At Mapperton House
After Cuba, I’d planned with R to visit central Europe, stopping into Germany and Poland, as each of us had visited one of those countries but not the other. Since R had a long layover in New York on his way, I decided I would take advantage of a direct HAV-LGW flight and pop in to the UK to visit my great aunt for a few days, and meet R later in Krakow.
So I did – hopped on the long haul flight to London while still feeling distinctly not 100%. Once at Gatwick, I picked up a hire car (a cute yellow MG3) and zoomed off down the M3 to Plymouth. Much swearing at gearboxes and multi-exit roundabouts ensued… I haven’t driven a manual car for about 8 years, I’m not used to the British roundabouts of gargantuan proportions, and I couldn’t work out how to turn Apple Maps back on to verbal assistance. But I got to Plymouth in one piece, only half an hour after I’d planned to.
This set the pattern for my driving excursions during the stay: with another drive through Plymouth, my inability to cope with the 6-exit roundabouts and Apple Maps refusing the come to the party caused me to jump ship and go to the dark side of Google Maps. But we got there in the end.
Waitrose – the grammar capital of the world
For anyone interested in language like me: the Waitrose supermarket checkout sign reads (grammatically correct) ’10 items or fewer’, rather than the shorter version used in Australia: ’10 items or less’. (And yes, I got many funny looks taking a photo of the sign!)
GF fish’n’chips!
A highlight of the visit was going with Mum and AJ to Jolly Jacks, a restaurant along the wharf. We supped on GF fish and chips (yes – with batter!!) and a gorgeous cider to go with it. We just about had to roll home!
The Orangery at Mapperton House
Mum and I waved goodbye to AJ and headed up to Bristol, for me to catch the flight to Krakow, and Mum to catch the train back to London. On the way we decided to stop off at a stately home and garden, Mapperton House. It was a little hairy getting there, down lanes and through a few villages, but we made it in the end.
The film crew on the croquet lawn
We were excited to see that there was filming happening at the house, but we couldn’t find out what was being made. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled! As well as being overrun by film crews, the gardens were absolutely beautiful, with varying levels of elevation as well as history. The film crew were set up on the croquet lawn, but there was also an Italianate garden with orangery, fish ponds and grottos, and a large arboretum.
Beautiful gardens
There’s a cafe in the old coach house where we had lunch: since the house is now owned by the Earl of Sandwich, we had sandwiches! I had the Original version – roast beef with horseradish and watercress, but on a GF bun instead of the traditional sliced bread. Yum!
An Original Sandwich (almost)
After lunch we headed back along the windy roads and off to Bristol. As usual, I missed a couple of turns that our helpful map navigator had been a little tardy in announcing, which resulted in a very “scenic” route through the incredibly narrow lanes of North Somerset! Very much single lane, with hedges brushing the car on both sides, and me having to reverse back to passing points on many occasions since I wasn’t the one towing a trailer.
We finally reached Bristol Airport (next time I’m just following the main road signs, not the shortcut offered by Google!) just in time to check in for my flight, and I waved goodbye to Mum in her taxi to the train station. Phew! Next time leave an extra hour early…
Two Weeks Away 