Formerly Updown Cottage but now helping The Angel Sherston

11/08/2024

Trelowarren tones and misty Cornish mornings.

10/08/2024

Porthleven in August...... with ubiquitous children on cannon photo.

03/07/2024

Happy 29 years of life and 5 days of new daddyhood to Sam!
What a wonderful year it's been!

20/06/2024

How sad not to be able to capture the scent but the sheer abundance of flowers against a blue sky is still breathtaking.

25/05/2024

The manor house of Trelowarren on the Lizard in Cornwall now provides 2 bedrooms on a B&B basis: The King's room (apparently every manor house in Cornwall has a room where Charles I was reputed to have stayed!) and The Bluebird room which is from a suite of rooms re-designed for the visit of Queen Victoria in the mid 19th Century. The windows remain as they were before the redesign.
The drive to Tremayne Quay, the boathouse, and Tremayne Quay, were also built for the visit but unfortunately, the weather was too rough for the Queen to land and in the late 20th Century the rooms fell into disrepair.

I've created a highlight of our stay on instagram.

The house dates from the C15th & is being renovated gradually by the Vyvyan family who have resided here for 600 years.

The estate is run on entirely ecological lines so don't expect pristine grounds beyond the immediate lawns - great pride is taken in the Wilderness which encourages such diversity of wildlife.
Equally you'll find quirky plumbing, a creaky 4 poster & the house to yourselves - absolute perfection in our eyes!

You can easily find trelowarren.com by searching although let's keep it secret!

11/05/2024

I was sorting through a box today when I came across this photo which was in a broken frame in Updown Cottage when we moved in.
Wouldn't it be lovely to identify the girl and when it was taken?
We bought the cottage on Gold Hill from the late & much missed Gordon Haskell in 2006.
Any Dorset people have any ideas?!

13/04/2024

Colours of Cornwall last weekend.
1. Unexpectedly Tuscan tones in a Lizard farmyard.
2. Goonhilly Downs satellite dishes. The first dish, the 85 feet diameter 'Arthur', sent the first live television signal between 2 continents in July 1962.
3. Our favourite roads, imaginatively christened 'grass in the middle of road' roads when your wingmirrors brush the greenery on either side.
4. The aesthetic bridge at Poltesco Cove which is beautifully cared for by the . Let's hope they also preserve Mullion Cove which is rapidly deteriorating.
5. Prettily presented & absolutely delicious smoked mackerel paté lunch at Holy Mackerel Café at Helford.
6. Thatched roofs in Helford by The Shipwrights Arms, arguably the most perfectly positioned pub in the world?
7. Tree tunnel - exciting since childhood.
8. Stormy seas at Lizard Point.
9. The oft-photo'd door in St Ives.
10. Helford doorway.....as I snapped a lady emerged and told me that 'it wasn't famous'......it is for me.....almost 60 years of coverting this Jane Austin-style house!

12/04/2024

The Grade 2 listed Nabisco Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City. The complex was designed by Louis de Soissons in 1926 to encourage the American company to set up base in the town. It closed in 2008 & its future has been the subject of discussion ever since.
Welwyn Garden City was established by Ebenezer Howard in 1920 as a planned town to provide for both industry and pleasant living conditions.
Visits to John Lewis were always accompanied by the malty smell of cereals wafting across the railway tracks which lay between the factory and the town centre. These days I tend to get a little closer as Aldi stands across the road! No smells but a better view of C20th industry which I hope will be repurposed and saved from dereliction.

27/02/2024

On Sunday we lunched at the beautiful , situated in the old stable yard, buried deep in the heart of the Trelowarren estate in Cornwall. I've visited the estate for many, many years but Louise & Tim are the most welcoming & generous hosts who have created the perfect restaurant & café.
(Yes you do get everything on that menu so plan to stay all afternoon 😉).
Beautiful local food sometimes with Danish influences, scrumply linen, handpainted & written menus, generous touches, original local art, outstandingly lovely staff (how do they find them?!), blazing fires & a warm relaxed atmosphere!

For information, a Sarah Bernhart is a cookie named after a French actress who visited Copenhagen in 1883 and praised the delicious Danish chocolates. Years later, in 1911, pastry chef Johannes Steen named the Sarah Bernhardt cookies after the actress. They have an almond cookie base, topped with a chocolate cream filling and dipped in chocolate.

25/02/2024

In January we celebrated Simon's significant birthday at The Ugly Butterfly in Carbis Bay....the food & service we experienced were second to none but on a winter's evening, our view was obviously somewhat limited to ourselves (see final photo!).
Yesterday we returned for lunchtime bar snacks and were treated to the same wonderful service & 'snacks' that we experienced in January (but with rather different views including a rainbow which moved across the bay throughout our visit in a rather obliging fashion!).
Afternoon tea looked rather good too!
Just a heads up that you can have the whole Ugly Butterfly experience whether you order a simple cup of tea or the whole tasting menu.

And FYI the quirky name is explained by "There is no such thing as an Ugly Butterfly, in the same way that – with skilled people – there is no such thing as food waste!"

