The Tower of London – Take 2
A few weeks ago, Ashwina and I decided to get out and enjoy the bit of good weather that we have had of late. While… Read More »The Tower of London – Take 2
Travel
To India
My last long term visit to India was in February-March 2012 for my wedding. Since then, Ashwina and I have travelled to Scotland, Dunwich Heath,… Read More »To India
Cornwall – Pentargon
After a disappointing visit to Bude, Ashwina and I decided that we would stick to Boscastle and explore Penally Hill. During our previous trips around… Read More »Cornwall – Pentargon
Cornwall – Bude
We had planned to visit Bude, which is further North, along the coast. We took the 595 Western Greyhound from Boscastle to Bude, which is… Read More »Cornwall – Bude
Cornwall – Wadebridge and the Camel Trail
Having spent a good portion of the week in Boscastle and the surrounding areas, Ashwina and I set out to visit the famous Camel Trail.… Read More »Cornwall – Wadebridge and the Camel Trail
Cornwall – Boscastle Harbour
Ashwina and I had originally planned to check out the Bodmin and Wenford steam railway. But we ended up waking up late and couldn’t get… Read More »Cornwall – Boscastle Harbour
Cornwall – Boscastle and Tintagel
Our last holiday was in February when Ashwina and I visited Dunwich Heath to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Since we haven’t taken a vacation since then, we planned a week in Cornwall in the first week of September. This was much needed for us to recharge our batteries. And as usual Ashwina made the necessary arrangements for our trip.
We booked a cab to Paddington station in London where we caught the Great Western train to Bodmin Parkway, which is the closest station to where we were staying in Boscastle.
The journey is nearly 4 hours with views of the countryside that would be be familiar to anyone who leaves the hustle and bustle of the city. The route passes through Plymouth and a few miles before reaching Plymouth you get a glimpse of the sea which is simply breathtaking. And, this wouldn’t be the first time on this trip that I got the same feeling!
We alighted at Bodmin Parkway. Bodmin Parkway shares its name with Bodmin which is famous for the Bodmin and Wenford steam railway. However, Bodmin Parkway is a relatively smaller railway station and does serve as one of the stopping points for the Bodmin and Wenford railway.
We had booked a self catering cottage called The Lugger which was located in Boscastle Harbour. This was a scene of a terrible flash flood back in 2004 which pretty much washed the village away. The place has since been restored and there is little evidence of the destruction that was caused back then.
We hailed a local cab to take us to Boscastle, which is a good 45 minutes drive from Bodmin Parkway. And just before we descended into the village, I had my breath taken away for the second time because the view was simply spectacular!
The Lugger turned out to be a cozy cottage with a separate entrance which was located in the first floor of the National Trust Visitor Centre. This would be our home for the week. We unpacked, had some tea and then took a walk around the village, which has a few pubs, a post office, a car park and a tiny Spar.
-
- Kitchen and Sitting room of the Lugger
-
- Dining table in the Lugger
-
- Outside garden shared with the other two National Trust cottages
-
- Boscastle Village – Just by the car park
-
- The bridge to get to the Lugger
-
- Wellington Hotel
-
- Double doors, literally!
-
- The main gate of our cottage
-
- The road that leads up into Boscastle Village from the Harbour
-
- Valency River
-
- Sport shop in Boscastle
-
- Boscastle Bridge
Dinner would be a quiet one in our cottage before we set out to explore the area the next day.
Kew Gardens and Kew Palace
The bank holiday weekends in May are always welcome since it means an extra Monday of holidays and a relatively shorter week, even for an investment banker! Ashwina and I decided to visit Kew Gardens and Kew Palace early May. This was one of the many places we had in mind given our Historic Royal Palaces membership. We were joined by Vincent and Indrita.
Kew Gardens is located about a short walk from Kew Gardens Underground station which is the second last station on the District Line and good hours journey from where I stay in London. There are four gates where you can enter from and the Victoria Gate is the closest to the station. However, given the size of the line, we decided to enter via the Lion Gate which is around 5 minutes away.
Kew Palace is located within the gardens. However, since the gardens and the palace are managed by different entities, our membership does not cover entry into the palace. However, it doesn’t cover the entry to Kew Gardens, which means that you still need to pay to enter. There are several attractions in Kew Gardens and we decided we would try to cover as many as possible.
Tales from the Countryside
I grew up reading Enid Blyton‘s series of books especially Famous Five and Secret Seven. And, one thing that is common to them all was the country side.
During my trip to Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye, I got a taste of the Scottish countryside and it was befitting that we visited the English countryside as well. A few of my regular readers might recall that I married Ashwina last February and to celebrate our anniversary, I took the week off from work.
Ashwina came up with the brilliant suggestion of taking a trip to Dunwich Heath which is located in Saxmundham which lies on the east coast of England. So, we made our way on Monday of this week via train from London to Darsham via Ipswich.
Darsham was the closest train station to Dunwich and when we reached there we were a bit surprised to see a very deserted station. The big taxi signs painted on the cafe in front of us were hard to resist and we ended up booking a taxi to take us to the Coastguard Cottages at Dunwich Heath.
We were at the cottages in around 15 minutes and the drive there was a teaser for the splendid view that was to come as we reached.
A Trip to Paris
In spite of being in London for nearly 3 years now, I applied for a Schengen visa a few months back. To open the visa you’re required to visit the country your applying from and what better place to visit than France and isn’t Paris the romantic capital of the world!
So, Ashwina and me planned a three day trip to visit Paris the week before Christmas. Paris is a little over two hours from London with the Eurostar and it is a comfortable trip from St. Pancras International to Gare du Nord.
We stayed at Hotel Le Petit Paris, which is just close to the Panthéon. We reached there late in the afternoon and being December, it was also starting to get dark. We went off to Montparnasse Tower and went up to the 59th floor to get a glimpse of the whole of Paris including a beautifully lit up Eiffel Tower!
After we had sunk in the Paris lights, since we weren’t ready to call it a night, Ashwina and me took a walk down the beautifully lit Champs-Élysées past the Christmas markets to finally reach the Arc de Triomphe. It’s a long long walk and if you’re as unfit as I am, then it feels even longer…
Post this we headed back to the hotel, grabbed some dinner at an Italian restaurant close to the hotel and then called it a night.
When we had visited Scotland back in September, we used to get up early in the morning. This time we decided to take it a bit easy and actually got out only at lunch time.
Remembering names of restaurants in Paris is definitely not my strong point, but we did manage to get a good lunch at one just opposite the Panthéon, which was our first museum visit. Ashwina tried her French skills to order the food while I nodded my head and pointed fingers at the menu 😉