Hello Dear Reader,
Dearly Beloved and I have been together for eighteen years but married two years ago. Here’s where I shared my very thrifty wedding with you. There was no decorating or curtain making today.
We went for a day out at Mount Edgecumbe where the house and gardens were open to the public. It is a very affordable day out. The grounds are free and it’s £2 to park all day. We even managed to pass our parking ticket on before we left so someone else got free parking.
The military vehicle trust were having an open day in the park land and that was totally free to go an see. I don’t normally like displays of vehicles but I really enjoyed the history of what some of these vehicles had seen. The owners really get into the spirit and dress up. They are very welcoming and let people and children climb inside the vehicles and have a good look.
Mount Edgecumbe country park is in Cornwall and directly opposite Plymouth on the river that divided the two counties. This wonderful building is the Royal William Yard if you get the chance call into the bakery for a really affordable lunch and coffee. There are all sorts of posh places in there to eat but that humble bakery really is worth the visit.
Here, I’m standing in Cornwall and the opposite side is Devon. Sorry about the light, but the clouds didn’t clear all day and there wasn’t much light.
The garden are just delightful. The park is jointly owned by Plymouth City Council and Cornwall County Council and the house and grounds are a credit to them.
The hedges turn parts of the garden into ‘rooms’ these are great places for children (and Froogs) to play and are full of hiding places. Families come to the grounds, estate and gardens for a day out and bring their dogs, plenty to play with and picnics. If you ever go to Cornwall, then it’s really worth a visit. Other than paying to park, you can have a day out for free.
Me, just playing!
I loved the flowers.
I loved the sense of theatre about today. Here’s a bunch of chaps, who’ve set up camp and are dressed and acting as Germans. They were happily opposite a bunch, dressed up and set up in camp as if they were Americans. It’s a funny hobby but the chaps all seemed to be having a great time. They have original tents, camp beds and equipment including field wood stoves and the smell was really original too.
Their vehicles and below ‘Camp America’. All around were buckets next to displays raising money for Combat Stress and Help for Heroes. With so many visitors, over the last few days, I’m sure they’ve raised plenty of money.
These ladies were so entertaining. We sat outside the ‘tea tent’ with mugs of coffee and listened to them. As I approached, and before I could see them, I was convinced that the music was recorded as it was so good. It was just lovely to take a while over a coffee and listen to the songs of the 40’s
We had a good look around the stalls selling craft items and vintage clothes. I tried to convince Dearly Beloved to try on a Harris Tweed jacket, but he was having none of it!
Normally, the entrance fee to the house is £7 but it was only £3 today so we went in. It’s relatively small but it was great to see inside. We used to travel on the passenger ferry from Plymouth to Cremyll and take the children for a picnic in the grounds when they were young and we lived in Plymouth. We could never afford to look around the house then. It’s open to the public as a wedding venue and I’m sure it’s a lovely place to get married.
Yes, that is a Spitfire behind me!
Days out do not have to be posh, they don’t need a fancy meal in a restaurant and they can be a coffee whilst listening to songs from the 1940’s and walk around a beautiful park with a bit of recent history thrown in.
We came home to some ‘ding cuisine’ of a meal I’d prepared last night.
Oh, and guess what? We’re going out tomorrow as well!
Come back and I will share another thrifty day out with you.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx
Happy anniversary and a lovely way to celebrate.
LikeLike
What a wonderful day out! Happy anniversary!!
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary!! Love the pictures!! Sounds like a fun day!!
LikeLike
Happy anniversary! I met the love of my life seven years ago and we have been together ever since that day. We are getting married on a tiny tiny budget in December. Love is what matters, I've had the big wedding followed by the rubbish marriage and ended up raising my two lovely children virtually solo whilst building a career as a means to their security. Now we have very little materially but we have each other, it's all good!
LikeLike
Aww Happy Anniversary. Your photos are lovely - what a gorgeous day out you've had. My twin sons were born on your wedding day - a very special day indeed. xx
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary, hope you have a lovely day out again tomorrow, x
LikeLike
England is so beautiful. I so want to visit. How can we vacation frugally in the UK?
LikeLike
I will blog this xx
LikeLike
Happy anniversary! So happy that you were able to have a day out celebrating with your dearly beloved. I am looking forward to your posts on frugal vacationing in the UK.
