The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies. Gertrude Jekyll

Annie's Little Plot

Annie's Little Plot

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Glorious Devon

Some people who read my blog will already know that I won a competition in The Edible Garden magazine for 2 places on the Get Growing course at River Cottage, I've been getting excited about this for a few months. The prize also included a nights B&B and dinner at River Cottage Canteen. What a special treat.
My plus one was my sister, Sally, who is looking into growing her own and needs lots of advice to get her started so it was ideal for her. I'll blog about the course in my next post as I want to share a bit about our lovely B&B and the glorious scenery of this part of England, on the Devonshire/Dorset border.
We travelled down on Friday 5th July, at the start of the heatwave, the course was on the sunday and we travelled back on tuesday, no point in going all that way just for a couple of days. We had been booked in for one night at a B&B on a small-holding called Spillers Farm in Musbury which we extended to cover the extra nights and what a find that was. Keith and Bridget who run the B&B are such a lovely couple, clearly passionate about what they do and properly living the "Good Life". We were greeted by their friendly cat, Silla and dog, Merrick, the rooms were immaculate and as for the breakfasts, home-grown sausages and bacon. Delicious. Here are the cat and dog keeping us company at breakfast
They have chickens, ducks, geese, a pig and some orphan lambs on the farm and they grow their own vegetables, there is a lake and they also lease a small bit of their land for the Landshare project. I would definitely recommend this place if you are in the area. Its handy for both River Cottage HQ where they run the courses and also for River Cottage Canteen in Axminster. Its also close to Lyme Regis and other coastal villages.
 
 
The lambs are in the field near the lake and they came rushing over to greet us when we walked there, liked having a bit of a rub behind the ears.
 
 This is me saying hello to Marlene the pig, I also got a bit of a mud splattering from her the day after when she had a mud bath to keep cool.
It was so peaceful spending time at the lake in the evening at dusk, watching the swallows and then the bats come out.
The view from our room.
 The friday that we arrived we went for a cream tea in a little seaside village called Beer.
On Saturday we walked from Beer along the coast to Branscombe. It was another glorious day, hot but luckily there was a nice breeze along the coast. The coastal scenery in this area is stunning, especially on such a lovely sunny day.
 
 
  
We arrived in Branscome to the welcome sight of the Sea Shanty Beach cafe for some much needed refreshment.
 Which has a lovely walled garden but we recuperated in the cool of the main cafe.
 
Heading the opposite way along the coast you are in Dorset and Lyme Regis, I love it here and Martin and I stayed in a lovely chalet here last year and  had a wonderful time. The year before that we stayed in a proper thatched cottage, in a village just outside Lyme Regis. There are some more photos of the coastal scenery in this post. Lyme Regis is a proper seaside town, a wide sandy beach, lots of gift shops and some nice restaurants.
 
 
 
If you are fans of Jane Austen's Persuasion then you will know all about the Cobb at Lyme Regis. I'll leave you here while I go off and daydream about Captain Wentworth.



22 comments:

  1. A truly beautiful part of our country, glad you enjoyed it.

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    1. I had a really relaxing time, it is a beautiful part of the country.

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  2. I hope Marlene wasn't destined for sausages :(

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    1. Marlene wasn't but her offspring are, they are self-sufficient in meat, with the pigs and the lambs and don't eat any other meat other than what they have on the small-holding. Sorry if you are a veggie!

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    2. No not a veggie but couldn't eat anything I had petted or had a name! Possibly hypocritical but there you go!

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  3. It looks and sounds like you had a wonderful time, which is not not surprising in view of the glorious weather and being in a lovely place. Flighty xx

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    1. Yes we were very lucky with the weather.

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  4. How heavenly....all of it! How lucky are you eh????

    I loved the lambs and Marlene and the dog made me smile lying there like a rug with a ball under it's chin!

    The lambs are adorable and those views to die for! I love seeing bats....they are so silent aren't they? Lovely post!xxxx

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    1. Very lucky!
      The dog was gorgeous and so friendly. It liked joining us for a walk up to the lake.

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  5. So glad you liked our Devon countryside, you saw it at its best in lovely sunshine. We were at Lyme Regis with our Canadian visitors the other day, the Cobb is also famous from the film The French Lieutenant's Woman with Meryl Streep standing there looking wistfully for her lover to come across the channel !

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    1. You are very lucky to live in such a lovely county and we were lucky to see it in such glorious weather.
      Yes you are right The French Lieutenant's woman, I read that after visiting Lyme Regis for the first time. Such a brilliant book.

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  6. Hi Annie! I left a comment via my phone- or at least I thought I had?! I think something must have gone wrong, so apologies if you get two from me! I really love your pictures and hearing all about your holiday! What an awesome prize! Can't wait to hear more :)

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    1. It was a amazing prize, feel so lucky. The best is yet to come.

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  7. It looks lovely there and the blue of the sea is just stunning. I love the lambs coming up to greet you. I would think of 'Persuasion' in Lyme, too - it is one of my favourite books.

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    1. A real turquoise blue on that occasion, it was stunning.

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  8. What a wonderful B&B, looks perfect, complete with the most local sausages and bacon you could hope to get! I love that area of the world, so many beautiful beaches and seaside villages, the cliff walks are magical. Can't wait to hear about your course, I have lusted after one for ages, you could just push me over the edge into outright envy!!

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    1. It was a perfect B&B as you can tell its definitely recommended if you happen to go on a course at River Cottage.

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  9. How wonderful. I look forward to hearing about the course! xx

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    1. It was a lovely break and now I need to go and write the next post!

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  10. It all looks wonderful with lovely photos. My Mum and Dad loved that area and I can see why. Looking forward to the next installment.

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    1. It is a lovely area and I think one that not everyone knows about as it doesn't seem as busy as other south coast places like Bournemouth or even Cornwall.

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  11. It's such a lovely part of the country. My sister-in-law lives not too far away from Beer and Branscombe. We spent New Year's Day on the beach. The weather was a bit different to the day you were there though. ;)

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