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If you were going to recommend one place for your fellow HumbleDollar readers to visit—a city, a town, a park, a museum, a church, you name it—what would it be and why? No, the place doesn’t have to be outside the U.S. and, no, there are no points for picking something nobody’s ever heard of.
I’ll go first. But contrary to what I just wrote, it is a place outside the U.S. and it’s not well known.
When my maternal grandparents retired in the 1960s, they moved to a hamlet roughly half a mile from England’s Devon coast. On the coast itself is an old fishing and smuggling village called Hope Cove. To my mind, there’s no more beautiful place in the world, with spectacular walks along breathtaking cliffs, lush green fields, and charming country lanes bordered by high hedges teeming with life and often offering wild blackberries. My family has been visiting the area regularly for almost six decades, and my parents for a few years owned a holiday house in Hope.
Today, there isn’t much fishing in Hope Cove, though a few old timers still head out regularly to check their lobster traps. Instead, tourism is the village’s stock in trade and, indeed, most of the homes are second residences. But I can still recall when Hope Cove was less discovered and harkened back to an earlier way of life, with a cast of characters worthy of a 19th century novel. For instance, as a child, I remember meeting Sean, with his thick Irish brogue, who could often be found drinking a pint at the Hope & Anchor. My grandfather told me Sean took work wherever he could find it, and each night would make his bed in some friendly farmer’s hay loft. That, of course, sounds charming, but I imagine it was a hard life and that Sean had mental health issues beyond the grasp of my younger self.
If my health allows, I’d love to get back to Hope Cove one last time. It’s not an easy trip. From London’s Paddington Station, you need to take a train to Totnes, and then get a taxi for the 19-mile drive to Hope. That drive can take close to an hour, with narrow winding roads. A final stretch involves a single-lane road where cars have to pull into passing places to let ongoing traffic get by. More than once, I’ve spent five minutes stuck on that road, while a sea of sheep are driven up the lane to their next grazing spot.
Now, it’s your turn: What place would you suggest to readers—and why?
I’ve been blessed to see a lot of the world in my travels, but there is something about going back to the Smoky Mountains in the fall that always feels different.
The air is cooler, the colors are deeper, and life seems to slow down just enough to remind me what peace feels like. It’s not just the scenery, although the mountains are hard to beat. It’s the feeling of returning to a place that settles my mind, quiets the noise, and reminds me of the simple things I love most.
No matter where I’ve been, the Smokies in the fall always feel like coming home.
I was just speaking with good friends who are leaving soon for a tour of Devon and Cornwall. Talking about their trip made me think of this article Jonathan wrote almost 2 years ago. It was a pleasant memory. I hope I get to Hope Cove someday.
I would suggest, if you have time, to visit the Azores. A true hidden gem of stunning vistas, it is a group of 9 islands in the Atlantic ocean, 4 hrs due East of Boston and 4 hrs due south of Portugal. About where these two lines cross on a map lies The Azores. It is wildly green with trees of different leaf structures than those found in other countries, but that is not all, though their botanical wonders will surprise you. It is a relaxed country adventure, best experienced by driving around each island.If pressed for time, I would suggest that you start with Sao Miguel, the largest of the 9, to take in the sites and experiences. Sao Miguel has enough ecological diversity to seem that you have traveled to several islands in one. The Azores is a quiet country, few tourists, as I remember, so it was easy to get a sense of the islands as they are. The Azores is built on lava, which is ubiquitous and has a proud beauty. If the Lava Tube on Pico Island is still open, please do make the journey to visit it. I have visited several lava tubes in various countries and this one, by far, is the best, most natural, most moving especially if you get the chance to turn your headlights off and sit in the dense universal dark and quiet for a moment of transcendent sensation. There is plenty of information on the internet about excursions to the Azores, though you could easily plan your trip yourself.
In a different vane: the Jello museum in upstate NY is an unknown gem.