Moretonhampstead.

On the way home from Burrator the other day, we stopped in at Moretonhampstead, an ancient market town on the moor. It was lunch time, so we thought we`d have something here, we bought mini pork pies, and crisps, and had a picnic in the car, with coffee from the flask. It was lovely and peaceful sitting in the car park, with the sun streaming through the car windows, hardly a sound, apart from the Jackdaws calling from the roof tops, where they were tossing sticks down the chimney pots, to make nests much to the horror of the home owners I would imagine, and a blackbird fluting from a nearby tree.

After our picnic, we went for a walk round the town, they have these lovely decorative wrought iron baskets, all along the street, which look lovely in summer filled with flowers.

And this lovely twiddly end, with oak leaves, acorns and a nuthatch.

We wandered on to the Alms house, a lovely old building made of solid granite.

The date above the door, was when it was refurbished, but its infact two hundred years older.

Behind the wall was this lovely old mangle and a pretty tub of polyanthas

Infront of the Alms house, is the Cross Tree, this famous dancing tree used to be an elm which was cut and clipped into the form of a punch bowl, but its long gone and has been replaced with a beech. It was around the original tree that the village lads and lasses would dance with `fantastic toe` and its recorded that French Officers on parole from Princetown Prison during the Napoleonic wars assembled round the Cross Tree with their band.

This is a photo of the prison we took on the way to Moretonhampstead, looking very moody in the mist.

The head of the cross is still at the base of the tree, but the shaft is enclosed near the Alms house
Theres lots of lovely houses in the town, and many are listed.

Across the road, and in a tiny garden by the Chapel, was this lovely lady with an ivy shawl

We walked round to St Andrews church, set at the top of the town

It has lovely stained glass windows

And a beautiful Rood Screen

And some beautiful carvings

After enjoying the peace, we walked out into the Spring sunshine, where there were pretty windowboxes

And an interesting frieze the local school children had made

And another nice wrought iron feature

This time with an Owl. Another bird that features in the town is this Sparrowhawk, on the side of this building

When King John granted the town its charter during the thirteenth century, the rent was set at one Sparrowhawk per year, so the Sparrowhawk has become something of a symbol for the town
I loved the pretty blue of this house, especially with the pink blossom in the garden. It was a lovely stroll round the town, and a nice end to the day.