We’ve had such a fantastic four days. Does Lundy live up to our expectations? It exceeds everything we could imagine. We suggest you get on the Landmark Trust website now and book, it is that beautiful.
Last year we booked a large property with The Landmark Trust to celebrate our 10th year Anniversary. The Landmark Trust is a British charity dedicated to buy, restore and manage historic buildings of architectural interest such as, castles, temples, monasteries, mills, schools and cottages. Once restored, the Trust rent these buildings and the income generated funds their on-going maintenance and the restoration of other properties.
To celebrate our anniversary, we chose the Cavendish Hall, a Regency country house for up to twelve people in Suffolk. We were going to go for walks, cook and general chill out with our closest friends in the UK. However, when we decided to take this year off, this celebration was no longer viable. We contacted The Landmark Trust. They wouldn’t give us the deposit back but they would allow us to transfer the booking to other properties. Since we decided to start our route in the UK, we thought it would be nice to start our travels in this country by staying in one of these properties.
There were a few available around the country during the last week of September. We liked the idea of Scotland and Wales, but there was nothing of the size suitable. In the end the one place that really appealed to us most was Lundy.
We liked the look of Lundy for many reasons. Its twenty three properties are owned and have been carefully restored and are now run by The Landmark Trust and anyone can rented them out. This means that the permanent habitants, who live on the island – only twenty seven – are employed by the Trust and manage the upkeep of the properties, but most importantly look after the island. The properties accommodate about sixty people and a few more are able to camp or go to the bed and breakfast. This guarantees that the island will never be crowded.
The island has a shop, a farm and a pub (The Tavern). There are no roads, no cars and no pets allowed, the island is the best place for peace, tranquillity and relaxation. However, knowing us, we have relaxed but not precisely by laying down on the sofa, but by being outdoors and walking an average of twelve hours a day. We are actually getting a really nice tan simply by being exposed to the natural elements.
The island is just under five kilometres long and less than a kilometre wide, and for the most part is a plateau set a hundred metres high with steep cliffs with very little access to the sea.The island is all about the weather and the wild life. Many of the animals only exist on Lundy; Soay sheep, Sika deer, the Lundy beetle and its host the Lundy cabbage.
The night before departure we went down to the harbour to check out our boat.
The first thing that caught our attention was a statute erecting by the dock called Verity. The statue is by Damien Hirst.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verity_(sculpture) and
Apparently, this statue represents justice. It is of a a pregnant woman. On the one side, it shows the women, on the other side it shows the internal organs of the woman, including the exposed foetus, the flesh pealing away; impressive. We love both the crudeness and the nature of it. Apparently, the boat coming from Lundy used to get lost when in misty days trying to find the dock but Verity helps them now to find the harbour.
When we got to the harbour side we noticed the lifeboat departing. It headed out towards a boat on the horizon. The boat had smoke pouring from it. The boat looked a lot like the MS Oldenburg, the one due to take us to Lundy the next day. Would we be going at all?
There were many other onlookers to this on-going tragedy. Fortunately it was just a training exercise and we would still be going.
We departed on Saturday, 20th September at 10.00am.
The journey took two hours. Here is our boat approaching the island. The building you see on the top of the cliff was the castle, our accommodation for the following four days.
Once we arrived at Lundy Island, the assistant to the warden was offering a guided walk around the South of the Island. We didn’t hesitate because we wanted to learn more about this lovely island. It was such a beautiful day, the ocean was calm, the waters looked clean, the landscape open and bare.
The plant you see below with yellow flowers is the Lundy cabbage, a species only found on Lundy Island. An edible plant, however highly protected, as two other endemic species of beetles depend upon it. To give you an idea of how important this plant is for the ecosystem of the island, you can be fined up to £5,000 if you get caught cutting, damaging the plant in any way. (It tastes great…..no not really….promise)
Steep cliffs covered in bracken and heather make their way down to the sea.
