school holidays in early June and a fierce determination to finally explore the Britain outside of London, we set off.

As it turned out, Wales is a first class “No Crowds” destination with a rich offering of things to do and see. There are stretches of dramatic, pristine coastline, superb sandy beaches, small villages undamaged by modern tourism, hazardous country lanes that put the thrill back in driving, and enough castles and fortifications to satisfy the most romantic history buff. Although we did not make this a sporting holiday, we saw much evidence that Wales is an athlete’s paradise with lots of opportunities to hike, bike, ride and sail.

As we were only in Wales for 3 nights/4 days, we confined our explorations to the south and the west. We saw lots of castles in various stages of disrepair. We visited a beautiful beach with well built surfers ( these people are hardy), went swimming ourselves ( we’re less hardy and didn’t last long ) and spent a lovely afternoon in St David’s which has been an important monastic site since 500 AD. The village, which qualifies as the smallest city in Britain due to its medieval Cathedral and once magnificent Bishop’s Palace, sits in a romantic position on the coast which is, in turn, part of the 250 miles of unspoilt coastline which make up the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

We also spent a blissful afternoon in Laugharne, a well preserved seaside town of pretty Georgian houses immortalised by Wales’s most famous poet, Dylan Thomas. In addition to visiting the medieval castle which was later transformed into a Tudor mansion, you can visit several important landmarks in the life of Thomas, his writing shed, the house where he spent the last years of his life, the pub where he perfected his enthusiasm for drinking which ultimately killed him and the churchyard where he is buried. Not yet a fan of Thomas, my 7 year old daughter nevertheless found his seaside writing shed inspiring. She noted that it contained crumpled up and discarded drafts thrown casually on the floor. “So you mean this famous writer had trouble with his writing too.” She was incredulous but relieved.

That evening we had dinner in Laugharne in one of the most remarkable and singular restaurants I’ve been to in a long time. Located in a romantic manor house set in lush and spectacular gardens, this small restaurant is presided over by Nick Priestland, who was once an artist. The artistic sensibility is visible in everything Nick does from the drama of the gardens, to the decoration of the house and the artful presentation of the food. The night we were there two local and seasonal specialties were on offer and they were delicious, wild Towy Sewin (sea trout) and a rack of Welsh “salt marsh” spring lamb. The Cors can be found on Newbridge Road in Laugharne. Booking on 01994 427219 is essential as there are a limited number of tables. Dinner for 5 came to £175.

All in all, we had a great time in Wales. My daughter, who always worries about going back to school with a competitive holiday story to tell (we hope we didn’t teach her that), understood perfectly the understated chic of Wales versus Malaga or Mauritius. The Welsh were a helpful, straightforward bunch. The historic sites, National Trust properties, National Parks and beaches were beautifully maintained. These sites were well attended but by no means crowded. Prices for food and attractions were reasonable. At our first castle we purchased a 3 day family explorer pass which gives free admission to more than 30 historic attractions which more than paid for itself. The weather mostly co-operated and we returned to London happy and refreshed.