‘In Search of the Perfect House’ by Marcus Binney was something I saw and delved into on the bookshelf of a superb pub we visited recently – ‘The Waddington Arms’ in the middle of the beautiful Lancashire Village of Waddington. When we got home I just had to have it. Problem….only available second-hand and I just hate second-hand books. I don’t like their smell, and I don’t like the thought of who may have handled them. And there were no ‘as new’ copies. Never mind, needs must. I need not have worried, an almost perfect copy arrived through the post. Phew. Since then I haven’t been able to stop reading the entries.
Marcus Binney has spent 40 years looking for beautiful and little known country houses to write about in Country Life and The Times. Most books on country houses are based on properties regularly open to the public but this book is different, it is full of dream houses which have remained quietly in family ownership for centuries and which only surface to public gaze when they come on the market. Simon Jenkins of course has his ‘England’s Thousand Best Houses’ (also amazing), but whereas the Jenkins book is confined to houses open to the public, in fact the great majority of Binney’s selection are indeed privately owned. of the houses are derelict when he first comes across them, furniture stripped, water pouring in, vandalised. But it is incredible how many have been nurtured back to life even though there might be just a shell remaining because of the dedicated effort of individuals who make it their life’s work in many cases. Not all good news. I check each entry for up-to-date news and some have proved irrecoverable. Nevertheless the message is on the whole a very optimistic one…..our history preserved. The full colour photographs add immeasurably to the feel of a special book.
in this novel is plausible or satisfactory. The Commendatore a two-feet tall gremlin? Paintings as portals to ‘the other world’? Really. Others might find this an esoteric mix between the domestic and the fantastic. I just found it plain silly. The novel is about a dissatisfied painter whose wife has just left him, who is holed up in a mountain retreat that is the old home of a famous painter with a murky past. His relationships with those around him, are described in infinite detail, which never grates, including that with a wealthy neighbour who built his house so that he could spy on a young girl he believes may be his daughter. It is all the background to a gripping story. But little folk? Come on. Surely you are better than that Murakami. A long read – very pleasurable, but ultimately very unsatisfactory. Suspend my disbelief? See the whole thing as a metaphor? I don’t think so.
asks Dita to take charge of the 8 precious books that are all that keep the rotting corpses in touch with civilisation she agrees at enormous risk to herself. If found with the books she will undoubtedly be shot, or worse. The story has many interesting aspects including the ‘extended library’ whereby some people knew other books so well they could teach others about them in the underground school. Obviously the horror of the camp is the background to all this, but the only thing I found slightly irritating was that through most of the book this seems to be a little sanitised. You couldn’t get the full horror of the unspeakable conditions. The infamous Mengele is there to add a further layer of evil. An important addition to the literature.
We only discovered the Heritage Open Day was happening in Liskeard for two days by chance on the internet. We missed the first day. After parking the car on our walk into town we came to the first of the buildings we visited – a private house called Tregantle. What an eye opener this was. We had passed it many times, without a thought really, other than that it was quite a nice frontage. Stepping inside the owner had taken the trouble to do a tremendous amount of research about its history and its design by the famous Liskeard architect Henry Rice. Henry Rice started out as a land surveyor and architect who went on to transform Liskeard. He had a strong social conscience and made frequent sanitary inspections of the densely populated and poverty-stricken courts where the poor lived. His findings were recorded in his ‘Nuisance’ notebooks, which make fascinating, if sometimes gruesome, reading. As a result the corporation made him Inspector of Nuisances. He also brought piped water and sewers to the town.
This is the front room as is. The owner had bought the house with all the ‘improvements’ you would expect from the early 70’s – artex ceilings, ripped out fireplaces, everywhere painted magnolia etc etc. Over a period of time, and particularly when she had retired from teaching, she gradually transformed the house reinstalling original Victorian fireplaces and reinstating appropriate colour schemes and trying to preserve every detail from the original designs. A true labour of love. I didn’t like to take photos as we were really guests in her house…..
but this is one of the two staircases….
and this picture shows industrial use right outside the rear of the property. And this is still in use as a glass making premises……The Glassworks address is actually 
Next stop was the Weslyan Methodist Church which we had often admired from outside. The original chapel burnt down and was financed and rebuilt largely as now within a two year period. They didn’t mess about did they the Victorians? Inside a volunteer showed us around and pointed out the original and rough wooden stool used by John Wesley when he preached in Cornwall.
