I'm back!

Hello, I am back at last from my unintentional break from Blogland. I am not sure what happened but for some reason I completely lost my blogging mojo. I fully intended to catch up with everything over the Summer holiday but it didn't happen and here we are almost at the end of the holiday. I will endeavour to make amends and get back to more regular blogging and catching up with all of your blogs.


So what have I been up to during the Summer? My activities fit neatly into three  categories - holiday, crochet and a day out. There have obviously been other bits in between but that is mainly boring stuff including some days working at school, shopping etc. This post will be about my holiday and I will be back very soon with posts about my crocheting activities and our day out.


We enjoyed a wonderful fortnight in East Devon returning to Brackens, the cottage we have stayed in before. I guess we are creatures of habit and once we find somewhere we enjoy we tend to return. There are many other places we would like to go but for some reason Brackens keeps drawing us back. I cannot believe how quickly the fortnight disappeared, we enjoyed some of our favourite locations and discovered some places new to us. I will show you a few collages of the many photos I took in this beautiful and quiet part of Devon. We were really lucky with the weather only having one day of fairly continuous rain and managed to fit in lots of walking.

Brackens

This first collage is of the cottage we stay in. We love it here as it is so quiet and peaceful and has a beautiful garden which we enjoy relaxing in when we are not out and about.

Budleigh Salterton

The closest location to Brackens is Budleigh Salterton. This place is like something from back in the 1950's, totally unspoilt with a huge pebble beach with the Otter estuary behind. We have seen the sea here in all its moods, from the tranquil to the really rough - it is always beautiful though.

I have already mentioned that we spent a lot of our time walking, on the first Sunday we decided to walk from Brackens to East Budleigh. We have done part of the walk before but have never walked there from Brackens. We couldn't have had a more glorious day and we thoroughly enjoyed the walk and the stunning scenery. I will never tire of the view looking from the top of the hill to East Budleigh and the coast. I was so proud of myself as before when we have attempted this hill I have been puffing and panting whilst climbing to the top. This time I managed without getting out of breath at all - the power of Slimming World and losing over five stone! We enjoyed a lovely roast lunch at the Sir Walter Raleigh before re-tracing our steps back to Brackens.

Exmouth and Orcombe Point

We visited Exmouth on a few occasions. We undertook a walk to Orcombe Point, past the geo-needle and on to Sandy Bay. Again, we had done part of this walk in the past but it was good to walk on further than we have been before. We also caught the ferry from Exmouth over to the other side of the Exe Estuary to Starcross on a couple of occasions and used it as a starting point to walk up the Exe Estuary. The sunsets over the Exe Estuary are something else, part of the joy of being in this part of the world is enjoying the BIG skies and watching the sun go down was wonderful.

Beer

 A trip to Beer with fish and chips on the beach is a must when we are in this part of the world. Even my DH who is not a fan of walking up steep slopes which you cannot avoid in Beer loves it here and was proud of himself for making it to the top of the cliff. I seldom eat fish and chips these days but this is one treat I had been looking forward to, Ducky's, the beach cafe serve the best fish and chips ever. 

Exe Estuary

We visited various parts of the Exe Estuary. There is now a cycle/walk way all around the Exe which makes for ideal walking conditions (as long as you keep alert and listen out for the bikes which whizz past you on occasions). DH and I have come to the conclusion that there are three types of cyclist that use this cycle way - (a) the serious cyclist who is only interested in getting from a to b in the quickest time possible and not really interested in the surroundings, (b) the tourists and holiday makers, who hire or bring bikes with them and pootle along enjoying the scenery and (c) the locals who use it to commute or cycle into town - we had fun trying to guess which category they all fitted into! On our last day we decided to challenge ourselves to do a longer walk than usual so we caught the train from Exmouth to Topsham and walked back along the estuary - we walked about eight miles in total as we took some detours around Topsham which probably doesn't sound a lot to some people but for us these days it was quite an achievement. 

Starcross and Cockwood

The villages of Starcross and Cockwood are on the other side of the Exe, we have driven through these places before and bypassed them on the train but have never actually spent any time there so we decided we would rectify that. It is quite a quick journey to make by catching the ferry from Exmouth. On the first occasion we walked from Starcross to Cockwood and around Cofton Hill with a superb lunch in the Anchor which is said to be haunted before walking back to Starcross. We returned on another day as there were two steam train excursions and DH wanted to photograph the trains at Cockwood Harbour. What a good excuse to enjoy another lunch in the Anchor.

Sidmouth

 Sidmouth is a town we usually pay a visit to when we are in East Devon. A lovely regency town with lots of interesting and unique shops. We always enjoy a visit to the Connaught Gardens up on top of the cliffs above Jacob's Ladder, these gardens are stunning and the tea room there serves wonderful food. If you go there make sure you bring your appetite with you, the slices of cake are huge!

Flora and fauna

Lots of interesting flowers, insects and animals were seen - some more exotic than others! We visited the Otter and Butterfly Farm at Buckfastleigh, I wasn't terribly successful in taking some of the exotic butterflies but managed to capture a few. The otters were just adorable and I would like to make a return visit one day to try and get some more photographs. However, even after seeing the exotics we still enjoyed sitting in the garden watching the native species and capturing various flora when we were out and about.

