Monday 12 August 2013

Devon Holiday:: Days 1-3


Hello there!! I had a jolly good time on holiday, although it is good to be back- I missed you all! I thought I would show you a few photos (well, quite a lot actually) of my little family jaunt down to Woodbury in Devon, beginning with our travel stops!!

Day One: Corfe Castle- such a dramatic place set up high on a hill. It was made a ruin in the Civil War if I remember correctly but still cuts an impressive silhouette against the skyline. And the views from the top are stunning!!




I do like the idea of looking through this window at the same (possibly slightly changed) view as the castle's occupants would once have done.



 
After finishing at Corfe, we hopped back into the car and meandered on a little further until we reached Maiden Castle. The 'castle' is actually the remains of one of the largest Iron Age hillforts in Europe, but to the untrained eye...it is a hilly mound with wibbly bits around it.
 


Once we had climbed to the top it was incredibly windy and covered in sheep, but the views were spectacular! (Overall, a fabulous view-taking-in day.)





Day Two: A funny, exploratative sort of day. We didn't really do much except wander round some of the seaside towns like Beer (above) and Branscombe (below). I did have the most spectacular hot chocolate at the latter, which I conveniently forgot to photograph. It came with handfuls of marshmallows, two flake chocolates, crumbled chocolate pieces and a tower of cream on top!!! Delish!




Day Three: We began at Killerton, an 18th Century National Trust house with a fashion/textiles collection in the bedrooms. To be honest, the collection wasn't much to shout about, there was hardly anything there and a lot of it was contemporary stuff inspired by one period dress. The house was much more interesting and the garden has an old volcano in it!!



For some reason, there were lots of wicker deer grazing or hiding around the park. It was like a deer treasure hunt!!




The colours of these flowers were incredible! Blues, purples, pinks all blending together. Lovely! (And we found a little friend in the garden shop at the end.)



After the most torrential rain I have seen for ages, it was quite literally like standing underneath a bucket of water (although luckily we were in the car), it cleared up enough for us to visit Knightshayes Court, a very quirky, gothic style house. This is a really interesting place to visit should you ever venture to Devon, one chap designed the house but was then sacked because the family didn't like his interior designs. Then another chap was enlisted to do the interior design which was completed and then painted over in a more restrained style by the family who didn't like the frankly avant-garde colours and patterns. The money for this house came from industry (tut tut), the lace making industry at that and a factory owned by the family can be seen from their garden.






As the clouds cleared the sun came out and we drove to Exmouth to watch it set behind the clouds.





A lovely end to the day. See you tomorrow for the next few days of the holiday!! x

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