Saturday 21 August 2010

A damp morning in Totnes.

Today we woke to grey skies and mizzle again, but having had to stay in yesterday, we were determined to get out and about, so drove over to Totnes
.
First port of call as always Anne of Cleves tea rooms, and what delights in the window, lovely strawberry topped buns, but we were very restrained and had our usual coffee and scones...

We were lucky enough to find the market on in the square, albeit just setting up, probably delayed because of the rain

the best market is on a Friday, but its always worth having a look...

Theres always this nice plant one, which has some lovely perennials..

and a few specialist ones, this one I noticed also selling chilli and garlic chutney `with a bit of an afterburn` it said....yes I can imagine..

I was delighted to find in a box marked `50p each` at the back of the market, the most wonderful collection of vintage things, tins, glass and pottery, it certainly made my day.

So clutching my bags of treasure we headed on up to the `narrows` where the street is very tiny, and the lovely old shop buildings are all crammed in together

We popped in here, one of my favourite shops...

to drool over all the gorgeous Cath Kidson things, so much prettiness, and lots of other pretty unusual things too.

When we came out, I noticed across the road a new shop, painted the nicest sea side blue

and inside were the loveliest driftwood mirrors, pale french grey chests, shell hangings, and signs with `Gone to the Beach` and such like on...

We decided to walk up to the castle, which dominates the hillside at the top of the town

not to walk round it, but its very pretty around the bottom, the houses are very quaint,, and the gardens always gay with flowers

theres a nice little seated square, which is shady in the summer

and the tree growing in the middle was very pretty hung with large white berries

I had to look it up when I got home, as I wasnt sure what it was, and its a Kashmir Rowan, so now we know...

We headed back down the hill, a slight mizzle in the air..
and popped into St Marys church, the lovely red sandstone tower has just been renovated

Its lovely and large and airy inside, with a fine roodscreen, which unfortunately was defaced a long long while ago

and has a memorial that is very impressive

I loved this pretty dainty stained glass window

and I thought the ladies who quilted this, very talented, its beautifully done

When we left the church, it started to rain really heavily so we headed home, but it was a nice morning out, and look at the lovely treasures I found, very worth it.

6 comments:

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Again - a lovely walk. I am so jealous of your lovely little uncrowded towns and castles and pretty little houses. There is just nothing at all to compare with this over here in the US - my heart yearns to walk those paths.

Your treasures are fabulous!!! What a grand day.

Timi said...

What a lovely morning! Thank for sharing with us :o)!

Kathy said...

I check your blog all the time to see where your journeys have taken you! I vicariously live thru your travels and love to see all the places you've been. You do such a great job of expressing yourself and have such lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Ramblings From Spain said...

Ooh, a fabulous day out.. and I wouldn't have been able to resist a chocolate bun complete with cream and strawberry on top! Some lovely bargain finds too, well done ;) xx

galant said...

Hi, Jill,

So glad I've found your blog. I live in Devon, too, a short drive from Totnes and it was lovely to see these pix of this familiar town and it's gorgeous array of buildings, shops and secret places. Not been there on market day for ages, I think I might just pop over one of these Fridays for a look-see.
Love your pix of Dartmoor, too.
Margaret P

Moon Daisies said...

Hi Margaret lovely to hear from you, we`re very lucky to live in such a beautiful county aren't we, with so much choice, I`ve just decided to start blogging again, so look out for more postsx