Arena Amphitheatre: mid first century AD

• Fourth largest Roman amphitheatre in Italy
• Elliptical ground plan – 152m x 123m, with an internal auditorium of 76m x 44m.
• Ruins of external ring, or ‘Ala’ (wing), is 31m high and made of limestone from Valpolicella
• Originally the Arena would have held 30,000 spectators
• Today it holds an audience of approximately 15,000
• The Arena has been used for events throughout the ages although it began to show signs of decay in the 3rd century.
• In the Municipal Statutes of 1276 fines were established for those who damaged or disfigured the Arena
• Public services were also carried out at the Arena, including hay-weighing.
• The first musical and dance performance was in 1822 and directed by Gioacchino Rossini
• The modern annual opera season was established in 1913 with a performance of Aida to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of its composer, Giuseppe Verdi.

Whilst we were unable to get tickets for the performance of Il Trovatore by Verdi, it was fascinating to see some of the technical aspects inside and outside of the Arena - as even with his extensive professional experience Paul has never had to work on a set which required a crane to move its consummate parts!

Paul and I enjoyed four nights in Cornwall over last weekend. A friend had recommended Primrose Cottage B&B (see: https://www.primrosecottage-launceston.co.uk/) and it was a fabulous place to base ourselves for easy access to a number of the main towns and sights for both Cornwall and Devon.  It is more than a B&B insofar as each of the ‘rooms’ are a suite of rooms ; we had a living room equipped with sofa, table and chairs and a full-size fridge and basic cutlery and crockery, the bedroom was large with a king-size bed, and leading off a small corridor was a decent sized bathroom, with good quality locally-made toiletries and plenty of cosy towels!  The breakfast was plentiful, whatever your choice, and the bread was home-made!  Yum.  Upon arrival we were even served freshly baked scones and a Cornish Cream Tea - all on our private terrace overlooking the Tamar Valley.  Nice.  It is a peaceful place with only three ‘rooms’ and extensive gardens to wander through - encouraged to walk toward the river, and on the way to introduce ourselves to the owner’s pigs - Bacon One and Bacon Two! 

The B&B was only 8 miles from Launceston– a normal, small town with a few dodgy looking pubs but some decent take-away places, and we found a decent subterranean Chinese restaurant, despite its unprepossessing exterior. Funnily enough, the building had a ‘blue plaque’ and had major links to NSW and Tasmania! 
 
We were also only 14 miles from Tavistock although from the SAT NAV directions, which took us down routes with grass growing in the middle of the road, it sometimes felt we were in the back-end-of-beyond!  We visited this town twice, once with friends and again for an evening meal and a much better choice of restaurants and ‘eateries’.  I like Tavistock as it has some individuality and character, interesting architecture and is overall an attractive place.  

Tavistock lies on the edge of Dartmoor, about 15 miles (24km) north of Plymouth.  It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives, and is an ancient stannary town (tin-mining) and now enjoys its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1305, with the growing importance of the area as one of Europe's richest sources of tin, Tavistock was one of four stannary towns appointed by charter of Edward I, where tin was stamped and weighed and monthly courts were held for the regulation of mining affairs.

Tavistock therefore has great heritage provenance in trade, architecture, religion and manufacture, and was a central point for trade. In 1105 a Royal Charter was granted by Henry I to the monks of Tavistock to run a weekly "Pannier Market" (so called after the baskets used to carry goods) on a Friday, which still takes place today. In 1116 a three-day fair was also granted to mark the feast of Saint Rumon, another tradition that is still maintained in the shape of the annual "Goosey" fair on the second Wednesday in October.  By 1185 Tavistock had achieved borough status, and in 1295 it became a parliamentary borough, sending two members to parliament. The abbey church was rebuilt in 1285. 

In 1540 Sir Francis Drake was born at Crowndale Farm near Tavistock.  Drake was a prominent figure of the time and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.  He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world from 1577 to 1580 and one of the English commanders in the famously decisive victory against the Spanish Armada in 1588.  Tavistock may be a small market town but it has a lot going for it!

We also visited a National Trust property in Cornwall - Cotehele - a Tudor house with superb antique collections, extensive gardens and quay. The 1,300-acre estate includes woodland and fields, industrial ruins, flora, fauna and working farm buildings.

