At first sight, I thought this was a guinea pig but it is actually a common degu which are native to Chile.
This was definitely a guinea pig!
These are Baldwen Welsh Mountain Sheep.
The aptly-named Pot-Bellied Pig is from Vietnam.
A Golden Guernsey Goat
This duck with the interesting hairstyle is a Miniature Crested Silver Appleyard Duck
Oscar, the White-Faced Scops Owl
For our return trip, a different engine hauled the train.
There were more tortoises at the butterfly farm than I had ever seen together before!
It was only the beginning of butterfly season so there were not a great number for us to see. Those which were there were lovely!
These two had just emerged from a chrysalis. The metamorphic process from caterpillar to butterfly is really quite mind-blowing!
The otters had just been fed so they were not very active.
Our next stop was Buckfast Abbey.
Unlike most of the abbeys and monasteries in England, this one
is a going concern. Like the others, it had been largely
destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry
VIII but this one has been rebuilt from 1882 when the site was
purchased by a group of French Benedictine monks. The church is
beautiful as are its surroundings. There is a conference centre
and tea rooms. I enjoyed some broccoli and stilton soup at a
very reasonable price. The Abbey Church was consecrated in 1932
and the building of other edifices has continued to the present
day.
The large organ is mostly at the rear of the church but there are also pipes in the archways above the monks' stalls.
That's quite an organ - I would have loved to try it out!
Looking up to the tower
This chapel is located behind the high altar.
This little Methodist Church is now surrounded by the Roman Catholic Abbey. I wonder what its founders would have thought of that!
The large organ is mostly at the rear of the church but there are also pipes in the archways above the monks' stalls.
That's quite an organ - I would have loved to try it out!
Looking up to the tower
This chapel is located behind the high altar.
This little Methodist Church is now surrounded by the Roman Catholic Abbey. I wonder what its founders would have thought of that!
We arrived safely at our accommodation in
Truro with comfortable time to locate St George's Church
where we attended the Easter Vigil Service. St George's is a
lovely building but it has a very small congregation.
Although there is a pipe organ, there is no choir or
organist so the music was all played over their sound
system. This was not always entirely error free!
After a very nice meal at the Wig &
Pen pub, we returned to our accommodation.