I am sitting in the drawing room of Church Cottage, looking out on the English garden.
Church Cottage was the retirement home of parents of a friend of mine. When they died, Liz and her family decided to keep the cottage as a bolthole for the family and for friends, when available. Lucky us! We are here for two weeks of relaxation, hiking and exploration of the south Devon area. Our new home is situated in a tiny village, Staverton (near Totnes, as the address states) that boasts a 14th century church and a Condé Naste recommended pub/hotel. It also has the South Devon Railway. This old steam train is now a tourist attraction, runs throughout the year and is managed and staffed by volunteers. We hear its whistle and chugging as it arrives at Staverton Station every hour or so. Next door to the cottage is the 14th century church, thus Church Cottage. This church has a nice set of bells for its clock. They have just struck 3 times, reminding me that it is a quarter to something. Strangely, the actual clock faces the graveyard so the living can’t see the actual time! I think it is to remind me and David that we don’t need to know what time it is for the next two weeks. The only day we need to know the time is the one when we take the South Devon Railway. We are contemplating a Thursday afternoon when you may order a Devonshire Cream Tea to eat while watching the landscape go by. For those of you who haven’t had the fun of travelling in Britain, a cream tea is a way to ingest most of your daily calories in one delicious go. You might begin with cucumber sandwiches on thinly sliced brown bread (without crusts, of course). Then comes the pièce de résistance: freshly baked scones with raisins that you slather with Devonshire clotted cream (a cross between whipped cream and butter) and top with strawberry jam. You might end with a piece of fruitcake thus ensuring a carb/sugar high that may have you running for the next few hours!
Our week in London was busy. So lovely to see friends, enjoy some theatre and for me, a visit to Whitstable for two days of sea air and some walking by the beach. We arrived here from London on Saturday night after renting a rather upmarket Toyota in central London near our friends’ home. We were both nervous about driving on the left hand side of the road as well as the initiation in central London. After some discussion, we decided that I would drive and David would navigate. He would do so along with Miss K. (named after the very strict headmistress of the school I attended in London in my teens) whose voice emerges from the Tom Tom (or GPS). Nearly six hours later we drew up to the parking place for Church Cottage. It was tense at times, with both of us gently repeating (and only a few times shouting) ‘left hand side of the road’ and ‘you’re too close to the left edge’. We made our way successfully through the Saturday morning traffic and out on to the M5 heading to the West Country, then on to the M4 for Devon. The highways were easy as there was so much traffic, we were sometimes only travelling at 30 mph. However, once off the big highway, we were suddenly in typical English lanes: very narrow, with high 8-10 foot hedges on either side of the road. There are still cut-outs to reverse into if you are caught with no room when another car approaches. It is back to the 50s driving to go with the Church Cottage drawing room.
We have read the Parish News, a 22 page accounting of all the activities of the various Parish Councils. We were interested in the sway these volunteer councils have over local building permissions, as well as the large number of activities reported that are staffed by volunteers. In the News is the report of a visit by one of the parish councillors to the local sewage treatment plant, the account of some strange orange lights floating over the landscape and the terrible news of the burning of the marquee and all the tables and chairs just before the Broadhempston Fete, apparently a case of arson. Staverton is having its own Fête and Garden Show on Saturday so we have offered to volunteer and will go to the homemade lunch. The rules for entry in the garden competition are complicated and rather fierce (especially if David is reading them in his best BBC voice!). There are Classes only for parishioners, the rather alarming rule that ‘The Committee claims the right, if they think necessary, to visit any Exhibitor’s garden or allotment, either before or after the show.’ What could have happened to make that a rule? And what might you choose to do for the Fête? From your garden, you could enter your 6 Pods of Peas, 3 Parsnips, 3 Spring sown Onions (untrimmed) or 3 Onions grown from flat sets (trimmed). All these must be shown in baskets or trays except for the parsnips that must be tied in a bunch. Or you could try for category 151 The Highest Number of Items you can fit into a standard size matchbox beginning with the letter “S” (with a numbered list of all the items included). Or bake Cheese Straws, a savoury flan or a round of shortbread. Or arrange flowers for a wedding, or an exhibit of no more than 7 blooms. And then, of course, there are the sports. Races galore—egg and spoon, sack, wheelbarrow and the ‘Mature Ladies Race (40 and over)’!!! It doesn’t say how long it is. We are looking forward to this and will keep you posted about this adventure.
