Harriet (my wife) and I jointly share a spirit of adventure. As we have no mortgage, we are free to travel the world financially. We built a handmade house in 1981 on five acres of land 35 kms. out of Brisbane, Australia for minimal money.
See the house / land posts:
OUR HOUSE …. An Overview
OUR HOUSE ….The Actual Garden See the photos of the house and garden and the history of how we obtained rejected materials like from the Supreme Courthouse stone (where the Law Courts are now in Brisbane) …. two loads for nothing in 1980. They dumped 100’s of cubic metres as fill and built a school over the top. The stone was cut out of the Kangaroo Points Cliffs in 1877.
See these travel posts:
- Ken and Harriet’s Travel posts from 2003 to 2018. I wrote this in April 2020 even though this is our ENGLAND HOLIDAY in May 2003.
- An International Perspective ….. Ken and Harriet’s Travel post from 2003 to 2018.
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Note: I would like to share with you through these few words, photographs and hyperlinked websites, a three Dimensional experience as though you were actually there with us. Click on any photograph and it should enlarge to different size (view image in cursor list)….. at least half screen or size full screen. It will be clearer in detail than the photo on the post. It will be as if you were really there looking at the actual scene. You are an arm chair traveller with us.
If you would also like to see the post in a larger or smaller size, I suggest you follow this procedure: If you right-handed, with your left hand, press down continuously on the Control Function Key with your left hand and with your right hand, move the little cursor wheel either forwards or backwards to make the text in the post larger or smaller.
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Churches of Devon …
You would drive out into the countryside and there would be a large carefully built stone church sitting in the middle of this tiny village. Often these churches were built 500 – 900 years ago when the village supported a very large rural community. People would walk miles on a Sunday morning to come to church.
Nowadays these churches have only a handful of people supporting them and is costing much maintenance money to support them.
Harriet and I both love history and art. This not studying things out of books that other people have written for you to read and understand but it is really about actually walking through, photographing, sensing and reflecting on what you actually see in unique three dimensional ancient buildings and the art that is part of the building. Then you can discuss with other tour members or with friends when you get home.
With me personally, I have become a photographer and writer since my severe brain injury in December 1995. See my post on this website: A life changing situation I love to photograph where we have been, come home and then:
- Download my hundreds of photos
- Select which ones for a particular post on the region we visited
- Insert the photos into the post
- Write about them in an appropriate way.
I can then send an e-mail broadcast to hundreds friends and associates around the world through my personal experiences website at http://www.kenaitken.net/. As you may know, this website is used to personally stay in touch with hundreds friends and associates around the world. I frequently send out our personal experiences photos and then links to the website posts.
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A property entry to a stone-built church (see the church below). The entry is through big wrought iron gates inserted into big stone pillars.
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A cemetery beside the church.
A big stone wall entry. The entry gives a sense of mystery and intrigue.
A gate entry through two big stone pillars ….. these mark the entry into a property. They again give a sense of mystery and intrigue.
A very old house with brick walls and a thatch roof. Thatch rooves are unique. See the website Images of thatch rooves.
Where I come from in Queensland, Australia, we couldn’t have thatch rooves, as it gets so hot and dry in summer that it would only take a spark and the roof would burst into flame.
As was said above, you could drive out into the countryside and there would be a large carefully built stone church sitting in the middle of this tiny village. Often these churches were built 500 – 900 years ago when the village supported a very large rural community. People would walk miles on a Sunday morning to come to church. This church had big bell tower. See the interior of the church below with many stained glass windows. See the website on images of stained glass.
Harriet outside another church. We were fascinated by the stonework which gives the building a very hand-made whimsical feel.
Covered lytch gate gives a feeling of entering into a contemplative space. Contemplation is a process that is very absent in our busy individualistic lives in our Western culture.
A common sight in many English towns and villages, would be houses built hundreds of years ago in this style of tiered levels ….. of downstairs, middle and upper storey. They would have an open timber lattice filled in the white-painted plaster. The roof was in split sandstone or slate tiles or even a thatch roof. It gave a unique hand-built look to each house, very whimsical and personal. They were not Machine – Built Houses.
Town of Barnstaple …. About 0.25 hrs from Croyde Bay we were staying
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