Category: Devon

#1240 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devon, dog walks, Hybrid Printmaking, Serendipity1 Comment
The Bents, Bantham ©theoldmortuary

Yesterday was the perfect Spring Day so we set off to a perfect beach for a long meandering dog walk. The beach and surrounding estate were sold over winter.

Sold for an undisclosed sum. The asking price was £30 million

It is alleged that the previous owner had wanted to turn the area into a millionaires play ground. If that is true,that would have been rather sad. Bantham is a spectacular place enjoyed inhabited and visited by regular humans since the Bronze Age.

What makes you laugh?

Now it has to be said that I laugh at most normal things, but the idea of a natural paradise being turned into an unnatural paradise also seems to be so laughable that I can quite see why local people protested with enough vigor to stop such a scheme. I hope the new owners don’t give them cause to protest again. For now all seems peaceful. We paid our £5 parking fee, had the beach mostly to ourselves and the dogs made themselves giddy and exhausted with play and paddling.

I took some deliberately bad photographs to reprocess into Hybrid images and was once again surprised and  puzzled by my results. Just two of my chosen images worked. Jenkins Boathouse turned out pleasingly vibrant.

Jenkins Boathouse ©theoldmortuary

And The Bents, or sand dunes worked out as peacefully mysterious as I planned, but I am unsure if the blue sky or the pink is better.

So I stuck them together and got an entirely different feel.I am learning to enjoy the serendipity of bad photography.

#1189 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devon, dog walks, SerendipityLeave a comment
Totnes Castle

Being taken by surprise by February 1st gave us a curious Saturday morning of shuffling things around. The afternoon was rather greige so we set off to a favourite town. We arrived a bit late to visit the castle but by walking there we were propelled towards the back streets which I have not explored for more than 20 years when I worked here. The main streets were bustling with the tail end of a busy Saturday market.

17th or 18th Century Door Knocker

Rusty women became a little bit of a theme.

Encased in an air vent.

Our theme was just to enjoy walking the back streets looking at many centuries worth of lovely cottages on interlinked lanes and passages that spread like cobwebs from the Castle.

The castle dominates the town from its prominent hill as it was designed to do.

All our wandering was at dog pace. The peemails left by centuries of dogs always fascinate them in historic urban areas. But they are small dogs and we had been doing walking jobs with them all morning. The cafes in the High Street were calling the dogs but were all still buzzing at 4:00 or buzzed and already closed. But in a back street, we found this glorious turquoise paradise. Busy but not too busy.

We were on 10,000 human steps. Goodness knows how many dog steps. This cafe was one that Lola was not prepared to pass the door of.  So happy was she to sit down and share a cheese scone that she agreed to a photogenic photograph.

In other news a small bunny came home with us

#933 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Cornwall, Devon1 Comment

A compressed week is a funny thing. An art exhibition over a long weekend, with an extra day to help take it down, has pushed all my normal domestic admin into two days this week. By Friday I should be all caught up but yesterday a funny thing happened. Chores, errands etc were somehow completed with an hour to spare. So I took the dogs to a favourite garden and just took in the view while we waited for the appointment time for their annual vet check.

A few years ago I spent just over a month living in this house and garden with an old labrador while her parents were taking a long break in Europe. I had an outdoor studio to paint in with a view to make a trainspotter weak.

At the time I was preparing for an exhibition that required abstracts so the location was immaterial. Which seems like a crime now. But just looking at the view is only half the story.  The sounds of this valley are the thing. As trains approach the viaduct they are coming out of a tunnel, so there is a feel of a train approaching, then the sounds. These are both fascinating sensations, no matter how often they are experienced. There is also a powerful sense of wanderlust, knowing that this train is a link to the rest of the world. In less than five minutes the train will cross the Tamar on the Albert  Bridge, designed by Brunel. Taking people away from Cornwall and on to wider horizons.

