The last two days have been a pleasant series of surprises, unexpected finds, and contrasts within a very few miles.

The drive up from St Helen’s on the east coast to Launceston took us down a stunning valley to find a dairy and cheese factory. Turned out the dairy was closed, but we found the most spectacular walk and waterfall at the end of the valley, then a pub in a paddock with a beer drinking pig !

While we didn’t get the cheese toastie we’d been looking forward to at the dairy, we got a really good and simple ham, cheese and tomato toastie with a cider at the pub.

Then a quick stop at a village, where the trees planted as a memorial to the soldiers who passed away in the First World War started dying. The villagers raised the funds to get the trees safely felled, and the stumps carved with a chainsaw into the figures if the deceased. Left a beautiful memorial behind.

Launceston, despite a gloomy and boring first impression from our hotel room, turned out to be a lovely small city. There isn’t a lot of money in the area, which has meant that many of the old buildings are still in place and used. There’s a very British feel, no doubt helped by the fog in the morning.

Then walking into the park and finding macaque monkeys, really not expected !

Only just over 1km from the city centre if Launceston, is Cataract Gorge and a lovely place to wander for an afternoon.

Add to the variety of city and gorge, one of the best Chinese meals I’ve ever had, a very friendly hotel dog called Archie ( who loved Andy) and a great little breakfast cafe, and Launceston is somewhere we will definitely revisit.

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