Tag: Dorchester

THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – BRIGHTON HOVE to TRURO CORNWALL UK

I recall that it was almost sunny on our way to Cornwall and our stop in Dorchester was welcome to stretch our legs.

Dorchester

It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route. A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the South Dorset Ridgeway that separates the area from Weymouth, 7 miles (11 km) to the south. In the 17th and 18th centuries Dorchester suffered several serious fires. Only a few of the town’s early buildings have survived to the present day. Dorchester remained a compact town within the boundaries of the old town walls until the latter part of the 19th century because all land immediately adjacent to the west, south and east was owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.

This was a stopover to have lunch and break our trip. Despite the many attractions trumpeted by the local visitors bureau we were limited to dining in a quirky coffee shop and wandering through the quirky building in which the coffee shop was located.

Truro

We arrived at our B & B “The Fielding” late in the afternoon. To our delight onsite parking was included at no cost but a little bit squeezy. The premises are an Edwardian style two/three story house with two accommodation rooms and the couple who own it living on site – breakfast was included. I am certain this pair were older than us by 10 years and still running a B & B.

The accommodation was comfortable, and we spent little time in it, so it did the trick. A group of workers was staying at the premises whilst they fixed whatever needed fixing around about and we shared breakfast in the dining room. Then they would leave for their days work and we had no problem with the parking arrangements.

St Ives and Penzance.

Our first journey involved a visit to St Ives.

St Ives is a seaside town, and port in Cornwall. The town lies north of Penzance on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times, it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial emphasis, and the town is now primarily a popular seaside resort. It is notable in achieving the title of Best UK Seaside Town and named best seaside town of 2007 by The Guardian newspaper. We kept to the waterfront and were lucky to find parking on one of the shoreline parking areas. Unfortunately, it was a showery day but not miserable. We made our way from the car park to the seafront in the town’s centre and found the mariner’s church. On the way we encountered St Ive’s Church. St Ives is a parish church on the waterfront in St Ives. The church is dedicated to the Virgin, also known as Ives, supposedly an Irish holy woman of the 5th or 6th century. The current building dates to the reign of King Henry V of England (1413 to 1422 AD).

A small “A” frame sign beckoned us to enter with the word “Café” – yes inside in one of the wings of the church was a modest coffee shop offering a free service for those who could not afford a coffee. I believe it had a volunteer operating it so we stopped had a coffee and cake and paid forward for the next two people in need to receive a coffee. What a great idea!

We continued our walk keeping to the waterfront. The weather remained overcast and rained intermittently so there was not much excitement – so we moved onto Penzance.

It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall. Situated in the shelter of Mount’s Bay, the town faces south-east onto the English Channel. Penzance’s Chapel Street has a number of interesting features, including The Admiral Benbow public house (home to a real life 1800s smuggling gang and allegedly the inspiration for Treasure Island’s “Admiral Benbow Inn). It is also the base of the pirates in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera “The Pirates of Penzance”. Exploring the town we came upon Rotary Shop in New Street. We stopped off to check it out and Kerry introduced herself. The Rotary Shop is unique among local Charity Shops. The shop raises funds specifically to assist local groups and charities by selling goods donated by the community.

From Penzance we went to find Land’s End. Land’s End is a headland in western Cornwall, on the Penwith peninsula about eight miles (13 km) west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is the English Channel, and to the west the Celtic Sea. However, we followed the route given to us by our maps on my phone. This proved to be a mistake as there are two ways to Land’s End – one along the A30 to the end and the other being the route we took, through farm roads and lanes to a vacant paddock with a sign saying, “Land’s End – 800 metres”. It had been raining for several days, and the paddock was a bog, so we turned around to return from whence we had come, and there was a garbage truck in our way. Kerry managed to get passed (I don’t understand how) and we got to the A30 saw the sign to Land’s End and decided we didn’t need to see it at all. So we decided to push on to St Micheal’s Mount. The following photos show how the weather deteriorated and the narrowness of the lanes. This building is part of a tin processing plant from ages gone by.

