Exeter in our mirrors, we travel the A380 south.  It is not a long drive a little over an hour, however it is a lifetime in terms of the style.  The seafront consists of smartly coloured beach huts, rows of Victorian townhouses, old school hotels and miles upon miles of pebble laden shores.  Each village seems to be stuck in the 19th century. The center piece of each town is a carnival like amusement park wrapped in between the rails of a pier.

Our first introduction to the Devon coastline is the village of Torquay. The start of the British Riviera....  Interesting description. The only thing l could see that would support that comparison is the sea. OK, they have a marina, however the boats in the harbor resemble the dingies of the yachts found in the French Riviera. Still it's charms were not lost on us.  The boardwalk was pleasant to walk and the shops were sharp and inviting.  Torquay is the birthplace of Agatha Christie, Johanne's teenage hero, as she read all her books.  One of the big things on the "to do" list is to visit Agatha Christie's summer home a little further down the beach near Dartmouth.

 Bright colors compete with the sea views for attention.

Formally fisherman's huts these pastel sheds are part of the fabric of the coast. Every village had them.  Never missing an opportunity for profit, the local government rent or lease them out. Many were nicely equipped with an arsenal of items you would find in any cottage boat house or travel trailer. Virtually every hut we could pry our eyes into, had a kettle and a "well and good" stock of tea.  We noted all ages of beach goers adorning their 36 square ft of sea front.  Granny's knitting, children playing while mom's fiddled with iPhone, dads, brothers, sisters, etc. Young and old happy for their little piece of paradise. We continued along the coast toward Dartmouth.

 Try as we might, we could not find the access to "Greenway", aka Agatha's place.  The GPS had us going in circles.  Turns out that the only way to get there is by ferry.  No parking available for car access.  Not good!  The navigator is not happy.  Saddened really as it was to be a highlight.  With no way to drive across the river Dart, we proceed inland.  In an effort to distract Johanne from feeling blue, I thought I would try and break my record from the previous day.   It didn't matter how close the mirrors got to the trees or other cars, she was not noticing, or she had just gotten used to it. "Rats". as Charlie Brown used to say, what will I do now to stay amused while in transit....?

As the river Dart narrows, we arrive at this town called Totnes.  Someone had once called it the twin city of Narnia, due to its hippy, naturalist lifestyle.  Kind of like Nelson, BC for those West Coasters who know the place. This place rocked, it's narrow streets weaved up the hills above the river Dart.  We arrived on market day.

 Locals having high tea.  The decor adorning this restaurant looked like it hadn't changed for 50 years. From the look of things, some of the customers have been there that long too. The front window looked so good!

These guys had some many samples of their baked breads for tasting, we didn't want to leave.

 All local cheeses are sold here, with many funny stories to go with them.  The pies below looked almost to good to eat. Behind the food market were vendors selling everything from old bicycles to antique spoons.  Everyone seemed happy to be there, not concerned with the business at hand.  As if to say "all in good time."  In 2007, this new age town introduced its own currency, called the Totnes pound, to support the local economy.  14 months later , 70 business accepted the currency and now almost all of them gladly accept the Totnes pound.  Interesting way to keep money flowing within the local market (and probably avoid the taxman!).
  

We decided to skip Dartmouth, too many bad memories of what could have been.  Agatha, where for art thou? No wait that is a different  writer....I sucked in English literature.  However I do know my way around a good vino.  Which turns out to be fortunate as the navigator has found us nice little English vineyard to visit. Bonus, the roads got really skinny again, so I could give the game one more shot.  If you don't know what the game is, a quick review of the last few posts will give you the description.

The road above.  The river Dart below.

 Sharpham vineyard's is set on a picturesque thousand year old farm.  In addition to very nice wines, they make their own Devonshire cheeses from milk produced from their own Jersey cows.  Elka, our wine sommelier and cheese expert, gave us a nice selection of both to sample.  We enjoyed double cream jersey milk with caramelized red onions and a pasteurized goat cheese with pickled celery.  Both were outstanding.

For the wines we tasted, in order: Free press grape First Estate white (think french sauvignon blanc), an off dry Bacchus white, a Whole Berry rose, a light and crisp Pinot Noir and Barrel fermented white (Chablis like).  The wines were excellent example a of cold weather climate styles.  A special thank you to Elka, her knowledge of all things wine and cheese, were only exceeded by her warm and welcoming personality.

The cheese.

 Johanne and Elka behind the bar.  

Next stop the Moorland Garden Hotel, our refuge for the night. Situated on the edge of the Dartmoor National park, it is a natural wonderland.  They have a very highly rated dinning room awaiting our arrival.  Dinner looked like this:


 Cornish Charcuterie Company pork rillettes, apple, mint with cider jelly

 Mikes Smokehouse manuka smoked salmon pate, dill creme fraiche

 Roasted loin of Cornish Cod, warm Cornish new potato's. Baby spinach, lemon, herb, caper and sultana dressing

Forest Fungi, king oyster, grey oyster and maitake wild mushroom ravioli. Sharpham Cremet cheese and rocket salad.

We usually share each plate so we can sample more of the menu.  Tonight it was hard to share.  We both loved our choices.  We agreed on tastes of each. No dessert.  Too much food.

Tomorrow we blast through the park and arrive at our mountain getaway for two days of unlimited golf on 6 different courses. Sure hope the weather holds.

Be well

Fore