Grandma Sharon came to visit us just before Easter weekend. After a long trip to London where she ended up sleeping in the Chicago airport, she finally arrived and we wisked her away a day later to the west coast of England - the Devon/Cornwall area. We took a train to Exeter from London. Little did we know, we were in store for some of the worst weather to hit England over Easter for the last 25 years. Here is a picture of a newspaper headline with a picture of a huge wave (did I mention we went to the coast?). Here are Ethan and Grandma on the subway on our way to the train station.

After arriving in Exeter, we picked up our rental car and headed for Dartmouth a beautiful seaside port town along an area know as the "English Riveria." Of course, we took a car ferry and headed straight for the ruins of Dartmouth Castle. Here are some shots of rock collecting on the rocky beach near the castle.

Don't be fooled by the big smiles - it was freezing cold with gale force wind.

Here are Grandma and Ethan with Dartmouth Castle in the background.

After visiting Dartmouth, we headed for Lydford a tiny village in the Dartmoor Forest. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that was a real working farm. Here are some shots of the farm animals.

Lydford village has a castle used as a prison. The owners of the bed and breakfast told us that they used to do the hanging in the morning and the hearing in the afternoon.

Lydford is also home to a beautiful gorge and 100 ft. waterfall which we took a short hike to see.

After our visit to Lydford, we headed to Launceston a cute village in Devon also home to Launceston Castle pictured below. We had a few snow flurries while visiting the castle. After lunch of a Cornish Pasty, we headed to Tintagel in Cornwall where we would spend the next few nights.

We checked into our bed and breakfast at Tintagel and headed straight for the castle. As we approached the castle on the short trail the wind was extremely strong and very cold. When we arrived at the castle perched on a rocky cliff over the coast, we saw the crashing waves. Here they are ...

The waves were so strong in fact that we were not able to see the castle that day, because the walkway to the cliff was closed because of the wind. By the last day of the trip, we were finally able to view the castle (in the rain). Here is Tingagel Castle.

On Easter, the Easter Bunny visited Ethan and left a trail of eggs in the B&B. He also left a bag full of toys and candy! Here he is with his Easter basket.

After breakfast on Easter, we headed to the SW tip of Cornwall outside of Penzance to go to St. Michael's Mount. A beautiful castle located on an island surrounded by beautiful blue seas.

Later that day we visited an iron age village (Chysauster Village) and several standing stone sites. Here is Chysauster Village -

Here are the Lanyon Quoit Stones.

Here are the Men An Tol Stones.

Here are a few other shots from Easter weekend - Ethan in bubble bath and with Paddington Bear at Paddington Station in London.