The Grand Ol' Duke & Dutchess of Cornwell

Our adventure has taken a turn to the north as we set our GPS for Richmond, a little town just about 30 minute drive north east from Hobart.  Richmond is famous for having the oldest brick bridge in Australia and the oldest Catholic Church. 

 It is like wandering into the past and gave you a glimpse into what life might have been like back in the 1820's.

Check out the ewe-nique shops and how the newer shops are really trying hard to stay up with the changing technology with their new fangled post cards and films!

The first building we popped into was a "Woodcraft Shop".  Now, I can normally resist a wood shop, but something drew me into this one and I've extremely glad it did.  The woman, who when I told her that hers was the best wood shop I'd been into ever, replied "yes, we get that a lot." *confident!*

She had everything from Stirrers to animals to cutting boards to fruit (even oranges with authentic peel!)  

There are 4 types of wood native to Tassie that they use in all their products.

Blackwood, Myrtle, Huon Pine and Sassafras.

I'm not sure how these little guys fitted into the wood theme of the shop, but there was a whole section dedicated to them.  I'm assuming they were made by the lady....... who knew they had made it back into politically correct society?  Welcome back G.

She then told us about when Charles and Camilla came in to visit.  "She was very warm and friendly and she's very pretty.  She just doesn't photograph well.  He just said hello, but she wanted to chat." 
 Camilla bought an small, oval shaped wooden box, and a big box and a pepper grinder!  Charles didn't buy anything.... perhaps he left his wallet in his other trousers?

Right next door to the woodcraft shop was a little slice of history that Jen had been past a few times before, but because she was with my Dad, who isn't into that sort of stuff, had never checked it out...... well, luckily, this time she was with me and I like to look at everything! I made (I can tell you, the arm wasn't too twisted) Jen come with me to walk around a miniature old Hobart town. 

Who's a lucky lady?

Please enjoy little Hobart.........

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Check out the miniature drunk people outside the Hope and Anchor - Hobart's oldest pub.

This is what the pub really looked like back then.  Although, sadly, when we walked past it, it was closed down and all boarded up. 

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This was the gaol, where a chap has waited for the guard to turn around before legging it over the wall.

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They didn't mind a bevy in Old Hobart Town

Jen was trying to work out what the hell she was looking at.

Next was a little walk through the town in search of best scallop pie on the Apple Isle.

This little shop was quite lovely, even if it was in the car park of the petrol station!

Location. Location. Location!  ⬇

Scallop Pie!  

She was jammed packed with mild curried scallopy goodness.

Taste test No. 1 complete.

A little further up the road was the little one street town of Oatlands. The street was lined with gorgeous old buildings.  In fact, it has the most amount of Georgian buildings in one place.

I'm not sure if this one is Georgian, but I loved its quaintness.

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And I do so love a little bit of creativity for the whole town to appreciate.

Last time me Jenny was in Oaklands, she stayed in a lovely B&B and the owners were just getting ready to open a little tea room.  This time it was open and it was only right that we should pay them a visit.

During my last blog, Living The Dream, we had a bit of a rule that to "earn" a scone with jam and cream, we had to face and conquer a fear.  Crossing a rope bridge to get over a crippling fear of falling to your death; climbing a large mountain via hundreds of stairs to push through the desperate fear of your lungs bursting out of your chest, etc..... 
 Face a fear = earn a scone!

But sometimes - a Devonshire Tea is allowed without having faced anything other than your desire to consume jam and cream.

So we make it to our final destination of the day - Ross, a little village about half way between Hobart and Launceston.  We started out this morning with blue skies and a brisk air, but as we drove into Ross,  the temperature plummeted and it started to rain. 

We retreated to the Ross Hotel for dinner where it was "standing room only" and had what can only be described as a less than average meal.  In fact, the best thing about it was that we never have to go back there again.  

It doesn't look like they can afford to be serving terrible food, does it?
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Looking forward to snuggling into the electric blanketed bed at our B&B