An Abbey Girl

We would have liked to stay much longer in Cornwall and see all the places we missed.  It's so small, yet the traffic is so terrible that getting anywhere takes for ever.  Still, we had to move on as it was only a few days until we were due to return the car.

En route out of Cornwall our first stop was quite an unusual castle, Launceston.  It is set on a tall tall mound which you have to walk up to see the remains inside an earlier keep.  George Fox (the founder of the Quakers) was a prisoner here when it was used as a prison.  Brrr.

Despite the rain we continued onto Lydford Castle and Saxon Town where we stopped for a traditional pub roast dinner.  Not sure why Yorokshire puddings continue to be allowed to exist.  They could have omitted them and fitted on more cauliflower cheese!

the view of the gathering clouds over Cornwall from Launceston

Oh look, it's raining again!

the church from Lydford

Lydford was built as a prison and looks it!

 Okehampton castle was our final stop on this rainy miserable freezing cold day.  There isn't much left but it does lean in interesting ways.  Once again I am relying on stolen photos.  Sigh...

Dauntless, we continued on to Minehead where we spend the night in the Beach Hotel.  The water was only about 100km out at low tide!

The next day had us visiting a site of pilgrimage for me.  Cleve Abbey.  Better known to fans of Elsie J. Oxenham as the site of Gracedieu Abbey, the place we first meet the red-headed cousins Joan and Joy, future Hamlet Club Queens.  I have a love/hate relationship with EJO - while she can write a gripping story (yes I KNOW she is dead, for some reason convention in literary scholarship seems to be to always write about authors as though they're not)  I loathe the worship of titled and rich people and her belief that people with inherited money are somehow "nicer" - while offering a very good example of a psychopathic hero.  Anyway

The Abbey Gatehouse

Matt contemplates the fairy circle.

The wonderful roof details

view over the garth of the dormitory

The 13th century tiled floor of the original refectory,
lost from public view for many years; now on display under a new roof.

The rooms were simple but surprisingly large.

Back at the Gatehouse I declined to dance or pipe a jig.

On the recommendation of the very knowledgeable brains trust on my facebook feed we had a nice lunch at the local pub and continued on to Bath where we were going to live like modern day students (that is, with wifi, a double bed, and ensuite).