The building was designed for 300 worshippers….
and the plaster ceiling is impressive. Henry Rice designed an extension a little later.
And the church became a very prominent organisation within Liskeard. Upstairs to one side this enormous hall was used for teaching. Indeed in the Second World War teaching still took place in the church’s cellars! Average congregation these days is about 30.
On our way past 
The Mayor’s Parlour and Civic Chamber were supposed to be open, but weren’t…….
So off we went to St Martin’s Church unvisited before. It includes some Norman fragments, but is mostly 15th century. The South Chapel dates from 1428, the south chancel aisle from 1430, and additions to the north side from 1477. The tower was repaired in 1675, but was largely rebuilt between 1898 and 1902 at a cost of £6,400 (equivalent to £682,500 in 2018) by John Sampson of Liskeard. And the main point in coming today was to climb the tower.
First we both had a go at bell ringing – unsuccessfully. It is much harder to get the knack than I thought.
Then whilst F. had a coffee I climbed the tower. First we went to the bell ringers’ domain where they entertained us to a number of peals. Very interesting.
Then, having been issued with ear plugs, we went up to the bell chamber, whilst the performance continued. Hands over ears were necessary as well as plugs!
Partially deaf now, we ascended more steps to the top where we had the great privilege of seeing Liskeard and its surrounds from a viewpoint normally out of bounds……the day was fine and picture taking conditions good….
It was good to see the uniform nature of the roofs nearly all with 
Time for one more photo out of one of the niche windows on the way down….
Walking around the outside of the church we saw it from angles unfamiliar to us…..
………and descended into town past some very nice rows of cottages. A very instructive two or three hours which made us much more appreciative of the buildings and community of Liskeard.
……. all of a sudden here was ‘the bridge with no parapet’. Worth seeing, but a minute later there were about ten people on there having their photos taken…….
Looking at our map we saw we were fairly near the Rialto Bridge and so we headed there with the thought of using our vaporetto tickets some more. 
After a quick think we caught a vaporetto going to 
We went under the Rialto….
and were soon on our way up the Grand Canal again….
a lovely relaxing ride over the lagoon, and we were there.
What a contrast to Venice. No hoards of people. No clicking cameras. Just a smattering of ordinary people who actually live here. Yes there were a number of glass shops and I am sure Murano does get busy. But not when we were there, thank goodness.
The church’s plain facade and stark isolated bell tower belied the face it presented to the canal…..
and there were some lovely features inside, including the floors…
…and naturally some glass work……
there were even ordinary shops…..
and rows of ‘ordinary’ houses….
Feeling thirsty just before we were to catch our return boat, and unable to find a local bar or cafe, we popped into a boutique hotel which had just recently opened…. we were on our own.
It was really very pleasant, and the view………
We returned a slightly different way across the lagoon and this took us past 
We disembarked at the station where we were a little early, but the evening light was fantastic….
and rather than join the policeman and his girlfriend at the station bar, we took our drinks outside with a bag of crisps and sat on the steps…..
until the turning on of the lights notified us of our train….
Back in Verona, the evening mood walking through the streets for home was delightful….
and in Verona as in Milan we were always seeing stylish new shops……here a quirky display from an optician. For some reason F. told me Verona is famous for its opticians and eye-testing……..
The next day, our last, we were due to catch a bus to Lake Garda a short distance away, but we were awakened to an enormous storm (lots and lots of thunder and lightning). It lasted all day and led to us staying in and playing a new and enjoyable game, given to us by our daughter, lots and lots of times (Bananagrams). The weather abated for the evening and we had a last stroll around Verona, calling at a locals bar for a last drink or two….
