I can't believe how much we've done in the last 24 hours. right after school on Friday, my aunt and I met at the car hire agency, and headed for Devon, to explore the land of our 500 year-ago ancestors.
I was incredibly surprised at how comfortable I felt sliding behind the wheel. Especially considering I have not driven in 8 months, and the last time I did, I white-knuckled it down the "wrong" side of the road.
First adventure... I surprised my aunt with Stonehenge. It sits majestically right beside the carriage way. The grey, drizzly sky was the perfect backdrop.
This morning, we got up early and saw our working farm B&B in full daylight. Gorgeous. We could smell bacon wafting upstairs, which made me think of mornings visiting my grandparents on Saltspring Island.
After breakfast we headed for Dartmoor to follow in Sherlock Holmes' footsteps. We rounded a bend up on the moor, parked the car, and hiked up to what turned out NOT to be Hound Tor, the inspiration for Sir Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Oh. Back in the car, and on again.
We had lunch at a roadside "Hound of Basket Meals" food truck, conveniently parked in by The real Hound Tor, then continued on towards Merrivale prehistoric village.
After an hour of weaving down single lane (but beautifully flowered) "highways", finding pullouts to avoid on-coming vehicles, the sat nav led us to a dead end. We decided to head back for Sidmouth and a nice cream tea with the famous Devonshire clotted cream.
On our way to Sidmouth, we stopped off at The Donkey Sanctuary. Aunt Cindy is a donkeyholic, and made it a requirement ;) Coincidently, my school sponsors one of the donkeys there, Little Vijay. He works with children with disabilities. It was MUCH larger than I expected, and really well laid out, with many interactive areas. A donkey sanctuary somewhere in Ontario apparently visited a few years ago, to help them plan their own facilities.
Sidmouth is your typical seaside holiday town, with many shops, and a great ocean-side boardwalk. It is framed by red sandstone cliffs, full of hidden fossils.
On our way back to the farm, we swung through Ottery St. Mary, where we know for certain that two of our ancestors lived. There was a wedding at the church, so we decided to investigate the gravestones tomorrow. We did however stop at a cute little pottery shop, where we bought a few very decently priced pieces (including a rock that cracks open to show an ammonite fossil, just for my little kidlets).
Back on the farm, we arrived just as the wife was headed down to the barn with a gigantic bottle of warm milk for the excess lambs. Obviously I decided to tag along! Greedy little things, but so soft and wooly! Can't wait to get home and update my fb photo!
After the lambs, the husband let out his collies and took me around the farm on his quad. From the top of the hill, you could see the whole farm on one side, and Ottery St. Mary on the other. It was fascinating seeing his dogs work the sheep. He's lived on the farm his whole life, his dad before him, and his grandfather before him.
No comments:
Post a Comment