mybigadventures.com

Today, we continued our adventures in the local area (and a little further afield). We started off at Runnymede, a small area of landscape by the Thames, owned by the National Trust. It is regarded as the birthplace of democracy as it marks the spot where King John first placed his seal on the Magna Carter, marking the beginning of democracy. It was quite a small area of parkland, with two different memorials - one to JF Kennedy, a memorial following his assassination, and one to the Magna Carter itself. Both were surrounded by woodland, so we wandered in the area for a little bit, enjoying the bluebells and spotting a few bunny rabbits darting into the bushes. We had a mosey around for about 40 minutes, although it was quite cool in the shade compared to our previous days out. We walked back to the car park along the river, and made our way to the tea room by the car park for some lunch. Just for a change, we were served immediately in the cafe, and the server even went to make our sandwiches while we dithered about drinks. Such efficiency!

From there we made a short-ish journey to Ham House for a return visit. When we went last time, it was in January 2016, so it was a little different this time, with a good show of tulips in the kitchen garden and a spectacular display of wisteria against the Orangery (tea room). The gardens are certainly well-manicured - lots of topiary carefully shaped and 'coiffured'. There was a partiularly symmetrical arrangement of spheres of lavender and curry plant in one part of the garden, divided neatly into sections by box hedges and cones. We managed to get into the house just before 'last entry' and were suitably impressed - it's all fairly original (so we were told!) and very luxurious, with quite a range of styles and furnishings. Had to speed round a little bit towards the end as they were due to close, but just about saw everything!

We treated ourselves to an ice cream (well, I had a coffee and his lordship had an ice cream) and sat next to the wisteria, enjoying the fine fragrance! Then we ambled slowly back to the car, along the Thames again (a different part this time) and then made our way home.

Today, we made a last minute change of plan and headed for Trerice. We were originally heading to Truro and nearby Trelissick gardens, but the weather wasn't particularly clement, so we decided to go somewhere different and leave Trelissick for a sunnier day. After a bit of Googling, we settled on Trerice, an Elizabethan manor house and gardens. It didn't take long to get there and it was a little damp, but not really raining. We wandered around the house first, looking at all the antique furnishings and particularly the clocks, as there were many! We went to the cafe for lunch, using our handy giftcard to pay for it. Dani had a tuna jacket potato, and mum and I had a cream tea each. We then went in search of the much-anticipated lawnmower museum, but much to our disappointment, we were unable to find it. However, Dani did stumble upon the second hand bookshop, and - grinning from ear to ear - she came out clutching a new tome. We had a bit of a wander around the garden and were pleased to see a little bit of blue sky appear making for a few nice photos of the Elizabethan Manor.

On the way back to the cottage we stopped by Wheal Coates Tin mine. The first mine is a short walk from the car park, and a little further along, there is another, clinging to the edge of the cliff. The tide was in and there was quite a lot of fog making for quite a dramatic scene. It was a little chilly as there was quite a breeze coming in from the sea so we only stayed about half an hour.

We dropped by Tesco again on the way back to pick up a few bits for tea before heading in for the evening. I added a few more photos to the Cornwall album and whilst at it I tweaked the website code a bit. I didn't like the way that the album preview displayed below a blog was always the same so I made a change so that it now shows the most recent photos.

Today we went bird spotting at RSPB Rye Meads nature reserve. The weather was great again with blue skies and sunshine, but despite the nice weather it was fairly quiet. There are a number of hides dotted around each focussing on different types of birds, but the real highlight had to be the kingfisher. We saw at least two, possibly 3 different kingfishers and took a few photos but I could have done with a longer lens. There was a guy in the kingfisher hide rocking a massive camera lens that I think must have cost thousands. The end of the lens was the size of a dinner plate and it was more than 2 feet long! I suspect his king fisher pictures were probably epic, but nevermind. The kingfishers then seemed to hide as there were a couple of heron stalking around. The RSPB lady in the hide was telling some other people that the eels have found a nifty way to escape being eaten if caught by the heron. They wrap themselves around their beak so they can't be eaten until the heron gives up and lets them go. 

Took a final few photos of the blue tits back by the entrance before heading back. It was a great day out and definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area.