The Cycling Frog of Totnes – A Devonshire Town
The Devonshire town of Totnes has a number of unusual aspects. It has a reputation as a home for those who seek, and please forgive the clunky old phrase here, alternative lifestyles. In recent times, concern for the environment and an awareness of where our food comes from are much more mainstream attitudes, and when we went to the town on Saturday, we found it thriving and vibrant. Compared to the more mundane high streets of many British towns, which all seem to have the same collection of mediocre retail giants, Totnes had a lot to offer.
How many small towns can boast a harp shop? And in the window of a wool shop, a man was playing a piano.
The market was in full swing, and since there was a craft ale bar and more vegetarian and vegan restaurants than you might expect, I decided that Dan and Alan would enjoy the town immensely.
Below are a few photos from our day out, although I took most of them at the end of the day when the streets were quiet. Earlier they had been crammed with people, but not everyone likes their photo being taken.
A frog on a bike above a high archway advertises the way to the library.
A quaint church in the centre of town
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Cold starts and catkins
Finally back to running, which for me means a weekly 5K run organised by Park Run.
Our local Park Run is in an estate called Parke, which now houses the HQ of the Dartmoor National Park Authority. It’s a tough course with several hills and rough ground, but it is a beautiful setting and the people are friendly.
Unfortunately, the temperature was 3 Celsius and a bitter NE wind made it feel colder than that, hence my expression below.
Why am I here?
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The Perfect Place for a Murder Mystery
We walked in Yarner Wood at the weekend, a woodland nature reserve that seems to be off the beaten track as far as tourists are concerned.
It’s a haven for birders (which I believe is the preferred term for watchers of birds), and there’s a feeding station as well as hundreds of nesting boxes, all carefully numbered so that each pair of birds can remember their address, or perhaps so they can receive post, presumably by air mail.
The bare trees gave the place a certain atmosphere, and it was incredibly peaceful. Lottie enjoyed it, and we even encountered a small group of Dartmoor ponies wandering the tracks. They were eating holly leaves, so they must have hardy digestive systems. The one pictured below was wearing a collar that I think must be a radio tracking device. I’m not sure if anyone owns this group of ponies or if they roam wild, but the site is run by English Nature, so I presume the ponies are protected.
We also spotted, in the distance, a grand house that would make the perfect location for a murder mystery. Sign in to see it below.
I hope you like the photos.
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Winter Lingers on in Devon
Here we are in February already, and I for one am ready for spring, but winter hasn’t finished with us yet.
We’ve had some cold snaps, and some downpours, even a little flurry of snow (which is quite unusual in this mild corner of Devon), but I don’t mind the cold when we get a crisp frosty day. The hills look glorious, and the clear skies give us plenty of stars at night.
The pictures speak for themselves, so I’ll leave you to enjoy them.
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A New Year Walk on Hound Tor – The Landscape of Dartmoor and the Devonshire Mysteries
Readers sometimes tell me that my photos of Devon help them to imagine the setting for Dan and Alan’s adventures on and around Dartmoor, so I hope this set will be of interest.
In the fourth novel of the Devonshire Mysteries, Accomplice to Murder, Dan, Alan and a glamorous figure from Dan’s past visit Hound Tor. Don’t worry, I won’t give any spoilers, but below, you can see the hawthorn tree that’s mentioned in the book.
In real life, it was a fresh and sunny day, and the quality of the light gave a real depth to this intriguing and wild place. Whether you read the books or not, I hope you like the pictures.
Sue and Lottie heading uphill, the tor on the horizon.
Getting closer.
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Happy New Year
At last I’m getting back to work, so the featured photos should be rolling out regularly, usually every week.
I took these on a Boxing Day trip to Teignmouth. It was a gloriously sunny day although there was a chill breeze. It was certainly bracing and a great way to blow the cobwebs away after all the eating and drinking of the day before. The light, to coin a phrase, was fantastic.
I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable time over the holiday season, and a huge Happy New Year from Sue, Lottie and me.
We’re going to need a bigger boat.
There’s something fishy here.
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Happy Christmas, Season’s Greetings and Generally Festive Goodwill to All
It’s that time of year when many of us give ourselves over to the festive spirit, and I’m looking forward to sharing some time with family and eating lots of seasonal treats.
If you’ve been wondering why you haven’t heard from me for a while, it’s because I have been away from my keyboard for about a month. Unfortunately, I have a trapped nerve in my neck, and it’s made it distinctly uncomfortable to sit at my desk. Even now, I am dictating this so that I can stand up and move around. I’ve been given some exercises by a physiotherapist, and they seem to be working. At any rate, I am slowly getting better, so I should be fighting fit very soon.
I’m looking forward to getting back to work on the next Devonshire mystery, and I hope to resume the sending out of newsletters early in the New Year. I have lots of plans and ideas about ways that I can deliver more content for you all. As well as the newsletters, I will, of course, keep taking and sharing the photos that so many of you enjoy.
