Heading off down the country lanes as we departed our Slaughterford sit location, we were thankful to reach B and A roads where we didn’t need to peer carefully around corners to ensure there was no oncoming traffic. Our route took us through the Cheddar Gorge where we enjoyed the rocky landscape, hoping to stop for a break near the town of Cheddar. We were amazed at the number of cars parked along the gorge in well laid out carparks, but horrified to find that there was a set charge of £6 no matter how long you stayed. We only wanted a 20-minute stop, but we are finding that there are parking charges everywhere including in shopping mall and supermarkets. Being tight kiwis, we passed on this and drove on further, finding a free short-term park closer to the town… and ended up paying £6 each for sandwiches for lunch! You win some, you lose some! I had hoped to find housesit opportunities in Cornwall and Devon that fitted our dates, but none appeared, so we decided to use time between housesits to explore the parts of England that were on our “must-see” lists. Our first destination was St Austell, and lovely town halfway down the Cornish peninsula and a restful stop. We drove through to Carlyon Bay for dinner and enjoyed scenes we expected from the Cornish Coast.

We then had a day to fill before arriving and headed for Trerice, another beautiful National Trust property near Newquay. This property dated from the 1500’s and had been restored inside and out. We arrived in time to hear a guide give some of the history which was very interesting to hear. The gardens were quite lovely and the interiors ornate.

Newquay beach was wide and sandy, but the mists were coming in and the wind rising – despite this, we spotted some hardy Brits on beach chairs giving their best impression of sunbathing in the tropics. From there we travelled along the west coast, spotting a number of old tin mine towers rising from the mist which added to the atmospheric feel of this area.,

Arriving to Penzance, our base for the next few days, we struggled our heavy bags up several flights of narrow stairs to our attic room at a B&B very close to town. The top floor room was probably 10-15° warmer than the ground floor and we struggled with the warmth on a night-time over the next few days. We hired cycles to explore the areas around Penzance – the paved cycleway towards St Michael’s Mount was wide and easy. We locked our bikes and walked across the causeway to the Mount, climbing up to the castle and enjoying vistas out to sea and back to Penzance. It was a beautifully sunny day as we wandered this area, realising we had to hurry if we wanted to walk the causeway back to the mainland as the tide was coming in. We managed to get back, water up to the top of our ankles, and were probably one of the last to make it across as the tides covered the stones – wading through deeper water would be a wet and perilous trip. We could have paid for a shuttle boat but being kiwis…!

Back on our bikes, we headed back through Penzance and out through Newlyn to Mousehole (pronounced Mauzzel by locals). Being mid-week, we were surprised by how busy everywhere was, we wouldn’t want to come in the middle of summer holidays. We had a lovely day out riding our bikes, but then Chris kept going for another hour as he had missed his biking routines.

Back in our car the next day, we headed to Lands End – I had always thought it was the southernmost point of the English mainland, but it turns out it’s the most westerly instead. It was a lovely day out exploring this rugged coast and spotting more abandoned tin mines and tiny villages. There was a surprisingly sandy beach, Sennan Cove, and we managed a brief stop in St Ives which was crazy busy but very pretty. We meandered for most of the day, arriving back to Penzance for a very good gin tasting session, definitely great value for money and plenty of gins (plus a few additional extras) to try. (Click here to find out more)

Now we headed north to our next housesit, starting a day earlier than planned, so it was an unexpectedly long drive to reach our destination just south of Oxford in time to meet up with the homeowner. Traffic was very busy and many many roadworks delays made it a bit fraught at times, but it was nice to head to a home base again where we could unpack properly, enjoy home cooked food and do our laundry. Things could be taken slowly, as we had 8 days to relax with the company of two very chilled cats. Wallingford, 30 minutes away from Oxford was very walkable and we enjoyed exploring. The Thames river flowed through it and there were paths alongside to wander, marvelling at the number of canal boats and pleasure craft. We drove through to Oxford twice, the first as an introduction with a free guided tour (with about 40 others) which was ok, but gave us a taste to come back and see more.

This is a pretty part of England, full of history and stunning ancient buildings. We appreciated time to enjoy what was on offer here.