Exeter RV Show

We have always been fans of European RVs, motor-homes, camping cars, wohnmobils, etc., and so when the opportunity arose to go to an RV show in Exeter, we took it. It was small by US standards. But then European RVs are small by US standards, mostly Class C and similar, none of the Class A behemoths one sees in the US (though generally not on roads). Smaller and smarter, we have always thought. (Roadtrek being the one exception...).  Anyhow, the smaller thing seems to have gone too far now, as you'll see below.

At the show; dealers mostly, not manufacturers; and a large number of accessory
shops...

Vicki in one of the typical Class C rigs

Plenty of food places around; regional fare...

The Brits are very fond of having privacy screens around their encampments
(which usually consist of a caravan (trailer) and numerous adjoining awning
houses and other structures)

Only in the UK: a silicone-topped tea pot; packs down very nicely

Of course, the British are never very far from their dogs...

Here's where it starts to get weird: pop-top SUVs or even cross-over SUVs (smaller),
complete with attached awning

And then this, for the solitary camper...

One-bed camping car

Note the plate, bowl, and cup above the cooker: service for one; at least you'd
have no problem stealth-camping, parking, nor getting under the 2 meter barriers

We may well go to another show later in the summer

Max Gate

Earlier the same day, in Dorchester, we also visited Hardy's home, Max Gate, which the National Trust opened only in 2010. I do believe this will complete our set of Hardy sites. Hardy is Vicki's thing. I know him only through the utterly depressing Tess movie and Monty Python (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogPZ5CY9KoM). Max Gate is Hardy's play upon the location of the house, at Mack's Gate to Dorchester.

Max Gate; they're doing some work on the house

This is the study where he wrote Tess and Jude the Obscure

In another study; he kept moving his study and bedroom further and further from
his wife; for reasons which we'll not get into...

Same room; assorted Tess's

Dining room

Parlor

The place is awash in work by Hardy and in the vast secondary work on him

The house and grounds are a work-in-progress but will no doubt take their place on the Hardy pilgrimage trail.

A La Ronde

Cousins Mary and Jane Parminter bucked quite a few trends, going on a ten-year Grand Tour in the late 18th century, seemingly oblivious to the mores of the time and such, not to mention wars, revolutions, and assorted other upheavals going on in Europe. When they returned, they wanted to build a house to display all their ten years' travels' souvenirs and mementos. (This was before the age of refrigerator magnets; before the age of refrigerators, too). Anyhow, when visiting Ravenna, they were greatly impressed by the cathedral of San Vitale, as were we, and also Charlemagne, but that's another story, and later resolved to build an octagonal display house; actually sixteen-sided. And they called it "A La Ronde." They apparently had their own ideas about geometry as well. Anyhow, the house and its contents came at length to the Trust some years back, and it is one of the more popular if quirky Great Houses.

Sixteen-sided A La Ronde; not the diamond-shaped windows

The Parminters' print of San Vitale

One of the bedrooms; many of the furnishings are of a later date, those of a later
occupant

Of course, a sixteen-sided house makes for some odd-sized rooms;
 they collected prints, paintings, books, and

Mostly they collected shells...predating a serious Victorian
hobby of collecting fossils and such

Yes, mostly they collected shells

And did interesting things with them

Indeed, the entire top-most floor is a great octagonal display of shells

Peeking upstairs towards it

It's not on the tour--too fragile--but there's a 360 degree computer tour available...

More comfy rooms

Closer-up of a Monkey Puzzle tree outside

View from the house of the estuary of the River Exe, and the town of Exmouth
below (Exeter further up the estuary)

Durdle Door

Our next destination was the coast and the Durdle Door scenic area. Durdle Door itself is a sea arch set amidst alternating cliffs and coves. It's quite attractive though, as one might expect, fairly over-run with visitors. And no comparison with Etretat, scenically, nor historically. Again, I'll just post some pix. One is of one of the islands off the coast, Portland, I think. Another is of some school kids, en field trip, playing off one of the rocks, in wet-suits, etc. Brave teachers. At the end is a coastal repast I concocted from the little seafood market on the main cove: mussels, scallops, cockles, and samphire, all in a garlic/butter/wine sauce. Samphire, the veggie, is pretty rare--collected from amongst the rocks and cliffs. Not at Tesco.

Military Escort

So we were parked, entirely legally, behind the National Trust
visitor center, down the hill from Corfe Castle, a pretty
incredible site at which to spend the night, we thought

When next morning, I heard voices (not the usual voices),
soft but many...and, as the light grew, I looked out the window
to see

A full platoon or so of Royal Army, in fairly full gear, I think

Including weapons; good grief! I thought, is it a national
crime to overnight in a National Trust parking lot? Are they
here to apprehend us? Is this an international incident?

At length, they moved on...hopefully to a mere training hike in
the hills on a beautiful morning

We drove on to find we were indeed in military country

And even considered sticking around for the Tankfest

Thus; but ultimately we decided to carry on; and keep calm

Corfe Castle Town

En route to Corfe, a rhododendron-lined road...pretty
incredible...notice, additionally, I am driving on the left

Punishment for too many blog posts

View of pretty Corfe town from the (slighted) castle

We walked in the town a bit, looking mostly at its nice old Norman church

Thus

In the church, these are the symbols, we read, that permit prayer for a crusader
who has been killed in action (so to speak); that is, if one of your guys was
killed on crusade and thus buried (or whatever) elsewhere, then you could still
pray for him (her), on this home site, as if he (she) were actually here (home)
(as if...) (whatever)

Corfe is also the home of, it is said, England's smallest town hall; also serves as
town museum