Devon - Walks and wildlife

I took a couple of days off in order to relax and to give myself a long weekend just after  my birthday, in mid-october

 I went to Devon, to visit my parents (Prior to the new lockdown starting, and we have formed a support bubble, so all allowed) 

The weather wasn't forecast to be great, but was pretty good when I arrived, so I suggested that we go out that afternoon and we went to the RHS Garden at Rosemoor, to look at all the autumn colours. There  are some formal gardens - the roses are past their best, but the new cool' ( water features, and plants in blues and purples and grey-greens) and 'hot' garden (reds, yellows and oranges) were looking good.

'Red Hot Pokers'

And in addition there is parkland and woodland, and the beginnings of an arboretum.

So of course there are lots of trees and bushes with wonderful foliage.

Acer leaves 

There is a small lake, surrounded by trees.

And    a little lake, and there's a hill with woods. And quite a lot of birds, most of  the ones I saw were robins. We finished up with the kitchen garden, full of ornamental cabbages, and herbs, 

We had a pleasant, if slightly grey and chilly walk.

Then the following day we went out again, this time to Heddon Valley / Heddonmouth, where we walked through the woods and dow to the sea, and saw a seal!

 We spent most of  Sunday indoors cooking stuff  and then eating them, then on Monday, when the weather was starting to deteriorate a bit, we went to Morte Pointe and went for a very windy, bracing walk along the cliffs, 

There were clear views across to Lundy, and we saw 4 or 5 seals; one out on the rocks, and the others swimming and hanging out in the sea nearby. Apparently they're there a lot.

They seem so much more exciting and strange, than seeing 'normal' wildlife like deer and foxes! 

It was wonderful to be able to spend a few days just relaxing, and spending time with family.

A Quiet Weekend

Life has been somewhat stressful recently, and in addition, I do not really approve of the heatwave we have been enduring (or enjoying, depending on your point of view),so I was glad to take a long weekend last week to visit my parents and catch up with some other family members.

Having arranged to spend the weekend at (near) the seaside, it was perhaps inevitable that the weather would break and that 3 out of the 4 days I was there would see torrential rain and passing thunderstorms, and the 4th, intermittent rain.

However, since I was mostly going in order to unwind a little, and see my family, that wasn't too much of an issue! 

My aunt and uncle live near my parents, and it just so happened that they, with both of my cousins on that side of the family, had rented a house on the beach, for a family holiday starting that weekend, so on the Sunday, we went over for lunch and to spend time with them.

The beach is one which we as a family have been going to for years, and the house was literally right on the beach, so we were able to sit out on the patio looking out over the beach, and enjoying fizz and food, and retreat inside every time it started to rain! 

Which was handy.

The younger members of the party (aged 3 to 14) braved the sea and did some body boarding while a rotating selection of parents and cousins supervised them, and the older members of the party paddled and chatted , and a good time was had by all.

The rest of the weekend was very low key, and restful, which was good . I did a lot of very undemanding reading, a little baking, and some high quality lazing around!

And of course, as I drove home, the sun came out again!

Devon, food, family and fun

I've recently got back after spending a long weekend in Devon, with my parents.

Its always nice to see them, and they do live in a lovely part of the country.

As the weekend weather wasn't expected to be very good, we decided to make the most of the better weather on Friday, and went for a bracing walk on the coast path, near Trentishoe.

It was windy, but despite very grey clouds at times, we didn't get rained on (although I did do something painful to my knee which made the last bits of downhill walking were very uncomfortable.)

There weren't a lot of other people around, although we did meet some other walkers...

The following day was rather wet, and we avoided any walking due to my knee, but we did take a trip into Barnstaple, to see the elephant.

Did you know that Barnstaple had an elephant? I didn't. Or, to be more accurate, they have parts of an elephant. It died about 125,000 years ago, and found in 1844, and now its teeth and skull may be found at the museum.

Plus they have a large tissue paper elephant in the stairwell.

The museum also has a small selection of fossils, some taxidermy, and, and some local history stuff, including a couple of adverts relating to a shop owned by one of my ancestors!

Rural North Devon isn't, perhaps, the obvious place to expect to find a Michelin starred restaurant, but The Mason's Arms in Knowstone is just that. 

Apparently, Chef Mark Dodson spent 12 years as Head Chef of Michel Roux’s Waterside Inn, in Bray, before starting his own restaurant, and promptly winning a Michelin star!

As it is only about half an hour away from my parent's home, I suggested to them that we pay it a visit, and we were able to get a last minute reservation. Which was nice :) 

Canapes

 We were tempted with delicious canapes while we waited for our table - little bites of fish eggs and taramasalata (I think) on puffed rice, decorated with petals, and beautiful little duck 'bonbons' with honey.

The meal itself was also lovely. And very pretty. I was sad that we were all too full to eat dessert. Maybe next time.

Arancini with beetroot 3 ways (Starter)

The the following day we got to have some unexpected family time - I'd posted some pictures from our walk, on facebook, and then got a message from my cousin to say she was visiting her parents (who live about 12 miles from mine).

