Old Haunts

 It was a stunning start to the day. The sun was shining brightly and a few clouds scattered across the sky to provide some punctuation against the blue background. As I drank my morning coffee and wrote yesterday's blog post I felt that we could almost be abroad somewhere.

We met up with Jan and. John for breakfast and as we munched through our fruit, yoghurt, toast, eggs, sausages, bacon and mushrooms, we discussed a plan for the day. John volunteered to do the driving and we decided to start the day at Lanhydrock.

We have visited several times in the past (though the last time was in May 1991).

Lanhydrock Estate is only 8 miles from Carlyon Bay and was the home of the Agar-Robartes family. They made their money providing fuel for the tin mining industry and having accumulated wealth, were able to provide money-lending services in London. They rose to prominence and built a fine manor on the outskirts of Bodmin. 

The house has been through some ups and downs having been almost abandoned when the family relocated to London and then restored only to be devastated by fire. The house as we see it today was restored by the family in Victorian times and provided with all the mod cons of the age.

We started our visit by looping through the gardens around the church and on the hillside above. I don't know how many grounds staff the Trust has working at Lanhydrock, but the whole estate was pristine. The lawns would rival any golf green. We continued our route and stopped at the church. It was a lovely, serene, bright church and seemed very inviting.

Continuing our route we ended up in the courtyard where we stopped for a coffee and a comfort break before starting our tour of the house itself.

The tour started in the extensive kitchens which, as I mentioned earlier, were full of the mod cons available at the time. They were very impressive, particularly the vast cooking range. From the kitchens, we moved on to the nursery and young family spaces. Finally, we entered the main door of the house and toured Lord Agar-Robartes more formal rooms - the vast entrance hall, the dining room,  the estate offices, the bedrooms, the long gallery, the billiard room, and so forth. The tour finished in the NT Shop (as they always do). It had been a wonderful few hours and Lanhydrock never disappoints. We took an electric buggy back up the hill to the car park and set out for our next stop.

Fowey (pronounced Foy, just like Joy, as it says on the poster in the car park) was another favourite haunt. John drove us across and we parked at the top of town. Fortunately, there is now a shuttle bus to take you down the hill to the town centre.

The blue skies had turned grey and it was a bit chilly as we started to wander around. We decided that a cream tea would be a sensible treat and found a small tea shop. As we finished arguing over cream first or jam first and tucked away the last of the crumbs from our scones, we got talking to a couple at the next table. It turns out they hail from Weston-Super-Mare and know all of the areas that Jan knew. What's more, the chap was in the RAF and he and John had a number of shared acquaintances and experiences. What a small world!

There was a queue for the bus back up the hill, so we decided to walk. I had forgotten just how steep it was, but we managed to take it slowly and all safely arrived at the car park. We were soon back at the hotel where Jand and John went to their room and Diane and I sat on the terrace reading until it was time to dress for dinner.

For tonight's dinner, Diane skipped the starter but I had some sea trout, then for the main dish she had lamb shoulder while I went for some sea bream. After dinner, we went for a walk up the hill towards the path to Charlestown. The breeze had dropped and it was quite mild and still.

We wandered past the multi-million-pound houses wondering how the development got started and what the owners actually did to make their money. It was an idyllic spot and had the most spectacular views.

We had enjoyed another lovely day and retired to our rooms soon after nine-thirty. We managed some reading before dropping into bed.