Green roofs

Not sure if it should be green roofs or rooves, but anyway, we now have four of them. Work started a few weeks ago on a bin store, bike store and two log stores.

The idea was to hide all of these stores behind the hedge and Darren took down a fence at the bottom of the garden, and reused all of the wood to build bases. An old door or two were cut down for the roofs and I filled them with soil and gravel to make the green bit.

It's all starting to grow and I have been finding 'treasures' to put in amongst the plants. These include a fossil of an ammonite, part of a very old glass bottle and a tile from the old brass mill that says '14" and 12" right oven' on it, whatever that might mean. I showed it to Wendy from next door and unfortunately we both agreed that it looks like a mini gravestone.

I think that it will blend in a bit better as the plants grow, so will post another picture in a couple of months or so.

I also have plans to put a door at the end to add an air of mystery to the end of the garden, something a little like this. 

Speaker's House

Today we caught the train to Marylebone Station and hopped on the Santander bikes to Trafalgar Square. After a nice whizz around the Raphael exhibition, and coffee and cake with Susan and Paul we headed for the main event of the day.

On the way there we passed Horse Guard's Parade and were just in time to see the changing of the guard.

Excellent marching and synchronised dismounting of the horses whilst wearing totally impractical boots. However, I was very pleased to see that one of the new guards was a woman. 

Just down the road we reached the Palace of Westminster and saw a very rare phenomenon.

Look very closely and you can see that the clocks tell two different times. This is because the renovations are not quite complete and the final clock needs a bit more work and cleaning before they start it up again.

We had a 2.30pm appointment to visit the Speaker's House inside the Houses of Parliament. It is actually a surprisingly grand and beautiful house hidden away right under the clock tower.

There was only 15 people on our tour and we learned lots of interesting facts about the Speaker, but no photos were allowed. 

For instance, the latest speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is the 158th Speaker and in the olden days nobody wanted the job as it could be dangerous, particularly if Parliament upset the King of the time. This is why they are ceremonially dragged, possibly kicking and screaming, to the chair, but nowadays they applied for the job, get paid for it, and it is a fantastic place to live.

There was loads of security and armed police everywhere and after a very interesting hour we ended up back on the street outside.

Back on the bikes to the station and a quick train ride home. Good day out. 

Golf at St Ives

Today we are up on the hill above St Ives and we have a free round of golf included with our booking. I haven't picked up a club for about five years, so can I still do it?

Excellent first shot on the par three course, but then it fell apart a bit as I got there in eight. Ditto the next hole.

I was having huge problems with the shot being either too short, or more frequently miles too long.

I also found a little stream and lost the ball under a bridge. At the end of 18 holes my worst hole was a nine and best was four fours. Daz did better and it was really good fun.

This afternoon we walked in to St Ives. We have heard so much about this place from so many people, but it was actually lovelier than I expected.

The tide was in, and the water was clear so we could see the beautiful sandy beaches beneath it. The weather was beautiful again, and we followed the promenade around the town.

We went round the headland and found another beach with houses built directly on to it, and one house had sand banked right up to the window sills.

The clouds were very low on this side, so a very different look, although it was very pleasant and people were swimming in the sea.

Lost gardens of Heligan

Today we made our way further down into Cornwall, in fact nearly to the end, and visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

It was a huge estate that was abandoned after the First World War. The house was sold during the 1970's and the gardens were left completely overgrown and forgotten until 1990.

It was then gradually restored and brought back to life. Unfortunately, March is not the best time to visit, as it is famed for its exotic gardens and they die back in the winter only gradually start growing again around now.

However, you can imagine it in its full glory, and spring is definitely taking hold.

I do recommend the Burma Rope Bridge across the valley

although the swing on the Adventure Playground was more exciting.

As members of the RHS we got in for free so I didn't mind not making the most of the gardens, and I managed to spend double the entry costs in the on site Garden Centre, so it worked out well in the end.

Lots of fantastic purchases including our own, currently quite small, gunnera manicata. See example below - we have left ours in the car and Darren is hoping that it will grow into something similar overnight.

Tonight we are staying at the glorious Tregenna Castle, with beautiful views over St Ives, although not from our room this time.

Barnstaple, Bude and Newquay

Up with the lark today, partly because my watch put itself forward two hours instead of one. No idea how that occurred, but it had us fooled for a while.

We nipped into Barnstaple for a beautiful jog along the Tarka Trail.

I ran for 10k and stopped, while Darren ran over the bridge and in a loop over the next bridge. I sat and waited with my camera to record a sprint finish, but the other bridge was closed so he ran back and lost me.  So I just have a photo of the bridge instead.

After breakfast we headed to Bude and stayed to enjoy it all for a couple of hours.

Finally we landed at Newquay for the night. Darren found us a fantastic B and B with a lovely view,

although our car is very worried as seagulls keep landing on its roof.

After such a busy day we are staying in for the night with Cornish pasty each and a glass of wine or two.

Two one out of two's today

Confusing title today. I was thinking of writing.      '2 1 out of 2's 2day' in the modern style, but that is probably even more confusing.

Anyway, this morning we did the Woolacombe Dunes parkrun, and the Run Director told us that it is one of the two hardest parkruns in the country.

He wasn't wrong, although I would say that for me it is also one of the two most beautiful runs, along with Hove Promenade.

The start is up at the back of the dunes and there is a gradual slope downhill that gets steeper once it gets to the sand dunes, and then down on to the beach.

From there it was about a mile straight along the beach into the wind, and then up the Dune of Doom.

Darren is posing for the photo on the way back to the car, but we did really run, or rather speed walk over the top of the dune and then down the other side.

Then it was a run along the dunes and back up to the top.

Here I am thankfully nearly at the end. Darren did it in an incredible 26.50, and I managed 32.37.

Back to the hotel for a well earned rest and then off to see Westward Ho! This is one of only two towns in the world with an official exclamation mark in the name. The other is Saint-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha! in Québec, which is totally ridiculous.

Westward Ho! was named after a best selling book of the same name written in 1855 by Charles Kingsley, that was set in nearby Bideford. A tourist opportunity was then spotted and a hotel was built on the coast of to the west of Bideford and called Westward Ho! Hotel. As more buildings were gradually added they were all called the same thing, and there you have it - Westward Ho!

Not having any expectations, it was actually a real pleasure with a lovely terrace on the way to the seafront.

Also a beautiful beach and tasty ice cream, which is all you ever need by the seaside.