It was a nice sunny day today, so good to get some washing done. So the morning was spent organising the cases and making the most of the fine weather. I spent a little time in the sunroom, tapping away on the iPad catching up on my blogs. I have a number of blogs in drafts now and as long as I keep adding bits of info and make a start, I will get back to them.

In the afternoon Peter and I went into Tavistock to pick up the photos I had ordered yesterday. The photo shop in Tavistock belongs to Keith Hall who Sheila (nee Hunter) is now married to. It is a second marriage for both of them. It is a great shop with a huge selection of frames, albums, cameras etc. You name it, it seems to be there. We purchased eight more mini albums, a little flexible tripod, an iPhone selfie stick and a set of digital luggage scales. I think there will be a need to do some weighing and juggling between cases, before we get on the next plane.

Whilst in Tavistock we visited the markets. Peter purchased a new wallet and I couldn't resist a few very light wooden butterfly buttons. There was so many stalls and the quality of the goods being sold was very good.

Tavistock is listed as a World Heritage site due to the Cornish Mining of the area. Standing in the wide and spacious Bedford Square, just before Tavistock Town Hall, one can truly get a sense of the grandiose flamboyance of the Seventh Duke of Bedford. The Duke funded the square’s construction through his immense wealth, amassed from copper royalties paid by the Devon Great Consols copper mine, which was discovered on the eastern bank of the River Tamar in 1844. There is a statue of the Duke of Bedford in the square. The West Devon Borough Council was successful in having the Square listed on UNESCO in 2006.

The Bedford Hotel which is opposite the Bedford Square does appear to be linked in some way with the Abbey. The sign and the internet says there is little of the Abbey left and the history goes back to when it was rebuilt in 1457-58. In 1552 the Earl of Bedford became Lord of the manor. It has been a little difficult to piece some history together from the internet to go with the obvious historic photos. There is only one arch of the Abbey Cloisters of the Benedictine Abbey that has survived. It adjoined the Abbey Church, a magnificent building dedicated in 1318. It decayed after the dissolution of the monastery in 1539 and had been demolished by 1700. 

Stretching from the high granite ridge and exposed moors of Kit Hill in Cornwall to the lush, deep wooded valleys of the meandering Tamar River – and the farming lands of the Devon plateau beyond – the Tamar Valley & Tavistock area of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, spans the border between Cornwall and Devon. In today’s tranquility, it’s hard to imagine the noise from over 100 mines that operated at the height of its mining boom. Both banks of the Tamar supplied much of the world's copper and tin for substantial periods over the last 4,000 years, but it was during the 18th and 19th centuries that the area saw its biggest mining boom.

We couldn't go home without getting a photo of the Sir Francis Drake statue, even if Peter parked where he probably shouldn't have! Around 1540 Sir Francis Drake was born near Tavistock. He became a prominent figure of his age, a champion of Queen Elizabeth, 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. The famous statue of Drake on 'Plymouth Hoe' is a copy of that on the roundabout at Tavistock, at the western end of the town,^[with panels that have not been replicated on the Hoe copy. Drake later made his home at Buckland near Plymouth. 

We walked from the photo shop around the block, crossing the Tavy River on an old historic bridge. Visited the church and then made our way back to Harrowbarrow via Gunnislake. Gunnislake is on the Tamar River, so when we crossed the river we were back in Cornwall. As the weather was still good, we decided to got home via Harrowbarrow Square and check out the Square, Jasmine Cottage and the School. Jasmine Cottage did belong to Peter's grandparents and it was where the family stayed in 1955. Clifford and Brenda purchased it from Harry Batten, did lots of renovations to it and then sold to move to their home named 'Chicksands". Jasmine Cottage is looking really lovely. The paint has been stripped from the front. What a difference it has made.

Brenda had cooked roast beef for dinner and had picked up Aunty Kath, to have the evening with us. Sam had to go out at 6.30pm as he had a 'Young Farmers' evening to go to. He was going to a 'Scavenger Hunt'. We were still sitting at the dinner table talking, when Sam and three other 'Young Farmers' turned up to raid the Boundy house for so much stuff! What a list! A ladder went onto the roof of the friends vehicle, a block of concrete loaded into the back and a Cornish newspaper went into a bag with so much other STUFF! Cliff even had to find his old false teeth. Brenda found some beads and my contribution was a lipstick. They came second in the competition. Aunty Kath enjoyed the fun and Brenda took her back home after a cuppa. It was lovely to spend some more time with her. A few more stories were told that can be added to the family history.