So on Sunday, she came over for a few hours, giving me the chance to meet her daughter (15 months old) for the first time, (and her son for the first time in a while!)  which was a lovely addition to the weekend.  H was very taken with my phone, and took about 40 selfies, mostly of the top of her own head!

We discovered the 40 year old sticklebricks are still highly acceptable entertainment for small people, as are 30-60 year old dinky toys! 3 generations worth of enjoyment of the same toys ins't bad going!

Altogether a fun weekend.

In which I relax a bit

Happily I now have some time off work, and while I've not booked a formal holiday, I had arranged to visit my parents (all planned before their emergency visit to me to hold my hand when I came out of hospital) 

It's been very pleasant.

The weather has been changeable, but when you are mostly just relaxing and hanging out that isn't a major issue.

My mum and I went shopping and found a couple of pairs of shoes and some shirts,  at the local outlet 'village', which was good. (I don't enjoy shopping, so getting my mum to come with me, and finding stuff which is both suitable and reduced, is a big plus for me!) 

Then we met up with my aunt and uncle, and my 2nd cousin who is visiting them while she gets over a fall, and spent an evening with them, with a meal out at a local thai restaurant. Which was very nice.

We then had a full day when the weather was supposed to be good, so we went out for the day to visit Hartland Abbey, which is about an hour's drive from my parent's house,on the coast.

The original abbey has (apart from a few walls and doorways in the basement) mostly gone, but there is a rather nice house, some walled gardens, and a pleasant walk through the woods to the coast.

The place was originally an Abbey, founded in 1157. It was reportedly the last Abbey in England to be dissolved by Henry VIII, and on dissolution he gave the Abbey to one William Abbot, his sergeant of the wine cellar at Hampton Court. The house has never been sold, since, it has always passed down within the same family (several times through marriage in the female line, hence the current occupants are  called Stucley, not Abbot!)

Hartland Abbey

Much of the house is relatively modern, but rather nice for all that! 

We started by walking from the house down to the sea (about 1 mile). The walk was a pleasant one, gently down hill and mostly through woods.

At the end, there is a cottage (Blackpool Mill Cottage) which looks oddly familiar....

It was used as Barton Cottage in the BBCs adaptation of 'Sense and Sensibility', and more recently featured in 'The Night Manager'.  There was however however no sign of Jonathan Pine / Tom Hiddleston or of Mr Willoughby!

Just beyond the cottage is a tiny cliff and steps down to a small, pebbly beach.

We enjoyed sitting in the sunshine looking out over the sea while we ate our picnic lunch, and did go down onto the beach on order to look at the sea properly (I never feel I have been to the sea properly unless I am close enough to be able to paddle should I feel the urge to do so!) 

We then walked back up to go round the house. They don't allow photos inside, but it is quite nice, and obviously still lived in (In the library, there are lots of lovely leather bound books and comfortable-looking chairs, and there is also a large TV and a practical looking drinks tray!).

Down in the basement there are several small exhibitions - one about the 17th C Stukeley who was an antiquarian and who studied the stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury (and sought to prevent their destruction) and others about various martial Stucleys and Stukeleys, and a very small one devoted to the various times when the house, grounds or estate have been used as locations for film and television.

As well as 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'The Night Manager' they have had visits from 'Top Gear' (dropping caravan over the cliffs) and filming for 'The Shell Seekers', and early version of 'Treasure Island' and  others.

We finished our visit with another short walk to the walled gardens -  a mixture of flower and kitchen gardens.

I think that the flower gardens were perhaps past their best , but still very nice - lots of fuchsias, and lots of bees and butterflies - I counted 4 different varieties of bumble bee on one plant!

We finished up by driving a little further down the coast to Hartland Quay.There is no longer a quay there, but there are some rather nice views! (and a pub, which we didn't go into!) 

It was all very pleasant, and I was particularly pleased that I was able to walk to the sea and back, and to and around the gardens, without feeling completely shattered, so I am obviously very nearly back to normal, now!

Easter Weekend

A bit of a belated blog, as I've been under the weather since I returned home, but I'm starting to feel more human again now!

We had a 4 day weekend for Easter, and I decided I needed a relaxing time, so I spent the weekend in Devon, at my parents' home.

It didn't start too well, as apparently the entire population of Britain decided to spend the long weekend in Devon, so the drive down was slow, dark and windy, finishing with following a very nervous caravan-driver, who did't get above 25 mph.!

However, once I arrived,things improved. Living alone as I do, it is always nice to be a guest and to have someone else doing the cooking!

Friday was forecast to have the best weather of the long weekend, so we decided to make the most of it. 

We went to Heddon Valley, and took a 6 mile circular walk to Woody Bay, where the outward leg is mainly along the coast, with spectacular views, and the return leg slightly inland, among woods and gorse.

It was a beautiful bright, sunny day. In fact, so sunny that we even spotted a rather lovely little lizard. 

(I assume it is a Common Lizard, as apparently the only other sort you get in this country are Sand Lizards, which are extremely rare, so it's unlikely to be one of them!)

The trees were still mainly bare, but looked wonderful in the sunshine! 
And we felt we had earned the ice creams we indulged in at the end of the walk!

