New King-Pins, Exeter and Devon....

....and another hospital visit!!

The drive back home after our new king-pins had been fitted was excellent and somehow the front end seemed more 'grounded'.....good for another 30000 methinks.

South the following day, to visit our daughters and their families in Warwick and Camberley and then on to Devon to revisit my father's parental home and places that we had not seen for many a year.

The Quayside at Exeter

Say no more! Cornish lager.

We decided to make Exeter our base, a city that we had never visited and what a lovely place it is.

Exeter Cathedral

First and most important day out was to Brixham where all my family on my father's side lived and sailed from, for in the main they all earned their living from the sea.

My Great Grandparent's home was to the right of the church, overlooking the top of the churchtower.

While there we tried to recreate a picture that I had taken when I was around 9 years old of me seated on the wall of the old fort on Berry Head looking out over Torbay. It was a reasonable attempt I suppose although the sight of this elderly gentleman trying to climb on to the wall and into position must have been pitiful to watch and highly amusing to the many bystanders!!!

.......and 64 years on  !!!!!!!

We had intended to wander around the town itself but the place was choked with people and traffic so we gave it a miss promising to return in the depths of winter when all the visitors had gone home.


Nevertheless, it was lovely to visit the place where I had spent so many happy sun-kissed holidays as a boy. I still remember vividly the church bells playing 'Abide with me' every evening.

Coleton Fishacre

In the morning of that day we visited the National Trust property of Coleton Fishacre on the recommendation of an old schoolfriend.

'Arts and Crafts' heaven at Coleton Fishacre.

Part of the garden

What a gorgeous property it is, once the holiday home of members of the D'Oyly Carte family with its 30 acre garden giving enticing views of the sea below.....utterly magical.

On our final day we visited Dartmoor, sadly shrouded in a heavy mist, limiting views of the landscape to a minimum but not affecting our visit to the butcher in Chagford who supplies us with our favourite Hogs Pudding....what a pleasure it was to meet him in this delightful village.

Castle Drogo, another NT property, was clad in scaffolding, cluttered with building machinery and a whopping great crane, that did not enhance the property at all while it is being dramatically renovated.

Castle Drogo in the murk!

Not impressed with the house at all although on a good day the views from the grounds across the Moor must be spectacular.

A misty Castle Drogo garden.

Back to the hotel where the slight pain that I had been feeling in my left side got steadily worse until late in the evening an ambulance was called and I added yet another hospital to my collection.

It was a re-occurence of the pleurisy I endured at Norwich in June. Anyway, I was only in for 10 hours and feeling much improved we completed our 5 hour drive home safely.

Not a nice way to finish what had been a very pleasant couple of days in Devon.