Out the Window

Exploring England #40

Even with careful research and diligent attention to the details on booking websites, there’s no guarantee that what you see is what you will get when it comes to accommodation. On our journey around England, we stayed in eight different places and fortunately all were exactly what we expected. What we usually didn’t expect was the wonderful view we had out the windows of our vacation homes.

Our first night in England was spent in a small family-run guest house in Cranford, a few kilometres from Heathrow. The building was surrounded by a pretty cottage garden, filled with late summer flowers and apple trees laden with ripening fruit.

The only hotel we stayed in was in Portsmouth. As its name implies, the Royal Beach Hotel is located on the seafront. From the top of the shingle beach we could see across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.

Our Airbnb studio near Bridport was the top floor of a converted barn, on farmland owned by the same family for more than a century. The walk up Colmer’s Hill was tempting, but we couldn’t fit it in this time.

We knew from the photos on the website this Airbnb apartment in Falmouth had wonderful views. That was partly why we chose it and we weren’t disappointed. Looking out over the waters of Carrick Roads to the village of Flushing, we were intrigued by the constantly changing colours before us. We weren’t the only ones enjoying the view one morning!

We knew our Airbnb apartment in Manchester would have neither rural nor ocean views, but we weren’t expecting to see a worksite. From our living room we looked into the backyards of the Victorian terraces in the next street. We were fascinated by the renovations over the fence and wondered what the final outcome would be.

Every morning we watched the antics of this hungry little fellow, who helped himself to breakfast from a bird feeder in a tree.

Our next Airbnb home was in Holme Mills, just outside the Lake District. Once again we had beautiful rural views, this time accompanied by the rich rural aroma only cows can provide. The millpond lay behind our cottage and, at the top of the hill, was Lancaster Canal.

On the outskirts of York, our Airbnb cottage was a one in a modern complex located in the grounds of a plant nursery, so it wasn’t a surprise to find a beautifully landscaped formal garden on our doorstep.

While we admired the carefully tended garden beds, it was the local birds who kept us entertained every morning.

In London, we were back in familiar territory. From our studio in Cartwright Gardens, we could see the top of BT Tower above the neighbouring apartment block and, if we looked down, the tiny patch of lawn behind our building.

It would have been tempting to stay home all day in every place we stayed, but after travelling more than 15,000 km to get there we had more to do than look out the window!

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Falmouth – Near and Far

Exploring England #7

Even with our GPS, it wasn’t easy to find our Airbnb home in Falmouth. The narrow road, winding and lined on both sides with parked cars, climbed a seemingly endless hill. Eventually we found the correct address, and then we had to go even higher – our flat was on the fourth floor.

We were beginning to wonder if it would be worth all the effort, until we walked into the living room. Perched high above Frobisher Terrace the flat, with its two large picture windows, overlooked the waters of Carrick Roads and the village of Flushing on the other side. We had the best view in town!

Every day it was different. Early in the morning, the glow of the rising sun made a pathway between the tiny boats anchored offshore. One day, ocean mist shrouded everything in a veil of white. At night, the reflected lights of the port glistened on the water.

Our location wasn’t just amazing because of the view. A ten minute walk down Beacon Street took us to the oldest part of town, where the street names and shop façades gave us clues to their history.

At each bend in the road the street name changed. High Street became Market Street and then Church Street. On the corner here, the Church of King Charles the Martyr pays homage to Falmouth’s history as a Royalist town during the English Civil War.

Narrow alleys between the shops, unchanged over the centuries, led down to the piers and the harbour.

At the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, we explored a Viking boat-building yard, listened to the stories of passengers aboard the packet ships of the 19th century and raced in a purpose built dinghy in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Leaving the boats of the Maritime Museum, we continued along Bar Terrace past prettily coloured homes, all with that same wonderful view of the ocean.

An uphill walk along Castle Drive and Castle Close led to King Henry VIII’s fortress, Pendennis Castle. Along with St Mawes Castle across the estuary, Pendennis was one of a line of coastal fortresses and remained in use from Tudor times to the end of the second World War.

Like Henry’s soldiers who kept watch on the castle walls, we had 360° views. We saw Falmouth and its beautiful waterways from yet another perspective. We could even make out, far in the distance, our own private vantage point at the top of Frobisher Street.

Join Jo for Monday Walks.