The Stay’s the thing….part 2

May 21, 2018May 22, 2018 returnofcarsonLeave a comment

With absolutely no apologies to the Bard of Avon;

“……Tariffs me to not scam me. I’ll have the grounds, and the house No more relaxitive than this. The stay’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the relaxation of a king….”

Every so often you run across “the real deal”. Most often when we use that expression, we mean, “the genuine article”, the superlative, the sublime, etc. As true would be, the added quality of value. Our recent stay at Lois Barns, near Wincanton, Somerset, UK qualifies in spades. I’ve written an informal review of the lodging, which is a renovated swine barn of many years ago, (no trace, or smell, of a piggery now!). In that initial missive, I included some photos of the exterior of the place and have received several requests for photos of the interior – which follow.

Here’s where the value readily manifests itself. I’ve used Air BnB, Homeaway.com, VRBO and other lodging booking services many, many times, both domestically in the U.S. and abroad, since I greatly prefer the relaxation of a home stay, not to mention the convenience of having actual cooking and most often, clothes washing capabilities. I pack light (most of the time) and don’t mind having a libation while the clothes are in the wash. These items are available in almost all rental homes. What is much less common are the qualities of the hosts. Which is why I’m writing about Chris and Tanya, owners and operators of Lois Barns.

tanya_chris Tanya and Chris Peatroy, owners of Lois Barns

Quietly witty, forever patient with the questions of the insanely curious – “How does your septic system work out here in the country?”, “why are there numbers painted on the sheep?”, and “is the nearby pub really not good for a meal?” Add to this, being hospitable and friendly without being intrusive. These qualities are actually, in my experience, rarely found in hosts/operators of rental properties. In fact, I’ve rented several houses and have never even met a live person – just received an email telling me where the key is and please mind the new kitchen countertops!

All of that, packaged with a completely comfortable and relaxing home with thoughtful attention to what short stay tenants will need, and want – makes Lois Barns a winner!

Max’s lodging long and short of it (mostly short):

3 bedrooms sleeping six, all can be configured as king beds or oversized singles. All bedrooms, (2 up, one down) feature original wooden beams with whimsical cross ties in the upstairs bedrooms.
Full kitchen with four burner stove (cooker) and oven. All needed table service, cooking utensils and table seating for six.
Two baths, one up and one down. Downstairs is 3/4 bath with a nice shower cube, upstairs has an excellent soaking tub with hand shower and plenty of hot water for that nice soak.
Large living room with wood stove and entertainment center featuring a couple of hundred channels for the video-dependent.
Very nice outdoor seating on the rear patio with table and seats for six under a grape-arbor. Additional benches and charcoal grill.
Excellent rural views all around with horses, cattle and sheep-oh my!
No noise made by anything other than soothing animal sounds – (this is a refined working farm).
7 minutes to Wincanton with it’s truly excellent Wincanton Fish Bar (say hello to John and Wendy, the 14 year proprietors, for us)
Central and reasonably close location to very many desirable sites and activities
and finally, Tanya and Chris – for all the reasons mentioned above and far more

Without further much ado about nothing –

You can contact Chris and Tanya – and get tariffs and availability here: http://www.loisbarns.co.uk/

Travel and Art with Max Bowermeister

The lions and loins of Longleat..

May 16, 2018 returnofcarsonLeave a comment

You’re paying good money to go see history while in England. You might go to any of the dozens, or even hundreds of sites maintained by the English Heritage organization…they even, for we Yanks and other “furriners”, have an “Overseas Visitor Pass”, pay one price and gain entry to over 100 historical sites – about $40 USD. Or, you can pay the same cost and gain entrance to a place that sounds like part history, part Disneyland, and the remaining portion of a road side zoo. And yuou would be right to do so, ..and wrong

Longleat is a fine example of an Elizabethan grand country home purchased for the Marquesses of Bath in 1541, formerly a Chapter House for the Augustinian Priory – (holy DaVinci Code!). Burnt badly enough to be razed and rebuilt to its current splendor in about 1580. The eighth Marquess still lives there, now in his eighties and in poor health. He is surrounded in old luxury and a 10,000 acre game park inhabited by lions, tigers, bears, (oh my), wolves and various African species…including a very large troop of monkeys that could get employment in any auto wrecking yard in the U.S. When you drive, foolishly, into the monkey enclosure, after immediately and completely ignoring all advice for folks in the know, and the very pointed warning signs at the entrance, the first thing you see are the trophies taken in the park. Not lion’s heads, nor Cape Buffalo horns and skulls, but fenders, countless window wipers, hubcaps, bumpers and various other car parts. We got off very easy indeed – (rest easy Budget Car Rental agents).. kF9NvRDi (1)

A single, rather than dozens, female monkey hopped on our car, scrambled onto the roof and only ate small chunks of the rear mounted radio antenna. After a few gentle, sort of, pumpings of the brakes, she was off and watching for her next victim. The rest lay in the tall grasses, huddled together to ward off the chill of the brisk wind.

