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Heaven for Devon

27th April 202127th April 2021 funtime65

It is a right royal bunfight between two English counties which the Queen has now ruled on. So sorry Cornwall, it’s heaven for Devon… ONE decrees it’s jam on cream.

It’s actually timely that the Queen’s pastry chefs have revealed that Her Maj is Devonian in her scone tastes.

All of which is bad news for neighbouring West Country county Cornwall where it’s cream on jam.

Knowing look: Mary Berry’s giving nothing away

And why is this centuries-old row brewing again? Well, because supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is in the eye of the storm for putting out an advert where a Cornwall scone has the cream on first.

Creme de la creme

What we do know from living down near those parts is that Devon is the cream (we actually like Cornwall too but for the purposes of this article…)

And Ireland’s national airline carrier knows it too, or is coming around to it now.

Aer Lingus has announced that it is launching a direct flight to historic Exeter from August 30.

And helpfully flags up for those who don’t know the county the city’s Gothic cathedral and its quayside as well as its national parks Exmoor and Dartmoor.

And for paleontologists its Jurassic Coast in East Devon, with its 185 million years of history.

Beer on us

Devonians recommend Stuart Line Cruises to get around on your fossil hunt.

While we were taken too among the attractions by Beer. And there’s little surprise there.

Mind you, Beer is better known for its chalk cliffs and quarry caves.

I dare say there are lovely craft beers down here but real Cornwallians and Devonians drink cider.

Now don’t get us started on which is the better. Although we do know a wee old woman in Buckingham Palace who swears by one of them!

With Aer Lingus fares starting at from just €36.99 and four weekly flights on offer you’d have to be a dinosaur not to explore this magical corner of England.

Countries, Europe, UK

How I met my princess in England’s royal county

24th March 202124th March 2021 funtime65

Only the best people get to marry a Newbury girl… and Prince William.

I met my life’s partner on the road from Scotland when I rolled up in Reading in the Royal County of Berkshire

So why have I taken a detour down Memory Lane.

Well, because I have been guided there by my friends in the Great West Way?

The Great West Way, you say? Well, it’s the pathway, cycleway, canalway, railway from London to Bristol, or Bristol to London.

Along the canal

Where you’ll be able to visit such architectural gems as Henry VIII’s pleasure dome Hampton House.

And his great-great-grand whatever Betty’s Windsor with its castle, and Kintbury royalty in Her Sadieness, the wife.

The Kennet & Avon Canal runs through the bottom of her old family home’s garden where they had a little rowing boat moored there.

Where we took many a gentle journey during our courtship (very English Victorian, eh) along.

When we weren’t in her local boozer, the Dundas Arms.

Which was where my parents stayed on the eve of our wedding up at the local church.

A permanent union

I had a specially-commissioned painting made up for Herself when we relocated to Ireland as a thank you for the work she had done on our new home.

And it is with me now in my lounge in North Berwick, south of Edinburgh.

So that a little corner of Her England is always with us.

For verdant Kintbury in West Berkshire which has a towpath to Hungerford Common and the town.

And for much else including Avebury and Stonehenge, Jane Austen’s Bath and Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Bristol then check out the Great West Way site.

Now for an afternoon snooze under our painting… I can almost hear David ask if I want my usual, a pint of Courage Bitter.

Culture, Deals, Ireland, UK

Covid-day Snaps – Good news from Ireland

26th May 202026th May 2020 funtime65

And as no new deaths are reported overnight in Ireland further good news with our Travel industry starting up again.

It will come as little surprise to Hibernophiles (people who love Ireland) that Connacht is to the fore.

Well, as the old traditional song goes The West’s Awake!

The West has a special place in my affections as it was here that I spent my first holidays cut from my Mum’s apron strings.

As I holidayed with my Dublin cousins in Salthill, Co. Galway.

I don’t think it was entirely altruistic as my parents did get a chance to globetrot.

Still as an early teenager I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.

The Wild Atlantic

I dipped my toe in Spidal (quite literally) with my Uncle and cousins avid swimmers.

And I did the same on the dating scene where again I was left hopelessly out of my depth.

We went over the county border too to Co. Mayo and the Marian site of Knock which surely left a mark.

As I have ticked off Lourdes The Lourdes prayer, Fatima Secret Portugaland Medjugorje What’s the story, Medjugorje? Wouldn’t you like to know since.

All of which meanderings brings me back to Hotel Westport’s plans for the revived summer season.

Estate of the nation

Westport Estate stretches to 400 acres – plenty of room for social distancing there. And it is also at the heart of the Wild Atlantic Way https://www.wildatlanticway.com/home.

And it is overlooked by St Patrick’s mountain Croagh Patrick.Which that very same Mum never tired of telling us she walked up barefooted and without a good breakfast when she was pregnant.

I let her off because it was my brother she had on board.

Westport is an ideal set-up to showcase what I believe will be a new direction in how we take our holidays… slow travel.

Carry on camping

Take their Family Bush Camp which will give families the chance to reconnect with nature through bush crafting and survival activities.

Packages start at €79 pps for Bed & Breakfast and bookings can be secured at www.hotelwestport.ie.

The upside of our clamour for more space in our post-lockdown holiday is that we will reacquaint ourselves with all those great country houses.

Where families can run around the corridors to their hearts’ content.

Westport House is an 18th-century manor house also on Westport Estate and just a stone’s throw away from the hotel.

Visitors can stroll through the grounds and enjoy the gardens and take in the 3.5k looped Lakeland and woodland walk.

House about that?

The house itself is open to day-visitors and they will be able to immerse themselves in 300 years of Irish heritage.

Camping and caravan breaks will be in vogue when we all get out on the road again. And you can take advantage too in the onsite 3* park on the Westport House Estate? Visit www.westporthouse.ie.

For those for whom gastronomy is central to their holiday experience. And the Irish food experience is rightly celebrated around the world then here’s some more good news.

The owner and head chef of Cian’s on Bridge Street, Cian Hayes, will be opening a pop-up restaurant experience in Hotel Westport this summer.

If you have been keen to stretch your legs, and you will be fitter than you think with all those laps around your neighbourhood.Then you will be eager to get out on the Wild Atlantic Way.

Ride on!

And for cyclists then Clew Bay Bike Hire have a fleet of two-wheelers with your name on them.

Guests at Hotel Westport can truly experience the wild Atlantic west by hiring bikes on site.And then cycling an exclusive and accessible 10km loop through the estate, the harbour, and the town.

And if you’re feeling ambitious, why not take on the breathtaking Great Western Greenway?

And meanwhile in the Disunited Kingdom

I’ll let the pictures from Bank Holiday Weekend in the United Kingdom.Where England has different rules to lockdown than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland speak for themselves.