On the day of our leaving we popped around the corner to the cake shop we had only just discovered for breakfast, again with lots of locals who nearly always stand….
and after a last shop at the grocers for a bottle of Limoncello and some olive oil..we made our way to the bus stop by the river, passing a very busy artists school…
to arrive eventually in plenty of time at the airport – this time Bergamo – which as you can see is quite scenic itself. What a magnificent trip.
After a quick cup of coffee next morning we caught the bus to the station and then the Italo train to Venice (all booked at home on Trainline). I still can’t get over the amazing sight that greets you on coming out of the station concourse. You are immediately in the heart of Venice and its canals. Right there. At the start of the Grand Canal. It’s like stepping onto a film set. Incredible.
We knew that the water taxis – the famous vaporetti – would be nearby. They were right outside.
We grabbed a day ticket each (12 Euros) and what a bargain that proved to be. It was worth it for the trip into the centre alone. The boat went more or less the whole length of the Grand Canal stopping along the way. What a journey. Click after click went my mobile.
And what I couldn’t get over was how busy the waterways were. Particularly with goods traffic. Everything from dredgers with their miasmatic loads to DHL boats (imagine) to fruit and veg boats. I really hadn’t appreciated that this was how it would be.
I understand that gondoliers get around £95,000 a year……..but they still can’t afford to live in Venice itself…….
But the architecture was something else. We all know the problems of Venice – the stupidly large cruise ships, the conversion of old buildings to hotels, flats, Airbnb, the loss of residents to tourism. According to Bloomberg ‘The city’s population basically peaked in the 1500s, and though it rallied again to near 16th century levels in the 1970s, today there are just one third as many Venetians as 50 years ago.’ Less than 50,000 residents compared to over 20 million visitors each year, of which over half are day trippers (just like us). It’s all a disaster. Basically the place is a museum. But what a museum! 
All too soon our journey was over and we disembarked at the 
Because we were here for such a short time we had no intention of actually going inside places (just as in Milan). That would have been pointless to try. Instead we wanted to ‘feel’ Venice. So, we enjoyed the sheer size and splendour of 
and of course 
as well as the Renaissance-style 
However fairly quickly and decisively we headed off down the nearest street in order to escape the tourists….(sorry, I should say the other tourists)….
That escape never came. We walked 30,000 steps that day, (according to my app about 12 miles, but say 8 or 9 miles), and we never got rid of other tourists. They were literally everywhere. And not only tourists, but tourists’ shops. Like Blackpool in the 50’s. Well not quite.
But you could have 200 million visitors a year let alone 20 million, and you still wouldn’t take away the beauty, the specialness of the city…..around every corner, and I do mean every corner, a wonderful view……
We were heading for the district of 
and eventually we were there……the 
We sat fascinated by the loop of film which shows the shop actually under water……
and as for the full-size gondola in the middle of the shop……Incroyable!
Unless we had seen it we wouldn’t have believed it, but lunch called…..and we resumed our magical footsteps
and we were so lucky to find what on this day was probably the quietest piazza in the whole of Venice…….we had yet another ‘special’ birthday lunch here at 
It was really really nice. And my squid ink seafood linguini was delicious…….
Suitably rested and refreshed we only had one more ‘objective’ (good to have objectives) on this day, and that was to see the ‘bridge with no parapet’. This involved a walk along the lagoon side of Venice along a lovely promenade, then cutting back towards the Grand Canal…..
For my 70th Birthday I was treated to a trip to Verona to see the opera in the Roman arena ( a lifetime’s ambition). The flight from Bristol was great with unusually clear views over England and France and Italy. Landing at Milan Malpensa airport, we then caught the train to Milan. The station at Milan was incredibly large, imposing and typical of Fascist Brutalist architecture. I have since found out it is in fact the largest station in Europe.
It’s always nice to get your first cup of coffee and pastry when in Italy…here in one of the many station cafes…
Getting to our hotel/apartment 
and the apartment itself was terrific.
I had done a lot of research on where to eat. However, around the corner we ignored all that research and found a 
Next day we went first of course to 
in stone……
and bronze….interestingly the doors are nineteenth and twentieth century not the work of medieval craftsmen as I first thought.
There was much to admire.
After a quick walk around Piazza del Duomo…
we passed up one of the streets full of stylish shops….
