 |
| On our way to the ferry in Plymouth we stopped at Stonehenge. The picture I have taken was framed so you could not see the road behind me, the fence the camera is held above or the hoards of people as I timed the picture well. Overall, it was not as impressive as it should have been due to the way they have developed the site. But, now we can say we have been there. |
 |
| The town of Les Sable d'Olonne where Nina's parents had their boat moored was picture-perfect. It was a gorgeous resort town with the ocean on one side of the town and the harbour on the other giving the whole town the feeling of being on the water. |
 |
| Although it was never warm enough to go in the water (temperatures were around 20 degrees) the beach was always full. We spent one afternoon on a smaller beach we found while exploring the Brittany coastline. |
 |
| On our way back to the UK, we spent a night in Roscoff in northern Brittany as we had an early ferry to catch the next morning. This medieval town was worth spending more time in, but unfortunately it was too late by the time we realized it. |
 |
| We arrived via Plymouth's harbour which afforded some wonderful views. We visited the city on a few occasions throughout our 12 days in Devon and I was very impressed. Apart from its historic significance (the Mayflower and Sir Francis Drake's voyages left from here) it was a lovely city. Many cities get the mix of modern and old architecture wrong and make a mess out of it. I thought Plymouth did a great job, although many of the locals would disagree. |
 |
| The purpose of house sitting in Devon was to look after Poppie; a six month Springer Spaniel. It was a shame her owners had neglected to mention she had not been trained at all! And, they coddled her so it was a steep learning curve to have us looking after her and instilling some disciplined. For the record, I did not put her on the trampoline, she would jump onto it every time I got on. |
 |
| On one of our many day trips we were driving through a small town and came across the John Henry restaurant at lunch time, so we went in. The food was surprisingly good. |
 |
| Having joined the National Trust earlier this year, we got a lot of mileage out of our membership on this trip. We saw 12 properties in total. Most were in far better condition than this one. |
 |
| This house was one of the more interesting ones for two reasons; it is still lived in and it was used for all the garden scenes in the recent Alice and Wonderland movie. |
 |
| This abbey was bought by Sir Francis Drake when he was in favour and at the height of his popularity and wealth. It has now been turned into a museum full of artifacts and tells the story of his life and victories. |
 |
| Last year we joined Riverford Fams; an organic farm network that sells via home delivery (cutting out the middle men). We love the food and were excited to be staying 10 minutes from their main farm where they have a field kitchen. You sit at communal tables and there isn't a menu; everyone eats the same thing. Seven or eight different dishes are placed on the table, family style, and you eat with your new friends. We loved it so much, we went 3 times in the space of a week. |
 |
| This was one of the few seconds where Poppie was standing still, well-bahaved and not utterly pissing me off. |
 |
| Dartmoor National Park was an absolute highlight and we ended up spending two days exploring it. |
 |
| I had been told there are "wild" ponies roaming through the park, but had no idea how tame they would be. |
 |
| On the way back home we stopped for 2 nights in Bath. |
 |
| Bath Cathedral |
 |
| The main attraction is the ruin of the Roman bath which has been rebuilt on the ruins to show what it would have looked like. One pool is still in tact and the natural water spring is still flowing hot water into the baths to this day. |