Cotehele was the ancestral home to the Edgcumbe family for over six centuries. The Tudor house, perched high above the River Tamar, is decorated with tapestries, arms and armour, pewter, brass and old oak furniture. The déecor and furniture collection reflects the antiquarian taste of the Georgian age; the Edgcumbes developed the interiors between about 1750 and 1860 in a deliberate attempt to evoke a sense of nostalgia and recreate the atmosphere of the 'good old days'.

The house is an architectural hotchpotch, mainly re-built in Tudor times. The chapel at the main house was first consecrated in 1411, and was re-modelled in the early 1500s. Another building, the Chapel-in-the-Wood, marks the spot where Richard Edgcumbe I made a narrow escape from King Richard III's men in 1483.  Apparently, when his hiding-place was discovered, he avoided capture by filling his cap with stones and throwing it into the river, fooling his pursuers into thinking he had drowned.  After his escape he fled to Brittany and joined Henry Tudor with whom he returned to England in 1485. He was knighted later that year after the Battle of Bosworth, where Henry Tudor and the Lancastrians were victorious.

Getting away from formal history we also spent a day indulging my reminiscences of and nostalgia for a number of childhood holidays spent at a small village called Trebetherick, near Rock and Padstow.  Of course, the latter is now synonymous with the chef and TV presenter Rick Stein, and the locals refer to the town as ‘Padstein’ apparently!  So, nowadays, I would recommend visiting for a tourist ‘fix’ but only out-of-season! It would be my worst kind of nightmare in July and August when a lot of families descend with screaming kids and grumpy grandparents and the narrow streets are at a stand-still with too many and too big vehicles.  Hurrumph!

Despite, or because of, the rain we have experienced this month, the garden is having a major growth spurt and a fit of fecundity.  This weekend we have enjoyed digging up some of our First Earlies (potatoes) and podding broad beans.

....mainly in the garden!

A beautiful day - and it's been a long time coming.  The month of June has been a bit of wash-out to be honest, and this past few days have been very busy and somewhat stressful, so it was a relief to have the day to potter around, listening to iPlayer and finishing a book.  Not necessarily in that order, but done all the same.

I hope tomorrow has the same forecast.

​On Sunday 9th June some of Winchcombe’s residents partook in the Open Garden’s scheme which saw 367 gardens open across England and Wales.  Altogether the National Garden Scheme reports that 3,500 private gardens will open for charity over the summer period. 
​How cool is that?

Party At The Castle - three days altogether, and Louise and I went to the third one.  We were very fortunate as the weirdly changeable weather meant that the second evening was cancelled because of thunderstorms. 

​Great fun - wellies, walking-boots, gin-cocktails, cider, burgers, do-nuts, crepes, and lots of '80's hits!

Gotta love the Cotswolds!!

Compare and contrast:  In 2015 - our tenth wedding anniversary - Paul and I celebrated with a day wandering around the CBD in Sydney, and tea in the QVB (Queen Victoria Building).  Today, we enjoyed Afternoon Tea at Huffkins in Burford (Oxfordshire) courtesy of my sister and husband's Christmas present voucher. 

There are currently six outlets of the Cotswolds Huffkins chain that have been baking scones, cakes and pies since 1890. The QVB opened in 1898 and was designed to be a covered market-place. 

Tea and cake wherever in the world is always very nice!
​

One minute they were just attractive, lushly verdant plants and then the next there were long fat broad bean pods!  Isn't vegetable growing amazing?!

However, I'm not terribly convinced about the current crop of carrots.  I think it is a case of all the energy going into the fronds and carrot tops, and bypassing the vegetable itself.  We optimistically pulled some on Sunday and cooked them up to accompany dinner.... but as well as being small, they were so tough and fibrous they went straight back into the compost!

So - amazing, but also a liability at times too!?  

​

The first of June -  and amazed at how the garden is coming together! 
Every morning I take a cup of tea and ‘open up’ the greenhouses and inspect the flower-beds and veg patch to see what has happened overnight (being reminded of that pesky mouse!).  And as soon as I get home from work, I’m up there again, and particularly at this time of the year, to be astounded that the peas and beans seem to have grown four inches in the space of eight hours, and there are new colourful flowers happily nodding in the breeze.  However, in proper liability-mode, I’m not terribly good at identifying any of the new flora that is emerging.  Paul will often ask what the latest specimen is called, and my response is generally along the lines of… “well, it’s...umm….. white…..and ummm…. quite tall”, and then pull out all the box of labels and empty seed packets that I have kept over the past year or so to try and identify it.  Obviously, I have great plans to systematically work it all out, catalogue and display, and even have a number of sketches of where some plants have been placed but, of course, that doesn’t necessarily capture those that may have self-seeded, or the ones I completely forgot about…. so this plan is also another work-in-progress!
 
