Culture, Curio's and Bud

Saturday 11 August

Today is the day we venture from our two day stay in Bilberry house near St Austell all the way to deepest darkest Chard to visit Kev’s big sis and bro in law, Carol and Warwick. We had a bit of a shock as for some reason we were not expecting the volume of traffic on the A30. Of course we should have as it was full of holiday makers going to and from Cornwall, it must have added over one hour to our journey. Lesson learnt, don’t travel on Saturdays! 

It was great to arrive at Carol and Warwick’s and we were made welcome with a nice cup of steaming and refreshing tea. C & W have a whole cupboard devoted to tea and have flavours for all tastes and eventualities. Some fragrant are sweet smelling and delicious, others will take the skin off your teeth and strip paint!! We opted for builders tea but were soon into the earl grey.

In the evening we were treated to a wonderful evening of an outdoor performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. C & W are friends with the actress Penelope Lee, she has the most gorgeous gardens with spectacular views and woodlands. We sat in her garden in front of the house and looking at the view whilst we had our picnic. 

The gardens had been taken over by the ‘Shakespeare On The Level’ company and they used the gardens to perfection for a stage. The audience  was taken around the gardens during the performance to three different locations one was set in the sunken footprint of the old manor house which had a natural stage at one end and another was around a beautiful old and enormous copper beech tree with downward slopes and bushes to the side enabling the players to vanish from view. There were small tea lights in jars everywhere which added to the ambiance and the magic of the evening. 

We have not seen this play before so it was with great pleasure that we watched the play unfold. The play is of course very funny and the acting was really great. The only down side was it rained a couple of times, but these were only short showers and nobody really seemed to be bothered or left. We did however wish we had taken our coats! By the end of the showing we were all a bit cold but happy with the splendid evenings entertainment. 

Sunday 12 August

Great debate had been entered into the previous day and this morning as to where we were to go today. Petra wanted to go to Hardy’s Cottage and Kevin wanted to go to A la Ronde. A la Ronde won the day only because we can do Hardy’s house in a couple of weeks (watch this space). Carol packed the picnic basket we were off in Campy.

A la Ronde is of course National Trust and is renowned as a sixteen sided Spectacle, its a very curious looking building and is quite unique. We have wanted to visit this house for some time and we were aware of the history of the two cousins who occupied it.

It was constructed in the 1790 and was supposedly inspired by the octagonal basilica of San Vitale at Ravenna. Its creators were two single women, Mary and Jane Parminter who had been inspired during their travels during a ten year Grand Tour. The house remained in the ownership of the family for two centuries being passed down through single female members only until the inevitable happened and they ran out of females. It was then passed on to the Rev. Oswold Reichel who made alterations by putting in the upper floor. 

The house is a delight with centuries of historic items collected from all over the world. The house is known for the collections of shells and feather displays which are everywhere. All shapes sizes of shells can be seen and made into all manor of pictures and three demential objects placed in glass domed display cases. With the house being the shape it is, there isn’t a right angle room in the place. Its full of nooks and crannies and bookshelves in the most peculiar but ingenious places. This adds to the character and of particular the centre hall which is spectacular and very beautiful. Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, the inside of the house was too dark for pictures.

After the visit to the house we all sat in the garden and had our lunch in the warm afternoon sun.

The Afternoon was spent in Budleigh Salterton which is a very nice seaside resort. We parked up on a hill on the outskirts of the town on the sea front. We walked down into the town and really liked the colonial type architecture the town has to offer. Budleigh is a very affluent town and has some very expensive properties. Looking in the windows of the estate agents is enough to make your eyes water.

Colour co-ordinated Carol

Finally we went into the local museum that had a very interesting display on Scott of the Antarctic majoring on the scientific venture. 

In the evening We all sat and watched the opening ceremony on iPlayer followed by the closing one on TV. This is the first P & K have seen of the Olympics and loved it.