MissElaineous
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

CARPE TEMPESTAS

CARPE TEMPESTAS
The stereotype of British weather goes something like this: it’s cold, it’s grey, and it rains a lot. There may or may not be fog. And I have to admit the last few weeks have fit that description to a T. Constant drizzle, thunderstorms, and the occasional hailstorm have served to keep me inside, daydreaming of warmer temperatures and drier days. Because of the… View Post

A LITTLE LIGHT READING

A LITTLE LIGHT READING
I have found myself thinking about the library of Alexandria lately. It’s usually when I hit the button on Amazon that says “Deliver to Elaine’s Kindle” and I marvel at the fact that the written word, which for thousands of years could only be accessed in certain places by a tiny fraction of the population, is now available on demand, anywhere,… View Post

ANTICIPATE, EXPERIENCE, REFLECT

ANTICIPATE, EXPERIENCE, REFLECT
If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen that I’ve been sharing photos from a trip I went on several years ago to Sri Lanka. I confess there was an ulterior motive to this: the plan was to use these photos to build up some followers, encourage them to visit the blog and then perhaps head over to my writing and design pages.… View Post

Glorious?

Glorious?
The British duo of Flanders and Swann are remembered for their comedic songs such as “The Gnu”, “The Sloth”, and, one of my personal favourites, “The Armadillo”.  Yes, they had a thing for songs about animals, and the best known is probably “The Hippopotamus”, in which the title character sings a chorus of “Mud, mud, glorious mud!”  From my recent experience in the town… View Post

REDUCE YOUR WASTELINE

REDUCE YOUR WASTELINE
I think everyone is familiar with the Sorcerer’sApprentice, if not from the original Goethe poem then the one with Mickey Mouse and the dancing brooms in Fantasia. The story is simple: an inexperienced magician tries to take a shortcut that will allow him to finish his work without lifting a finger, only to  discover that starting is one thing— you… View Post

RIGHT ON TRACK (PART 2)

RIGHT ON TRACK (PART 2)
Last week I wrote about the power of charting your progress, which is the perfect segue into the second part of my thoughts about the Fitbit (the first part can be found here). First of all, although it seems silly to state the obvious, I think it often gets lost in reviews: fitness trackers are not a silver bullet to getting in shape or losing weight.… View Post
MissElaineous Travel Blog: Escape, Explore, Discover, Enjoy