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.