……..here a bookshop ( which we can never resist of course)….
to come quickly to 
But all the shops in downtown Milan are sensational, not just in the arcade. How about this for an alternative to the Aga?
Our stroll through the city revealed a superb range of classy buildings….
and even gateways to splendid private houses…
We lunched in the Piazza Del Duomo….
having passed on the stairwell what looked like a very old olive tree but was in fact a bronze sculpture……..a- ma-zing….
We then wound our way slowly down cobbled streets with a mix of old and new trams (very reminiscent of Lisbon)…..
to a favourite Milanese public garden – 
we had a good look around the castle, the core of it dating back to 1358-1368 during the Visconti’s period who used the Castle as his residence while he stayed in Milan, but mostly used it as a military base. Later, it was mainly 
The inside of the castle is now home to several museums which we noted as worth our attention on a longer visit (let’s hope it’s soon!). 
We had covered a lot of ground and after another quick coffee made our way to our train, and here a word about the 
The area between Milan and Verona is famous for a number of 
also the odd lake, and always the mountains in the background – the Apennines, the backbone of Italy, 870 miles long and surging up to 9000 feet at their highest…
The railway infrastructure was quite impressive too…here a signal box…what was most impressive however was the smoothness and speed of the journey – at one point we were doing 247k an hour (153mph). Fantastic.
Our flat in Verona was booked through Airbnb and was very pleasant. But its big plus was that it was outside the tourist centre and in a residential district. So the people we bumped into were Italian. Whilst this meant a reasonable walk to get into the centre, it was absolutely fine. We were in no hurry anyway.
On our first night we wandered over the Porta Nuovo into town, and relaxed with an outdoor meal at one of the hundreds of cafes and restaurants…
F. had the most boring salad ever, my spicy aubergine bake was very tasty. The bottle of local wine went down a treat..
Along the street of our restaurant were some excavations revealing what? I never did find out!
The atmosphere at night in Verona is great….it’s a pleasure to walk around.
and lively……
The next morning – our first – we ambled along our narrow little street to the river…
This is the river Adige, second longest in Italy, rising in Switzerland…..and there are beautiful walks and promenades along it….
As this is Italy there are quite a lot of bikes…..
after walking into town we reached what is regarded as the centre of Verona – 
and of course the 
Luckily, as the weather was hot, there is a beautiful little garden in the midst of Piazza Bra which we availed ourselves of to consult our map.
Having bought a Verona card which was 25 Euros each for two days ( a bargain as it turned out ), and which allows entry to all sorts of places as well as bus travel etc, we then made our way through one of the ancient arches, this one fifteenth century……
and along some nice arcades……
to the Castelvecchio fortress which took the name “Castelvecchio” (meaning “old castle” of course in Italian) just after the construction of the Castel San Pietro in 1393, which is located nearby.
The building is a large square compound made mainly out of red bricks and is an impressive example of Gothic architecture. One of the most noteworthy features of the castle is its imposing M-shaped merlons which run along the walls of the bridge and the castle itself. There are seven towers in the castle along with a maschio or a super elevated keep. Inside are four main buildings. Castelvecchio is surrounded by a ditch that is now dry. When the castle was first built, the moat was filled with water from the nearby Adige. 
“It is believed that the castle was built on the location of an earlier Roman fortress. The castle and nearby bridge were built by Lord Cangrande II della Scala, who in 1350 married Elizabeth, the daughter of Louis IV of Bavaria and the Countess of Hainualt, Margaret II. The castle was constructed as a deterrent to attack by powerful neighbors like the Sforzas and Gonzagas and the city state of Venice. The construction of the castle started in 1354 and Cangrande died in 1359, before it was completed. The fortified bridge over the Adige was designed to let the castle’s inhabitants escape north to Tyrol in case of a rebellion or a coup d’etat. During the time of Venetian rule in the area slits were added to the structure to allow defence by cannons. The fortress was badly damaged during the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon himself stayed in the castle many times when he visited Verona. Under the later rule of the Austrians the castle was used as barracks and was later restored in 1923.”