When the train emerges onto the viaduct it is almost an anti-climax. With my smartphone in hand, and photos and sketches of this viaduct taken or drawn over many years. I had a happy hour or so, digitally tinkering. Stitching photos and sketches together to try to express the energy felt as a train emerges from the tunnel and starts to run across this tiny valley. 

©theoldmortuary WIP

#913 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Coffee Hunters, Devon2 Comments

If the Aurora Borealis eluded us this weekend , we were a little more lucky with Poisiden. A new piece of street art has recently been created just below Plymouth Hoe.  Coffee, a bacon bap and some basking in the sun were the perfect way to start the day with some friends, freshly returned, from Kent.

Poisiden © Roy Christie Lee Jackson

Although lost,somewhat, in the foreground of the top picture. We found two Poisidens overlooking the sea. A sea swimmer was just dressing as we arrived. Kilt wearing is not de rigueur  for sea swimming around the corner in Stonehouse, clearly, the thrust and fumble of post-swimming zones below the Hoe is a much more sartorial event than we are used to.

A no Lycra zone..

Even without the embellishment of Gods of the Sea, the waterfront was a fabulous place to spend an hour or so basking in sunshine and nattering.

We compared notes and experiences of sea swimming in Kent and Plymouth and decided that Plymouth was the easier  of the two.

Basking with Poisiden on a Sunday Morning, nothing better.

#912 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Dartmoor, Devon, Serendipity1 Comment

Yesterday was one of those days when our lives exactly matched a meme on Facebook.

A day of replanting pot bound trees and plants rewarded us with aching bones and a need for sleep. While all around us something magical was happening in the sky.

Predicted to be happening again last night we headed for Dartmoor.

We were not the only ones and the phenomena was not obvious to us or the hundreds of others who took to the dark skies of West Devon.

Our Northern Lights.

The dogs got a very late walk in Yelverton and with some digital tweakery I can repurpose the image of brake lights and headlights into something we were hoping to see.

And I can cut and paste and superimpose it on a very nice tree from our journey, to give an utterly false but funky memory of the night we were stuck in a traffic jam on Dartmoor.

#905 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devon, dog walks1 Comment

There was a little bit of Christmas in our Brunch outing yesterday. We had a voucher for a restaurant in Tavistock for Christmas. We love both the restaurant and the town but not its weather. So the minute predictable good weather was forecast we took a trip to Tavistock and had a great brunch seated outside on a Mediterranean/ West Devon Balcony.

The sun was shining and birds singing. Christmas-red shoes and nails were a nod to the occasion.

The dogs were welcome and approved of the quality of the sausages. Remarkably the sun kept shining so an adventure further out to Brentor was planned.

Brentor is a church on a Tor. Brent Tor

Moors & Tors

On good weather days Brentor church can be seen from miles and miles away.

Dinky red shoes and a maxi dress are not normal attire for climbing the Tors. I ditched the dinky shoes and put on something a little more rugged.

The maxidress, while not particularly suitable gave me a fabulous perspective to how women before 1920 would have felt clambering their way to worship, celebrate marriages and births or to mourn at funerals.

Billowing fabric and winds are great as sails at sea but not so useful climbing a hill.

The views were worth every gusty moment.

The church itself is small and simple.

The memorial to Percival Cocks shows that getting married at the later than average age of 43 , in a church on top of a Tor was not the bravest thing he did that year.

Bluebells filled the tiny church with their scent.

A sunny morning filled perfectly. Sensation at every turn.

The story of Percival Cocks is below

https://www.submerged.co.uk/percival-cocks-navasota/

The Legend and the current life of Brentor Church is below.

https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/learning/dartmoor-legends/the-legend-of-brentor-church

Home

https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=2801

#869 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Cornwall, Devon3 Comments
Storm Kathleen from Down Thomas.  ©Kevin Lyndsay

I can’t say Storm Kathleen bothered us much . Just more wind and rain, no flying dustbins or lost umbrellas. She did however create this moody sunset from Down Thomas. If you look into the gloom you can just about see Plymouth Sound.

