Waterfall, cream tea and birds of prey

Friday morning dawned even more bright and sunny, so another coastal walk on our last day was definitely in order. looking for one with interesting things on the route, we drove to Hartland Quay, at the end of a road to nowhere, and boasting a museum of shipwrecks which we didn't have the to visit. We set off along the coast, this time with a lot more climbing, but again, amazing views of the coast and the rock formations.









It Was as we're we're setting off that I realised I'd lost my walking pole, or rather I'd left it in the pub we'd had lunch in on Wednesday. Think I'm onto my fifth now, I've left them in loads of pubs. Luckily, Stuarts camera monopod made a good substitute, as there was a lot of rough walking, and some steep slopes on the edge where extra balance was needed!





Not sure if I've mentioned this yet, but we have seen loads of buzzards, beautiful birds, and we've seen a couple close up. One on a fence by the side of the road and one in a tree. I've flown them to my wrist when I've tried falconry a couple of times, and they truly are magnificent birds, and they were everywhere this week.

Eventually we reached our coastal destination, Spekes Mill Mouth, and a rather good waterfall.





A good place for a coffee stop, then we cut inland for a while.




Until we reached Duncton Mill, where there is a lovely garden in the grounds of a watermill which the owners have lovingly restored. The tea shop there did delicious lunches and we were joined by the family Labrador who was very quick at spotting dropped crumbs, even from my crab sandwich.We had a walk round the garden:











And then found ourselves back at the the shop for a cream tea. Well, we had been in Devon a week and not had one!





We decided not to complete a circular route which would have involved some road walking, but make the most of the weather and the coastal,views and walk back the way we'd come. When we got almost back to the coast we watched a kestrel in the sky, very different action to the buzzards. A few minutes later we went round a corner, and there it was, sat in a pole in front of us. It didn't really want its picture taken, keeping its head firmly turned away, and flying off when we got too close, but it was great to see it so close up.




A couple of miles walk back along the coast, in fantastic weather and we were back at the car. A short drive back, and a cocktail before dinner. We also saw our favourite peacock in his tree.





We ate in the restaurant again, and the following morning we were up bright and early for the journey back. Well, maybe not very bright, and not really early!

The satnav was estimating just over 5 hours back, and we decided to do as much as we could before stopping, and did about 3 hours. I don't like service stations, so a quick look at my National Trust App found Hanbury Hall, just 4 miles off the M42. We stopped there, did a bit of shopping, had a walk round the gardens, and lunch.




Two hours later we were back in Sheffield, with just enough time to unpack the car, have a rest, and get to the Saffron Club for a curry. An amazing week, with weather that we just weren't expecting in March.


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Tiny Tim and Surfing

On Thursday morning our friends were leaving us for the train journey back to Sheffield, so we drove them to Barnstaple station and dropped them off. From there we went to Arlington Court, a National Trust property. A very fine house, huge gardens and woodlands, and the National Carriage Museum.




We walked up to the museum, which I suppose is interesting in a funny sort of way! There was a very fine coach on display which was thenSpeakers State Coach, all painted and gold everywhere, but we weren't allowed to take photos of it by order of parliament!
Whilst we were there, there was a harnessing demonstration. Now, this didn't sound too exciting, but it was fascinating. The women who gave it was excellent, explaining everything about how horses pull carriages, and how the harness etc work, but the star of the show was the horse. A huge, beautiful grey horse, I can't remember what breed, but I know it was European and bred for temperament, called Tiny Tim, slightly inappropriate given his size, but shortened to Timmy, he was lovely. got so bored during the demonstration he went to sleep, and only woke up when he heard the applause because he knew that's when he got patted and stroked by the audience.



There were plenty of woodland walks, and we went on a short one down past a lake into a valley, and back up to the house, past a haha, and to a very old oak tree that would have been mature when the house was built. Many hundreds of years old, it was now dying, but was still providing a habitat to bugs, fungi and birds.




Then we went round the house, which was lovely, and I'm now looking at things like furniture and decoration for when I start furnishing my dolls house.




After Arlington, we drove along to coast,to Westward Ho! Only because I wanted to visit the only place in the UK where a punctuation mark is really a part of a town name. By then it was getting cloudy, and it was quite chilly when we got there. Not much to see, I always think seaside towns look a little sad out of season when everything's boarded up. There was a huge beach though.



It's also very popular with suffers, and we watched a couple for a while, there were some fairly big waves, and they seemed to be having a good time. Looks like hard work, and cold, to me!




A short drive back, and a night in again. Here's our little holiday place, with a blurred Stuart.




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Bude, coast and canal

Wednesday we went on a walk I'd planned. I'd wanted to make the most of walking on the coastal path whilst we were in Devon, but it's often difficult to find a circular walk, but found one starting from Bude. Bude is a lovely little seaside and fishing town with a canal that enters the sea though a sea lock. After a coffee at a canal-side coffee shop, ( we like a coffee before setting off on a walk), we walked along the canal to the sea. I don't think I've seen a sea lock before.






Then a climb up onto the cliff top where we had some lovely views of Bude and the coast. It was about a 3 mile walk, staying on the coastal path all of the time, but not too close to the edge, I'm not too keen on sheer drops too close to me! Gradually the sun came out, coats came off and we had a glorious walk.










You never quite know what you're going to find on a walk, and in the middle of nowhere on the coastal path we came across a wheelbarrow of second hand books, with an honesty box for donations.





Eventually our designation, Widemouth Bay came into view, and we made for a pub, obviously.




We were pleasantly surprised to find fish finger sandwiches on the menu, which went down very well with a pint for lunch.