The art galleries and museums were full of surprises and well worth an extended visit…
One thing that particularly caught our eye on the walls were these artists’ preparatory drawings and underpainting – absolutely fascinating – and fourteenth century.
and this – almost like a cartoon book – thirty Bible stories painted on wood, again fourteenth century.
These pics give some idea of the sumptuousness of medieval wall decoration….pretty spectacular you have to agree.
And here a view of the Skaliger or Castelvecchio Bridge – a fortified bridge that was built over the River Adige. The bridge featured segmental arches and when it was originally constructed it had the world’s largest span at 48.7 meters.The bridge was built as we noted around 1354 by Lord Cangrande II in order to facilitate escape from his fortress. A reflection of the times! The construction was solid and the bridge remained intact until the end of the 18th century when French troops destroyed the left bank tower. In 1945, during World War II, the bridge along with Ponte Pietra was totally destroyed by the Germans. Reconstruction began in 1949 and was completed two years later on all but the left tower. The bridge was built using red bricks for the upper part, quite common with the landmarks in the city during the Scaliger era. The lower portion of the bridge was fashioned out of white marble. Legend has it that the designer of the bridge, Guglielmo Bevilacqua arrived at the inauguration ceremony riding a horse, ready to flee in case it came crumbling down. When the bridge was seen to be a success Bevilacqua was reportedly presented with a sword belonging to Saint Martin by Cangrande.
One of the highlights of our visit was the walk around the walls and battlements…..
and I thought a very unusual and perhaps typically Italian stylish touch was to find a little garden perched on the battlements themselves. Terrific.
At the end of the high-level walk we came across a statue of Cangrande II Della Scala himself, immortalised in stone like the archetypal cavalier. Scarpa the architect decided to place this particular sculpture on a concrete plinth seven metres high, creating an niche that allowed the work to be seen from multiple angles…….
Our little tour finished, just beside our bus stop was The Arco dei Gavi an ancient structure built by the gens Gavia, a noble Roman family who had their hometown in Verona, at the beginning of the Via Postumia, the Roman road leading into the city. During the Middle Ages it was used as a gate in the walls.
Our free bus was very pleasant and free of tourists….
We got off in an area where we quickly disposed of a double ice cream each and headed past a group of rather nice buildings….
and along a promenade…..
to the funicular which we took up to the viewpoint…
where we stayed a while enjoying the amazing vistas……
It had all been thirsty work, so we stopped off at a hilltop cafe again with the incredible views and sank a large beer and orange juice…..
We were off for another week’s house-hunting in Cheshire, having narrowed our search down to Sandbach and district and, rather than belt up the Motorway, we decided to use the ‘old’ route up through the border country. What a terrific decision. So pleasant driving through the rural and idyllic counties of Monmouth, Hereford and Shropshire then into Cheshire. And always an impressive start to a journey to cross into Wales via either of the Severn bridges….
We broke the journey for lunch at 
Suitably refreshed, we took the opportunity to look round the church itself (another bonus to the church of having the cafe) and it was fascinating. Basically it is Fourteenth Century. 
There are some wonderful misericords….
breathtaking Minton tiles…
and a famous, indeed infamous, rude carving in the roof…..
….apparently the current vicar wanted to make some money out of this by publishing postcards etc but he was stopped by the PCC who ruled it out as too inappropriate! 
Our little tour of the church over, we wandered around the town itself to admire many wonderful buildings…..
.
…we noted how bucolic the city really was….not many city centres after all have offices for a cattle society….
we said hello to 
and marvelled at the exterior of one of our great cathedrals…..
Resuming, we eventually reached our destination – Holly Cottage near Holmes Chapel, and settled in to farmyard life! 
The cottage was everything you would want and we had our own little garden..
and the owner’s farmhouse was just typical of Black and White Cheshire…
After some serious hard work house-hunting the next two days, for F’s birthday on the 19th we went in the evening to 
The restaurant was full of character and we really enjoyed ourselves.
