England

St Ives, Port Isaac, and Bude in Cornwall

St Ives, Cornwall, England

Fisherman feeding a harbor seal. The seal saw the boat and knew he would get a fresh caught fish.

The rock balancer, Gavin Short. The picture does not capture how amazing the rock balancing really is.

Surfing beach north of St Ives. This was our camping spot for the night.

Port Isaac aka Portwenn - the town from the show Doc Martin.

Port Isaac

Port Isaac harbor

The buildings in the harbor area were old with a lot of character.

This place looked good for lunch, unfortunately it was closed.

This is the restaurant owned by Bert and Al Large in the Doc Martin series.

Another view of Bert and Al's restaurant and home in the show.

Doc Martin's house.

View of Port Isaac from Doc Martin's house.

Looking up at Bert and Al's place and Doc Martin's house.

Mrs. Tishall's Pharmacy. In real life it is Buttermilk Confectionery.

Louisa's house from Doc Martin series.

Bude - We had a quick visit to Bude, another beautiful coastal town.

Bude Canal

Boats for rent on the canal.

Surf beach in Bude. I never knew how popular surfing is in England. Every sandy beach with good waves had people surfing.

Bude was a stop for a Triumph car rally. They were raising money for Guide Dogs by driving 2000 miles around Britain in 48 hours with no over night stops. This rally is an annual event raising money for a different charity every year.

Heading north we made a stop in Bristol to see the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The bridge was built in 1864.

The bridge spans the Avon River Gorge.

England

Lynmouth and St. Michael's Mount, England

Lynmouth is along the Exmoor coast in Devon, England. It is a beautiful village surrounded by high cliffs.

Exmoor National Park - the countryside above Lynmouth.

Lynmouth and the River Lyn

Lynmouth harbor at low tide

Rhenish Tower on the harbor wall in Lynmouth.

St. Michael's Mount - an island in Mount's Bay connected to the mainland by a causeway that is exposed at low tide. The island has a small village at sea level and a castle on the summit that was originally built in the 12th century.

Looking toward Penzance.

Looking out at St Michael's Mount at high tide.

Cobbled pathway that leads up to the castle.

Looking up at the castle entrance.

Looking back toward the mainland from the summit of the island.

Looking out at Mount's Bay from above the gun batteries.

Looking down on the garden terraces surrounding the castle.

Outdoor terrace area.

Part of the wall surrounding the castle.

A long passage way within the castle.

The main dinning room.

The Library. The outdoor gardens were closed for the year, so they brought garden displays into the castle. They were in every room.

Another garden display in a window nook.

The church, dedicated to St. Michael, was built in the 14th century.

The harbor at low tide.

The causeway - Heading back to the mainland.

England

Eden Project in Cornwall

The Eden Project is built in the bottom of an old clay pit. In 1998 they began the project in a crater that had no soil or plants. Today the transformation is amazing. There are two giant biomes, the Rainforest biome and the Mediterranean biome. The rest of the crater is a huge lush garden. The project is amazing.

The Eden Project - A view of the Rainforest Biome , the Mediterranean Biome, and the Core.

The Mediterranean Biome

The Mediterranean Biome has 4 planting areas - Mediterranean, South Africa, California, and Crops.

The day we were there they were filming an episode of Deal or No Deal, the British version. Notice the TV camera in the middle of the photo. There were cameras, cables and people everywhere.

Pathway through the Mediterranean Biome

The Rainforest Biome

The Rainforest Biome has 5 planting areas - Tropical Islands, Sourthest Asia, West Africa, Tropical South America, and Crops.This biome is huge. When you enter the humidity and temperature is comfortable. As you climb higher and higher through the different planting regions the humidity and temperature climb higher and higher. They have cool houses you can enter to cool off before continuing on.

The Tropical Island area of the Rainforest Biome.

View of inside the Rainforest Biome from the treetop walkway.

Bill on a bench.

Bananas in the Crop area.

Fall color in the Outdoor Garden

The Core with the biomes in the background.

Inside the center of the Core is the Seed sculpture. It is solid granite and weighs 75 tons.

Giant horse sculpture called The Rising Tide.