RenatedavieTour

17/05/2026

Our popular Local's Weekends start again tomorrow. Half price entry to the gardens for all locals with a PL or TR postcode, every weekend until 7th June. Tickets can be booked online, or you can just turn up! Free parking at Porthluney Beach for the whole day, so you can make the most of the beach too. 😊
https://caerhaysestate.digitickets.co.uk/category/30199

18/04/2026

The first tour of the year with my favourite coach company in my favourite hotel in my favourite spots in Sussex in best weather. Happy guests - happy tourist guide.

21/01/2026

Magical place ❤️

Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor is one of Britain’s last surviving ancient temperate rainforests, with stunted oak trees that may be hundreds of years old.

High in the valley of the West Dart River, its twisted branches and granite boulder floor create an eerie, almost enchanted landscape.

The name is thought to come from the Devon word “wisht”, meaning uncanny or pixie haunted, which fits the woodland’s long held reputation for folklore.

Protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1964, it’s one of the highest oakwoods in Britain and a rare haven for mosses and lichens.

Local legend links it to the Wild Hunt and its ghostly hounds, and it is often said to have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when writing The Hound of the Baskervilles.

01/01/2026

Jasminum nudiflorum 'winter jasmine' brightens up gardens during the colder months. Here's everything you need to know about it:

💛 Unlike most jasmines, it’s unscented and flowers in the depths of winter (December–March)

💛 Nudiflorum means 'naked flower' in Latin, referring to its flowers appearing on bare stems before leaves emerge

💛 It grows in well-drained soil in a sheltered position in sun or partial shade and is best pruned after flowering to encourage new shoots for next year’s blooms

💛 It's a deciduous shrub with long, arching green stems that can be trained as a climber or left as a sprawling groundcover. It also provides early nectar for winter-active insects

💛 It was introduced to Europe in 1844 by Robert Fortune, a Scottish plant hunter and botanist who collected specimens in China

Find out more about growing Jasminum nudiflorum 'winter jasmine': https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/9452/jasminum-nudiflorum/details

01/01/2026

09/12/2025

Ah the Severn bore! A strange river phenomena and also rather nice pub. One gets you wet, and sometimes you get wet in the other.

Now what is a bore or aegir well first we require a funnel shaped river ,that narrows sharply. Then we need a very high tide, which causes a large body of sea water from the estuary to be trapped between the banks .

As the incoming tide meets the out flowing river water, it flows over top of the river water.
Rasing the water level and causing a wave or bore as it's commonly known.

The river Severn is not the only river in the world to have bores, but it is one of most well known bores.

Now the Severn bore is well known for its collection of surfers zooming 25 miles up the estuary from Awre and Gloucester. Legend has it that the riding of the bore was initiated by Colonel 'Mad Jack' Churchill in 1955.

I must say on a Sunny afternoon nothing is more relaxing than a cool cider watching a imperial Stormtrooper surf past on the bore.
May the force be with you.

04/12/2025

A very special garden.

26/11/2025

That looks a lot calmer than the last time I went up the tor on 11th November when storm Claudia hit the UK. We hat trouble standing upright. 🌬🌀

A frosty walk along the river.

19/11/2025

The Queen Elizabeth Oak in West Sussex is a massive sessile oak in Cowdray Park, estimated to be 800–1,000 years old and having a girth of about 41–42 feet. It is one of the largest sessile oaks recorded in the UK and is known for the local legend that Queen Elizabeth I rested in its shade during a hunting trip in 1591. This tree is a feature of the South Downs National Park and was designated one of the Tree Council’s Great British Trees in 2002🌲 - via Ancient Forests & Champion Trees https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1266978805456014&set=pcb.1266978835456011

19/11/2025