A walk round Berry Pomeroy.

We went to Berry Pomeroy after visiting Totnes yesterday...and had a picnic lunch in the car surrounded by trees and birdsong, it was lovely and peaceful.

The castle sat hunched and brooding, keeping its secrets to itself when we walked down the path that leads to the mill pond.

 

The pond had an `after the party` feel about it...abit hung over from the joys of summer...
 

Around the edges little pockets of mint covered with bees and hover flies, and tall spikes of Purple Loosestrife flowered still...

 

It was peaceful in the sunshine, just the sound of a wood pigeon cooing in the trees, and the odd dragonfly winging its way across the water...

 

We followed the windy little road that skirted the wood, the trees cast dancing shadows around us...in the meadow the stream bubbled and sang, rolling gently on...with the stark ruins of the castle on the hill above..

Evenually we came to Mill cottage..a wonderful rambling old house covered in nodding roses, dozing in the Autumn sunshine...two very yappy little dogs rushed across the garden, when they heard us and stood watching us through the gate, tails wagging...

 

 Virginia creeper hung in streamers of scarlet and red from the roof of the garage, like some garish wig, and around the cottage fence the ivy was shiny in the sun..

The back of the cottage had a rather sad dilapidated air, the porch thick with ropes of ivy, and an old wheel hanging on the wall with two spokes left, like rotting teeth..

 

 

As we followed the bridle path we could hear the little stream gurgling in the garden behind the fence, and in the hedging Old Mans beard hung in silky tassels...an old forlorn looking shed stood beside the gate to the meadow, hung with creeper like a green cloak, and on the roof vibrant green moss grew in soft cushions like a velvet hat...we walked up the grassy hill with the wood thick on one side of us, young pheasants ran in all directions when they saw us and disappeared through the hedge, where we could hear them crinkling about in the undergrowth..

We eventually reached the woodland path that led back to the castle, it was lovely walking through the dappled sunshine, the sound of birds in the trees, old logs covered in fungus and shiny ferns along the path, it was an enchanting walk.