~Dartmouth~
6th June 2013
Dartmouth Harbour
Scroll down for photos and a description of the excursion....
Dartmouth Park & Ride
Excursion day and a 75 mile drive to Dartmouth in Devon. For £5 you can park all day and take a pleasant bus journey to the harbour edge and that saves a lot of searching for limited parking spaces in the town. Find the facility on the A3122 - a mile or so east of the town.
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Dartmouth Harbour |
Seven Stars |
Karen disappeared in to the lines of "boutique" shops (the tourist site's description); I wandered off with my camera. Seven Stars claims to be Dartmouth's oldest pub.
Victoria Road, Dartmouth
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The Town Hall |
Duke Street |
The town hall design is similar to the one in Dulverton with the steps and balcony.
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No.8 Brasserie |
Husband Creche at The Dolphin |
Lunch at No.8, but I wish I'd found the "Husband Creche" earlier! Time for a walk along the harbour and off to the Castle.
Kingswear
On the other side of the water is Kingswear and ferries run between the two harbour towns.
Dartmouth
The town and harbour, with Britannia Royal Naval College up on the hillside.
Seagull Chick
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Karen & The Cannon |
Cannon in the Casemates |
Upon arrival at Dartmouth Castle, we started by looking at "The Old Battery". There were three cannons in the Casemates and visitors can have a good look around at the situation from which cannonballs were fired at advancing adverseries in centuries past.
Sea View from The Old Battery
After the Old Battery, visitors are encouraged to walk down past St.Petrox Church and to the main part of the Castle.
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St. Petrox Church
The Lightouse (left) beyond the graveyard and the church itself, built in 1641, replacing an older chapel.
The Castle
The Castle is an interesting historical attraction, well worth a visit. After having a good look around and enjoying the vista from the turrets, we went down to the jetty to wait for a water taxi back to Dartmouth.
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The Water Taxi |
Dartmouth Castle |
For £2, passengers can avoid the walk back to Dartmouth and have a pleasant little boat trip to the town.
Kingswear
The Dartmouth Steam Railway runs between Paignton and Kingswear.
Dartmouth Harbour
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Buckfast Abbey
We interrupted the journey back to Dulverton with a quick look at Buckfast Abbey - a modern building, housing Benedictine Monks and scaffolders. What a nice place to be on a day like this, free entry into the grounds and nave. Shop and cafe, close at 5pm, grounds open all the time. Just around the corner was Buckfast Spinning, part of the defunct Axminster Carpets. "New" Axminster Carpets (2013) Ltd. are taking some of the machinery from Buckfast to Axminster. Wonderful how £35m of debt (reportedly) can be side-stepped (allegedly) to allow the wheels to turn again (seemingly). So I'm told.
Bickleigh Mill
We had tea at Bickleigh Mill. Bickleigh is a few miles south of Tiverton and has a bistro / restaurant. Surprisingly good! It is often difficult to get tea at teatime, with cafes closed and pubs not ready to serve food. This place has attentive staff and a good menu.
Tourists: Karen & Me
Time taken: All day. About 1hr 45 mins from Dulverton to Dartmouth.
Weather: Sunny and warm.
Refreshments: Lunch at No.8 in Dartmouth was just OK, we'd try somewhere else next time. Tea at Bickleigh Mill was very good.
All photos copyright Richard Ratcliffe 2013 ©
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