Enough of rain! I thought I would share some dry pictures.

In summer months a charity runs drystone walling classes nearby. There is enormous skill in creating these walls which are a feature of rural Devon and Cornwall.

Wet, from rain these sections have some eye-challenging colour combinations.

In the summer months, these walls still look impressive but they are dusty with red mud from the artisans hands, as the rocks are laid over an embankment of compacted soil. Just my lucky day to catch them in a rare sunny moment while they were still wet. The moment was brief

The raw materials waiting for summer and craftspeople to return.

For the header image I overlaid Storm Kathleen on the drystone wall.

#674 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devon, Serendipity1 Comment

Farewell September, you were fabulous. Sunshine from start to finish yesterday, so a small road trip on the A38 to harvest Vitamin D on the edge of Dartmoor, at Ashburton. Prompted by my blog of yesterday I remembered to take the pile of stuff labeled ‘ Charity Shop’ actually to a charity shop. Link below to an introduction to Ashburton, a historic town founded in 1305. As with many towns in Devon I used to work there occasionally and loved the vibe of the place.

https://www.visitsouthdevon.co.uk/places/ashburton-p197593

Yesterday. Bathed in sun the town was lovely.

Vitamin D and Coffee

While drinking our coffee we were involved in someone else’s colour choices for the outside of their home.

Now that is a pretty broad spectrum of colour choices.

Personally my vote was for the really dark blue at the top of this close up picture. In September sun it was the perfect colour. Maybe not so much on days when Dartmoor pulls rain out of the sky specifically to drench anyone who foolishly has to work in the town, and be out and about. Oh Ashburton I remember your rainy days…

Another wall was in need of some tlc.

Delivering stuff to charity shops obligates a bit of a ruffle about in the stock already on display. I have a fascination for the artwork on Album or LP covers. Charity shops are a rich source of the albums that no contemporary vinyl collector would ever be interested in.

We also found a graveyard for figurines at a very reasonable price.

September is also the time of Harvest Festivals , we caught a flower arrangement on the move.

All in all a very colourful day finished off with a late afternoon swim still in sunshine.

#626 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devon2 Comments

And that, my friends, was quite the Bank Holiday Weekend. So much went on and all close to home. Most importantly new bean bags arrived for me to lounge on in the garden. Lola found a jacuzzi at Buckfast Abbey in the early morning sun.

A small person came to visit.

The mums still insisted on taking us for walks in the early morning and evening when things were cooler. There is no way I can share the wonderful sniffs on here,or the great places we chose to eliminate but I can say that Lola drinking the jacuzzi water was not a smart idea. Some arty sunset shots were taken.

And apparently some bobbing occurred, although we are never invited.

Boule was attempted.

A good weekend, had by all.

#545 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devon, StonehouseLeave a comment
©Hannah @theoldmortuary

Without any planning this week is turning into a low tide kind of week. Hannah did the late evening walk and caught this beautiful image, which is exactly as it presented itself to her. This is an unused wharf,which again we rarely photograph. In fact, just like an old fisherman tale, it is the site of the ‘ one that got away’ We were here last summer with our granddaughter VV, who was visiting from Hong Kong. She,at 3,was a very diligent dog walker, taking complete care of Lola’s needs for the whole walk. This, in turn required us to be hypervigilant so no chance of a quick smartphone photo. The tide was in and the day was very hot with no shade. Something was going on in the water, there was a lot of fishy activity. We all looked intently into the water. Basking in the shade of floating seaweed we spotted a small shark or a large dog fish. Most likely the Lesser Spotted Dogfish which is common in these parts,where it is also called a Murgey. Just like fishermen, this one who got away from our photography, was larger than average. For an excited 3 year old there was no Murgey or Dogfish about the find. We had gone on a dog walk and found a shark. A Shark! At the end of the road!

Nothing to see here.