On a ‘day off’ we again used the train to go to Liverpool – somewhere I haven’t been for a long time. As soon as you come out of Lime Street station you are confronted with the most marvellous array of public buildings among them St George’s Hall, the Walker Art Gallery, various museums and the Central Library, all worthy of a capital city. Indeed we both had the feeling that we were in somewhere much akin to Barcelona or Lisbon. Who knew that Liverpool was as impressive as this? We were taken aback.
Opposite was the Empire Theatre where I once, with my first girlfriend, saw Ken Dodd perform. The show started at 7.30 pm, and by midnight Ken was informing us that the doors were locked and we wouldn’t get out until he had finished! The Empire has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,348 people.
A lovely park set off all the buildings around here. 
As we progressed through the city towards the sea the buildings remained impressive.
It’s always nice to see 
And the front of the city facing the sea was busy and stylish…..full of museums which unfortunately we had no time to see….
We walked from the pierhead towards 
The Albert Dock itself was lovely, a great conversion, full of people. The flats looked stylish but the shops and restaurants were leaning a wee bit towards tat and greasy food unfortunately. But that didn’t take away from the splendour of the buildings and setting.
We moved into town to seek somewhere to eat…
and because we couldn’t find my carefully researched rooftop cafe with a view, we ended up in the shopping centre and a rather conventional lunch at John Lewis’s….not to be sniffed at with a glass of wine. The shopping centre was great too…… very clean, modern and sleek and there was a nice ‘grassed’ area for lunch and watching buskers…all in all a memorable visit to a city that has recovered all its old vim and vigour and self-esteem. I almost like it better than the greatest city of them all (Manchester).
Another of our trips out was to 
Just as when last time we had visited Lymm Hall it was really notable how friendly, helpful and knowledgeable all the guides were. It makes a visit so much more rewarding. But then, as we all know, everybody is friendly in the north west! the entrance hall is rather splendid…..
and the spectacular painting ‘The Cheshire Hunt 1839’ almost dominating the hall shows three generations of the Egertons who owned Tatton.
The music and drawing room is the most ostentatious room in the house; Tatton’s collection of Gillow furniture is unrivalled. Wilbraham Egerton’s ownership (1777–1853) saw the commission of many pieces especially for the house. 
Views from many of the rooms were of the 50 acres of gardens and series of lakes for which Tatton is well-known. they descend all the way down to Knutsford town centre. Lewis William Wyatt and Joseph Paxton, architect of Crystal Palace, designed various elements. 
The Library is a perfectly symmetrical room, in keeping with the formality of the neo-classical style. It houses one of the largest and most important library collections owned by the National Trust with over 8,000 books in this room alone, many still in their original covers and in mint condition. We had a fascinating conversation with the guide in this room who is very knowledgeable about the books and gives one of their 10 minute talks on the library. We will be sure to go. 
No-one can resist a portrait of any of the Tudors…..
All in all time very well spent. We then were able to drive through the grounds past the lakes into Knutsford where we had another wander around this delightful town.
Parts of Knutsford seem very Italianate….you could almost be on the side of Lake Garda. They are nearly all the work of Richard Harding Watt (1842-1913) who was a local philanthropist, traveller and idealist with a passion for building, who made his fortune from glove making in Manchester. He worked with four professional architects to transform the townscape of Knutsford with a series of eccentric buildings.
Elizabeth Gaskell of course used Knutsford as Cranford and there is a suitable monument to her in the town……
We also strolled along the side of Knutsford’s own lake…how pleasant!
Our little garden waited for us in the sun at the end of the day…
One day we looked again at Tarporley a wonderful small village/town. nice to live here but a bit too expensive for us…..
Sunday lunch was at the Bells of Lower Peover. yet another fantastic Cheshire pub….there are many.
Whilst there we had a good look at St Oswalds and a little stroll around the lanes….
Driving on to 
Amazing how sentimental the Victorians were..there’s nothing like the Victorians!
The view from the back of the churchyard to where the vicar directed us was lovely…..the deepest and largest mere in Cheshire. We had a great 10 minutes admiring the scene.
Unusual to see a gravestone we would more expect to see where we live near the sea…..
