Still at Cockington ...

This is the last posting on the Village of Cockington, near Torquay in Devon where we were last Saturday.

On the Manor House wall this plant was in blossom. I have no idea what it is but isn't the flower a beautiful colour! If anyone has any idea please let me know!

From the Manor House we went to see the old stableyard / courtyard and also to see the walled garden. It will be lovely in the walled garden in June as there are literally hundreds of rose bushes planted there. Being Spring it looked a bit bare but out of the corner of my eye I saw this brilliant flash of colour and saw these wonderful yellow and red tulips.

Tulips and daffodils to me are the main Spring flowers. They bring such a vitality to the Season - a riot of colour.

I would love to visit the tulip fields of Amsterdam. There are so many striking colours and to see masses of them in long rows - wonderful! Another destination to add to the long list of things I would like to do and see!

The stableyard. To the left you can just about catch a glimpse of the glassblowing studio.

Another thatched cottage.

We saw this wonderful shire horse in a field.

You can see where Ugg got their boot ideas from - can't you? Out of all horses my favourite is the shire horse - although they are the heaviest horse they always look so graceful. I love this horses mane blowing gently in the wind - just out of the hairdressers look!

In the Village there is also a blacksmiths. It was closed but it had these funny little gnomes in the window.

I am not really a garden gnome person but these brought a smile to my face! "Hi-ho, Hi-ho it's off to work we go ... "

And finally, here's a photo of those young bullocks who escaped into someone's garden on Sunday. They actually jumped over that wall into the garden! They then jumped back over the wall onto the road and then jumped back into the garden a few more times! I never knew that these animals were so agile!

The Other Half and some local farmers who were in a nearby pub eventually rounded them up into a  field! It was quite comical at times as just when all three were on the road one would jump back over the wall into the garden!

Not much more to tell you other than last night I finished reading "Cliffhanger". It transpires that Al had not killed his daughter, Miranda, but had instead killed the Police Inspector's wife, who had also been out on the cliff that day. His wife, Audrey had killed Miranda but all the evidence pointed out to the hapless Al! The story ends with him in Prison serving 25 years for killing Miranda and his wife taking over the running of his taxi business!

I will have to sort out another book to start tonight. I really cannot watch the boring programmes that they have on TV these days.

Until next time.

June.

Cockington Village Continued ...

This is the Manor House at Cockington Village - I apologise that it looks slightly skee-whiff! The house normally contains various exhibitions / shops.  Sadly, on Saturday, only one shop was open.

A sign of the times or maybe they only open during the main tourist season!

At the back of the house there is an old stableblock which houses a variety of skilled craftspeople and artists.

 Near to the Manor House is the Church of St. George and St. Mary. A chapel has existed here since Saxon times c. 1069!

An unusual stained glass window.

The font was installed here in the 15th / 16th century by the Manor's then owner, Sir Robert Cary. The Manor House is now part of the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust.

It is a fairly large Church - the above photo shows one half of it.

This bell was displayed in a corner.

Another photo of the Church - stating the obvious there, aren't I?

Our Daughter in her much loved dungarees!

The magnolia trees were in full bloom.

Oh dear, I allowed Our Daughter to take a photo of the Other Half and me! In case you hadn't realized I dislike having my photo taken and this is a rare glimpse!

There were many different varieties of daffodils in the parkland. These have rounded petals whilst the ones below have triangular shaped ones!

There we have it - some more photos from Cockington. I still have a small number of photos to show you and will put them in a later post this week.

An interesting fact for you - Agatha Christie, the famous crime writer was born in Torquay and had a holiday home, "Greenway", close by from 1938 to 1959. This home now belongs to the National Trust and you can arrive there apparantly by taking a short ferry across the River Dart. I have lined this up as something to do over the Summer or sooner - time permitting.

I haven't read an Agatha Christie novel since University days but think I may buy a copy of one of the many better ones if I spot it in a charity shop / second hand bookshop.

In the book that I'm reading at the moment "Cliffhanger" by T. J. Middleton the plot is fast pacing and blackly humorous. It is all about a man, Al Greenwood, who decides that he has had enough of his wife, Audrey. He wants to be rid of her and believes that he has pushed her to her death over a cliff. When he gets home she is there waiting for him with a hot toddy! He then discovers that the person he pushed over the cliff is most probably his own daughter from a previous relationship called Miranda. He is a self-employed taxi driver. He takes his elderly neighbour, Mrs. Blackstock, to the dentist and he sees her back to her home address after the visit where she discloses to him that she saw him going up to the cliff. She has her lounge upstairs and as she is showing Al to the door he deliberately causes her to trip and fall downstairs. He quickly leaves thinking that she is dead. A few chapters later however, he comes back home to Audrey to find that she is sat there with Mrs. Blackstock who has a heavily bandaged head! To make it worse - Audrey has invited her to stay!

I will let you know what the ending is. It is cleverly written as you do not hate Al (the husband) you somehow feel sorry for him!

Until next time.

June.

Cockington Village

On Saturday we headed for Cockington Village, a short distance from Torquay in Devon.

It is a beautiful setting - it has a manor house, parkland and woodland.

We had been here many years before when Our Daughter was very little - there is usually a horse and cart ride that you can take around the Village but only from Easter onwards!

It was a lovely day though, the sun was shining and I wore sunglasses probably for the first time this year!

The "Rose Cottage" above is normally open as a Cafe / Restaurant. It wasn't "Open" but we weren't daunted as we headed to another Cafe across the road - see below.

We had a light lunch of sandwiches and bacon baps in the lovely little courtyard of this Cafe and Our Daughter declared the banana milkshake to be "One of the best I've ever had!" The staff were very helpful and friendly. It makes such a difference and makes your day out more enjoyable!

There are many thatched roofs here!

The cottages are wonderful but the owners must get annoyed with all the tourists. Mind you they must have known what they were letting themselves in for when they purchased their properties. A small price to pay for living in such a historic location.

There are many beautiful cottages here.

I liked this roller leaning against the tree.

This duck was very happy in its little pond!

Another lovely thatched cottage.

The parkland was full of daffodils.

Is this a rhodedendron - I just loved that light lilac colour. It was a big bush and it was covered in these flowers - striking from a distance and even better close up!

More daffodils.

Some areas of the parkland / woodland were covered with this little yellow flower - it looks a bit like buttercups. Is it celandine?

Torquay of course is famous for its link to "Fawlty Towers".  The story is that John Cleese and the rest of the Monty Python team were filming nearby in Torbay and were checked into the Hotel Gleneagles. The owner, Donald Sinclair, was eccentric and berated Terry Gilliam for not using his knife and fork properly and threw Eric Idle's bag over a wall believing it  to contain a bomb! While many of the Monty Python team abandoned the hotel to go to another, John Cleese stayed on and "took notes" and invited his then wife, Connie Booth, to join him. This turned out to be the beginning of  "Fawlty Towers." Who could ever forget John Cleese as Basil Fawlty and Connie Booth as Polly.

I remember watching these half hour shows as I was growing up - I would be doubled over laughing with tears streaming down my face.

The one show that I most remember is when there is a fire drill practice - only it turns out that there is a real fire. Basil keeps pushing poor Manuel, the waiter, back into the burning kitchen telling the guests and Manuel that it is only a practice!

Another memorable show is when the health inspectors arrive just at a time when Manuel has befriended a rat!

I do believe that the Other Half bought me a boxed set of Fawlty Towers many years ago. I will go in search of that box which must be in a cupboard somewhere!

Until next time.

June.