Where does the time go?

Where does the time go? I can't believe that nearly a month has passed since Ben and I took the tidal road to Mill Bay. Such busyness betweenwhiles! A couple of weeks ago townie husband and I decided to use our National Trust tickets for possibly the last time this season.

We had some shopping to do in Torquay so called at Coleton Fishacre on the way home. This is one of my favourite properties - it was built in the 1920s when Sir Rupert d'Oyly Carte noticed the beautiful valley whilst sailing between Brixham and Dartmouth. He bought the land and had the house built ... how the other half lived !!!

After parking we strolled down the drive towards the house. I decided not to go inside on this visit as we only had an hour to spare and took a walk around the beautiful gardens which tumble down towards the coastline. This was taken looking down from the rill garden towards the sea.

Beautiful colour from some late summer stragglers.

The trees were beginning to turn and the colours against the deep blue of the sea were wonderful.

This seal is sunning himself - love the little ramp for the pondlife!

The next day was Monday, so back to work - part-time in Kingsbridge for a local charity. After parking the car I discovered I still had my camera in my bag so took these shots of my walk along the harbour to Quay House where I work ..

Looking towards Kingsbridge.

And back the other way. A truly glorious autumn morning.

And working part-time leaves me plenty of time for DevonBears .. busy making lots of stock for the Candlelit Dartmouth weekend in December. Hope to be very busy and sell lots of goodies - fingers crossed - and then the newfies can have new collars, a new stuffie for Ben for Christmas and seasonal delights for husband and daughter too! (That's a lot of cushions to sew and sell!)

Applique cushions.

And a well-organised cupboard - that's the other thing I've been up to - having a good sort and tidy - supervised by the two newfies - and Ben in particular who has been delighted by some of the bits and pieces I've discovered. But that's for another post (maybe!)

Kingsbridge in Bloom

The Quay at Kingsbridge

Over the last few weeks Kingsbridge has been a hive of activity as the town prepared for its 2009 Britain in Bloom entry. There have been a lot of unkind comments about Britain in Bloom over the years, but I think that any initiative which encourages us, as a community, to take a pride in our environment must be positive - whether you're a fan of bedding schemes and hanging baskets or not .... surely they're better than graffitti and litter?

Anyway, lots of teams of volunteers have been spotted weeding, pruning, training and planting all over the town. Local businesses put pots of flowers out each morning and the larger companies have sponsored tubs and other features. Even the W.I. has a boat planted out !!!

And the committee commissioned a beautiful map of the judging route from a local artist ... I think it's great and hope it's used again next year...

And finally ... from my well-thumbed Book of Days - on July29 1907 Robert Baden-Powell took a group of boys to Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, on the south coast of England, for what was effectively the first Scout camp. The aim was to try out some of the ideas that were to become the basic principles and activities of the Scout movement; fostering a sense of honour, loyalty and good citizenship; achieving physical fitness through exercise; and developing practical skills such as woodcraft, tracking, observation, signalling and first aid. The boys were divided into 4 patrols, each assigned a tent for sleeping quarters. Morning prayers were followed by drills, games and instruction, interspersed with quiet rest periods and the day ended with stories around the campfire. The experiment was deemed to be a great success, and Scouting was born.

Just think - if the weather had been as truly awful as it has been today, then the Scouting movement might never have got off the ground, but sunk in the mud instead - just like the poor campers out at Lannacombe.

Across the Tamar!

Yesterday we left the sheltered South Hams behind and drove north keeping the moorland and tors of Dartmoor to our right. We (townie husband and I) had a meeting arranged with our PR lady, Sarah, in Clovelly - and afterwards - dogs away at their favourite kennels - our time was our own! FREEDOMMM!!!

Clovelly was indeed beautiful, but we've visited before, and anyway I think my legs are getting a little too old for hills quite that steep. So we didn't linger, but followed the coast road west into Cornwall, heading for the Rectory Tea Rooms (as recommended by Sarah)

Well, Sarah obviously knows a thing or two about scones is all I can say!! The tearooms themselves occupied part of the ground floor of an old farmhouse and were in a lovely location set back about 500 yds from the cliff top. But, as I'm sure everyone will agree, the test of a good Cornish teashop is its cream tea!

This one did not disappoint! (But should cream or jam be applied first? Who knows? Does it really matter?)

Afterwards a walk was definitely required to burn off at least a few of those calories, so we set off a little way along the coastal path. We could see Lundy Island ...

And then a National Trust sign telling us we were close to "Hawkers Hut." Who or what was hawker we wondered. We postulated about Cornishment looking out for pilchard shoals, but they turned out to be "huers". Had to wait until I got home to discover that the hut was named after the Rev Richard Hawker who became Rector of Morwenstow in 1834 and remained there preaching to the smugglers, dissenters and wreckers of the area for the next 40 years.

But what about the hut? We climbed down to it ...

And husband was persuaded to try out the accommodation. He felt it was a little cramped!

But back to the Rev Hawker. Apparently he was an eccentric who is known to have dressed up as a mermaid and excommunicated his cat for mousing on Sundays. He dressed in claret-coloured coat, blue fisherman's jersey, long sea-boots, a pink brimless hat and a poncho made from a yellow horse blanket, which he claimed was the ancient habit of St Pardarn.

He talked to birds, invited his nine cats into church and kept a huge pig as a pet. (don't see what's so odd about that - after all I keep 2 huge dogs as pets and certainly wore a poncho during my 1970s youth). Apparently he spent a lot of time in his hut contemplating, writing poetry and smoking opium. Wow! Sort of like an early hippy then.

On our way home we stopped for fish and chips in Kingsbridge. We sat on a bench looking over the estuary at the fun fair (it's our carnival this week) and decided to go for a wander round the attractions. The Dodgems were great fun, and I was amused by one booth in particular - I'm going to use this photo to frighten the newfies into good behaviour ...

They too could find themselves hanging by their collars like these stuffed toy dogs - and as for the free puppy if you lose - watch out Ben, or you could be donated !!!!!