2022 - A Trip to the United Kingdom

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London

Devonshire

Shrewsbury

Narrowboat

Glasgow

Edinburgh

Milton Keynes

Devonshire

25 July 2022 Monday

We learned our lesson about getting to and from London and Heathrow on our trip into London and opted for an Uber to get us to Heathrow. Good move. Traffic wasn’t too bad and it was a lot cheaper than the London express train. Our driver was Somali and had several years experience. He told us that he has to pass a test and background check to be licensed, which caused us to wonder if the USA had the same process.

We rented a car from Enterprise. After just a few days we decided it was the worst rental car we’d ever had. The manual transmission was horrible, we discovered that the horn didn’t work when a car changed into our lane, there were no backup cameras and no on board GPS. We had to call for repair to the horn and the poor technician had to almost put his head in the glove box to change a faulty fuse. We wanted to change cars but Enterprise told us there were no cars available in the UK. When the COVID virus hit business dropped so much they sold many cars and now find they can’t replace them because of chip shortages and a key component made in Ukraine. Thanks, Putin.

On the way to our next destination we stopped at a roadside stop. What chaos! Turns out that it was start of school holiday. The parking lot was crammed and the food offerings were all American fast food. Not doing that again! That said, we drove to Barnstaple in Devon where we had reservations at the Yeo Dale Hotel. The name Yeo is really common in this part of the UK - roads, the river and a lot of people surname Yeo.

After a stressful drive Tom needed a rest so son Tom and I walked around the old town. It was obvious that many businesses closed, likely because of COVID. There were still some nice shops and restaurants in business and we settled on a very nice Italian restaurant which we returned to with Tom for a lovely meal. I had smoked salmon with penne, which was very good. Son Tom had tortellini with ham and Tom had risotto with gamberi (shrimp) and asparagus. We shared a panna cotta and a tiramisu.

26 July 2022 Tuesday

Today was a family research day. We drove to Appledore where my mother’s uncle, William Yeo, set up a dry dock when he emigrated from Prince Edward Island in the mid 1850s. He eventually became the town’s largest employer and wealthiest man. He had six daughters and one son, who, sadly, died at age 8. When William died his estate went through probate and his dry dock was purchased by the owner of the near by shipyard, which is currently defunct but there is talk of someone buying the two properties and setting up a Museum. This plan is controversial as the prospective buyer wants to include WWII memorabilia including some German boats.

            William Yeo history

We went to the North Devin Maritime Museum in Appledore, a small, very tidy and very full museum. When I told the two volunteers that I was the great niece of William Yeo they were incredulous which I found a bit hard to believe as I know some of my other cousins have been there.

   North Devon Maritime Museum

The museum is very well done and has some information about William and his successor. It also had a couple of films, one about the construction of the Golden Hind replica which was built in the Appledore boat yard and built as much as possible as it would have been in Elizabethan times. The second film was about the last sailing schooner built in the area, the Kathleen and May. Afterwards we went for a stroll around the town and went past the shipyard and dry dock and had lunch at a fish and chip shop. We tried to take a look at the local church but it was closed. We drove up to the top of the hill where William's home still stands. It is a holiday apartment home now but once a very grand residence, constructed in the Georgian style. At the suggestion of the innkeeper at the Yeo Dale Hotel we went over to Instow to take a look across the bay to Appledore.

   Appledore from Instow

After returning to Barnstaple we had some time and decided to try a Devon cream tea, so we went to a coffee shop and had scones, clotted cream, jam and tea. A regular cream tea would have been much larger and would have included cakes and quiches but we didn’t have the appetite for all of that food.  

We returned to the hotel to relax for a bit, then walked into town for dinner. We stopped at a Nepalese restaurant and had an excellent meal. The Chicken Korma was the best we’ve ever had. We struck up a nice conversation with the owner. It was very pleasant to talk to somebody from a country we know very little about.