Escape to the Country - Devon

Our next stop was a cute thatched cottage in Dartmoor National Park, Devon.

We watch a lot of “Escape to the Country” on the BBC and I had always wondered what it would be like to stay in a traditional cottage.

It had all the features you would expect… a wood burner, a dangerously steep stair case, low ceilings and doorways, and the wonkiest floor ever in the upstairs bedroom. Perfect.

Nice door bell!

There was a nice country walk down the lane marked by this huge tree stump. This must have been a fantastic old tree. The fungus was about 2 feet wide to give you a sense of scale.

I spied this fellow watching me from the other side of the hedge.

We were so lucky to have a beautiful, sunny day, so we ventured out into the park.

The green hills are dotted with “tors” or rocky peaks. They look a lot less menacing in the bright sunlight than I had imagined from reading The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The famous wild ponies were everywhere. We must have seen at least a few dozen along the roads and mixing with the sheep in the open fields.

I took this shot right out the car window. They could not have cared less that we were there.

Within the park, there’s a mix of wild moors and traditional, hedgerow partitioned fields.

Stunning views from the hilltops.

Heading down into the valleys, the roads get progressively narrower until they are just a one lane track lined by hedges. This is practically a superhighway at 40 miles per hour speed limit. As if!

Um, hope nobody comes around the bend!

This a medieval “clapper” bridge found on the moors.

This is the somewhat newer “post” bridge that now carries a single lane of car traffic across the East Dart river. Must be fun in the high season. 2 million people visit Dartmoor every year.

Today, it was just us and the sheep!

The day of our departure, we woke up to a light dusting of snow and plunging temperatures. Our Airbnb host advised us to leave before it got any worse and we were stranded there forever.

5 minutes after leaving, we encountered a line of cars stopped on a very steep hill. We weren’t sure if the road was closed ahead or what was going on. Eventually, a local gentleman in a VW camper pulled up and confirmed that there was no other way around, so we carefully passed the cars and made it up the hill.

We forged on, slowly, through the storm. Mark did an excellent job avoiding the few oncoming cars on the narrow lanes.

‘Twas very pretty.

We just made our lunch reservations at The Royal Oak in Swallowcliffe. The pub is owned by James May of Top Gear fame. Sadly, he wasn’t behind the bar, but the food was excellent. A well deserved treat after a tough day of driving!