After lunch we cut inland till we reached the canal, then it was a very pleasant stroll back along the canal towpath, past a number of locks, and in lovely sunshine, spotting birds and wild spring flowers.





It was about another 3 miles back, so a good 6 mile walk in all, and we were ready for a quick stop at a pub before getting back.
We decided to be self sufficient for dinner, and had a relaxing evening in eating Spag Bol and watching The Apprentice.

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Rosemoor and Dartington

Tuesday we went to Rosemoor RHS Garden. We're all RHS members, and it was only 20 minutes away. Lovely garden, full of spring flowers, hellebores, magnolias, bog plants and a lovely woodland walk. We also walked round the arboretum, but there's not really much to see when the trees aren't in leaf!

As usual there was a nice tea room, so we had a lovely lunch of sandwiches, salads, soup, beer and wine, not all of us had everything!

In the afternoon we went to Dartington Glass Factory. I've been a few times before, and it never fails to fascinate me. Everything is hand made in the blowing room - glasses, jugs, decanters, vases. A team of guys (I've yet to see female glass blower - wonder why?) work in groups of about 6, each with a different task. The master blower is in charge, and does the most complex work, others add handles, lips etc. It's great team work and very skilled. I'm amazed no-one gets burnt - there's several furnaces, lots of hot glass being passed around, and it's very hot.

Afterwards chance for some retail therapy in the factory shop where you can pick up some great bargains.

When we got back, we were pleased to see the peacock displaying himself to a nearby peahen - very impressive, but she was completely uninterested!

Later as we came back from the local pub, we were surprised to see him roosting quite high in a tree - can you spot him?

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The Eden Project

On Monday we drove south into Cornwall to The Eden Project. it's somewhere I've always wanted to visit since hearing its founder Tim Smit speak at a UCISA conference a few years ago.

I have to say, I found the whole place stunning. The first view you get of the huge bio-domes set in a chalk quarry made me go Wow! Much bigger than I'd expected.

After walking down into the site we went for a coffee between the biodomes. Lovely restaurant, you cam see all the food being prepared, and the payment system is based on trust. You take what you want, remember what you've had and pay on your way out.

We went in the rain forest bio dome first. It felt very hot as we got in, and got hotter as we went up, I think it reached about 35 degrees. Exotic plants, lizards, streams, waterfalls, ponds, lots of information, it was a great experience. Bit odd to see a Robin on a banana plant - he must have been hot!

 Bit difficult to describe how exotic it was, so here are some photos:

After about an hour in there we visited the Mediterranean bidome. Funnily enough it felt really cold at first! We had a sit down and lunch in there where they serve good Mediterranean food. We had spicy chickpea stew with huge hunks of bread, polenta coated mackerel and a nice bottle of chilled white wine.

Then a walk round. Again, superbly done and best demonstrated with a couple of pictures.

There's an outdoor area as well featuring spring flowers, vegetables - some of them in interesting planters:

Various sculptures, a WEE man:

 and some lovely walks.

Well,worth a day out, especially as you only pay once for a years entry. Trouble is, it's a bit far from Sheffield!

Our friends Andrea and Donald came back with us into Devon to stay for a we days, and when we got back we found a peahen and two peababies at the window waiting for their grapes. Daddy must have told them!

We ate out in the local restaurant again, and I had a saladette to start. The name amused me! Spinach leaves, croutons, lardons and a poached egg. Lovely. Followed by a lamb steak on a risotto with sherry sauce and a very decadent strawberry shortcake, I completely forgot I was supposed to be on a diet!



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Holiday in Devon

Just got back from a week in Devon - almost no mobile phone signal at all, and very dodgy wireless, so couldn't post to the blog daily as I normally do - it's had to wait till I got back, so here goes with first installment. Saturday we set off from Celtic Manor, drove over Severn Bridge which I've never seen before - beautiful design. Amused that there's only a toll on one side of it, so you pay to get into Wales, but can get out for free!  Stopped at Barnstable to get some shopping, and then to Bideford for lunch. Found a pub by the banks of the river in Bideford which is a lovely little town.  Got to Woodford Bridge around 3, and checked into our small cottage, right at the top of the complex with great views over the fields. After 4 nights of eating out, I didn't fancy another restaurant meal so we unpacked, cooked a nice meal, and stayed in for the evening. It was bliss!

Sunday woke up to a lovely sunny day, and drove to Hartland Point, the furthest North West point in North Devon. There's a coastguard station and lighthouse, and we walked along the coast with some stunning views, including Lundy Island.

 Completed a nice circular walk by cutting inland down a lane. On the drive back from the point we spotted a National Trust sign and stopped to investigate. It was a working farm, East Titchberry Farm, a lovely thatched building with some ducks on the roof courtesy of the thatcher.

Then we drove into the village of Hartland, as it was getting dangerously close to 2 o'clock and we were both hungry. We'd also forgotten it was Mother's Day, so the local pub was busy, but luckily they squeezed us in for a lightish lunch (seabass for Stu and risotto for me). 

Then we went to Hartland Abbey which I'd spotted a sign to. We had a lovely walk round the gardens - the clematis and magnolia were out together with a whole host of spring bulbs and hellebores.  There was a lovely restored Victorian garden which you reached down a wooded lane, and a bog garden. Bright sunshine as well. We almost went on a newly opened circular walk to the beach, but it was getting late by then, so we drove back.



One of the peacocks decided to pay us a visit and Stu fed him grapes. He liked them so much he jumped up onto the wall next to me which was a bit of a shock!  They're quite big birds close up.

Then, about half an hour later we heard tapping on the window, and there he was again, demanding more grapes!

We had dinner in the restaurant, which was packed for Mother's Day, but the food was good. Great day - just pottering around doing things on the spur of the moment.