At the end of the entry for the Netherlands, I shared that our TrustedHousesitters.com plans to be in Peebles, just south of Edinburgh in the Southern Scottish Borders, had been canceled last minute due to circumstances out of our control. We needed to be out of the Schengen region for about twenty days and scrambled a little to put plans together. We had also been reserving this time for the kids to work towards wrapping up work for their school year, and for us to "catch our breath" for a minute before diving back into our last few weeks which would include schedules packed with adventures, tours of historic sites, and driving from one European country to the next before we headed home. Pretty quickly, we were able to secure another petsitting gig in Minehead, England for much of the second half of that time, and we then found a stay in a small cottage in the countryside of Cornwall for the first week. 

After leaving the Netherlands, we drove to Calais, France, to take the Eurotunnel under the English Channel, which was a wild experience. The "Chunnel" is the longest undersea tunnel in the world at 31 miles. We had wild visions of what it might be like, and it was nothing like any of us imagined. Basically, you drive your vehicle onto a large, enclosed train, put it in park, and 35 minutes later, you have crossed from mainland Europe to England. The Tesla made the travel even easier with its onboard entertainment system (we pulled up Netflix and watched a show). After arriving in the English mainland, we continued our drive to Cornwall with a quick stop in Plymouth where we visitied the purported launching site of the Mayflower (and accompanying fleet). Despite mixed feelings about how that history is portrayed, it was still significant to stand in that spot and think of the brave people who were fleeing persecution and seeking religious freedom when they boarded those ships to sail off to distant shores and uncertain futures. Unfortunately, it seems so often in our human history that in seeking some sort of freedom, we often limit the freedom of others. 

We continued inland from the shores of Plymouth to our secluded retreat in the moorlands of Cornwall county. Our stay at Badger's Sett Cottages was very different than most every experience we have had yet on this trip. Except for when we've been immersed in volunteer programs or the like, we've tried to prioritize walkability or easy access to central districts via public transportation. This was not that. Badger's Sett Cottages were well out in the English countryside, amongst seemingly endless rolling hills of green pastures and woodlands only accessible by the narrowest of winding roads, with 6-10' hedge walls on either side, often covered by a canopy of trees, creating gorgeous tunnels of green vegetation to drive through. Periodically, there would be oncoming traffic, and one party would need to back up and pull into the small, periodic carve-outs into the hedges so that the other could pass slowly and carefully (the Tesla is pretty wide car by European standards). This was NOT carefree driving, but really cool, nonetheless. The cottages were built in a refurbished barnhouse and, though space was tight and rooms were small, the charm of the place more than made up for it. We had a lovely private sitting area out back, a huge shared yard with badminton (which we played nearly every day), and adjacent to the property were endless paddocks of green grass with sheep, horses, and cows grazing (mostly sheep). We awoke every morning to the bleating of sheep and the chirping of countless birds in the trees all around. All throughought the UK, there are public footpaths and bridleways that are the result of laws that protect the rights of way for citizens to travel through the countryside, even across private property. One such footpath crossed through the Badger's Sett property, and we explored a bit, climbing over the hedges on wooden steps in various states of repair. Nicole even woke up early and did some yoga with the sheep several mornings of our stay. Overall, it was incredibly peaceful and a lovely place to relax and rejuvenate. 

We also left our little haven in the hills and explored the surrounding areas a bit. One day, we rented bikes and rode a "rails-to-trail" path along the Camel River to Padstow, a small fishing port town on the western tip of England where the river opens up into the Celtic Sea. We enjoyed it so much that we returned to Padstow the next day to take a boat out for a "sealife safari," where we were able to learn more about the local flora and fauna from the water. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather and saw seals, HUGE barrel jellyfish, and were super lucky to find a pod of dolphins who twirled and swam around the boat, with one pair even putting on a show of breaching high into the air, displaying their incredibly playful and astounding aerobatics. The landscape of the English shoreline with its stunning cliffsides giving way to green pasturelands extending endlessly inland created a beauty distinct from any other we've seen before. Another day, we also visited the Carnglaze Caverns, which are old slate mines (nearly all of the older buildings in the area, including Badger's Sett, originally had slate roofs), and the surrounding woodland areas which were full of mystic stories dating back to King Arthur, like the never-ending, replenishing supply of fish in the well of St. Neot (cool story- look it up), and Dozmary Pool, the lake where Arthur first received the great sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, and where the sword was purportedly returned by his servant, Bedivere, after his death.

