Last Day in Cornwall

We head to London tomorrow to turn in the car, visit a few of our favorite spots, and prepare for our flight home. I cannot wait to hand over the keys to the car. I have grown so tired of driving on roads that are as wide as my driveway at home. If we had been able to drive on regular (real) roads, I'm certain that I would not feel so weary as I do. I've never looked so forward to being on a motorway (that's the word for interstate here), and we'll be on the motorway for nearly four hours tomorrow.

Of course, for our last day in Cornwall, we ended up spending more time than usual on these driveways that stand in for roads on our way to and from Cotehele, an estate that was an ancestral home from 1353 until the Edgecumbe family gave it to the National Trust in 1947. It's especially known for its tapestries, but I found the outside of the property the most interesting.

The longer I'm here, the more I love stone

The side approach to the estate and its tiered garden are
especially impressive

The feature that is probably most well-known in the gardens is the dovecote as the garden paths lead toward the Tamar river. 

There's the Dovecote hiding among the trees

The terraced garden provides lovely views of the surrounding landscape.

The view from the side door

Looking across the Tamar valley

On the inside of the house, I enjoyed the little nooks the most. One of them made me a little jealous, in fact. Upstairs in one of the bedrooms is a nook with a little hole that provides a view into the great hall below. The owners could peep through the hole and decide whether the guests entering were worth the trip downstairs. I like that idea.

I don't think I'll leave my room for those folks

And another sweet nook had a lovely bouquet perched on the windowsill.

A bright, cheerful spot in the dark house

We took a walk along the Tamar to the mill nearby and looked through the historic buildings before sitting down for a cream tea. We'll miss that daily ritual.

A lovely stone bridge crossing a tributary

But tomorrow we head for London, and that has wonderful rituals of its own.