Castles and stuff

I have enjoyed seeing various folks' photos on their blogs from their haunts out and about on holiday or more locally, so I thought I'd join the trend with a few from our jaunt to Devon and Cornwall. 

Our first base of operations was the aptly named Bickley Mill Inn, chosen for no other reason than it's name! As a bonus just a mile down the lane was Compton Castle, a National Trust property so free entry for members!

The first sight you get of the castle, approaching from the car park area, is fairly spectacular!

It's clearly a medieval structure which morphed over time into a fortified family home - the family still live in a part of the castle.

There are squirrel symbols everywhere you look, the family taking that from the ship commanded by one ancestor, a model of which is prominently displayed.

As is this rather splendid silver table centre piece with scenes from the Sikh Wars I think.

The volunteer guides are very personable, well informed and suitably costumed to add to the enjoyment of a visit! Mark here is studying for his Masters in history, focusing on early concentration camps! It takes all sorts!

In the inner courtyard garden you get a sense of how the structure of the castle developed into a fortified home. On the right is the Great Hall, on the left family living quarters developed from the medieval solar. 

The early castle structure though is very evident, a portcullis gateway with murder holes and a flanking tower to deter attackers.

Another costumed volunteer striking a pose for the photographer!

The later gardens and orchard can be enjoyed as a part of the visit and also afford a different aspect view of the castle's evolving structures.

The medieval Great Barn, sadly not open, though the parked car gives a good idea of its size!

Just five miles away we found Berry Pomeroy Castle, a ruin in the hands of English Heritage. It's supposedly the most haunted site in England! There was a nice model of the castle in its Tudor heyday.

Also a large area of surviving wall painting, the Adoration of the Magi, which you can just make out. Conservationists are fighting an ongoing battle with the droppings of the six species of bats living above! Hence the wall board!

The Tudor period Hall perhaps suggests the splendor of the castle at its peak.

Mind, it was never properly completed, with rocky outcrops not cleared from the inner courtyard.

Still, it looks impressive as you approach the gatehouse. And it has a very decent tea room for the weary grottle!

We spent a pleasant day in Plymouth, mostly around the Hoe and the Barbican. You can tour parts of the citadel, which is still in use today 

Drake's Island is also fortified to command the approaches to the Devonport naval dockyards and Plymouth harbour.

The battery can be made out on the seaward face, while the garrison buildings face the shoreline on the opposite face of the island.

Guns are mounted on the shoreline of the Barbican too. An obligatory shot here of wargamer with canon!

There are information boards handily placed all around the Barbican walk, so you can take in as much or as little detail as you want! There's also a really good second hand bookshop in the Old Customs House. { I got three Richard Woodman Nathaniel Drinkwater omnibus editions for £5.00!}

The memorials on the Hoe are dwarfed by the large Naval Memorial. Most though couldn't be accessed because of ongoing works. My father served in the navy in WWII, training at HMS Raleigh in Devonport. His service took him to the Arctic, Pacific and back and forth across the Atlantic on convoy duty. His ship was torpedoed out or Archangel but did not sink!

The RAF Memorial was the only one I could get near! Sue's dad served in the RAF in the immediate post war period and her nephew serves currently as am Armourer Flight Sergeant I think.

Lots of other history abounds around the harbour. I liked the information about the rubber necking caused by Napoleon being held here before his exile to St Helena!

The Mayflower steps commemorate the stay of the Pilgrim Fathers en route to the New World. The ship is unrecorded in the harbour logs, it did not carry cargo being the reason suggested.  

Finally, you really can't beat Fish and Chips at the seaside! Harbourside's are highly recommended!

As is a pint of Thatcher's Gold I have to add.

As I started at Bickley Mill Inn I'll end with the view from our gaff in Downderry, Cornwall.

"It takes a lot of this to make you ill!", as my father would surely have said of the view!