Sea front gardens

After walking round Cockington this afternoon, I strolled round the sea front gardens, they still have plenty of colour, especially these gorgeous michelmas daisies..

There`s a small lake in the gardens too, which has some lovely grasses around the edges

There was a family of moorhens swimming about, four babies, and didnt they make a noise!

You could see Berry Head in the distance..

And you couldnt miss this enormous tanker, which came in today!

Cockington

I decided this afternoon, as Pete`s on lates, and it was such a lovely day, to take a walk out to Cockington, a country park. I couldnt believe how hot it was either, especially as the mornings have started to be much chillier. It was a real treat walking in the dappled sunshine under the trees, many of which have started to turn some lovely colours.

Cockington Court, is a lovely old building which houses a nice tea room, and craft shops, it has a lovely sweeping green infront, where people sit, play ball games, and on sundays in a very English country way play cricket. There are some beautiful trees along the drive, and edges.

I followed the path, covered in leaves, down to the Game-keepers cottage.

It`s a lovely old thatched building, set amongst the trees, I`d love to know its secrets. All of Cockington village is thatched, its very `chocolate box` pretty.

ABC Wednesday

Todays letter is L

L is for Lunaria....

Lunaria or Honesty is a nice little plant that has pink flowers in the Spring time. In the Autumn it is covered with these lovely silver `pennies` that are used for flower arranging.

I discovered this fabulous bunch beside the road in the countryside, so I took them home and hung them at the window to dry, then peeled the `pennies` to reveal the lovely silvery moons beneath, and have them arranged in this chunky vase beside the fire. The seeds I`m going to set in the garden, so I always have a good supply.

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A nice day out

Having woken to a dull dreary morning, we decided to ignore it and go for a spin, we`re not really ones to sit in all day at the weekend, so headed out to the House of Marbles, an old pottery works. It sells a lovely selection of glass ware, which is blown on the site, and which you can watch being made, it also has lots of arts and crafts to browse, and its famous for its marble runs, which it has several of. It also sells a huge selection of marbles, all the old favourites that we used to use at school, and some lovely new ones.

The reason we enjoy going their, is they have a really nice tea room/restaurant which has the most delicious selection of home made cakes, so obviously that was the first port of call, coffee and walnut cake, and a nice cup of coffee....

Much refreshed, we drove on to Bovey Tracey, a lovely old town on the edge of the moor, have a look at this link
we browsed the shops, and I found two very pretty vintage plates, decorated with pink and red roses, which will be nice on my dresser. Having dodged one or two short sharp showers, the weather cleared a little, so we had a walk in the park.

The River Bovey meanders through the park, gurgling over slatey stones, where tiny trout dart backwards and forwards, and Alder and hazel dip their roots into the crystal waters.

There were lots of pretty coloured trees, and some rather nicely decorated seats

After our nice walk, we went to the Riverside Mill a gallery and craft showroom

It has a wonderful selection of arts and crafts, and is a joy to wander around. On the way home, we called into Trago Mills, and I bought some cyclamen, polyanthas and bulbs for some pots I want to plant up by the front door. It was a nice day out.

Welcome to October

"I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead,
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south winds` plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass......
Mortimer Crane Brown.

"On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels....
Charles Dickens.

"It was a morning of ground mist, yellow sunshine, and high rifts of blue, white-cloud-dappled sky. The leaves were still thick on the trees, but de-spangled gossamer threads hung on the bushes and the shrill little cries of unrest of the swallows skimming the green spaces of the park told of autumn and change.
Flora Thompson.

Thrifty Walk

Woke to a lovely sunny morning, with windy blue sky, so decided to walk over to Paignton and `do` the charity shops, as I havent been for a while. The tide was high, and lapping the steps, and the wind ruffled the water into little pleats.

At Corbyn Head, all the beach huts have been taken in for the winter.
There were waterfalls of `old mans beard` and sprays of shiny berries along the way..

In the park there were clumps of hazy michelmas daisies, and the ducks eyed me up noisely.

And after trotting round all the shops, I found this little collection, what a result..

October

White rabbits, white rabbits..

Well this is what I always say on the first of the month, its supposed to bring you good luck, so fingers crossed..

October is my favourite month, not just because its my birthday month, but because it has so many lovely things...scarlet berries, leaves in shades of gold, orange scarlet and bronze, prickly horse chestnuts, clusters of hazlenuts, mellow sunshine, misty mornings, michalemas daises. It has a sad wistful feel to it, and is the best of Autumn.

It has been a lovely bright windy day here today, the sun has shone, but there was been a bit of cloud, which has passed over fairly quickly. Its my first day off, so I spent most of the morning cleaning, and catching up with the washing and ironing. After a sandwich lunch, when Pete came in from work, we decided to go for a walk..

On the way, we had a brilliant view of Haytor across the town, its so lovely to be able to see the shoulder of the moor in all its moods..

We followed this little path, which takes you away from all the houses, and makes you feel as though you`re in the countryside. It was quiet, and in between the trees and shrubs you could glimpse views across the roof tops, to the churches in St. Marychurch, and the hills in the distance.

The Elders had been stripped of their berries, probably by the birds, which seem to love them, unless someone had collected them for Elderberry wine!

There were some lovely hawthorn trees

and teasels..

and the ivies are beginning to flower...

with nice views..

and the Ash have large bunches of keys...

we took the path upwards through the wood, where the sun was shining through the trees

we had a nice view of Berry Head from the road along the top, and it was nice to walk home in the golden sunshine.