Personal

Bliss

For the third year in a row we're spending late September/early October in honeymoon country.

And now in our secret hotel with the window open I can hear the sounds which will lull me to sleep tonight (I've been looking forward to this all week): the irregular chiming of the church bells; high tide lapping at the foundations of the building below; nothing else... just peacefulness. Perfect bliss.

Personal

Rules don't rule

It's not up for discussion: The Lost Gardens of Heligan are impressive, both as a garden and as a restoration project. We spent most of the afternoon there today, having called off a coastwalk.

One thing really irked me: the number of rules. The information sheet handed to us at the ticket office was stuffed full of instructions, and almost everywhere were signs telling us what we couldn't do. Ultimately the glory of the garden didn't deserve the reverence the organisers tried to sledgehammer into the peasants.

Visit the place for the gardens, but if you're anything like me you'll be relieved to leave lest you transgress unforgivably.