We set off on our journey in glorious sunshine; planning to have lunch on the way. The SatNav was advising  an hour’s delay on the motorway so we decided to take a detour which led us to a lovely café that we have previously visited, The Café Craycombe at Fladbury in the Vale of Evesham.

We enjoyed our lunch sitting outside soaking up the rays.  I chose a tuna and sweetcorn baguette which was delicious.

After lunch the motorway delay seemed to have subsided so we rejoined it, stopping off at Gloucester services for a drink. Inside the services was hectic so I found the perfect seat overlooking the outside pool and the wildlife area. Back on the road the SatNav detoured us off the motorway onto delightful country roads although towards the end of our journey we got stuck behind a tractor on a narrow lane with no chance of overtaking.

We eventually arrived in Sherborne and, after a slight confusion with parking, we checked in to the Eastbury Hotel. We were taken to our lovely room overlooking the garden. After unpacking our bags we took advantage of the complimentary Sloe Gin that was conveniently waiting for us.

We freshened up before walking to The Green restaurant for dinner. The food and service was as good as we remembered it from our previous visits in 2019. I chose skate wing followed by meadow fresh nougat. We returned to the hotel for a nightcap where I sampled the local Sherborne Castle rose wine. I wasn’t disappointed.

The Collingwood Arms is a grade II listed Coaching Inn built during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. On first appearance there are tell-tale signs of the hotels Georgian roots with its archetypal centred entrance and the somewhat symmetrical frontage including the grand single paned sash windows that flood the hotel with natural light.

It is plain to see upon entering that the Hotel draws upon its nautical ancestry, illustrations and paintings of Vice Admiral Collingwood and even the porthole clock hanging in the main entrance steer you toward the conclusion that we have a close tie with Horatio Nelsons second in command. Currently with all 15 bedrooms being named after the Galleons that sailed under the Vice Admiral many believe that we must have been a favoured spot for Lord Collingwood or even owned by him at one point or another, unfortunately this is all too good to be true.

What many don’t know is that the hotels name and rich heritage comes more from the merchant family that owned the property up until 1955. Although there is some correlation between the Vice Admiral Collingwood and the Hotel through a very long and confusing lineage, little is still know about the Collingwood family that once resided here, however we do know that many of the passed family members ar memorialised just across the road in St Helens Cemetery.*

*Information from hotel room information booklet

It has taken me a little time to get around to posting photographs of Ted’s Summer adventure to Ironbridge, lunching in EightySix’d and being taken on a mystery tour around Shropshire.

Ending his day relaxing on the patio as the sun went down.

Ted has been impatiently waiting for a summer adventure.

I (Ted), a small bear with a big heart have been housebound longer than expected.

I think? all of the craftsmen, painting, decorating, carpeting etc. have now left the building…

After all that caretaking I am now eager to be on my next adventure.

Before we set off on our travels to Northumberland I decided to update the SatNav to the latest map version. I was soon reminded why I gave up trying to upgrade the map on my previous attempt.

I logged on and was informed by the website that the device was full so I removed the old map and tried to install the new map. I was then informed that there was still not enough room on the device for the new map. Unfortunately I did not have a suitable memory card to allow me to expand the data. I elected to install only the GB part of the map and sort out the rest of the map in slow time when I had acquired a memory card. Recently Mr C had made some tweaks to our internet settings to fix a problem which meant that unfortunately the file took hours to download and then stalled part way through.

I stopped the download and checked the device; it looked like the old map was still there but the voice instructions seemed not to be working. I gave up, logged out of the update programme and plugged the SatNav into a USB port so that it would be fully charged for the coming holiday; even though I wasn’t sure that the map was working properly anymore. A little while later I checked the progress and found that the charge was almost complete. The SatNav was also displaying a message that stated that there were no maps available and that it was updating. A short while later the update was complete and a new complete European map was installed!! I know it is a new update because the SatNav gives an announcement of the destination and journey arrival time after it is programmed which it had not done before…

We set off on our journey later than we intended, partly due to the inclement weather. Along the way we spotted an ideal cafe for lunch, but the mornings downpour had turned the parking area into a field of mud! This meant we had to abandon the idea of lunch there, it also involved some off-road driving, across a field in order to get back to the main road.

We continued on our journey and ended up at the National Trust property Snowshill Manor for lunch. The cafe had a nice ambiance and the food was delicious. By the time we had finished eating it had stopped raining, allowing me to take pictures of the garden before entering the house. I found Snowshill Manor with its eclectic collections quite fascinating.

After visiting the Manor we made our way to Malmesbury and The Old Bell where we were staying for the weekend. When we entered the room we found that there was a rather unhappy looking bear in residence…

Mr C suprised me by producing a bottle of Lustau Sherry from his packing case. We enjoyed a glass whilst we got ready to dine in the hotel restaurant. The food was delicious and we had a nice relaxing evening.

6th June 2009