Pembrokeshire Extended Tour – April 2023
In April 2023, 32 members of the Friends enjoyed the Friends’ tenth extended tour.
We stayed near Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire and had a busy programme of visits each day.
The hotel, once a vicarage, had extensive grounds and good views and we were extremely well looked after. It was a treat to return to cake and drinks after a day out!
On the outward journey, a stop at Cardiff for lunch and a guided tour of Cardiff Castle broke the day. The old castle stands on a mound in Castle Park but the varied architectural details of the later buildings are really interesting.
After a gentle start, we spent the next day at Picton Castle. Here we were shown around the house, converted from a castle and once the home of the Phillips family who in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were the most powerful family in Pembrokesshire.
In 1987, the last members of the Phillips family to live in the castle, gifted it to the Picton Castle Trust to preserve its history and contents. The gardens are affiliated to the RHS and with acres to explore we were amazed how early the rhododendrons and azaleas were. Much ahead of the east and proof of the warmer climate in the west.
There are many castles in Wales, (built to repel the English!) so a castle visit was a must. The ruins of Carew Castle were brought to life by our guide as he raced us through its history.
From Carew we went to the seaside town of Tenby where the afternoon was free. The energetic ones walked the extensive beaches and explored the winding streets. Others, by chance, had a fascinating hour spent with one of the monks from nearby Caldey Island.
Our last full day was spent at St. David’s, the smallest city with a very beautiful cathedral.
In the afternoon we had to negotiate 65 steps to get down to the Old Lifeboat Station from where we took a boat trip to Ramsey Island to see seals and birds. The sea was calm and the sun shone and it made a fitting end to our stay in Pembrokeshire.
The weather had been very kind to us but as we travelled East, the rain began, and it was wet for our final visit to the National Trust property, Basildon Park.
We arrived home having enjoyed a very successful and varied week.
Posted by Jean Harrison.
Derbyshire Extended Tour – April 2022
On a sunny morning in April, 25 members of the Friends set off with Flagfinders Coaches and our special driver Paul, for our long awaited tour of Derbyshire. We broke our journey by stopping at Barnside Gardens.
These gardens were started in the 1950s by Geoff Hamilton who will be remembered by many as the presenter of the first BBC Gardeners World series. He established the gardens as the programme developed, and now there are 38 gardens all on different themes, displaying different types of gardening. We were welcomed by Nick Hamilton, Geoff Hamilton’s son, so we felt quite privileged!
The journey continued to the Lee Wood Best Western Plus hotel in Buxton. There we had the warmest of welcomes from very helpful staff and were able to soon settle into very pleasant rooms. The meals in the hotel that and every night were excellent and we were not surprised that they hold an AA Rosette!!
The journey over the Moors the next morning past the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Macclesfield and the Macclesfield Silk Museum and Paradise Mill, gave us lovely views of the surrounding beautiful Derbyshire countryside.
Paradise Mill was just as it had been left when work finished there in the 1980’s; all the looms and all the machines, exactly as they had been left. Our guide Daniel was passionate about his involvement with the mill and gave us a fantastic tour demonstrating the machines and showing us exactly what life would have been like in those days.
Afterwards we were treated to a fantastic lunch provided by the museum staff. It was a lovely visit and I was so pleased to hear from Travel Editions with whom I worked to book the tours, that the mill were delighted with us as a visiting group! They said that we were the best they’d ever had and were delighted with the round of applause we gave them at the end. The afternoon was free for people to explore Buxton as they wished.
The next day was spent at Chatsworth. The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire are moving out of the house next year and so have arranged an exhibition of some of their special treasures. These were displayed around the house in the traditional rooms. The grounds were a joy to see as was the sculpture of a horse which came to life every hour!
On the last morning we visited Eyam , known as the plague village. The comparisons with our recent COVID situation and the situation that the villagers of Eyam faced in the 1600s are quite remarkable. Most of the group walked through the street seeing the information boards on the houses where so many of the villagers died. One woman, Mrs Hancock, buried her husband and six children within four days. We moved on to Bakewell for lunch but nobody was tempted to buy a Bakewell tart or Bakewell pudding!
The afternoon came to a gentle close with a cruise on the Cromford Canal in a restored narrowboat. It was lovely drifting silently along past nesting Canada geese, watervoles and mallards and several little dabchicks.
We said our goodbyes to the staff and began our journey home, stopping at Rockingham Castle near Oakham for lunch and for a tour of the castle and the gardens. After spending time in the lovely gardens we were glad to continue our journey arriving back in Braintree tired but happy after a very successful few days away.
Posted by Jean Harrison.
Extended Tour Devon – October 2019
In October 2019, we undertook the Friends’ seventh extended visit; this time to Devon.
We stayed at the Ilsington Country House hotel which was on the edge of Dartmoor and very comfortable. The restaurant has two AA Rosettes so we were served some excellent meals. Our group of forty filled the entire hotel so it was a very happy house party! The swimming pool was well used too!
Each day we travelled to places of interest in the area. A Red Coat city guide accompanied us on a tour of Exeter and we then enjoyed the rest of the day at leisure.
The next day was called Round Robin. We started in Paignton and journeyed on a steam train to Kingswear from where we took the ferry across the River Dart to Dartmouth. A couple of hours in Dartmouth enabled us to explore the quaint narrow streets and alleys all bedecked with flowers. When the tide was right we embarked on a boat for an hours leisurely journey up the river to Totnes. The sun shone and it was clear why this area is termed the Riviera!
Roadworks and a closed road over Dartmoor necessitated a change in plans on our fourth day. However we still enjoyed the calm and peace of Buckfast Abbey. It is hard to conceive that an abbey of such proportions was built by only six monks at the beginning of the twentieth century.
On the return journey we stopped in Swindon where a retired engineer showed us around “Steam”, the museum of the Great Western Railway. Housed in the old railway sheds, there are life sized mannekins as well as several locomotives. Although there was a shopping outlet in an adjacent building I don’t think anybody was tempted!
Posted by Jean Harrison.