Castle Drogo

The forecast was showery for today, but we decided to chance it and go to Castle Drogo, with the intention of going inside the Castle if it was wet.

We drove via Bovey Tracey, and were not impressed with the road.  Even though it was an A road there were times when it went down to single width.  When we arrived the journey was worth it.  The views were magnificent and the castle was a large imposing building that seemed to belongs in such large scenery.

Having walked around the outside of the Castle we decided to wait for any showers before exploring inside.  Instead we walked around the gardens, which were magnificent.

One highlight was Bunty's House.  I photographed this to send to Bunty!

We then left the formal garden and walked through the rhododendron valley.  Some of the rhododendrons had finished flowering, but there were still many putting on a good show.  The path then led on to the Hunters Path which led down to Fingles Bridge, so we continued walking.  It was a good path, with lovely views that only went steeply downhill at the end.








Fingles Bridge was a charming place. We stopped at the pub for lunch and had a lovely bowl of soup sat at the edge of the river, watching birds dart to and fro.

To return to Castle Drogo we decided to follow the river on the other side of the bank to the Fishermans Path.  The woods here were full of bluebells and very attractive.  The walk back took much longer than the one going down, with more gradients.  But it was very pleasant walking. (40 mins down, 80 mins back)

We had taken so long walking we did not have time to look around inside Casle Drogo, and the sun had shone for us all the time so we did not need to shelter.  We will definitely go back there again.