23/02/2024

The fascinating C13th church of St Mellanus in Mullion with its irresistibly tactile carved oak pews, reputed to be from wood from the ancient Goonhilly forest (although the forest is said to have disappeared by the C11th).
The restored full width rood screen doesn't find favour with Simon Jenkins and others as it cuts off the three altars from the congregation but I loved it for preserving the atmosphere of the sanctuary. After all, the Reformation was the vandal!

20/02/2024

A particularly beautiful flat white from Sam this morning.

24/01/2024

Bedroom views at The Pig at Harlyn Bay last week.
Heaven......faultless.....

22/01/2024

Some snippets from at Harlyn Bay in Cornwall last week.
My dream house...... steeped in centuries of history.

20/01/2024

Padstow, Constantine & Treyarnon wanderings a couple of days ago.......searching for Simon's childhood swimming pool on the beach.....lying since washed away no doubt.

19/01/2024

Thank you so much to @ Harlyn Bay for a lovely surprise Buck's Fizz for Simon's big birthday breakfast. It's been perfect in every way.

14/01/2024

Peace Doves at the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Albans.
A hanging art installation by Peter Walker Sculptor, in which 10000 paper doves hang from the Cathedral tower.
Each dove bears a handwritten message of hope from the community.
Photos from without and within.

08/01/2024

We may no longer own Updown Cottage but we've kept this page going in case we ever start something similar in the future!
If any followers from outside the UK are interested in everything and anything British, I commend subscribing to the Anglotopia newsletter to you. Jonathan & Jackie were huge supporters of Updown from our beginnings until we sold.
Just click the link below......

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

TL:DR Please sign up for our free weekly email newsletter; it’s the best way for readers of Anglotopia to support us. Email HP Apologies for the dramatic headline, but social media algorithms love negativity, so it’s the best way to increase our reach on this important message. Anglotopia is ent...

19/11/2023

Is there anywhere more atmospheric than a Cornish tinmine in the mist?

02/11/2023

Hugo & Jemima offered to share their beds with us last night (so kind 😉) but now that George has his own room, we actually stayed at The Angel last night.
Not bad pillow views to wake up to!

Malmesbury

31/10/2023

Inside and outside the incredible Oslo Opera House from our visit 10 days ago.
Walking on the roof provides great views over Oslo Fjord.

20/08/2023

Prosecco, strawberries & afternoon tea against the backdrop of Bath and the Kennet & Avon Canal for Maisie's () hen day. Perfection!

11/07/2023

If you are anywhere near the Rutland, Belvoir, Nottingham or Lincoln area I can thoroughly recommend - The Chestnuts Country House B&B in the hamlet of Alverton. What a treat and how generous our hosts, Kelly & David!
The 3 large 4 poster rooms are in a converted coach house overlooking the croquet lawn where every detail is perfect, from the homemade slabs of coffee & walnut cake & flapjack that greeted us to the organic toiletries, beds, bathrobes & piles of fluffy towels.
Breakfast is taken at the fabulous 'pass the marmalade' table in the main house or on the terrace with views of Belvoir Castle, weather permitting...........and what a breakfast! Kelly's generosity, imagination & love of food & looking after people shone through - scroll to see the menu! Everything was entirely homemade with many recipes inspired by Dishoom.
We shall return!

&b

10/07/2023

What a wonderful day we spent, being wowed by the history and unspoilt beauty of Stamford in Lincolnshire, followed by a quick stroll along Rutland Water to see the now deconsecrated Normanton Church.
See stories for many more pics.

22/06/2023

Jemima isn't quite 2 but knows her style!
She decided that matching shorts & t-shirt were the order of the day when it's 25° and then became extremely attached to this hat that she found in
I couldn't resist her admiring the 'wowers' outside an estate agency just along the road!

09/06/2023

Watching the sun go down over Mount's Bay a few evenings ago, glass in hand and very chilled!

06/06/2023

From our walks on Sunday......
First around the Polurrian cliffs to Poldhu then around St Anthony after lunch...... which all sounds quite virtuous until we met a lovely Bavarian lady who was hiking the South-West coast path 'but JUST from Plymouth to Penzance'.
Talk about denting your ego!
I hope she had a wonderful time as she'd certainly picked the right week!

05/06/2023

Porthgwarra Cove which used to support 11 or 12 fishing families in Victorian times.

At the foot of the cove's slipway is a tunnel dug by tin miners from St Just to give farmers horse-and-cart access to the beach to collect seaweed to use as a fertiliser. A second tunnel, leading seawards, is the fishermen's access to the tidal 'hulleys' built in the rocks to store shellfish. The 'hulleys', which ceased being used about 20 years ago, had wooden floors and topcovers with trapdoors and were used to store shellfish prior to taking the catch to market once or twice a week.

It's just around the corner from the Minack Theatre & well worth visiting at quiet times of the year. (The lanes can get a bit busy in holiday times!).
There's a little café & it's a safe, quiet place for a dip.

# Cornwall

04/06/2023

Last night's Strawberry Moon as it rose over Mount's Bay.

25/05/2023

A wonderful afternoon spent at Kensington Palace with our friends from across the water from Updown days...... the cottage that keeps on giving!