Sun, 17 Nov 2002

author Tim	location Wormington, Worcestershire, England
posted 17:35 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

The Manor Farm, take 2 ( 27 photos )
Today we drove quite a distance - much more than we expected to, at any rate.
Leaving last night's accommodation, we drove not far at all to the totally unique sea-side town of Clovelly. The entire town is built on an extremely steep piece of the land, winding itself down to the harbour. The cobble-stones are regularly serviced by donkeys in summer - the only vehicles which could make it would be four-wheel drives, and the laneways aren't wide enough! We managed to get in just before the visitor centre opened - lucky, because the £3.50 charge just to wander around the village (ok, you get to watch annoying historical videos as well) is pretty steep.
We ventured next straight through the middle of Exmoor Forest. Another picturesque place, yet different to Cornwall and Devon.
A quick leg-stretch stop at Dunster before we found a pub doing Sunday lunch off the beaten track at Bradley Green. Since Margaret is now addicted to the concept of Sunday lunch, there was no way we would be allowed to miss out. Luckily, it was a fantastic meal, no dinner needed tonight!
We next headed up to the one place we had any real desire to visit - Portishead. Why? Because there is a band named that, of course! On the coast next to Bristol, there is nothing of real interest there, but we had a good time feeding the ducks at a lake by the sea.
Jumping back on the Motorway, we thought we may have some luck finding a B&B near the town of Stroud - possibly in the area around Leonard Stanley. No luck, however, and as we evaluated our options parked in a bus stop near the closed "i" in Stroud, a thought struck Liz. "What about the Manor Farm - are we close to that?"
The Manor Farm is the one B&B that we call a "lucky find" constantly. Horses, dogs, cats, and of course great hosts, we last visited here on the 21st of September. Half an hour later, we arrived and found accommodation was actually available. A long day's drive finally at an end, we are now not doing too much at all.

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