Underwear in the Oven

No, it's not just a catchy title. There are, in fact, underwear in the oven. Our cottage amenities included "laundry" but it did not occur to us to check for a dryer.  John mentioned this about England when we were touring his apartment. I heard it, but I didn't really internalize it. My great-grandparents (from Yorkshire, England) hung their laundry out to dry in their yard in Portland, but I thought it was just quaint. Apparently it was a habit. So here we are with a definite need (um, underwear!) for clean clothes, and no dryer. We have one of those umbrella-tree clotheslines in the yard, and we hung it all up this morning. But it's March, in England.  The weather has been glorious, but it's still chilly! And so was our underwear upon return this evening. I cannot be the first person to come up with this solution... For my fire safety friends, the ovens here in England have a setting wherein you can run the fan without heat. :) Safety first. 

Even given the laundry gaffe, our cottage is so adorable. The cluster of them are called Penrose Burden Cottages, and our cottage is specifically named "Snappers". The English name everything. There are five or so cottages on the property, and they are all restored barns.  There are all these details where you can see the original rafters on the ceiling, and the original stone work on the walls. Neither of us wants to ever leave.

We spent today on the Northern Cliffs. It's an Area of Natural Beauty (AONB). Seriously, that's a real acronym. :) We have several nice maps, and a sat nav in the car, and our iPhones, but getting places is hard! Plus, whatever you're trying to find (cliffs, lets say), are unseeable from the car. So we pulled off in a small parking lot, and followed some people and their dogs along a path. Sidebar: All dogs  here are wildly well behaved.  Knock on wood... Anyway, we were having a nice stroll and then veered off the path to see what else there was besides a nice walking path. 

Turns out Basset's Cove WAS an Area of Natural Beauty! We really, really wanted to go down on the beach. There were little caves, and so many climbing spots. There isn't a way down, and really no way to bring a boat in from the sea.  Totally untouched. 

Afterwards we hopped by in the car and headed south to Navax Point where we could already see the lighthouse from Basset's Cove.  It's also part of the North Cliffs and designated an AONB.

The lighthouse is Godrevy Lighthouse, built on Godrevy Island. It's a story similar to that of Tilly, but the island is bigger, it's closer in, and somehow, this ocean is much calmer. Interestingly enough, after several shipwrecks on the reefs (all of which are named...), the town still wouldn't fund a lighthouse, so one of the local churches did. They still run the beacon which replaced the lighthouse in 2012.

And honestly this ocean is so calm. Even on a nice calm summer day when the Pacific is "flat" off Cannon Beach, it rarely (or ever?) looks like this. 

And then, guess what we did? Went to the theater!! Minack Theater is located near Penzance off the southwestern tip of England. I grabbed this photo from Mincak.com because we didn't get a daylight pic:

Isn't it gorgeous? Guess what was playing?

:) Can you even believe that? Fun fact, Kenneth Grahame began his epic story in Falmouth, which is also in Cornwall. We have seen so many places where it is easy to imagine little Rat and Moley off on their adventures. I think I mentioned earlier that Mists of Avalon was my all time favorite book. It might be a tie with Wind in the Willows. Mists makes me feel strong and invincible, and I fist pump at every turn with those powerful women. Willows is so different, and possibly holds a larger part of my heart for various reasons. It's a simple story, but speaks strongly to the human need for friendship and hope. Chapter 7 always makes me tear up a little.

 Anywho...we got tickets to see it at Minack. As you saw from the picture above, the theater sits right on the ocean. The sound system was great, and you could hear the actors clearly, but you could also hear the ocean slip in and out against the rocks. So lovely.  Also, really cold!! We were not the only ones who left at intermission. It was 40 degrees without the wind chill, and though we had jackets on, we were not even close to warm enough! Luckily, we know how the story ends. 😉

Whelp, it's time to rotate the contents of the oven. Vacationing is so swanky!