A good week both for house-hunting and enjoying Cheshire. We decided to return home the ‘old’ way again. On our way a delightful village green…
and I couldn’t resist stopping to take a pic of the roadside verge. How much better it is when less cutting of verges takes place….
This time before exiting Cheshire we called in to one of the prettiest villages in Cheshire in the deep south of the county – 
In its centre and at its highest point stood the magnificent church of St Oswalds.
Very imposing gateways to the churchyard were set off by some imposing buildings…
Inside there are many treasures. This oak chest dates from the second half of the 13th century.
The roof is quite exceptional being a fine late C15 camber-beam affair with ornate bosses and angels (restored but none the worse for that) on the corbels. 
In the Brereton chapel the tomb is that of Sir Randal Brereton and his wife, and is dated 1522. The monument in the Cholmondeley chapel was erected in 1605 and represents Sir Hugh Cholmondeley and his second wife, Mary.
The usual little children and followers carved around the tomb itself are cute….
Lunch stop this time was in Church Stretton which I hadn’t visited since a sixth-form History trip in the sixties. Spreading over its hillside site it made a good last stop.
On our last full day we drove south to 
Hednesford as with any ex mining community has seen better days and lost its soul along with the industry. What was impressive in terms of its buildings was, of all things, the Wetherspoons which was a summer retreat for the brother of Prime Minister Peel. A fine building indeed.
We also liked the mining sculpture……
and the hundreds and hundreds of memorial bricks set around it and filling the square…
An interesting interlude which I hope will lead to further findings.
So far, the following entry in Wikipedia gives some hope…..
On the way back to our cottage we called one more time at Sandbach to have a further look around and shop at Waitrose for our evening meal (I said this town had everything!). It didn’t disappoint and we found even more lovely lovely areas….
The next day we set out reasonably early as we were undertaking the journey back to Cornwall not the way we had come by Motorway nearly all the way but on the ‘old’ route down the border country of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Gwent. It was a good decision. Marvellous weather, fantastic countryside and the bonus of stopping for lunch in Ludlow one of my favourite places…..
As it happened, the Charlton Arms Hotel had just stopped serving so we made do with a drink and a bag of crisps, but with this view who cares?
Our cottage was near 
It must have a good community spirit as you see from the herb bins..
Our prime destination today a Sunday was 
We were early, so we had chance of a bite to eat in the cafe and we walked around the gardens to visit 
Afterwards we built up our daily steps with a walk around the nearest lake. I say the nearest because there are several……
On our return to the Hall I took this pic of the front ‘veranda’ where every alcove held a glass case complete with stuffed bird, an unusual feature to say the least.
As is normal with ‘private’ houses, no photography allowed inside, so a couple of shots from on-line. The staff were very friendly which is great and as I was asking after one or two of the paintings, a kind lady member of staff lent me her guide for the duration of our visit. Terrific.
We wanted to see Northwich having visited the other two wiches, but didn’t linger very long as it is both industrial (salt and chemicals) and run down. Obviously there will be parts of interest but we didn’t want to waste any time looking for them! Instead we headed off into the countryside North and stopped at the extremely pretty 
…..and then as Great Budworth sits atop a hill you have a fine view, admittedly in the far distance, of the nearby chemical works!
To cap our day off Martin had recommended we visit 
A return visit to a pub I know well , 
The church is rather good too in 
and we loved the alert owl outside the local Primary School. As a matter of fact we saw many wooden owls during our week – must be someone who likes to carve them!
Next to 
But we ate elsewhere….seemingly dozens of choices of eating places.
Knutsford was bustling, but it is the sort of place where peace and quiet is just round the corner….
and there are some lovely buildings…
Tatton Mere stretches from the town all the way up to the eighteenth century mansion 
Apart from the traffic, which however no doubt helps all the shops, a super play to live. Probably outside our price range unfortunately.
From there via super slick 
Manchester is on the horizon.
Onwards then to 
It was brilliant to see the survival of medieval wall paintings…..
We then chanced upon the picture-perfect little village of 
Unfortunately the church was locked but it was enormous, a sight to behold in such a small place. I learned afterwards that its nave is forty feet wide, wider even than Chester Cathedral.
Enjoying Cornwall... 