We arrived at St Micheal’s Mount where the tide was out. It is a tidal island rising high out of the surrounding water, topped by a towering stone castle complete with battlements, a church, and a museum. I remembered the French version Mont St Michael, its steep steps and defibrillator at the top awaiting you. The castle is also the home of the St Aubyn family, who have owned the island for nearly 400 years. At the base of St Michael’s Mount is a small village with a harbour with charming eateries and picnic areas. Whilst it was appealing, with the tide out we were not going to get across the causeway and the light was fading. Next time.

We returned to Truro for the evening and rest as tomorrow we planned to find Port Issac and Tintagel Castle.

Port Isaac is a small fishing village on the Atlantic coast of north Cornwall. From 2004 to 2022, the village served as the backdrop to the ITV television series Doc Martin. It also is home to the sea-shanty singing group Fisherman’s Friends. For those who don’t know Fisherman’s Friend is an all-male a cappella group (a group who sing unaccompanied by instruments) who sing sea shanties. Just as Doc Martyn became a popular TV series a movie made about Fisherman’s Friends in 2019 and its sequel Fisherman’s Friends: One and All in 2022 has kept Port Issac as a popular tourist destination. The trip through the countryside was pleasant and as we approached Port Issac we noticed of course, we are here in winter, and the place is very quiet with lot’s of maintenance being done for the spring and summer. We could not park in the village itself but the walk down to the the village centre showed us some of the unusual building styles. We saw the school house and the bay, the oldest building housing the boat rescue crew, Doc Martyn’s house and surgery and where we had coffee.

Still, we had a great time locating and identifying things from the TV series. We have seen the first of the Fisherman’s Friend movies but all we could recognize there was fishing nets and boats. We enjoyed a coffee in the restaurant/café closest to the boat ramp. It felt special being in the place as seen on TV. After coffee we moved on to the village of Tintagel and the ruins of Tintagel Castle.

Tintagel Castle is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel. No Roman-era structure has been proven to have existed there. It was settled during the early medieval period and a castle was built on the site by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall in the 13th century, during the High Middle Ages. Archaeological investigation into the site began in the 19th century but later digs exposed significant traces of a much earlier high-status settlement, which had trading links with the Mediterranean world during the Late Roman period. Two digs in 2016 and 2017 at Tintagel Castle uncovered the outlines of a palace from the 5th or early 6th century (the early medieval period), with evidence of writing and of articles brought in from Spain and from the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Investigation is continuing.

The castle has a long association with legends related to King Arthur. This was first recorded in the 12th century when Geoffrey of Monmouth described Tintagel as the place of Arthur’s conception in his mythological account of British history, Historia Regum Britanniae. Geoffrey told the story that Arthur’s father, King Uther Pendragon, was disguised by Merlin’s sorcery to look like Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, the husband of Igraine, Arthur’s mother Cornwall and managed by English Heritage.

As we drove into Tintagel, we noticed there were numerous signs directing the visitor to parking. Some were remote from the ruins and the closest we found was the rear yard of a pub which was still 1 klm away along a rough path from the ruins. We ended up finding Camelot Castle Hotel (see below) situated above the ruins of Tintagel Castle. It is a grand Victorian building built in 1899 and has been a popular destination for artists (check out the painted car) and travelers for decades since. The hotel sits on a clifftop overlooking Tintagel bridge and the island beyond, offering panoramic views its stunning views of the castle ruins and the coastline. It continues the Arthurian theme with the Round table (Kerry was amused by the Merlin circle on the table). We could clearly see the ruins but as with everything else it was closed due to maintenance on the bridge crossing to the island. Apart from the pictures below we didn’t get to the site, but we had a cozy drink and some lunch before moving on.

We had realised after arriving in Truro that a return trip to Heathrow and catching the bus to Nottingham would prove a challenge so we had a change of plans – we would leave Truro a day earlier and travel to Amesbury then onto to Heathrow return the car before bussing it to Nottingham – an overnight stop at Amesbury was required.

Amesbury

Amesbury is a town in Wiltshire, best known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which we passed on our way to our hotel.

The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settled around 8820 BC. Amesbury is also associated with the Arthurian legend: the convent to which Guinevere retired was said to have been the one at Amesbury. Our hotel was in the centre of the town, and it too had history most notably the many additions over time such as in the hallways where the halls weaved and rose and fell without any rhyme or reason.

A walk around the town was hardly exciting but we were able to find a few treasures – our photos are below.

