I've been a bit slow with the blog recently, but it hasn't been because nothing was happening - quite the reverse! These last few days I have been enjoying the company of Janet's mum, Toddy, whom I have met several times when she has been out in Australia. Toddy lives in Launceston, the Cornish one not Tasmania, and she has joined me for a trip to my ancestral cottage near Mousehole. This is where Mum's great grandfather lived before he came out to Australia in the early 1830s. The cottage is now a B&B and very comfortable. I woke up to see a beautiful sunrise over the water, and it was this view which inspired James Davey to settle and build his home of the cliffs overlooking what is now called Davey's Bay near Mt Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula.
On the journey from Brighton to Launceston, I stopped at Dorchester and Taunton to see two wonderful museums which each contained lovely Roman mosaics and lots of Bronze/Iron age history as well as more 'recent' history ie. post-Roman. At Dorchester I could actually walk on two of the mosaics!! so I got some wonderful close up pictures of the patterns. The one at Taunton is a beautiful rendition of the Dido and Aeneas story, and I was able to take photos which will make a wonderful addition to the Western Dreaming course.
Of the two, I preferred the Taunton museum, despite the presence of a horde of Primary children at the same day. It has been recently revamped, and the displays were interesting, easy to follow, but still contained quality information, and the displays were clear. At Dorchester the museum is old, and some of the displays were cluttered and poorly lit, but it had excellent information about Maiden Castle, a huge Neolithic hill fort, and a complete room devoted to Thomas Hardy including his study.
Taunton museum started with the dinosaurs, and other fossils, and had a wonderful collection of these. The Neolithic and Roman section was good, then I was lured into the medieval room. They had some other sections, including a room containing interesting and sometimes bizarre collections from local collectors and the whole thing is set within part of the original castle which dates from the 12th century.
As I drove along the A31 towards Dorchester I came along an enormously long brick wall punctuated by a couple of enormous gates. I was fascinated enough to now do a search through Google maps and discovered Charborough House. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charborough_House. It has one of the longest brick walls in England.
Aren't computers wonderful!!
On the journey from Brighton to Launceston, I stopped at Dorchester and Taunton to see two wonderful museums which each contained lovely Roman mosaics and lots of Bronze/Iron age history as well as more 'recent' history ie. post-Roman. At Dorchester I could actually walk on two of the mosaics!! so I got some wonderful close up pictures of the patterns. The one at Taunton is a beautiful rendition of the Dido and Aeneas story, and I was able to take photos which will make a wonderful addition to the Western Dreaming course.
Of the two, I preferred the Taunton museum, despite the presence of a horde of Primary children at the same day. It has been recently revamped, and the displays were interesting, easy to follow, but still contained quality information, and the displays were clear. At Dorchester the museum is old, and some of the displays were cluttered and poorly lit, but it had excellent information about Maiden Castle, a huge Neolithic hill fort, and a complete room devoted to Thomas Hardy including his study.
Taunton museum started with the dinosaurs, and other fossils, and had a wonderful collection of these. The Neolithic and Roman section was good, then I was lured into the medieval room. They had some other sections, including a room containing interesting and sometimes bizarre collections from local collectors and the whole thing is set within part of the original castle which dates from the 12th century.
As I drove along the A31 towards Dorchester I came along an enormously long brick wall punctuated by a couple of enormous gates. I was fascinated enough to now do a search through Google maps and discovered Charborough House. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charborough_House. It has one of the longest brick walls in England.
Aren't computers wonderful!!
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