Exeter

On Saturday, 25 July, we left our little cottage in Cornwall and headed to Somerset. We visited Exeter on the way and it was a lovely city and a wonderful cathedral.

 We did a tour of the cathedral which was so interesting. It is a medieval cathedral.

 I especially loved all the tapestries everywhere. They have a wonderful group of Tapisers who create all the prayer cushions and the many other cushions all around this cathedral. Every chair's cushion was different and there were hundreds of themm.

 The sides and base were all stitched.

 Around the nave there were long cushions on the stone seat near the outer walls and they had the history of England and of Exeter stitched on the many yards of cushion! I only photographed a few of them but can imagine the time involved in stitching these!

In the afternoon we did a walking tour of the town. We then headed to Pylle and settled into our B & B in Somerset.

St Michael's Mount

On Thursday we headed to St Michael's Mount. It was a lovely place to visit. We caught the boat over to the island as the tide was up and then walked back later in the day. There were lots of rough steps to climb but it was all worthwhile to see the view and the rooms that are open to the public. The island was settled by monks around 1066 and then bought by the family much later and some of them still live in parts of the castle.

 The medieval chapel was amazing as was this embroidered cloth.

 We wandered around the garden and then walked back.

It was rainy on Friday so we headed back into Truro and went on a cathedral tour which was very interesting. I took a few more photos of the embroideries.

Yesterday we left Cornwall and headed to Somerset.

Lanhydrock, Tintagel, Port Isaac and Padstow

We had a very busy day on Wednesday, 22 July. We headed first to Lanhydrock House, which is a National Trust house and garden. It was wonderful! We started the day with morning tea in the cafe with some National trust shortbread!

 We did a garden tour which was so interesting and gave us an insight into the house and the gardens.

 Inside the house was amazing. When the family left the house to the National trust they left it with everything, furniture, photos and memoriabilia still in place!

 There was some gorgeous William Morris wallpaper (not original) in one of the rooms.

 Nanny had a hexagon paper pieced quilt on her bed!

 The walls of this room were covered with tapestries.

 We then headed to Tintagel and visited the castle ruins from 1230. Lots of stairs to climb here but worth the effort.

 Another highlight today was the old Post Office in Tintagel!

 There was a crazy patchwork quilt on the bed and amazing old samplers on the walls. Some were made on tiny linen by very young, about 11 year old girls!

Port Isaac was on my list as well as I have so enjoyed the Doc Martin shows. As it is near Tintagel, Beryl, our GPS, took us on some very tiny roads to get there! We had a delicious meal just down the road from Doc Martin's house in what used to be the old Methodist Chapel. It is now a gorgeous restaurant and pottery/craft shop.

 Finally, because it was close too, we had a quick visit (it was about 8.30pm) to Padstow.