The drawing room feels, in a pleasant way, like the set from a 50s British stage play, a comedy of manners. I keep expecting Kay Kendall or Rex Harrison to enter stage left, wearing tweeds and carrying respectively, flowers and a pipe.
Church Cottage was the retirement home of parents of a friend of mine. When they died, Liz and her family decided to keep the cottage as a bolthole for the family and for friends, when available. Lucky us! We are here for two weeks of relaxation, hiking and exploration of the south Devon area. Our new home is situated in a tiny village, Staverton (near Totnes, as the address states) that boasts a 14th century church and a Condé Naste recommended pub/hotel. It also has the South Devon Railway. This old steam train is now a tourist attraction, runs throughout the year and is managed and staffed by volunteers. We hear its whistle and chugging as it arrives at Staverton Station every hour or so. Next door to the cottage is the 14th century church, thus Church Cottage. This church has a nice set of bells for its clock. They have just struck 3 times, reminding me that it is a quarter to something. Strangely, the actual clock faces the graveyard so the living can’t see the actual time! I think it is to remind me and David that we don’t need to know what time it is for the next two weeks. The only day we need to know the time is the one when we take the South Devon Railway. We are contemplating a Thursday afternoon when you may order a Devonshire Cream Tea to eat while watching the landscape go by. For those of you who haven’t had the fun of travelling in Britain, a cream tea is a way to ingest most of your daily calories in one delicious go. You might begin with cucumber sandwiches on thinly sliced brown bread (without crusts, of course). Then comes the pièce de résistance: freshly baked scones with raisins that you slather with Devonshire clotted cream (a cross between whipped cream and butter) and top with strawberry jam. You might end with a piece of fruitcake thus ensuring a carb/sugar high that may have you running for the next few hours!
Our week in London was busy. So lovely to see friends, enjoy some theatre and for me, a visit to Whitstable for two days of sea air and some walking by the beach. We arrived here from London on Saturday night after renting a rather upmarket Toyota in central London near our friends’ home. We were both nervous about driving on the left hand side of the road as well as the initiation in central London. After some discussion, we decided that I would drive and David would navigate. He would do so along with Miss K. (named after the very strict headmistress of the school I attended in London in my teens) whose voice emerges from the Tom Tom (or GPS). Nearly six hours later we drew up to the parking place for Church Cottage. It was tense at times, with both of us gently repeating (and only a few times shouting) ‘left hand side of the road’ and ‘you’re too close to the left edge’. We made our way successfully through the Saturday morning traffic and out on to the M5 heading to the West Country, then on to the M4 for Devon. The highways were easy as there was so much traffic, we were sometimes only travelling at 30 mph. However, once off the big highway, we were suddenly in typical English lanes: very narrow, with high 8-10 foot hedges on either side of the road. There are still cut-outs to reverse into if you are caught with no room when another car approaches. It is back to the 50s driving to go with the Church Cottage drawing room.
We have read the Parish News, a 22 page accounting of all the activities of the various Parish Councils. We were interested in the sway these volunteer councils have over local building permissions, as well as the large number of activities reported that are staffed by volunteers. In the News is the report of a visit by one of the parish councillors to the local sewage treatment plant, the account of some strange orange lights floating over the landscape and the terrible news of the burning of the marquee and all the tables and chairs just before the Broadhempston Fete, apparently a case of arson. Staverton is having its own Fête and Garden Show on Saturday so we have offered to volunteer and will go to the homemade lunch. The rules for entry in the garden competition are complicated and rather fierce (especially if David is reading them in his best BBC voice!). There are Classes only for parishioners, the rather alarming rule that ‘The Committee claims the right, if they think necessary, to visit any Exhibitor’s garden or allotment, either before or after the show.’ What could have happened to make that a rule? And what might you choose to do for the Fête? From your garden, you could enter your 6 Pods of Peas, 3 Parsnips, 3 Spring sown Onions (untrimmed) or 3 Onions grown from flat sets (trimmed). All these must be shown in baskets or trays except for the parsnips that must be tied in a bunch. Or you could try for category 151 The Highest Number of Items you can fit into a standard size matchbox beginning with the letter “S” (with a numbered list of all the items included). Or bake Cheese Straws, a savoury flan or a round of shortbread. Or arrange flowers for a wedding, or an exhibit of no more than 7 blooms. And then, of course, there are the sports. Races galore—egg and spoon, sack, wheelbarrow and the ‘Mature Ladies Race (40 and over)’!!! It doesn’t say how long it is. We are looking forward to this and will keep you posted about this adventure.
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