The last few days have been beautifully warm and sunny, but earlier in the week my legs and feet got so cold I made up a hot-water bottle.  In May!!  However, it could be that I’m generally a bit ‘off’…. and I’m sick and tired of sounding like a miserable old fart, but I have been totally exhausted again.  Last night I was in bed and asleep by 8.45pm; and as it is light here until about 9.30pm, that’s even more weird!  However, I have also been waking up very early, with the birds at 4.30am when the sun is coming up , and sometimes I don’t get back to sleep properly.  We have a garden-full of birds - robins, thrushes, sparrows, blackbirds, a few swallows and big, fat pigeons - and they must be the noisiest band of reprobates in the county!  It is lovely to hear the birdsong most of the time, but not when I need more kip!!  ALSO, the weekly diabetic injection dosage has been increased and that has had some effect, adversely in some ways.  Cheryl, my diabetic nurse, is phoning me once or twice a week to check how I’m getting on (such a good service from the NHS ‘eh?) and we have decided to go with the increased medication for another couple of weeks as then I will have been taking the drug for two months and I should have adapted to it by then.  If not, well, then the dosage will be reduced again.  I think it’s slowly sorting itself out, but it can be a bit depressing to be honest.  I’m not used to feeling so tired and lack lustre.  However, it could also be a combination of that, getting over the trapped nerve / disc thing (incidentally MUCH, MUCH better) and the fact that is has continued to be absolutely FULL-ON at work!  Yes, that sounds like a stuck record too doesn’t it? It is half-term this week and I did think there might be some respite, but that has been a joke!  Maybe I’m just a bit over-it all at the moment?  Maybe it’s because I know that in less than two weeks Paul and I are going away for four nights to Cornwall, and then at the end of the month we will be jetting off to Verona? It’s that light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel that is drawing me along stumbling and feeling my way!?  As long as I don’t emerge confused and blinking myopically like a mole, then that will be fine!
 
There has been A LOT going on work but I won’t bore you with it here but suffice to say it continues to be busy-busy-busy.  Paul has had short periods of work and then periods of being at No.6 – but he has got on top of quite a few smaller projects at home too, so that is a great outcome.  As I type this, he is operating a show at the Everyman (a studio show).  He is also in the main house tomorrow a four-hour get-in, which is good money, which means doing the ‘out’ next weekend.  He was also in London earlier in the week for two nights doing some event set-up for JP Morgan.  He was meant to go to Glasgow too but they cancelled that last minute (less than a week’s notice), and then yesterday asked if he could go to Gleneagles tomorrow…!  Really!?!   Ordinarily he would have gone but obviously will be at the Everyman, and wouldn’t mess them around at such a late stage.  It can be very frustrating when the event company can be a bit vague at times!
 
What else?  This week I also attended two committee meetings outside of work.  The one was for Friends of St Peter’s / Parochial Church Council (PCC) by way of introduction, as I will be the main contact for the 2020 Open Gardens [OG] event.  And, the other meeting was the last Open Gardens meeting before it goes ahead next weekend - Sunday 9th June.  The meetings couldn’t be more different - the first was held in the Friends / Church administration building, with the ubiquitous faintly musty smell of public spaces, mis-matched chairs and dated decor, and institutional cups and saucers, and a wide range of slightly stained mugs. There was a probably a tea-urn, but I wasn't there long enough to find out, and wasn't offered a cup of tea (how un-British!).  And, the second meeting was held in the local pub - The Corner Cupboard!  So poles apart!! At the PCC meeting I was also the youngest by about twenty years (apart from my OG colleague who is probably in his mid-fifties), but the Chair was a pretty steely woman, probably in her eighties.  She was a force to be reckoned with, so goodness knows what she was like when younger?! However, there was a tendency for the others to chip-in and go off track … remarking on local residents and who-said-what, and when, and recalling incidents from the annals of time.  Actually, I don’t think that is restricted to PCC meetings, as plenty of the ones I have attended at school go off on random tangents!!  Anyway, fortunately, I didn’t have to stay for the whole meeting as was really only there to show my face, and to be introduced.  Obviously, I will be expected to attend future meetings - and that will be interesting as the vast majority of the members are retired and schedule meetings during the working-day because they have a great more flexibility, and nowhere else to be necessarily.  Oh well.
 
Considering the ups and downs of the past few months, I can’t wait to be in that position!!!