Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Gloucester and a Beatles Pilgrimage in Liverpool

Leaving Cornwall we drove through scenic Exmoor National Park. We spent the night at a very pleasant farm campground, Leeford Farm. These farm campgrounds have been great places to stay with our Crampervan. All we need at night is a flat bit of land and bathroom facilities. Traditional caravan parks often have more than we need and cost around £50 or more. Farms campgrounds cost around £10 per night. The farmer simply uses one of his paddocks for a campsite and provides modest but adequate bathroom and washing up facilities. These arrangements are a great money earner for farmers during the summer months and give families affordable camping holidays. The farms are working concerns and give kids (and me) a great opportunity to see livestock and husbandry at work.

Leeford Farm

The next day we drove to Gloucester to have a quick look at the cathedral. This beautiful Gothic building has an amazing history. The site started as an abbey in 678-9 and through the centuries was a Benedictine abbey, a Norman abbey and then after the dissolution of abbeys by Henry VIII became the Gloucester Cathedral. Over 1300 years, the history has been preserved and the names of the heads of the abbey/cathedral listed on a plaque in the church - An amazing continuity. Today the cathedral has also been the used as the set for many movie and TV productions, including three Harry Potter films.

Gloucester Cathedral

The corridors used in the Harry Potter films

The history over the centuries

The next stop was Liverpool for our Beatles pilgrimage. The drive from Gloucester to Liverpool took a lot longer than we expected so we did not reach our destination until late afternoon. We Googled the childhood homes of each of the Beatles and marked them on our GPS. Our first stop was John Lennon’s house. This was quite a nice house in a leafy neighbourhood with wide tree-lined boulevards. The neighbourhood we came through approaching Lennon’s house was extremely posh with large free standing houses. This was not the Liverpool I was expecting.

John Lennon's house

View from the front gate

Paul McCartney’s childhood home was next on the list about 2 km away. Paul’s house was a bit more modest but still in an area of wide boulevards.

Paul McCartney's house

The street

Moving northwest through the suburbs towards the city center and docklands, we came to George Harrison’s house, a modest two up two down terrace house. He had lived here until he was 7 years old and then moved to a council estate.

George Harrison's childhood home

The no-through street

Ringo’s house was quite modest, although tarted up a bit now, but one could see why he had a sickly childhood. We got to chatting to one of the neighbours who knew Ringo’s mother when she still lived there. But most of our conversation was about her upcoming holiday to Marmaris, Turkey. We exchanged ideas about what to see and do and assured her she would have a great time. At the end of the conversation she gave us a big hug. They are very friendly in Liverpool.

Ringo Starr's home and street (pink and white house)

It was really interesting to see these childhood homes and imagine how the Fab Four grew up. There were blue plaques on John and Paul's homes only. Growing up in post war Liverpool would not have been easy for any of them.

We quickly drove through the docklands and city centre of Liverpool. There is some renovations going on but the Liverpool of the working class battlers was more evident here. Sadly a much too brief visit to Mersey side.