Some Dartmoor air - part 1

Sunday morning began with   a three hour trawl of the huge car boot sale at Cheddar first thing - we arrived there  at 6.10 a.m)   We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, though towards the end we were flagging rather as breakfast had been a cup of tea and a piece of fruit.  We got some stock and I found a lovely old and early Torquay pot for my collection.

We spent the night in pub B&B in Buckfastleigh.  We hadn't realized that very few pubs did food on a Sunday evening because the poor chef was still recovering from doing the Sunday Carvery at lunchtime, which has become a feature in most pubs.  So there was no-where in the bit of Buckfastleigh we were that was doing food, and no way could I persuade my dear husband to have a Chinese takeaway!  The Abbey Inn was recommended to us so we drove the mile or to to that, and had a really good meal - my steak and ale pie was as good as I would make!  OH opted for ham, egg and chips and the ham was proper gammon ham off the bone, not "pink plastic" stuff!

We had a stroll around the town to walk off our meal.  The bunting made it look in real party mood!

Above and below - prettyness behind the scenes!  This courtyard was where they did cream teas.

A final behind-the-scenes glimpse.

On Monday morning (our last day of our short break), we headed up to the moor.  Of course, it was impossible NOT to stop for photo opportunities!

Above is what remains of the old Powder Mills, near Postbridge.  I will look up the history later on and add it to this post.  We stopped at the cottages nearby, as there was a Pottery there I wanted to visit, and - encouraged by my husband - I bought a gorgeous tankard with owls on it.  The artist was Carole Glover - please visit the link to see what she does.  We would like some more pieces of her work - we both fell in love with the huge charger (plate) but that was £275, so beyond our current means!

We also had a fascinating chat with the owner of the pottery and adjoining bunkhouse, Joss Hibbs, and talked about Dartmoor hill ponies and what colour the Dartmoor ponies are meant to be, historically!

Then down the road to Postbridge.  Here is the modern bridge across the East Dart river, and below, is the old Medieval clapper bridge.  There is another clapper bridge quite close to the Powdermills, so we will seek that out next time.

A few more photos tomorrow.  I need to take advantage of the sunshine and do a tidy up in the garden now.