LikeLike
Froogs and DB, happy anniversary and many more years together! 🙂 Your pics were lovely. I'm in the US and have several friends who are military reenactors, as they are called here. One couple does the American Civil War, and another does the Civil War as well as World War II. Very interesting to hear them talk about it. Most definitely NOT a cheap hobby!
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary - lovely gardens
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary. We have only ever celebrated one anniversary, our 25th last January, as it is close by to our eldest sons birthday so tend to be forgotten, especially when he was younger. A picnic or day out like this seems like the perfect celebration to me though.
xx.
LikeLike
This is exactly the kind of day out that myself and Mr Shoestring go for! Happy anniversay!
We had a walk round the beautiful historic Suffolk village of Lavenham with our language students on Saturday, then went for a (home made) picnic in Long Melford down the road on a huge green overlooking Melford Hall. Lovely day out for the price of the diesel and the Aldi picnic. We had another frugal day yesterday, when the two of us used our RHS card to visit Hyde Hall in Essex, not far from us, where they had a big craft fair on. We took a flask but treated ourselves to lunch in the cafe as we had a £5 off when you spend £10 voucher. This was a rare treat!
You are right - you do not have to spend a lot on a day out. We never do.
Jane
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary! I was watching BBC news this morning and there was an article about how expensive it is to keep children entertained during the bank holiday weekend, especially taking them to theme parks etc. They were saying gone are the days when you could send them to the park with a picnic. One thing that was pointed out was the amount of peer pressure on children eg comparing notes about how many holidays they have each year, or where they've been on holiday. Another point raised was that teachers often ask the children to talk about their holidays on returning to the classroom after the summer break (this is something I know you avoid Froogs as you are well aware that many children may not have been anywhere). It is possible to entertain children frugally but it does take strength to do things your own way and not cave in to the pressure of peers and media that entertainment has to be expensive. What a lovely day out you had - I would have enjoyed that too x
LikeLike
Happy anniversary to you both. Thank you for sharing your day with us.
LikeLike
oh I would love a blog post about a frugal vacation in England! Thanks!
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary!
Here in the USA, we have folks who do Revolutionary War and Civil War reenactments. They are always fun to visit.
LikeLike
Happy anniversary!
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary to you both! xx (You ? share the same wedding date with Angela and Bob (Tracing Rainbows blog)
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary to both of you.
xx
LikeLike
I`d recommend self catering rental accommodations or go camping during summer. I`ve done both before and have saved a fair amount that way.
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary.
That looks like a wonderful way to spend it too. I always try and pass on parking tickets if they have a decent amount of time left on them, except at the church in Llandudno, which has a pay and display car park all around the church to raise money for church funds.
LikeLike
Happy anniversary Froogs….looks lovely down your neck of the woods.
LikeLike
Hi Froogs, great pics as usual. X did you know that passing on a pre paid parking ticket is a fraud offence? I know, me neither until I studied law and it was a given example! Can you imagine getting arrested for that? I don't want to see you behind bars! I'm sure the police don't bother with that though but I bet the parking people get the hump. Another one I found unusual was if you put up a poster for something that has been stolen and offer a reward, you cannot put, ” no questions asked” as it's leveraging the course of justice as it flashing your headlights to warn other motorists of a speed camera. Hey ho.
LikeLike
Leveraging should read PEVERTING but the spell check changed it. X
LikeLike
Due to austerity measures and police cuts no one gets arrested any more, the police are too busy doing paper work.
LikeLike
Looks like you had a wonderful day! The pictures & mention of Mount Edgcumbe brought a lump to my throat; I remember going there for a Brownie camp, probably in about 1966! And sitting on the rocks, hugging my knees & just watching the sea, and loving the peace and quiet, which for once wasn't being broken by the huge thumps & clangs from the dockyard.
Was mightily delayed in a journey halfway across Dorset yesterday, by none other than Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard! (A bunch of re-enactors on the way to the Great Dorset Steam Fair in their vintage vehicles.) At least we got a wave from “Captain Mainwaring” when they pulled in to a lay-by to let us all past. Free entertainment, for those of us old enough to remember Dad's Army - but not once they get to the Steam Fair, alas!
LikeLike