About a mile down the narrow road from Badger's Sett was Golitha Falls, a beautiful little park following the Golitha river, resplendent with cascading falls and lush trails where Nicole and I ran and hiked several times during our stay. Across from Golitha Falls was a super cool BBQ joint & cafe named Inkies that had amazing breakfasts on top of world-class BBQ. You'll also see pictures of Miles feeding a bunch of chickens in the local Trago parking lot (Trago is like a Home Depot combined with a Target). As we've been traveling, we've been on the lookout for chickens everywhere we go, and on our way back to Badger's Sett one day, we saw a bunch of chickens just wandering through a parking lot. When we pulled in, a nice gentleman told us that local farmers are only allowed to keep up to two roosters, so, instead of slaughtering their male birds, they had gotten in the habit of dropping them in the woods surrounding the Trago parking lot; he told us that at one point, there were over 500(!) wandering the parking lot, making it hard for customers to park. When we visited, there were a couple dozen who came down out of the trees to greet us (and the bag of mealworms we had bought inside). There was even a wild peacock meandering about! Overall, our stay at Badger's Sett was relaxing, productive (much schoolwork was done), fun, and it was a joy to explore the "West Country" of England." Next, we headed off to our TrustedHouseSitters gig in Minehead, on the northern coast of Somerset County, just an hour and a half away from Badger's Sett.

When we arrived in Minehead, our "host" Peter and his three incredibly friendly dogs greeted us with warmth and quickly put any concerns we might have had about our first TrustedHouseSitters experience to rest. The dogs, Dexter, Connie, and Max, were incredibly sweet and loving and we were all instant buds. Peter showed us around the house and then we all took the dogs on his "standard" walk, which was a 5-10 minute walk up some trails, along a narrow road, and into the entrance of Exmoor National Park. The dogs were allowed to be off-leash in the park and they were the happiest of pups as they tore through the brush and bramble. Dexter was incredibly fast and would be a 1/4 mile away in the blink of an eye, with Connie and Max attempting to keep up with their tiny little legs (though their stature didn't seem to slow them down one bit). Peter showed us the dog whistle he used to call them back and they were incredibly responsive, appearing within moments out of thick greenery with their tongues hanging out and tails wagging. During our stay, we walked them 2-3 times a day in Exmoor, exploring the trails and enjoying the peaceful tranquility of the woods while they frolicked like wild beasts, running to exhaustion (though I don't think we ever truly exhausted Dex). Once back home, the dogs were incredibly affectionate, climbing into our laps, curling up next to us on the couches, and filling our pet-loving buckets. We really couldn't have asked for better dogs to care for. 

It turned out that Peter was also a fellow mountain bike enthusiast and very graciously offered me the use of one of his kids' mountain bikes. I was able to get out on several rides during our time in Minehead, exploring the web of trails here and there throughout the park. Most of the close-by trails are not maintained by park authorities, so were very raw and would sometimes just come to an end in the middle of the woods. I had an amazing time exploring the vast network, though I think I spent about as much time wayfinding as I did pedaling :). 

Minehead is a small beach town and is considered the "Gateway" to Exmoor National Park. We were there just on the cusp of tourist season beginning, so it was relatively quiet, and, other than exploring the parks and trails, there honestly wasn't a whole lot to do in town, which was fine with us. We would walk the dogs each morning, then either go to a local coffee shop or buckle down in the house so the kids could work through their respective checklists of schoolwork to close out the semester. I helped Carter build a catapult as part of one of his final Algebra projects, and we launched rocks to measure height, distance, and velocity. He also submitted his virtual slideshow Demonstration of Readiness (DOR), reviewing his growth during middle school and how his experiences during our travels illustrate that he is ready for high school. Miles cranked away at transcript entries (narrative descriptions of what he has learned and how he has grown from each of his classes), wrapped up his study of the Holocaust, and put the finishing touches on his persuasive English essay, among other things. 

