A house modelled on Idle Tom’s hair …
By a bizarre quirk, I visited a place at the weekend which is shaped exactly like the hairstyle of Idle Tom the publisher.
That could, as it happens, have been any number of things from a hedge (dragged through backwards), to a Carmen Miranda.
But actually, I was staying in a Pineapple. In fact, not just "a" pineapple, but THE Pineapple. Almost certainly the world’s largest pineapple - maybe ten metres high, 250 years old, and very eye-catching indeed.
Check it out …
The story goes that when sailors retired from the Caribbean, they would carve a pineapple into their gatepost. And the admiral of the fleet, when he came to hang up his telescope, carved himself a monumental pineapple out of stone. (That’s only one version, by the way; there are plenty of other stories about how this magnificent folly came to be built.)
The Pineapple is one of over 200 properties that is run by one of my all-time favourite charities, The Landmark Trust. Far more exciting than the boring old National Trust.
You don’t just go and visit these properties before having your tea and scone and buying your jar of honey.
No, all Landmark properties can be rented out by the week. My tip of the week: Check out the Landmark Trust.
And the best thing is they don’t have any TVs.
The brochure’s so extraordinary, it’s worth buying even if you’re not planning to stay …
