Birthday Trip part 2

On our second day we went first to the shops at Dartington as we wanted to visit the gallery.  Many years ago in the late 1960's H bought some pottery made by John Leach (grandson of the famous Bernard Leach) in a small shop in Penarth - H was a student at the time so it could not have been costly.  It is all except one piece stamped Muchelney and John Leach still produces pottery there.
We were delighted to find John Leach's pottery featured in the Dartington Gallery and H bought some, along with a couple of other pieces by different potters. His taste is for the pieces with rough outer surface and glazed inner similar to this one.

We also have some striped pots and a rather nice small flask shaped piece. We must find an occasion to visit the Muchelney pottery and the St Ives pottery of Bernard Leach, recently restored as a vistor centre.  A local potter makes a variety of shapes in a blue matt glaze which we've bought occasionally when a piece has appealed to us so the window sill in H's music room is now quite crowded.  There was a lot of beautiful studio glass - sadly way out of our price range.

After a browse of the other shops and a coffee, we went to Dartington Hall itself. Unfortunately, we couldn't go into the great hall as the annual music school was in full swing - lots of tantalising sounds coming from various windows.  We then went to the pub which is in the main courtyard - the White Hart Inn, where we had a great meal before setting off to the coast at Bolberry Down.
I wish I could get at my photos for this as it was fantastic - perhaps I'll be able to get at them when the phone is fixed.  These are from the NT site

It was a lovely walk along the cliff top, though it was hotter than we thought and we were pleased that the car ad been parked in the shade! We then went to Kingsbridge where we had stayed with a friend in the early seventies and on to Salcombe.  The last time we visited here, Daughter had been playing the flute in a visiting German orchestra - they were a flute short and the conducter remembered her from a summer course.  She was still at school at the time and had to have special permission to be away for a week, but she had a great time.  They stayed in a Youth Hostel in Salcombe and performed in Plymouth.  As you can imagine, if you know Salcombe at all, it was heaving with people, and we gave up trying to park and headed back to Buckfast.  Unfortunately, just as it looked that we might just make it for Vespers, H took a wrong turn and landed up in Ashburton.  Trying to get back he took another and we did a short detour into Dartmoor, stopping at a pub for a drink and the loo.  It was a lovely evening, but a bit frustrating.  We decide not to hang on until Compline and went back to the hotel!

Thursday was our day to come home and the weather was looking less reliable. We went to Knighthayes a Gothic revival mansion just outside Tiverton with William Burgess interiors.  Here H found two pianos to play!  The house and garden are lovely, but I must specially mention the cake in the conservatory tearoom - wonderful  Lemon Drizzle oozing lemon syrup and moist rich Chocolate Beetroot, yummy. 

We had intended to go back to Tyntesfield but the house was closed, so, nearer to home, we eventually found Newark Park - not easy to find but well worth the effort. 

 Gifted to the NT as a near wreck, a philanthropic American took a full repairing lease on the building and restored it to the house it is today.  we especially liked the fact that it wasn't full of no-go areas - a giude said 'sit down anywhere - unless a chair has a notice to say it's unsafe!'  The view is spectacular across a wooded valley.  It doesn't have a teashop or a gift shop, just a van selling drinks and a few cards etc in the shed that forms the reception, but it is very interesting both as a building and for its back story - the NT had come to the conclusion that they would have to take off the roof and make it a romantic ruin before its American saviour stepped in!

After Newark it was a fairly fast trip home.  We really enjoyed the break and felt it did us good - and we'd got our money's worth from our NT subscription for the first time in years!

It really feels as if Autumn is in the air today.  Flea Fair tommorrow at Three Counties and next week includes two furniture deliveries, a Grand-daughter day and three days of playing host to a visiting harpsichordist from Italy, Michele Benuzzi.  If anyone is interested, he will be performing at St Swithun's in Worcester on Friday 29th at 7.30p.m to end the St Swithun season, and it will be well worth the £10 entry fee to hear him. 

I'm now looking forward to September - always my favourite time of year, and then, all too soon, it will be October when we have a Wedding Anniversary, three days of having the house drains dug up and a trip to Norwich to look forward to.  And most important, Grand-daughter will be two - where has that time gone?

Enjoy the bank holiday.

A Birthday Trip pt I

When H asked what I might like to do for my birthday at the end of July, I jokingly said I wanted to go away somewhere, not imagining for a moment it would be possible.  After all the work of the St Swithun's festival and playing in a recital, H was fairly worn out so I think a few days away appealed to him too.  So, the Monday before my birthday we took ourselves off to Devon. We chose Torquay as a base almost as a joke - we rather like old-fashioned hotels and the Grand had that feel about it.  We had a room with a sea view and rather enjoyed the 1950's air to the place.  The staff were excellent and they served a really good breakfast so it was a good choice.
We have been to Devon on many occasions - including our honeymoon many moons ago, so we intended to visit some familiar places, give our National trust cards a good work out and eat nice things.
For once the weather was on our side.  Having stopped at Tyntesfield (pictures below) on the way down, and had a good cream tea on arrival, we took ouselves off to Brixham where a brass band was playing on the quay and just enjoyed the evening sunset.

Tyntesfield (just outside Bristol)

Our first stop the next morning was Darmouth - in glorious weather it really was like the Riviera but sadly since I've been back my phone has died so my photos aren't currently retrievable - all the photos in this post have been taken either from the National Trust sites or Tourist information, hence the disparity in size.

After a trip over and back on the river ferry, we went to Coleton Fishacre. A lovely NT house which was built by the D'Oyley Cartes of Savoy Hotel and Opera fame.  If you get the chance, please go.  The house is lovely, but the gardens are spectacular and go right down to the cliff edge.  H was also allowed to play the piano in the main salon and thoroughly enjoyed himself - drawing quite an appreciative audience. 

After lunch we went on to another small NT property, then to Totnes and Buckfast Abbey - a place we both know very well and have visited many times. The first time was in the early seventies when there was just the Abbey and a wooden shed selling rosaries etc.  It has now expanded to a real tourist attraction and, sadly, lost some of its early charm.  In those days a monk would greet visitors to the Abbey and others would be working in the grounds and the shop, but now all is done by guides and other employees. However, it still remains a geat achievement for the small band who founded and built the Abbey church itself and the community continues to thrive.  I once ran a conference based there, and we used to take student on the Medieval English course there on day trips when I worked at the University in Cardiff, so it was like seeing an old friend. Later in the day when most of the visitors have gone it is still a very peaceful place.  H would have like to stay for Vespers but we'd booked a table for a birthday dinner so we postponed that to the next day.  Dinner was excellent.
More to follow..