the lonely cottage

Stonehenge

Without a boat we were now free to spend more time in Cornwall, the most south westerly tip of England. Lottie had always found our trips enjoyable but Steve (the grumpy ex-captain) couldn’t face a week on a blow up bed in the lounge of a hectic family home. However the nearest cottage we had managed to rent for a week was an hour’s drive away from my daughter’s house.

After packing frantically with Lottie parked in the hall way we left home at 10:20, a bit later than intended.

our acess track

The traffic was heavy all the time I drove, but kept moving until Stonehenge. We made our first stop at Solstice services. Having used the facilities Steve took over the driving taking a detour to miss the slow traffic by Stonehenge.

Once back on the A303 we stopped for lunch at the large lay-by after Cricklade. fortunately it was a dry day, and warm enough to stand outside. It was rather primitive after having a boat kitchen to enjoy. We stood by the car eating sandwiches and cake and washed down with apple juice.

The parking space behind the cottage

view from the lounge

After lunch Steve drove on until after Exeter. I took over for last 30-40 minutes to the cottage while Steve studied the directions to Trefrize. To get to the cottage we’ve rented we had to leave the dual carriageway onto a narrow road. This led to a narrower lane with passing places. Next we turned onto a Cornish road just wide enough for a vehicle to pass along. Finally I turned up a steep drive (marked public footpath). the car crawled up it in 1^st gear, and rounded a rough 90 degree left hand turn near the top. Lottie as usual, was well behaved on the drive to Cornwall, but she burst into song as we neared our goal along the ever narrowing lanes.

The cottage, a converted stable, is everything we expected from the details and photos on the website. It’s in the middle of nowhere, very quiet and peaceful.

The amiable owner soon popped in to welcome us which was lovely. By the time we’d unpacked there was time to visit Chelle (our daughter) and family. Having checked the routes, distance and timing at home we expect to have an hours drive to Chelle’s. However, it averaged out at 45 minutes each way.

the only buildings in sight

It was good to visit them and Chelle cooked us roast lamb for dinner. That cheered Steve considerably he was still positive when we set off back to the cottage. It was dark when we got back and apart from the stars there were no other lights around.

Lottie seemed to like the cottage and settled down for the night quickly in the small bedroom, even though there was not much spare room around the bed.