Dartmoor 365

We have visited castle Drogo before and there is a post with photos earlier, but as we were in the area we thought we would see how the renovations of the castle was getting on.  They are gradually returning items to the rooms and the work should be finished by next year.  There were not many flowers in bloom in the garden, but I thought it was interesting to see how trees had been trained to form a canopy in the corners of the formal garden. We drove on to Drewstaignton, which was a pretty village with a number of thatched cottages.  We found the Ringers Articles on the wall of the church. As we drove on we saw the signpost to Spinster Rock and we saw it as we drove along.  A most impressive sight.

As the after was wet we decided to just explore villages in the area and not undertake any long walks.  Our first stop was Belstone, where we saw the stocks.  We wandered around  the churchyard, but could not find grave of the pirate Moses Arscott.  With the rain we did not want to spend too long looking.  On our way back to the car we noticed a Telegraph Office, which now had a post box in the wall and a telephone box that had been converted to house a defibrulator. From Belstone we drove on to Ramsley, but we could not see the chimney but did noticed the spoil heaps.  We went back to South Zeal and took refuge from the rain in the Oxenham Arms.  As well as seeing the menhir there was notices about the fact that Dickens had written Pickwick Papers while staying there. The village itself had a number of interesting buildings, the Kings Arm and a couple of interesting bell towers. We then drove on to South Tawton where we saw ...

The museum at Finch Foundry was very interesting, with lots of artifacts to see.  We were fortunate to be there when a talk and demonstration was happening, so we were able to see how tools were manufactured. The grounds were attractive with the Skaigh summerhouse and spring flowers growing in the adjacent Quaker cemetery. Having explored the museum and village we walked down to the River Taw and walked along to Belstone Cleave.  The river was running fast and it was a very pleasant walk.  Unfortunately it started to rain so we had to turn round too soon.

The castle was not yet open for the season, but we used the car park beneath it and walked around the outside of the castle. I had heard there is always a good show of snowdrops beneath the walls, but most had finished flowering, but there were still a few in the nearby hedges. We then drove towards Okehampton Camp and parked on the side of the road before getting to the Camp and walked down to Fitz Well and Cross.

After lunch we drove to the memorial cross just past Dartmeet.  That was easy to spot, but we wandered around for a bit before finding the Money Pit.  The ground was very wet and soggy. We planned to go on to Rowbrook Farm, but it started to rain, then hail so we headed for home.

Recently it has been very wet, cold and windy  so we have not been able to get out to Dartmoor for a month.  Today the temperature had risen somewhat so we thought we would make the most of he day.  We started by driving to Huccaby to see the snowdrops in the churchyard of the church. We drove slightly further on and stopped by Huccaby Bridge to drink our coffee.  There was a lot of water coming down the river. We then went on to Hexworthy and walked through the village to find Jolly Lane Cott- a very pretty cottage. We had hoped to walk along Swincombe valley, but the space for car parking was full so we drove on to Combestone Tor.  We wandered around the tor and planned to follow the walk in "An hour's stroll on Dartmoor" to Hangman's Pit, but it was so wet we walked down the road until we came to the Pit.

It has been so cold and wet lately that we have not been out on the Moor for some time, and the ground is so wet that we are limited where we could go.  Today was forecast to be wet in Plymouth, but drier further north, so we decided to walk along the Granite Way.  We drove to Sourton Down and walked along the old road until we came to the cross. It started to rain so we returned to the car and drove to Sourton rather than walk along the Granite Way.  We parked in The highwayman Inn so thought we had better go and have a drink!  This is advertised  as the most unusual pub in Britain and there was certainly much to see it it with lots of crannies. The barman told us that one of the three bars was decorated as the HMS Victory. After exploring the inside of the Highwayman Inn the rain had stopped and we walk across to the church where we saw the graves mentioned in Dartmoor 365.  We did not find the sundial, but there were snowdrops and pri...