Karim

Karim

Karim

Karim

Karim

Karim

Karim

Karim

Karim

Karim

What’s the point of all these photos?

Thank you for your reply !

The point is to share my travelling adventures hoping that someone will enjoy them

Wishing you a lovely week-end,

Karim

I will be visiting Somerset and Cornwall shortly.
What is a good online website to find out about open gardens in these areas.
I have the National Trust book for their gardens but would like other gardens to view.

Many thanks.

Good evening

Thank you so much for your message.

Great British Gardens has over 500 beautiful gardens to visit.

In Somerset, the Somerset Gardens Trust and Down Somerset way may interest you.

In Cornwall, the Great Gardens of Cornwall, the Valley Cornwall and Visit Cornwall may interest you.

Wishing you a lovely summer exploring beautiful gardens !

Karim

Good morning dear Friends

I hope that you are very well and enjoying summertime.

I visited picturesque Ross on Wye on 23/06.

Ross on Wye is a town located in the county of Herefordshire on the Wye River, north of the Forest of Dean near the border with Wales.

"Embraced by the River Wye, Ross-on-Wye is an inviting place to potter". When William Gilpin wrote Britain’s first travel guidebook about the Wye Valley in 1782, he sparked a trend for ‘picturesque tourism’.

It was 250 years ago in 1770 that he took the first step by organising boat trips along the River Wye, and writing a seminal bestselling book ‘Observations of the River Wye’.

Today, as well as enjoying that same scenic beauty, you can browse independent shops, stroll alongside the town’s 19th-century mock-Gothic walls and Gazebo Tower folly and admire pastel-hued dwellings tumbling down the hillside to the river.

The Wye Valley is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, much as it was 250 years ago.

I enjoyed a delicious cappuccino & pistachio cake at The Hope & Anchor, a beautiful riverside pub, restaurant & inn nestled in the heart of Ross-On-Wye.

I could not resit taking pictures of the friendly & welcoming little ducks enjoying the day by the canoe club and a majestic couple of Swans with their cygnets swimming in the Wye River.

💚 Ross on Wye 💚

The historic market town of Ross-on-Wye stands high on a sandstone bluff overlooking a horseshoe bend in the River Wye. The view is dominated by the spire of St Mary’s Church which is illuminated at night and can be seen for many miles.

Close to the church are the Prospect Gardens, given to the town at the end of the 17th Century. From here is a wonderful panorama looking across the meadows to the hills of Garway and Orcop with the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons beyond.

Ross-on-Wye is a friendly and welcoming market town perched high above a scenic bend in the River Wye, right in the heart of the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Ideally located midway between Hereford and Gloucester, it’s often known as the Gateway to the Wye Valley

Much of Ross is a designated conservation area, with the historic Market House at its centre. Built from Old Red Sandstone, this ancient monument now houses a vibrant art and craft gallery and one of the town’s two tourist information centres.

Ross is also renowned for its many independent shops, galleries, cafés, restaurants, and hotels - many of them are dog-friendly - offering a warm welcome to every visitor.

💚 Tintern Abbey & Village 💚

Tintern Abbey is a national icon — still standing in roofless splendour on the banks of the River Wye nearly 500 years since its tragic fall from grace.

It was founded in 1131 by Cistercian monks, who were happy to make do with timber buildings at first.

Abbot Henry, a reformed robber, was better known for his habit of crying at the altar than for his architectural ambitions.

A simple stone church and cloisters came later. But then, thanks to the patronage of wealthy Marcher lords, the white-robed monks began to think bigger.

In 1269 they began to build a new abbey church and didn’t stop until they’d created one of the masterpieces of British Gothic architecture.

The great west front with its seven-lancet window and the soaring arches of the nave still take the breath away.

So grateful were the monks to their powerful patron Roger Bigod that they were still handing out alms on his behalf in 1535. But by then King Henry VIII’s English Reformation was well underway.

Only a year later Tintern surrendered in the first round of the dissolution of the monasteries — and the great abbey began slowly to turn into a majestic ruin.

The village of Tintern located in the county of Monmouthshire in Wales.

Wishing you all a lovely week-end !

Karim