Quirky!

To round off my holiday photos I thought I would show you some of the quirky sights that we came across. We couldn't believe the pipework on the side of the cottage - obviously done by someone with a sense of humour and too much time on their hands! There was lot of pebble art on Budleigh beach but I think it is the first time I have seen someone create a bus. The washing hung out on the little beach at Lympstone always makes me smile, it was certainly a blowy day and I am sure they have to peg it on firmly to stop it blowing away down the estuary. Finally as we were walking through the village of Exton one day we came across this bronze gorilla, not really what you expect to see in a garden, he was huge.

This has turned into quite a long post so thank you if you have stuck with it to the end. See you again soon.

Somerset Break Part Two

Wednesday: Wow! What a day, lovely weather and spectacular scenery. We drove to Lynmouth via the Porlock toll road (something we haven't done before - we usually go straight up the 1:4 Porlock Hill). 


On arrival in Lynmouth we walked via the harbour to the cliff railway which takes you up to Lynton.

The Rhenish Tower (the only place that was rebuilt after the 1952 floods)

The cliff railway is a water-powered funicular joining the twin towns of Lynmouth an Lynton

The view from the top

The beautiful Lynmouth coastline looking east 

The plan was to walk the cliff path from Lynton to the Valley of the Rocks. The path turned out to be a very narrow vertiginous path with a steep drop to the sea which my DH didn't like at all! Certainly not a path to follow if you suffer from vertigo! However, we did make it to the Valley of the Rocks (we drove through this area last year but didn't have time to stop on that occasion so vowed we would return this year). The Valley of the Rocks is a dry valley that runs parallel to the coast

The narrow path leading into the Valley of the Rocks

Safely off the narrow cliff path we followed the path through the rocks down to the road

Our first sight of the feral goats that live in this area

The goats in their natural habitat

The craggy tor of Rugged Jack

The towering mass of Castle Rock

A few intrepid climbers climbing Rugged Jack

This must be the most scenic cricket ground in the country

A view over the cricket ground with Rugged Jack in the background

We continued walking down the road until we reached a cafe where we sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed some lovely sandwiches before exploring the area around Castle Rock. I did venture onto the cliff path to take some more photos while DH sat safely on a seat and took in the spectacular scenery.

This person is braver than I am, didn't mind the cliff path but I wasn't up for climbing up there!

This place really takes your breath away, we were both blown away by the stunning beauty and atmosphere of this place.


We decided to walk back to Lynton via the road, a less scenic walk, but DH understandably did not want to venture onto the cliff path again.

A final look back to Castle Rock 

On arriving back in Lynmouth we had a quick look around the shops before driving to Watersmeet, another place with stunning scenery. We have been here many times but it keeps drawing us back. 

The old fishing lodge which is now a National Trust shop and cafe

As usual the chaffinches joined us for afternoon tea!

On walking back up the steep path out of the ravine we drove onto the moor on our way back to Blue Anchor where we met some Devonshire Red cattle and some Exmoor ponies. We usually see Highland Cattle in this spot but they were keeping out of sight today.

There are Exmoor ponies in this shot but they are hard to pick out in this photograph taken late afternoon

Thursday: Woke up to a wet start to the day. The rain eased off as we ate breakfast although it remained dull and very mild for the rest of the day. Another morning walk for me down to the beach while DH tackled the washing up!

We then decided to visit Cleeve Abbey at Washford. We have driven by here so many times but have never stopped before. I am not sure why because it turned out to be a fascinating place to visit. Cleeve Abbey is a medieval monastery founded in the late twelfth century as a house for monks of the Cistercian order. The abbey church was destroyed by Henry VIII during the dissolution in 1536 but the cloister buildings, the gatehouse, the 15th century refectory and the monks living quarters have survived remarkably intact. 


A 13th century medieval tiled pavement is in the process of having a roof built over it and will be open to the public next year, something we want to go back and view.

After our visit to this tranquil haven of peace we motored just up the road for our second meal of the holiday at the White Horse.

It was then time to drive to Minehead for a bit of retail therapy and a quick visit to the beach ...

... before returning to the Garden Lodge to relax and continue with my Autumn corner to corner throw.

Friday: Our last full day and we made it Dunster day. Firstly to look around the village with its ancient yarn market and castle ...

... and then onto Nutcombe Bottom where we enjoyed a picnic before embarking on the Tall Trees Trail which contains the tallest tree in England.

The tallest tree in England

DH stood at the bottom of the tree, gives you some idea of the scale

From here we made our way to Dunster Beach and went for a walk around The Hawn (a landlocked freshwater lake) before taking a walk on the beach. The chalets on this beach were built back in the 1920's between the sea and the Hawn and at the time cost £65 (or £75 with a verandah), now they cost nearly 2000 times as much!

Finally yet another meal at the White Horse, oh my goodness the food there was so good. Dreading my next weigh-in at Slimming World!

We so enjoyed our week away in this lovely part of the country. We have been to this area so many times and never tire of it and remarkably after all these years we are still finding new places to explore.

I hope you have enjoyed my Somerset postings (although Lynmouth/Lynton/Valley of the Rocks/Watersmeet are actually across the border in Devon) and I haven't bored you with so many photos - I find it really difficult narrowing down my selection of photos!