MissElaineous

Down the Garden Path

Down the Garden Path
Although I have lived in the UK for nearly 15 years, I am still discovering new things on a regular basis. One such recent discovery has been the National Garden Scheme. While I had been vaguely aware of their existence before, I have to admit I had never actually visited one of the participating properties. What a mistake that was!… View Post

Seduced by Salisbury (Part 2)

Seduced by Salisbury (Part 2)
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” This famous quote by writer L.P. Hartley opens his novel The Go-Between, and I think it gets to the heart of why I enjoy history so much: it’s just like travelling, but in your imagination. There’s the same excitement of learning and discovery, of figuring out how things work,… View Post

Seduced by Salisbury (Part 1)

Seduced by Salisbury (Part 1)
[ PART 1 ] [ PART 2 ][ VISIT WILTSHIRE ] [ If you follow along on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter you may have caught my trip to Salisbury this past weekend — I am reposting it on the MissElaineous Blog to make it easier for everyone to access. ] I have a confession to make. Narrow, winding stairs are my… View Post

Making the Past Present (Part 2)

Making the Past Present (Part 2)
[ PART 1 ] [ PART 2 ] We are all time travellers. We just happen to be moving towards the future at the pace of one day at a time. But the past is all around us and, with the help of the right person, it’s possible to find it. John Swann of the Travelling History Company is one… View Post

Making the Past Present (Part 1)

Making the Past Present (Part 1)
[ PART 1 ] [ PART 2 ] Car parks are not exactly known for having great views. Indeed, that is one of their defining characteristics: whether situated underground, in a multi-storey tower, or sandwiched between shops, they tend to prioritise function over form and practicality over aesthetics. So pulling into Chepstow’s Castle Dell car park was unexpected: as the view of a medieval… View Post

Life in Lavender

Life in Lavender
It is twenty-five miles between our house and MrElaineous’ hometown. Due to the “you-can’t-get-there-from-here” phenomenon, it takes us about an hour to drive there on winding country roads, which allows us to avoid the often grid-locked city of Bath, and instead takes us through picturesque towns like Bradford-on-Avon and small villages such as Faulkland. I hadn’t paid much attention to… View Post
Devizes

Delightful Devizes

Delightful Devizes
Sometimes travel planning can be a hassle: searching for the best price for flights, trying to find accommodation that meets all your criteria, or ensuring that what you want to see is actually open while you’re there. At other times, outings can fall into place at the touch of a button. In this particular case, that button was the Facebook… View Post

Postcards from Across the Pond

Postcards from Across the Pond
Big photo, short text: It’s practically the definition of a postcard. This blog post is taking a lesson from them to provide a wrap up of my trip to Devon with some views that I didn’t have a chance to share in the Bound for Beer series. Click on any of them to enlarge, and scroll to the end for a… View Post

Bound for Beer (Part 4)

Bound for Beer (Part 4)
[ PART 1 ][ PART 2 ][ PART 3 ][ PART 4 ][ POSTCARDS ] My final morning in Beer dawned as one of those late spring/early summer days that seemed absolutely perfect, the type you wish would go on forever. The mist of the past few days had completely vanished, leaving blue skies in its wake, and the colours along… View Post

BOUND FOR BEER (PART 3)

BOUND FOR BEER (PART 3)
[ PART 1 ][ PART 2 ][ PART 3 ][ PART 4 ][ POSTCARDS ] Rather than the antiquated local museum I was expecting, from the moment you step inside Seaton Jurassic it is clear that time, money, and passion have gone into creating an engaging and educational experience for visitors of all ages. You start off by exploring a Victorian… View Post

BOUND FOR BEER (PART 2)

BOUND FOR BEER (PART 2)
[ PART 1 ][ PART 2 ][ PART 3 ][ PART 4 ][ POSTCARDS ] Arriving in Beer in the evening, MrElaineous and I only had a brief moment to look around before settling into the B&B for the night. What we saw certainly seemed picturesque. There was a stream running along the village’s main road so you were never far… View Post

BOUND FOR BEER (PART 1)

BOUND FOR BEER (PART 1)
[ PART 1 ][ PART 2 ][ PART 3 ][ PART 4 ][ POSTCARDS ] MrElaineous and I are teetotal or, as I like to put it, totally about tea. This means that there was a degree of irony in our recent trip to the Devon village of Beer as we wouldn’t be partaking in the eponymous beverage, but we did… View Post

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

THIS IS NOT A DRILL
Well, it is, sort of. Over the past week I’ve been busy moving the MissElaineous Blog from one system to another, and I am very pleased to announce that it is now settling into its new home at https://miss-elaineous.com. Please feel free to have a look around at the shiny new features: different branding! a search box that works! an… View Post

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Castle Drogo. The name sounds like something out of an 18th century Gothic novel, perhaps created for a work of fiction by Ann Radcliffe. It is, however, a very real place and one built just a century ago: completed in 1930, it is the last castle constructed in England. The owner was Julius Drewe, a self-made millionaire who developed the Home and… View Post

AS SEEN ON TV (PART 3)

AS SEEN ON TV (PART 3)

Croome Court: Expect the unexpected. As far as taglines go, this one is absolutely spot. This National Trust property offers a surprise around every corner with its modern take on a historic building and garden.

The first thing that caught my eye upon arriving at Croome was the property’s tagline: expect the unexpected.

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AS SEEN ON TV (PART 2)

AS SEEN ON TV (PART 2)
[ PART 1 ][ PART 2 ][ PART 3 ] From the 16th-century Tudor Brockhampton Manor we journeyed forward in time to the 18th-century Neo-classical Berrington Hall. One of the property’s claims to fame is being the last completed commission of “Capability” Brown. In a remarkable stroke of coincidence for someone who doesn’t watch a lot of television, a few… View Post

AS SEEN ON TV (PART 1)

AS SEEN ON TV (PART 1)
[ PART 1 ][ PART 2 ][ PART 3 ] I don’t watch a lot of television. I mean, besides the current series of Back to the Land with Kate Humble. And I just saw Alice Roberts’ Britain’s Most Historic Towns and was pleasantly surprised to discover I have actually been to many of them. And of course I catch… View Post

AN OPEN LETTER TO MEGHAN MARKLE FROM AN AMERICAN EXPAT

AN OPEN LETTER TO MEGHAN MARKLE FROM AN AMERICAN EXPAT
Dear Meghan, So you’re marrying a Brit and about to embark on the adventure of making a life for yourself in the UK. Congratulations! As a fellow American who fell for the charms of a subject of the British crown (although not quite so close to the crown as your bloke), allow me to share a few words of advice… View Post

FIRST!

FIRST!
I don’t know when or why the tradition began of gracing a website’s comment section with “First”. It’s something that I’ve always found it a bit silly. I mean, it’s not so much a comment as a territorial marker! However, I had my own first moment recently that, while it hasn’t convinced me of the merits of staking a digital… View Post
MissElaineous Travel Blog: Escape, Explore, Discover, Enjoy