Cothele Christmas Garland

The Christmas garland that decorates the Hall at Cothele is famous and each year we go to see it.  This year the good weather meant they had more flowers to use in making the garland so it was larger than usual and they had decorated around one door in the same manner.  It was even more impressive than usual.

Our visit was further enhanced by there being a talk from one of the gardening staff about how the garland is made.  This was really interesting. It is amazing how much time is spent growing and preparing the flowers for the garland all through the year. We saw the rope that is at the base of the garland and she showed us how they attach bunches of pettisporan using wire and a long instrument (like used for rug making)

There was also a display showing the flowers that were in the garland.

As usual the walls of the Hall were decorated with beech twigs and the doors were framed with Christmas foliage and a fire was burning in the hearth.  It all made for a very attractive Christmas room.

Even outside the Hall there was colour brightening the day -  a border of irises.

After viewing the garland we had a quick look around the gardens where there was still some autumn colour, then walked down through the Valley Garden to the Chapel in the Wood and onto the Quay.  From there we walked up till nearly the mill before climbing up the hill back to the House.

Cremyll to Cawsand

It was a bright sunny day so we thought we would do a walk along the South West Coast Path. We have often  done the part of the walk that goes through Mount Edgecumbe Park but not all the way to Cawsand.  Looking back on this blog I see that it was 28 February 2013 when we last did the whole stretch, just a couple of weeks after moving to Plymouth.

We parked the car at Devils Point and took the South West Coast Path through the Royal William Yard to Admirals Hard where we caught the ferry to Cremyll.  Although there has been rain lately the path was not too muddy.  It was not too hard a walk until we got to the steps.  Usually we go up one flight of steps then turn back to Cremyll, but this time we had to continue to the top and it was a hard slog.  However, once we had conquered them it was easy walking all the way.

Twice on the way we saw deer but they ran away before I could photograph them.  There were still some leaves on the trees, but not many and not much autumn colour.  The views out to the Sound, however, were beautiful.

View to the Breakwater and Mew Stone

The walk is about 4 miles and we were surprised how quickly we saw the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand.  At this point we stopped for lunch on a bench looking out to sea with the sun shining on us.  It was really warm for the last day of November.

Kingsand and Cawsand

Walking through the narrow streets of Kingsand we were charmed by the quaint old cottages. We noted that the car park in this village was £1 for 6 hours.  I am sure this is a winter rate, but worth remembering if we want to come in this direction by car.

View through a garden gate, Cawsand

Cawsand was in shadow and a little chilly so we decided not to linger but catch the next bus back to Cremyll.  Fortunately we only had a couple of minutes to wait,  The bus ride itself was very pretty with views over woods and fields to Millbrook and across to Plymouth.  The tamar bridges stood out in the sun. The bus links with the ferry so we were soon back home.

Saltram in November

Although it was chilly the sun was shining and the sky a lovely blue so we thought we would go to see the autumn colour in Saltram.

As we walked into the courtyard we saw they were preparing for the Christmas Festival and the Christmas tree was already up in the marquee covering the courtyard.

There were also two Christmas trees either side of the front door of the House.

There was lots of colour in the gardens.  The most spectacular was from the leaves on the acer trees.

There were also some flowers still out, in particular the nerine lilies and michaelmas daisies.

There was a new sculpture in the garden, a white tern. It looked beautiful.

Burrator in November

It was a grey morning on Saturday, but not too cold, so we thought a brisk walk around Burrator would be good.  We parked at the dam and saw the water was gushing over it.

The trees were gradually turning colour, it was a pity the sun wasn't shining on them as they would have been more attractive then.  Nevertheless we could still see reflections  in the reservoir.

As we walked to Norsworthy Bridge there were lots of streams flowing fast into the reservior.  The waterfall was as pretty as ever with the fallen leaves covering the ground.

The trees around Norsworthy Bridge were in full autumn colours and looked wonderful against the fast flowing water.

Lanhydrock in early autumn

It was a sunny October day so we thought we would have a walk around the Lanhydrock Estate. We often go to Lanhydrock but usually park in the main car park then walk down to the House and Gardens and from there walk through the woods to the river Fowey.  It is a lovely walk, but it is all uphill on the way back.  So today we decided to park the car at Respryn Bridge and do the walk in the opposite direction.

The river Fowey was flowing fast and it looked very muddy as it had been raining hard over night.  I had hoped that the trees would be colourful as their leaves turned to reds, oranges and yellows, but they were mainly green so not very interesting.

When we got to the Gardens around the House the herbaceous borders were still very colourful.

It was very nice walking down the Avenue back to the car.  It was so much quicker and easier than walking up!

Saltram in October

It has been a mild autumn so far and today was grey and cloudy with occasional showers.  We did not want to go far so thought we would wander around the gardens at Saltram House  and see what signs of autumn there were there.  We just got into the gardens when it started to rain so we quickly made our way to the Craft Gallery in the Chapel, and browsed around there admiring the art work until the shower past.

Most of the trees still had green leaves on them, but we had not walked far into the gardens before I came to this beech that was showing the wonderful autumn colours.

  
There were not many flowers in the beds, but I did see this one that looks most tropical.

Ususally when we walk in these gardens we walk up the Lime Avenue and then around and back via the Orangerie and Chapel.  Because of the rain shower today we walked in the opposite direction.  Therefore we did not notice the cyclamen in the Lime Avenue until we came to walk down it.  It was a spectacular sight.

Cadover Bridge

It has been a long time since we visited Cadover Bridge but recently this part of Dartmoor has been mentioned to me a number of times so I thought it would be good to go there again.  We drove through Plympton to Wotter where we had been told there was an excellent view of Plymouth.  However, it was a misty day and we did not see very much.  Driving on through the clay works was not a very attractive route but we were soon onto the moor which was much more pleasant.

We parked at the National Trust car park at Cadover Bridge.  In the past we have walked from there to Shaugh Bridge, but today we decided to walk up the river.  The first thing I noticed was the sheep grazing by the river.  Most rivers on Dartmoor are fast flowing over boulders, but the river Plym at Cadover flows more gently and I was reminded of Psalm 23 "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters"

 

We crossed over the road by the bridge and started to walk up a small road parallel to the river.  We only walked as far as Trowlesworthy Warren House as the sky was threatening rain.  But as it held off once we were back at our car we did a short walk through the woods in the opposite direction.

It was surprising how quickly the river went from flowing gently to rushing down past boulders.  It seemed like a completely different river.

Although there were some brown, dead leaves on the ground most of the trees were still green.  There were lots of acorns around and some other berries on trees, but no magnificent autumn colour displays yet.

We did not return to Plymouth the way we had come but continued on the same road until we came to Yelverton,  Driving this way over Dartmoor was much prettier than the other way.