Thank you one and all for your encouragement and support. It really does mean a huge amount to me that you have chosen to invest your time in reading my work, and I am privileged to have such a lovely bunch of friendly and helpful readers. It’s amazing to me that the characters and stories I’ve dreamed up are alive in the minds of readers all around the world. It seems miraculous that readers who may be separated by thousands of miles can come together in an imaginary realm. Some of you may have strolled to The Wild Boar in Embervale for a pint of ale, while others may have travelled to far-flung planets or distant futures. Others may have dared to encounter the Darkeningstone and journeyed across millennia to a time when the spirits were very much alive in the minds of our ancestors. All these worlds began life as a hastily typed sentence or two or a scribble on a pad of paper. Stephen King put it well when he said, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
For your company on this journey through the world of words, I thank you. I’m grateful too, for all the lovely emails, comments and messages I have received; I valued each each and every one of them.
It only remains for me to wish you a happy and safe holiday season and a wonderful New Year, but I couldn’t sign off without sharing a few seasonal photos, so you’ll see those below.
All the best to you and yours, from Sue, Lottie and me.
The village hunkering down for winter.
A Chilly Day in Devon – The Teign Valley: The Setting for The Devonshire Mysteries – 13 December 2022
After a mild autumn, winter has arrived to nip our toes and pinch our ears.
These pics were all taken on one our regular dog walks. and they show a view over the Teign Valley area which is the home of the fictional village of Embervale which is the setting for The Devonshire Mysteries.
I haven’t captioned them separately as they were all taken together, but I have labelled one picture that includes a view of our village because the sharp-eyed will be able to pick out the very room in which I work.
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Parke, HQ of the Dartmoor National Park – 15 November 2022
The appropriately named Parke Estate near Bovey Tracey is now owned by the National Trust, and the grand old house is now the headquarters for the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA).
The estate also hosts the weekly ParkRun where Mrs C and I, along with a hundred or so other brave or foolhardy folks, run a 5K route every Saturday.
While running this uneven track up hill and down dale, I’m usually too preoccupied with the mud, stones and bits of stick on the ground to take in much of the natural beauty, but the other day, we took Lottie for a leisurely stroll, and I got to appreciate the landscape. Just after we arrived, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and a double rainbow appeared.
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Retro Motors, November 2022
Classic Cars
I always like it when I stumble on something serendipitously, and this trip to Newton Abbot was one such occasion. Mrs C and I had no idea that a classic car rally was being held in town, so it was lovely to find these gleaming cars on display.
I often hanker after cars such as these, but I know that the owners spend a great deal of time and money on keeping their vehicles in showroom condition, and I haven’t the time or the expertise.
Long-time followers of my photos might remember that exactly the same thing happened a few years ago, though I think the photos were posted on a different site. If you’ve been around long enough to remember that, thank you very much!
I hope you enjoy the photos. I’m afraid I didn’t note down the makes and models of the cars, although some of the manufacturers will be obvious in the photos.
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The Season of Swirling Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness, October 2022
Autumn in Devon
The earth turns, the seasons roll around, and so we head into autumn once again.
A good, crisp, clear autumn day, with the leaves turning golden, the air still sweet with the memories of summer, a juicy blackberry plucked from the hedgerow, and the promise of a hot drink when we get home, make for a joyous experience.
There I go, waxing poetical, but there’s something about autumn that brings out those wistful emotions. I think it must be something to do with saying farewell to the summer and preparing for the winter. There’s a theory that our ancestors revered shorelines along the edge of lakes or the sea, because these were places of change, the solid land giving way to shifting water. They were ‘between places’, perhaps symbolising change and impermanence, so people dropped valuable items into the water as offerings.
I wonder if our ancestors also revered the ‘between times’ of autumn and spring, the cycle of darkness and light, cold and warmth. Make an offering to autumn, perhaps with a great bonfire, and the spirits will help you to get through the winter. It’s interesting to wonder how much of the ancient ways have been passed on down the centuries. We now know that behaviours can be stored in our DNA. Are we so different from our ancestors?
It’s something to ponder as I spend the evenings by a crackling fire, especially if I can get my hands on an apple pie or an apple and blackberry crumble. Delicious.
Now I’m hungry, and I’d better go and walk Lottie before it gets dark.
I hope you like the photos.
The City of Bath – 28 Sep, 2022
The City of Bath – Ancient and Modern
Mrs C and I took a break to visit the city of Bath, and we enjoyed it immensely. I’d been once before, and I knew there were many historical treasures in the place, but I hadn’t realised the modern city was so vibrant and busy. Living in such a small and quiet village, we find it quite a novelty to have a choice of restaurants and entertainment venues on our doorstep.
I took lots of photos, and I hope you enjoy this selection. As always, you can see the full set and leave a comment when you sign in. Registration is free.
We began with the Jane Austen Centre: a small museum where you’re shown around by a character in full costume. There’s a chance to dress up for a photo, so we gave it a go.
