Tuesday 27 August 2013

A stroll round Totnes


Totnes has an array of wonderful shop displays and I couldn't resist this one!  Sad to say, the two luscious cakes in the centre are mock-ups of ones which can be provided for special occasions. I feel hungry just looking at them!


As we walked around, I was soon suffering from hanging basket envy . . . (mine here are small and pathetic!)


It was difficult to take a photo of this beautiful building without including a huge stack of BINS.


This little pub at the bottom of the High Street used to be run (in Victorian times) by an ancestor of mine.  In one of the census enumerations, he - having married for the 3rd (or 4th?) time, a lass VERY much younger than him, and he was a father (yet again) in his early 80s!  Must be something in the water . . .


A little street winding out of view.


And another . . .


Through a doorway . . .


Behind bars - the famous Cat Prisoner of Totnes!


One of the few unchanged shops.  I think one of the photos I have of my Gran Bow, she was standing just outside this shop in the 1920s (only then it had a big clock suspended from the corner of the building.)


Window-shopping in the Vintage shop.


A splendid Arabian enhanced the corner of one shop window.


We walked down to see if the castle was open in the evening, but sadly no, so I made do with this photo instead. . .


Splendid hanging baskets on the back of the Dartmouth Inn.


Here's the front of the inn - at the end of the Victorian period, my g. grandfather was the publican here. We went in for a drink, to try and get a feel for the place, but I think it has been very much altered (opened out inside) since his time.


Lastly, looking down across the town and The Plains from the shadow of the East Gate arch.  We were sad to leave.

4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful place to visit AND have all the fun of knowing where your ancestors lived! Do you still have relatives in the area? Jx

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  2. Hi Jan - I expect I have dozens and dozens, through different marriages and bloodlines, but I am only in touch with one on the Bow side of the family and was in touch with my rare Bondstow relative (a dieing name). I need to check out the Browns (he with 14 kids or so), and the Rogers, and the Knapmans . . .

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  3. I've never been to Forbes, it looks a really nice place and lovely to have all those family connections with it. Bins in photos of buildings are one of the band's of my photographic life!! I always seem to visit places the day the bins are emptied so everyone has them out at the front!

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  4. This was fun. We went to Totnes last year and I was very interested to see that you and I photographed different things, except that adorable yellow cottage.
    It must have been a lovely feeling to stand outside that little pub and know your family connections.

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