After a few weeks of down sizing, from Samson to a 2 bedroomed flat and then to a caravan, we were ready to set off! Space is not something we can say Bessy has plenty of but we managed to pack away summer and winter clothes, an awning, laptop and some family tree paperwork (just in case I needes something to do!).
After negotiating A1M diversions and then the M25, we arrived mid afternoon in Abbey Wood, South London. Surprisingly, the warden asked if we had been before, he remembered me! I said “yes but in a 5th wheel!” Fame at last!!!
Stop 1 of our new travels was a short stay in Kent to meet up with friends, Angela and I had a good chat and David and Peter had a good drink!! Peter is a whisky man and David is a bourbon man so they used the evening to test a Welsh whisky that had been finished in bourbon barrels, given to David by his niece. This was compared to a Scottish whisky, and an American bourbon, so a good night followed a delicious BBQ.
Stop No 2 was at Chertsey right on the River Thames. On Saturday we visited a local riverside hostelry for a refreshing glass of something before returning to the campsite, which was full of weekend campers trying to offload kids, unpack and put up tents, feed kids, sleep then pack it all away the next day! Very stressful watching!
Sunday was a gloriously sunny day, we noted the skies above were devoid of airplanes from 11.00am onwards – realised that President Boden was due to visit Queenie in Windsor that afternoon, dropping in for afternoon tea, so they must have cleared the skies for his helicopter to land without any bother!
We had a lovely catch up and long lunch in a riverside pub in Staines before returning to our abode for the night.
We hit the M3 on Monday morning, the sat nav telling us that the journey to Stop 3 was only 3 hours and 10 minutes, all was fine until we came off the M3 and hit the A303!!! Then our speed was an average 7 miles per hour! So slow we were able to take photos from inside the car of people wandering around Stonehenge….
5 and a half hours later, our aching bums arrived at Twelve Oaks farm outside Newton Abbot, Devon! A privately run site, working farm with cows, sheep, chickens, and toilets and showers that have won awards for Superloos for several years in a row!
We managed to fit in a swim in their outside heated pool.
Newton Abbot was a strange town, the old animal market had been rebuilt into flats, the high street was boringly filled with charity and cheap shops and a large supermarket dominated this very boring town, made famous by its small horse racing course outside town. However, the odd building jumped out at me….
Our stop in this area was to catch up with friends Carlos and Wendy, who took us out to more cultural places, thankfully!
We explored the small boutique shops in uphill and downhill Totnes, our calves did not thank us the next day, not being used to steep hills!
We had a day out to a small village called Stoke Gabriel, narrow winding lanes into the village and smaller narrow winding lanes out, but well worth it. Lunch was at a Dart Riverside “shack” with the most amazing food, which we then walked off around the local church yard and grounds. The local gardens were full of beautiful coloured flowers that were full of bees and butterflies.
There has been a church on the hill overlooking Stoke Gabriel Creek for over one thousand years. A church was listed in the Domesday survey of 1086, and at that time there was a yew tree in the churchyard already thought to be several centuries old. Today that yew tree is between 1200 and 1400 years old, making it amongst the oldest trees in Britain, its boughs grew down and re-rooted itself forming a covered walkway around the trunk.
Legend says that if you can walk around the tree backwards seven times without stumbling you will have a wish granted. I tried; it’s harder than it sounds!
The legend is remembered in this verse:
Walk ye backward round about me
7 times round for all to see
Stumble not and then for certain
One true wish will come to thee
The refurbished 15th century interior has several pews that were specifically built for local families that donated large amount of money, several gravestones mention the family name of “Churchward”, one such family. The organ was first mentioned in history in 1880 when the building was extended to add a heating stove and an organ pipe to the current harmonium. It was refurbished in 1960 but replaced with a more modern organ in 2010.
The best part of Stoke Gabriel Church is the 15th-century oak screen separating the nave and the chancel, the screen is decorated with painted panels depicting Old Testament prophets and New Testament saints. It is pointed out that the prophets are shown wearing Tudor caps, assuming the artists were obviously portraying the figures from their knowledge of contemporary clothing.
Next stop was to meet an old school friend in Taunton, Somerset, staying on a Cider farm. Don’t get excited, the weather was not great and the farm was quiet, the owners kept well away and we saw no activity except the growing apples in the Orchard. However, we had lots of visitors during our stay, very friendly colourful peacocks and white pea hens, guinea fowl, rabbits and a friendly loving cat, who found a hot spot on my lap for over an hour!
After a “stuffing” at the local pub on Sunday, we took a walk alongside the canal that runs through Taunton, and encountered more beautiful wildlife.
We left Taunton after one day, heading north for stop number 5 on the outskirts of Birmingham, the Clent Hills.
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