Wednesday 17 August 2016

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.

19 comments:

  1. Absolutely glorious photos, I could almost hear the river and the wind rustling through the hedgerows. I look forward to some more.

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  2. We didn't want to come home, truth be told!

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  3. Love Dartmoor, always seemed to be wet or foggy when we were there so its good to see it in sunshine.

    Not sure about the pottery though

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    1. We're lucky and usually seem to be there when it is dry (and sunny too).

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  4. Sounds like a really lovely break BB - and driving through Dartmoor must have been a bonus - was the heather out?

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  5. There was some heather and ling out, but gosh, there were ACRES of gold from the nibbled-low gorse.

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  6. We stayed at Buckfastleigh many years ago just one night passing through, your photos show the real quaintness of the area

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  7. I loved the houses "out the back" - very peaceful and colourful with flowers.

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  8. Lovely memories for me - I used to live in a little Dartmoor village and regularly walked there with my Border Collie. He particularly loved getting in the water, leats, streams, puddles . . .

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  9. Lovely memories for me - I used to live in a little Dartmoor village and regularly walked there with my Border Collie. He particularly loved getting in the water, leats, streams, puddles . . .

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    1. I hope I didn't make you too homesick Rambler. I had to be dragged away - I really DIDN'T want to leave (I never do).

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  10. More of our favourite places! We stopped at Postbridge on our way to Cornwall last summer and took photos of the Clapper bridge. No wonder you are still hankering to move down towards Dartmoor. Its is hard to beat.

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    1. We always used to take the children there when we holidayed down there. Happy memories.

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  12. What beautiful photos. I would not want to come back.
    The photo of the bridge arch with the river is so wonderful.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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    1. Indeed, I did NOT want to come back! That photo turned out quite well didn't it?

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  13. what a lot of lovely photos. I have never been to that car boot at Cheddar, althoug it's very near here. I hope you had a refreshing break and feel restored.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the photos Kath. It's a HUGE car boot sale and worth checking out. We came home exhausted, as we packed a lot in and the journey home was a nightmare traffic-wise, but it was worth it!

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  14. Buckfastleigh look the sort of place I'd love to explore. I followed the link to the potter, she does some lovely pieces - love the plate with the owl on it.

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