That brings us to the end of our Cornwall adventure, so, until my next blog “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD –CORNWALL UK/NOTTINGHAM UK” – keep on following our tour.

The Retirees go Abroad – Dorchester, Piddlehinton, Puddletown, Corfe, Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacey

It’s Wednesday, another sparkling day and its market day in Dorchester. After breakfast we bundle into the car and travel the few miles to Dorchester and its markets. Disappointing in that it is more flea market and very little else. Not to worry we stroll the mall in Dorchester.  The author and poet Thomas Hardy based the fictional town of Casterbridge on Dorchester, and his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge is set there.  So is the book Far from the Madding Crowd.

Hardy’s childhood home is to the east of the town, and his town house, Max Gate, is owned by the National Trust and open to the public. Hardy is buried in Westminster Abbey, but his heart was removed and buried in Stinsford one mile east of Dorchester.

As we walked around the town we found in one alley a historic plaque claiming that Hardy was born in that very lane and another plaque claimed the building was the house on which Hardy based the Mayor’s house in Casterbridge. We also found the museum, Judge Jeffries coffee shop and an old arcade claiming by inscription on it facade to be built in 1661.

I was fascinated by some of the town names in the surrounding area and it was all because of a river – the River Piddle. Piddlehinton sits on the river and is a few minutes east of Dorchester. The village has one public house called The Thimble, but no shop or post office. It is quite picturesque. Like many of the surrounding villages it takes its name from the river running through it.

Then we went a few miles to the east and came to Puddletown also on the River Piddle but the wise folk of this village had the good sense to change the name from Piddle to Puddle. Many times larger than Piddlehinton, Puddletown was still very quaint and had many thatched roofed houses. We took a walk around the town, took a photo of the River Piddle flowing through it some of the thatched houses and notable buildings. Thomas hardy used Puddletown as the basis for Weatherby in his book Far from the Madding Crowd.

It was lunch time. We had purchased a small loaf of corn bread at the markets in Dorchester and we were looking for somewhere green and out of the wind to make a sandwich and have a cup of tea. Nothing offering in Puddletown we moved onto Corfe Castle, Dorset’s most recognised ruin. We found a spot off the main road between the visitors centre and the castle and beside a field of sheep with their new black lambs. No lamb chops for lunch – a little too close to the bone.

After lunch we walked the quarter mile to the visitors centre only to be told that we had to produce our pass at the castle village. So we walked back to the car then walked the quarter mile to the village and the National Trust office to be told that we had to produce our card at the castle gate. Fortunately the castle gate was only 50 metres away but the castle was atop a hill – a big hill. A little bit of the history of the castle.

Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates back to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.

In 1572, Corfe Castle left the Crown’s control when Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton. Sir John Bankes bought the castle in 1635, and was the owner during the English Civil War. His wife, Lady Mary Bankes, led the defence of the castle when it was twice besieged by Parliamentarian forces. The first siege, in 1643, was unsuccessful, but by 1645 Corfe was one of the last remaining royalist strongholds in southern England. In March that year Corfe Castle was demolished on Parliament’s orders. Owned by the National Trust, the castle is open to the public. It is protected as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

What this short extract does not tell you is that the family built a home at Kingston Lacey when the castle was destroyed on a parcel of land that came with the 8,000 acres purchased from Hatton. Included on the land are villages the castle and farms. On the death of the last Bankes to live in the house, he bequeathed it (the whole 8,0000 acres, house, castle, villages and farms) to the National Trust – the single largest bequest received by the Trust. So after a short trip around the village of Corfe, we ventured off to Kingston Lacey.

Kingston Lacey is an ornate manor home set in wonderful gardens which we did not have time to visit. Inside the house is the original furnishings and art work – nothing sold all just given to the Trust. The artwork includes originals by the Venetian painter Tintoretto.

A snapshot of the history  is as follows. Kingston Lacy is a country house and estate near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England, now owned by the National Trust. From the 17th to the late 20th centuries it was the family seat of the Bankes family, who had previously resided nearby at Corfe Castle until its destruction in the English Civil War after its incumbent owners, Sir John Bankes and Dame Mary joined the side of Charles I. They owned some 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) of the surrounding Dorset countryside and coastline.

We finished with a cup of coffee in the cafe and then after a tiring day made the trip back to Weymouth.

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