Shaldon - Part Two

A continuation of yesterday's post when we were in Shaldon in Devon. A lovely village on the coast.

As we were walking around the village we saw this wonderful magnolia tree in full bloom. It was in a walled garden so we couldn't see it's full beauty but we were in awe at its splendour!

From the truly amazing to the wonderfully kitsch - these little ornaments were decorating a window ledge.

From the same house were these.

We then saw this chocolate box thatched cottage - can you see the two thatched cats in the roof?

Another lovely home. I really like the porch.

Then I saw a convex mirror - I have a thing about these. If you follow this blog, you will know that I have snapped away at many of them - I didn't manage to get fully out of the way of this shot though as my elbow is in the photo!!!

On the way home from Shaldon we stopped by in Ashburton. There is a good second hand book shop as well as some antiquey / vintagey shops there.

Did we buy - the Other Half purchased some books for himself, Our Daughter got an old "Beano" annual and I also found a book for me - so we were all happy. In one of the vintagey shops I also found a vintage dolls deck chair which I pointed out to Our Daughter - so that came home with us too. Our Daughters first every doll from Father Christmas sits in it and has pride of place in her bedroom!

The dog above was sat outside a wool shop waiting patiently for its owner. Our Daughter when she saw the wonderful things in the shop asked me if I could help her learn to knit - I can do a plain and a purl stitch and when Our Daughter was very little I did knit a few blankets for her dolls bed and even managed to knit a dolls cardigan! I said that I would have a think about it. She said "Oh, mum but I really want to learn!"

On the way home we saw many, many daffodils in the hedgerows - as Our Daughter said "Aren't they pretty waving their bonneted heads!" Is there a poet in the making there!

We arrived home without any knitting needles or wool. Nasty mummy. The lady in the wool shop had commented how pretty Our Daughter looked in her dungarees. So when we got home I took a photo to remind me in years to come of what Our Daughter did look like in those dungarees!

Could you smile I asked - "Of course" she said "As long as you promise to teach me to knit!"

So I will have to find some knitting needles and some wool from somewhere soon - kids have long memories when it comes to something they want and very short ones when it comes to something that you want them to do!

I'm now going to have a proud mum moment - yesterday I picked Our Daughter up from school and took her to town to do a bit of shopping - buying food and veg before I took her to have her hair cut. I asked her how school had been - the usual answer "It was O.K." I persisted "Anything interesting happen?" Reply "No."

When we got home I phoned my mum and passed the phone to Our Daughter who gassed away with Grandma and after about five minutes she said "Oh, before I go Grandma I got a Distinction in my ESB exam!"

This was the first I'd heard of it!

Anyhow, a very proud moment indeed.

I now know what to get her for her achievemnet - knitting needles and some wool!

Until next time.

June.

The Village of Shaldon, Devon

This is a continuation of Monday's post when we were in Teignmouth on Saturday.

From Teignmouth you can see the village of Shaldon. We have been there before and admired the many stunning houses and cottages.

As we got into the car we thought that we might as well cross the bridge to Shaldon.

The centre of the village is a bowling green which is surrounded on all sides by beautiful homes. I would imagine that some hardly come on the market and that, if they do, they are sold before being advertised. The only snag seems to be that there is very limited parking!

The one above really caught my eye -  blue is one of my favourite colours - when I saw this blue house with a blue door the camera was out before you could say "Get the camera out!"

Another favourite colour of mine is pale pink - this was next door to the blue house above.

I could live in either quite easily! Car parking space or no car parking space!

Next door to the pale pink one was this one - again truly stunning and I do like the old lamp!

On the other side of the bowling green were these houses - the cream / magnolia one to the right was for sale - not as nice as the ones above but still a very attractive property. The price was £279,000. Being nosy parkers we looked in the estate agents window which wasn't too far away - now where are those lucky lottery numbers ...

We wandered around the village - it is a thriving village with a general store, butchers, etc as well as some very nice looking restaurants. We passed one called "Ode" - the sign in the window said "Tonight - fully booked." The menu did sound wonderful. A place to return to perhaps in the Summer. I didn't take a photo - I think there was a big van or some other obstruction outside!

We came to the beach where we could see Teignmouth in the distance - the mist had begun to rise.

There is a ferry that takes you from Shaldon to Teignmouth - something else to be experienced in the Summer perhaps!

A cyclist  seemed to have just abandoned his bicycle against the wall - perhaps he couldn't take it on the ferry!

One of the houses had this funny gargoyle on it!

Don't these cottages make you think of Summer. How I wish it was a warm Summers day today. I'm typing this and it is raining quite hard outside - that's British weather for you - one day nice and sunny and the next non-stop rain. Mind you that's what makes the country so lush green. I don't like the weather being so hot that the grass dries up to a crispy yellow.

Well, that's the last photo for today. There is still some more to show you of Shaldon before I will move on to do a posting on where we went on Sunday - our favourite place - Forde Abbey, near Chard in Somerset and the dog came too!

Until next time.

June.