Stonehenge

25th May - Saturday

Bushwalking, UK style

It's bluebell season

Nope, no fish

Old mill at Boscastle, now a tourist venue

A nice spot to have lunch

A pretty village

Stonehenge

There really are people here

I get to sit inside the rope!

Poulton Grange (through the car window)

Might extend our holiday ...

Looking out for dinner

Late yesterday, the wind settled slightly and the sun appeared, just in time for us to have a walk through the woods at Boscastle before dinner. It was very pretty, with the tracking following the river and bluebells flowering among the trees. This morning we awoke to clear skies and warm sun (well, in the car). After making our goodbyes and promising to add a comment to Tripadvisor, we departed for Wilshire.

It wasn’t long before we realised that, being a long weekend, most people were heading to the seaside – it was wall-to-wall cars, oncoming fortunately. It was hard to imagine where so many cars and caravans would eventually end up in Cornwall! We followed the main roads until we were past Exeter, then decided to look for a picture-book village with thatched cottages. We had made a stop at a highway services centre, along with nearly everyone travelling in the opposite direction who also had the same idea – pit stop and something to eat. The rest rooms (ladies, anyway) were absolutely huge, and even had a MAN in the middle directing traffic (ie females) to appropriate areas with free cubicles!!!

We turned off the main road and headed along the usual country lanes, ending up in a very pretty village; many of the buildings had thatched roofs and there was a cute footbridge over the stream. At this stage, the pilot decided he had had enough of lanes and preferred green coloured roads, so it was back onto a major road. Guess who was daydreaming, missed the turn and we ended up back on a lane? However, we did find a nice spot to pull off and have lunch.

As we were driving along, we noticed a number of people walking around a stone circle and suddenly realised we were at Stonehenge. So the chest bruise deepened in colour as we made a rapid left turn and joined all those people not headed to the seaside! Even better, our National Trust pass (Heritage pass had expired a number of days ago) allowed us free parking and admittance to the site. The pathways have been so well set up that, despite the large number of people, it is possible to take photos just of the stones! Cat was very excited, as he hadn’t expected to visit here and the lady in the gift shop told us we had to buy something especially for him. So Cat now has a frig magnet all of his very own!

We continued on to Marlborough and our B & B at Poulton Grange – a 450 acre farm only two miles from Marlborough. To say it is very nice would be an understatement. We have a very large corner room, complete with a kingsize bed, chaise longue and a television big enough to actually see. The bathroom is nearly as big, with a bath and separate shower. On arrival, we were greeted by the owners and offered coffee and freshly baked coffee and walnut sponge and after returning to our room to settle in, the hostess rushed upstairs, found the binoculars in the bedside table and pointed out a barn owl which was sitting just outside the house. Very exciting – our first sighting of a barn own; we watched him for a while as he sat and then dived into the grass and reduced the mouse population by one, before returning to the barn. There is even a bluebell wood at the end of the nearest field!