The house should be seen -The details are too numerous and detailed to mention, but for those who have not seen it, think Biltmore House on steroids. This is the sort of grandeur that Vanderbilt had in mind, but did not match, when he had Biltmore constructed.

longliet house Something else that old George V couldn’t match, and undoubtedly wouldn’t want to, was the reputation of the current Lord of the Manor, Alexander Thynne, the seventh to inherit the place and the title, now past his former glory, or lack thereof. But during his heyday he was the very epitome of the artistic hippie, techno beatnik, right down to the whole rap he espoused, which included incidentally, to have the traditional wife and offspring to inherit, but also upto 75 “wifelets” to address his other interests and outlets.\

Bhj8FcyW Alexander Thynne, 7th Marquess of Bath then

Xu3XhJTZ and now……….

Lest I dwell overmuch on the eccentricities and lasciviousness of this artful dodger, let me say this – Longleat is well worth visiting, with its animal park, the Great House, the adventure park, the boat rides into a freshwater lake inhabited by seals and gorillas on an island and many other features. It should feel like a tacky, State Highway attraction, but still manages to come off with the class that only the passage of centuries can bring.

A Tale of two trains…..

May 13, 2018 returnofcarson1 Comment

Dateline: Saturday, 12 May – We had taken the train from Templecombe, Somerset to London for a surprise experience primarily for Carrolle, of riding the London Eye. As a quick note, the Eye (extremely prominently promoted by Coca-Cola), is a 443ft tall, very slow moving ferris wheel, in which the captives, er, riders, are contained, 12 at a time, in a large spaceship shaped gondola. The Eye takes just about 1/2 hr to make a complete rotation and only actually stops if someone that is wheelchair bound is getting on. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The Eye has it! The Bird’s Eye View

Like so many things in life, the anticipation was as good as, or even better than the actuality. You can see most of London, so much so, that even if you’re familiar with the locations, it gets confusing. All in all, it was enjoyable, especially since the rain held off until after we boarded.

Then the fun started.

We disembarked, took the Tube from Waterloo Train station to one of the stations near to the British Museum. My amazement, when we arrived to find every other tourist, looking for an attraction out of the rain, cannot be overstated. The line was approximately 2 hrs long, so we nixed that idea and headed for a bus station to get back to Waterloo. We bought bus tickets, found that no fewer than six routes went to Waterloo . We chose Route 188. Because, why? Because the 188 bus was on the way to the stop when we got there. We boarded. I asked the driver, a broadly smiling young man from a Balkan country, “Does this route go to Waterloo?” Mirov answers immediately, “Yes, yes, Waterloo, yes!” Another very broad smile. We wind our way around St. James Square (a nice park actually), and on the second circumnavigation, the bus pulls up to a stop and shuts off. The driver announces that all passengers must exit and wait for next bus. I asked the driver, just conversationally, “Is the bus broken down?” “No, just break time – next bus in 14 minutes, you board and go to Waterloo – Route 188!” Ok, so not a big deal. Mirov then hand rolls a cigarette and walks around the outside of the bus, occasionally darting in to answer a radio call from his supervisor. Exactly 14 minutes later, he enters the bus, starts it and pulls up to us, from 30 feet away, opens the door and announces, “Route 188 to Waterloo and points east!” We arrive Waterloo, a little soggy, about 8 minutes and two stops later. Our spirits having been dampened, just a little, but now it was beginning to be a little funny and warm food and drink were inside.

We board our return train, Waterloo to Templecombe, promptly and found a table seat where the four of us could face each other eat some cheese and crackers we picked up at Waterloo in a very nice little boutique grocery store right in the station. train seating 2 Good seating for a two hour tour

Even though the itinerary included four more stops than on the outbound trip, the schedule showed us arriving back at Templecombe Station only four minutes longer than the trip time inbound into London – so not bad. We met some nice folks, had some laughs about our American accents (I told them we were all Cockneys but we were practicing our American accents). Every single person we met told us we were spot on! Things were good as we rolled in Templecombe. I led our foursome to the back of the car, pressed the button that allowed us out into the vestibule between cars, stepped through and pressed the button that actually opened the outside doors and…nothing! Pressed again, no open doors. I looked around for the attendant, saw him the next car back and was about to call him when the train started moving. We were about to experience being “over-carried”. We rode to the next stop and purely by chance, there was another train headed back to London coming into the station in 90 seconds. We gathered up our stuff, ran up the stairs to the cross-over bridge, back down and as promised the eastbound train pulled in. Back to Templecombe at last.

Today was another sort of train experience in every way. An afternoon Cream Tea on the East Somerset Railway, departing from Cranmore, Shepton Mallet, Somerset station. The engine is steam driven, the speed is slow – it takes 45 minutes to travel the 2.5 miles down and the same back and the experience was a step back to a more genteel age. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA A perfect afternoon on a great day!

I highly recommend that if you find yourself in the area, wend your way to Cranmore and book your own Tea! The experience is made even more memorable by some of the more esoteric sights to take in –

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Sign inside the men’s urinal closet

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The British have an overseer for every occasion and activity….sign seen outside the WC.