Looking back towards the jetty with the MS Oldenburg still moored. The jetty is a fairly recent addition. Before visitors had to be bought ashore by rowing a boat.
The island above the jetty is called Rat Island, we will tell you more about our adventures here later. The island used to have many rats which had decimated the shearwater and puffin populations. The rat is now eradicated and the birds populations are growing. Another alien species, the rhodendron is also gradually being removed as it has been threatening the cabbage.
Up until the 1980’s, the island had no accessible road to get the goods transported from the mainland to the village. This was the path they had to use with donkeys.
And here we are up near our castle, some of the outer walls no longer exist.
During the walk, we had many chances to see the animals. All the meat consumed in Lundy is reared on the island. We saw pigs:
And shaggy highland cattle, slightly out of place:
We have included a set of photos of the entire island taking from the Old Light house of the village to give you an idea of the scale of it. Anywhere you stood you could see the end of the island and still not see anyone around. A feeling of isolation and solitude that is difficult to achieve.
Looking northwards, a small landing strip can be seen running diagonally NE.
Looking eastwards towards the farm. Habitation pretty much ended here with only one property past this wall.
The white property can also be rented.
Looking back towards the church.
We were gradually approaching the village, where our walk ended. Surprisingly, although there is no GP and schools, the island still has a church.
The church is still important to the island, because although they have no priest they get a lot of income from visiting bell-ringers. Apparently these campanologists used to be a bit of a problem, ringing all day and late into the night, and being quite rowdy in the tavern. The bells have recently been restored and thankfully the tower has also been sound proofed.
After one hour and half, we arrived at The Tavern to check in and collect information on activities, tours and tide times. Luckily, a snorkelling safari was scheduled for Monday after being suspended for five weeks due to weather conditions so, we signed up for it immediately.
We also enquired about walking routes and whether it was possible to do some climbing at this time of the year, as it may have been prohibited due to bird nesting season. Quite frankly, as the island could be walked in about one hour from North to South, we feared that we were going to run out things to do after the first day. How wrong we were! It was there when we found out about letterboxing, we have dedicated an entire post to describe it and we will post it in the next few days.
Afterwards, we headed to our accommodation: our castle, built by Henry III in 1244, the main building on the island until the late 18th century. Sitting on the top of the cliff to the south of the island, it offers spectacular view of the jetty. Having lived in Dora for a month makes you appreciate small things that you normally take for granted: different rooms destined for different use; a shower where you can move around without knocking the walls; a bed where you can sleep a few centimetres apart from your partner, and in summary, a house where you don’t pump into another person every five seconds.
It is strange what they have decided to retain and renovate. The cottage attached to the side seems a real DIY bodge job, really spoiling the symmetry of the original castle, but still it has been restored.
Our now luxurious kitchen, fully equiped, but was going to get less use than we thought.
And the luxury of a bed that doesn’t feel like a coffin.
Lundy is such a unique an unforgettable experience; a break within our year break. It has also changed our perception of what it could be like living in an island. We had a few reasons to visit it and we now have many more reasons to go back.
SM and GDR
Interesting history about Lundy, It´s one of the best places to get lost, definitly.
The statue scares me…it´s looks like a walking dead figurant 🙂
Yes, you have to go. The statue is really interesting and weird finding it in such a remote place
Bizarrely it would be very difficult to get lost as it is so small. Getting lost from the world though, much easier.
A place to disconnect from the rest of world, I meen 😉
Interesante lo de restauración de castillos , monasterios, escuelas, etc. debemos comentarlo en persona.
Apasionante la isla de Lundy , que tranquilidad debe respirarse en ella.
Relajarse andando doce horas…….. Creo que al terminar se necesitan otras doce para descansar.
El castillo donde se alojaron fantástico, Sana envidia siento.
Un beso.
Tranquilisima. Tenemos que volver
To find a post from you this morning from Lundy was lovely and the island sounds wonderful. Dora must be missing you snuggled up in her but it sounds as though you are relishing the break for a bit. Can’t wait to read more…….