On the way home we did a detour to Coombe Martin in order for me to go and look at the sea close up (I decided not to paddle. It was a sunny day, but it's still only March!)

Saturday was extremely wet, so we stayed home, and indulged in the traditional family pastime of being sociable by all sitting silently in the same room while we read! And eating, obviously. 

Sunday was  supposed to be wet with sunny intervals, but turned out instead to be sunny with showers, so we were able to go out again - this time to Baggy Point.

Although it wasn't as wet as predicted, it was *very* windy  

It's a shame we hadn't thought to bring a kite!

We started with a steep climb up the hill, then a walk along the cliff path. The wind meant that the waves were big, and even up on the cliff there was lots of salty spray.

 And, of course, at the point when we were furthest from the car (or indeed any other sort of shelter!) the sky turned grey and the heavens opened.

The rain was icy cold and this was the point at which I realised that *my* waterproofs were still in the back of *my* car, back at the house... So I got rather damp. But we huddled in a slightly sheltered dip in the ground and ate mini easter eggs until the worst of the rain passed. And then walked back briskly enough to stay warm and start to dry off!

Then, after a quick picnic in the car, looking out over the sea (except for when we had another shower, when it felt more like being under the sea, watching the water sleet down the windows) we walked down to the shore for a short stroll along the beach, which was looking beautiful, particularly when the sun came out.

It was a lovely, relaxing weekend. I had an equally slow journey home on Monday. (And then immediately came down with a nasty bug, which rather took the shine off the following week, but perhaps it would have been worse had I not just had such a relaxing weekend!

What I Did on My Holidays

I have had some time off, and while I didn't go away on holiday, per se, I did go down to Devon and spent several days at my parents' house.

On one day, when it stopped raining, I went down to Woolacombe and to Barracane Bay.

The sea was flat as a pancake (which didn't stop some hopeful surfers from going in!) and from time to time the sun came out, briefly.

I was able to go for a short walk and enjoyed a picnic sitting on the cliff overlooking the bay. It was a very pleasant, restful day.

My parents came home on Monday, and as it was a grey and drizzly day I wasn't tempted out, so instead I stayed home, and baked, and made dinner, and read.

It was good to catch up with my parents, and we decided, a day or two later, to go to Exmoor Zoo,which is just down the road, and which they'd never visited!

It is small, for a zoo, but seems well kept, and the animals seem content. They have 3 cheetahs, who were fed during our visit.

They also have some penguins, and pelicans (and ducks and seagulls, but I think those are simply opportunistic and not part of the zoo's own complement!

And otters. I do love the otters.

There were also some very dramatic Scarlet Ibises, and a rather bedraggled peacock (I think he had been moulting. His head was beautiful, but he had no tail to speak of. 

There was also a peahen (well, there were several) but one with a single chick; we met them several times as we were walking around, they are not confined at all.

We had an an enjoyable day wandering around, and with it being a greyish weekday there were not too many other people around.

And as well as the days out, I also spent a lot of time pottering around my parents home, reading some of their books, watching their TV and picking runner beans in their garden.

It was a pleasant, low-key way to spend an extended weekend!

A Wet Weekend

I spent this weekend in Devon, at my parent's house (although not actually visiting them, as they are not there) It was relaxing, and I enjoyed the weekend, although I should have liked a little less rain.

On Saturday morning, I went (via a rather roundabout route) to the seaside. The roundabout route was because of one road closure - I knew this, and went so far as to check an actual paper map before setting off. However, I didn't know that there were also some other roads which were also closed but which (presumably because they were smaller roads, and had been closed for ages so anyone relevant, such as local people, already knew about them) there were no signs about. So my journey involved rather more in the way of detours than I'd planned.  But given I had no timetable to stick to  and the scenery is pretty, so it was not really a hardship.

It was a grey day, with intermittent drizzle, but it wasn't too cold, so  enjoyed a walk along the beach.

There were a few surfers (although I think the surf must have been a bit disappointing) but other than the occasional dog-walker I had the beach pretty much to myself.

I spent some time peering into rock-pools, where there were lots of sea-anemones, and snails, and tiny little shrimpy things. I also found lots of shells - tiny, red-gold scallop shells, and mussels, and fingernail shells.

Further down the beach, beyond the rocks, it was sandy, and the lack of people meant that the patterns left by the outgoing tide were undisturbed, and beautiful.

On Sunday, it was much greyer and damper, so I enjoyed a nice long lie-in (It was disappointing not to have my parents there, as usually, when I visit, one of them brings me a cup of tea in the morning, provided I stay in bed long enough)

A little later, when the rain stopped, I went for a walk near the village - it was rather muddy and damp, but very pretty!

I then went through the woods - the path was mostly mud, covered with a thick layer of beech leaves and mast.

There was also the occasional fallen tree, and the woods themselves were a contrast of green and gold and black, as some trees had lost more of their leaves than others.

The walk ended with a climb up a steep, sheep-filled field. Which came as a bit of a surprise to me, as I'd forgotten the last bit of the walk!

And it started to rain once again, just as i got back to the house, which gave me a good excuse for sitting inside and reading Terry Pratchett for a bit, before heading home.

All in all, a very nice, low-key weekend.