Autumn Holiday - The journey

It was pouring with rain as we loaded the car with all the things we thought we would need while staying at Twitchen House, a caravan park just outside Woolacombe.  However, by the time we had driven out of Plymouth the rain was easing, and it had stopped by the time we were driving across Dartmoor.

Our first stop was at Meldon Reservoir.  We walked across the dam and then down one side of the reservoir.  The path was muddy in places and then very squelshy on the flat land at the end of the reservoir.  There was some heather still out but most of the colour around the lake came from berries on trees and occasional gorse bushes.

From Meldon we drove eastward across rural Devon to Castle Hill Gardens.  We were hoping for tea and cake here but this was just served from the entrance kiosk and you had to sit outside to drink it.  It was a cool day, threatening rain, so we made do without!

As we walked towards the house there were beautiful blue borders and the grounds were obviously well kept with the lawns looking immaculate.  Although there were some summer flowers still in bloom, such as hydrangeas  the trees were beginning to change colour.

We walked along the stream and then climbed up the hill to the derelict castle where there were far reaching views towards Lundy, Exmoor and Dartmoor, even on a cloudy day like today.

After leaving Castle Hill Gardens we drove on to Twitchen House, that was to be our base for the next few days.  We saw that there was a footpath down to the beach so in the evening decided to go exploring.  The path followed a river through woodlands down to the edge of Woolacombe and was a very pleasant walk.

Fungi on walk to Woolacombe