On Saturday, the weather was amazingly fabulous. Normally, the first day of school holidays tends to bring bad weather. We were heading to our favourite destination - Devon. We had packed a picnic lunch intending to find a nice spot in Shaftesbury where we could picnic!
As we made our way to the South West along the A303 we realized that many people were also heading for their Easter break holidays. We got stuck in a traffic jam and ended up eating the sandwiches etc, in the car!
When we arrived in Shaftesbury we headed for Gold Hill, that famous street in Shaftesbury which was featured in the "Hovis" advert of 1973. I remember it well! The advert has been voted Britain's favourite advert of all time. It was directed by Ridley Scott and includes the distinctive music of Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9.
We walked down Gold Hill - on those famous cobbles ...
Half way down we saw this lovely bench and sat down admiring the view of those lovely cottages photographed above.
Our Daughter on the bench.
At the bottom of Gold Hill there is a park with a children's play area.
We walked through the park and up the park's steep incline - the view from the top was spectacular.
We walked past this cross.
We made our way to Shafterbury Abbey. The Abbey was founded by Alfred the Great in 888! The Abbey was destroyed in 1539 at the time of the Dissolution of the Monastries and its lands sold. All that now remains is ruins.
A statue of King Alfred on the site of the Abbey.
This stained glass window was near to the statue. In 1539 some relics had been hidden so as to avoid desecration and were remarkably recovered in 1931 during an archeological excavation at the site!
After our little trip around Shaftesbury we headed towards a Book Fair which was just about to close.
I bought "The House on the Strand" by Daphne du Maurier which I have read many, many years ago. We will be holidaying near Fowey in the Summer so I thought that I would get into the mood by reading this book. Our Daughter found an old Beano annual from the 1960's and the Other Half found a C. S. Forester book - something for everyone!
We then headed back towards the A303 and made our way to down to Devon.
I have a lot more to share with you!
Thank you to those of you who visit my little blog and leave messages and have become followers!
Blogland is an amazing place!
Until next time.
June.
Hi June!
ReplyDeleteShaftesbury looks lovely - years since Ive been there - the houses on Gold Hill are very pretty and yes, I remember the adverts too!
Looks like you all had a great time - you do make the most of weekends and holidays going out and about, we never seem to find time these days to do that anymore.
The House on the Strand is an excellent book, as are most of Daphne du Maurier's. Its great when you find some good old books.
Sounds a perfect day - sightseeing followed by a browse thru second hand books!
Looking forward to coming with you next time in blogland - get away from my garden!!!
Gill xx