Thursday 3 January 2019

Cotehele in late October

Remember the teaser photo after a couple of posts back? I was referring to a little outing one sunny, mild afternoon in October to a place not far away from home - Cotehele (pronounced coat -eel).



So here's a snapshot of the rest of that afternoon (at last!)

Expecting a quiet amble along the woodland path, I was somewhat surprised to find that lots of people had had the same idea and the car parks were almost full.

But there are many paths that crisscross this huge estate so it was possible to get away from the madding crowd and listen to the birdsong.




While I rested on a handy seat, Benji did his usual trick of 'guarding' the path from all-comers; he sits there, watching them approach, then refuses to budge so that they have to take avoiding action and go around him.  Once they have passed, he gets up and wanders around again.  Little monkey!

Now Zac always took the opportunity to get a drink from this underground stream which surfaces at the side of the path, but Benji refuses to get his feet wet so he misses out.

My eye was caught by the sight of a mast floating along above the reeds . . . 

. . . . so we made our way to Cotehele Quay for a clearer view.

Considering the time of year, river traffic was busier than I've seen in a long time, with craft coming along in both directions.

However, 'Shamrock', the Tamar sailing barge, owned by The National Trust, was sheltered by a huge tarpaulin cover, undergoing maintenance and restoration.  I found a handy spyhole and poked my camera inside.  There's a website devoted to the 'Shamrock' - http://shamrock-cotehele.blogspot.com/p/all-about-shamrock.html

And so another visit to Cotehele ended; we made our way back to the car, hoping to get away before everyone else had the same idea.  We did!!!

15 comments:

  1. Thank you for visiting my blog, and leaving a comment!

    What a lovely area to visit! I love to see glimpses of where people live, in other countries. And your country, is so very lovely.

    I loved your comment on my blog, about leaving little pools of light, around.... To hold the memories, of a lovely Christmas. :-)

    Actually, I leave faerie lights up, all year. Love them so much. :-)

    Happy to meet you....

    From across the pond.... Wisps of Words

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    1. Happy to meet you too, dear fellow blogger from across the pond.
      I may be ever so slightly . biased, but I believe this part of the UK is particularly beautiful. Cornwall is a magical place, almost completely surrounded by the sea, just the border with Devon being the exception. Beyond that border is 'up-country' to those of us who rarely leave our beautiful Cornwall.

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  2. Benji guarding the path - I love it! Little rascal :)

    What a lovely area to walk in, and it looked like a beautiful day.

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    1. It was an unexpectedly beautiful day, considering the time of year and we made the most of it. Cotehele is a place we regularly visit, a National Trust property, so parking is free for me as a member of the NT, and it's not far to drive from my home.
      Benji does seem to get pleasure from making people give way to him on narrow paths! It happens too often to simply be coincidence. Lol, lol.



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  3. It is a beautiful place to visit, wonder if you have seen the Christmas garland there?
    Shamrock has been going for a long time, it seems. Wonderful that it is being repaired.

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  4. That looks like a beautiful place to visit for a walk. I imagine it gets very busy in summer.

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    1. It does get very busy and the car parks fill up, but it's such a huge estate with many paths that it's never crowded and it's possible to wander along quietly enjoying the birdsong even at those busy times.

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  5. Replies
    1. Indeed it is, with lots of variety depending on which part of the estate you're in - river walks, woodland walks, gardens, lakes, flower beds, the dovecote and much more. There's also a plant shop, a cottagey tea room on the Quay with a pretty little garde set out with tables, plus The Barn Restaurant as well as ice-cream kiosks.
      Fallen tree trunks serve as handy seats when you just want to sit and daydream; climbing frames and log obstacles for the children to enjoy.

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  6. How nice to get away from the madding crowd and listen to the birdsong...
    Your photographs here are lovely.

    My good wishes for 2019.

    All the best Jan

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  7. That looks like a really lovely outing, such a shame it is so far from here :-) Benji does make me laugh, you've absolutely transformed his life, xx

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  8. He's turned out to be quite a character, Jenny. Very confident little feller, too - completely different from the timid, anxious dog who arrived 18 months ago. He does enjoy our walks, meeting dogs of all sizes without any trace of fear.

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  9. What a peaceful place to hike or sail. How cute that your dog sits in the path so people need to walk around him.

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    1. I sometimes wonder if those people who he obstructs also think he's cute . . . though no-one has complained yet. It usually brings a smile to their faces to see such a little dog making his presence felt!!!

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