being late I took a taxi out to the campus, but after a brief wander around afterwards photographing some of the various sculptures that adorn the grounds, I caught a bus back into town and after a c. 20-minute journey along ring roads, arrived at something billing itself as ‘thecentre:mk’ which I figured must be the town centre. Got off and wandered into a vast shopping centre – after walking for what seemed like quite a while and eventually having lunch at Burger King in desperation, I emerged out the other end, hoping I’d be near the railway station, but no, then had a 20-minute walk along vast open boulevards to get back to the station. The town is certainly laid out with plenty of open space, but at first sight isn’t exactly pedestrian-friendly.Ruth and I had last week off work for a 4-night self-catering break in Somerset. As I had to see to a number of work-related issues first thing on Monday morning, we ended up being a little late leaving Reading for our scheduled en-route lunch with Ruth’s grandmother at 1pm (in short, we left Reading ten minutes before we were due to be sitting down for lunch with Grannie in Cheddar). Ruth made a damage-limitation phone call and we eventually arrived at Cheddar at about 3pm, but luckily
were still able to get lunch at Mrs Millard’s local café the Edelweiss. Grannie had, understandably, already had her lunch there by the time we arrived but ordered a cup of coffee while we had ours.We then drove on to our chosen holiday cottage in Crowcombe, arriving at about 6pm where we were welcomed by Bruce, one half of the owners of Town End Farm Cottages. ‘Flora’s Barn’ is one of two holiday properties adjoining Town End Farm, and very lovely it was too. Bruce and Kirsty had thoughtfully left a cream tea out for us, which we worked our way through over the next couple of days.
On Day 1 we had a bit of a wander around Crowcombe, including a visit to the Church of the Holy Ghost, appare
ntly believed to be the only church in the country to have that dedication. It has some interesting carved bench-ends depicting a number of pagan scenes, including one of two apparently nude men spearing a
dragon, and a rather cute bat. Had a look down the drive at Crowcombe Court, an 18th century mansion which apparently these days can be hired for weddings, and then a wander into the village shop where we stocked up on a pork pie and a packet of cheese & onion crisps, and several postcards. I then dragged Ruth on quite an uphill walk up Lower Quantock Combe to look for St David’s Well, which I had seen marked on the map. After several wrong turns, and thanks largely to Ruth’s perseverance, we eventually found it, quite nicely marked with a little sign. After appropriate photo-taking, we tramped our way back down to Crowcombe for a pint and lunch in The Carew Arms, the village pub.
On Day 2 we drove out to the coast to Kilve beach, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and known for its fossils and exposed rock formations. Also, according to a book I got out of the library called The Hidden Places of Somerset, 10-foot conger eels that lurk in rock pools, though we didn't see any of those. We went for a walk from the beach past Kilve's little church and the ruins of Kilve Chantry, which is propped up all over the place and looks as though it would blow over in
a strong breeze, then to the trapped-in-a-bygone-age/echoes-of-yesteryear type village of East Quantoxhead and then back along the clifftop path to the Chantry Tea Gardens for tea and cake. In the afternoon Ruth decided that she wanted to go to Minehead, so I dutifully drove her there and we had a brief wander around. To make adequate use of the parking fee we walked to the little harbour at one end of the bay, which appeared to be the most attractive part from what we could see.On Day 3 we drove to the beach again first thing to take some more photos, as it was much sunnier than the previous day, and then up to the top of the
Quantock ridge to somewhere called Dead Woman's Ditch (an iron age fortification). Had a walk around there and down into Rams Combe, where we spent a while looking for the alleged public conveniences (eventually located them) and ate cold sausages and a cheese sandwich. While driving back over the top to Crowcombe we encountered a small gang of ponies, which
turned into a bigger gang once we stopped the car and Ruth got out and started petting them. One suspects they may be used to getting fed by tourists. Eventually managed to negotiate the car through the mass of ponies. In the afternoon we went to visit Dunster, where we had a particularly delicious cream tea at 'Cobblestones' cafe and visited the castle. As we were so late in the day (about 3.45pm) the nice man on the gate let us in for a discounted rate. The castle itself was closed, but we had a pleasant wander around the gardens in beautiful weather and appeared to be the only people there. Later in the evening we wandered down to The Carew Arms to try out their not very extensive dinner menu - having had a bit of a meat-heavy week I ordered the Thai fish cakes off the specials board, but was a bit surprised to discover that they came with chips - as, indeed, everything on the menu appeared to.Drove back on Friday in relentless rain the whole way. Collected the rabbits from Steve and Sandra’s, where Sandra reassured Ruth that Lola’s dominance over Harley is normal for rabbits; apparently they’re a bit of a matriarchal bunch. Go sister.
Met up with Ray on Sunday for our postponed walk from a few weeks ago. We initially set off for the Harcourt Arboretum intending to have a gentle stroll and admire some spring bulbs, but on arrival found that it’s shut at weekends until April. Continued on up the A4074, initially rather aimlessly but Ray the
n came up with the idea of going to visit the Oxford Canal. The only problem was that we had come out without either his satnav or a map, so headed off northwest of Oxford with the vague idea that we might bump into the canal somewhere en route. Eventually I remembered that I could use my phone’s GPS, which isn’t flawless but certainly better than nothing, and enabled us to drive to Tackley, where we parked by the tiny railway station and walked across country to meet the canal at Pigeon Lock. We then walked along the towpath past a good number of narrowboats to Enslow Bridge, where we stopped off for a reviving drink at The Rock of Gibraltar. Then back to Tackley on a minor country road past the Satellite Earth Station northwest of Enslow. All good fun and lovely weather.
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