We finished our nine day stay in Somerset feeling rested, content, and accomplished. We still had two days until we could re-enter the Schengen region of the EU, and wanted to work our way closer to the Euro Tunnel, so chose to spend that time in the historic area of Canterbury, England.

*I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Minehead is in Somerset County, and we happen to live on Somerset Drive, back home in Golden. When we drove into the neighborhood, we were also just off of Staunton Street, which is also the name of a near-to-home state park in Colorado. I'm not sure what the connection is between this area of England and the front range of Colorado, but we thought that was cool.

As an English major, I had read "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer in college. I remember the stories being bawdy and entertaining, but I also remember really struggling with the Middle English verse, having to constantly reference the translation guides in the margins of my cinder-block-sized textbook. Still, thirty years later, elements of the stories came back to life as we explored Canterbury and the surrounding countryside.

As I mentioned, we are always on the lookout for chickens during our travels and we found a cute little Air B&B to stay for two nights that was just twenty minutes from Canterbury and situated on a small horse farm, complete with a flock of beautiful chickens. John, our incredibly friendly host, even said we could come in and hold the birds, and Miles was in heaven! 

We started our only full day in the Canterbury area by joining a local service to take a herd of goats and sheep for a walk through the rolling, lush farm country. It was, as my sister Elizabeth would say, a hoot! The goats were super affectionate and fun to pet, and the sheep were so soft and also very friendly. After our walk around their beautiful property, we brushed each animal, not wanting the experience to end. Our host, Hannah, was able to tell us all about her flock and the morning was a very unique and fanciful experience all around. 

Next, we headed into the town of Canterbury to go "punting" down the River Stour. Punting is essentially riding in a flat-bottomed boat, which the "punter" steers down the river using a huge stick - basically like a gondola. Our punter, Emile, was awesome, sharing tons of cool local history of the area while we floated along and ducked under the several low bridges along the river. The River Stour, or "Great Stour" was a major transportation and trade route during Roman and medieval times. This stretch of the river is actually a canal, built in the 1700's to aid in transportation and transport around town, and is only about 18" deep as it runs through the city. Carter noticed that shards of brick covered the bed of the canal, and asked about it; it turns out that while returning home after bomb raids in England during WWII, the Germans would often unload any unused bombs to save weight before crossing the English channel, and they concentrated those drops on some of England's more historic cities as part of what became known as the Baedeker Raids - the shards of brick lining the bed of the canal are from the buildings that were destroyed from those bombings. We also passed a small statue of Francis of Assisi, and Emile told us that the Franciscans chose Canterbury as their first settlement in England in 1224, building a friary there. The Franciscans were primarily known for their vows of poverty, which flew in the face of the religious propaganda and widespread social and cultural practices from the time claiming that the wealthy were closer to God, and the wealthier you were, the closer to God you were. 

Overall, the city is incredibly rich with history. The city walls and other structures were originally built by the Romans, who built a military base there and inhabited the area for over 350 years (@70AD-410AD). The Canterbury Cathedral, built in the 6th century, was the destination of countless pilgrimages in the Middle Ages (Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is presented as a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury from London), and still serves as the headquarters of the Church of England; Emile told us it is to the Anglican Communion branch of Christianity what the Vatican is to Roman Catholicism. Leaving the river, we walked the cobblestone streets with a new eye of appreciation for the town. As we strolled among the timber-framed buildings, I could almost hear the raucus laughter of the Knight, the Cook, the Merchant, and all of the others emanating from the ancient pubs as we passed by. 

This was one of those parts of the trip that was completely unplanned in advance and became an instant highlight of our time in England. Our stay in Canterbury was brief, but full of charm and wonder at the stunning role this quaint little town has played throughout history. We enjoyed our time there immensely, but it was nearly Carter's birthday, and time to head back into the Schengen region for one of the last experiences we had planned way back in December: Paris!