Short take: best gardens yet!
We have established a good pattern: our rest days are sunny, our hiking days it rains. And so it was today. In the morning those of us who are so inclined played a game, and I'm not sure what the others did :-). Around lunchtime most of us hopped in a taxi and went to Trewithen House and Gardens near the oddly named village of Probus.
The house has been in the same family for almost 300 years, and the superb gardens were laid out over successively over the last two centuries and are very well cared for. The gardens were, IMHO, the best we have seen so far -- filled with many winding paths, corners and nooks -- clearly designed and laid out with care. Many of the azaleas and rhododendrons were in full bloom, with wonderful colour contrasts and combinations. Huge old beech trees and magnolias, many other interesting plants and shrubs, and a stunning long vista down a lawn from the house. We could have wandered around there for much longer than we did.
The house was a funny combination: grey and unprepossessing from the outside, warm and interesting on the inside. Built in the early 18thC, it is still lived in and only open for a few hours each week. Our guide for the hour long tour, who was only a little younger than the house, gave us history and anecdotes, and the rooms, furniture, paintings, etc. rewarded closer inspection.
Afterwards it was back to Portloe for dinner. Thomas and Suzi arrived just before we ordered, and so there were 10 of us around the table for a noisy and pleasurable meal, marred only by the desserts in which the otherwise stellar cook had put salt instead of sugar. Amusingly, it took a while for us to notice... which shows how much we were enjoying one another's company!
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