Moving North

And so I have moved to North Devon.....

As I am in the middle of Exmoor you will appreciate technology is limited.... the hotel has wifi and it is a bit dodgy in the room so off to reception.

I started off with

838 St Mary, North Petherton

this is one I've failed to get into twice before but today.... :D

Just down the road is Fyne Court. It is a small nature reserve in the care of the National Trust. For many years it was the head quarters of Somerset Wildlife trust. I was only there for a brief period and highlights were Great Spotted Woodpecker and Grey Wagtail.

Well it is now NT ;)

And so to another NT property Coleridge's Cottage

The cottages claim to fame is that the Poet Samuel Coleridge lived there for 3 years although he wrote the works he is most famed for Kubla Khan and the Rime of the The Ancient Mariner.

Today the Cottage looks quite nice but in his day it was a rat infested place. Obviously there is little of Coleridge there (indeed it was extended in Victorian times and for a while was used as a pub) but fair dos to the trust they have presented it well and you can sit in one room and read books of poetry or put on head phones and have works of Coleridge and his fellow romantics read to you.

The outside garden is mostly left for wildflowers. My father would not approve but lots of insects so I do!

I'm sans field guides so haven't got a clue!

As I headed to the hotel I stopped at Cleeve Abbey a Cistercian foundation.

Admiring the pavement! which is a pretty impressive survival.

ooh Marbled White.

I felt sorry for the very friendly chap at Cleeve he couldn't sell me a guide book and all the fizzy drinks were full sugar.... SIGH. Cleeve lacks one of those excellent EH audio guides. Still plenty of information panels.

I always walk away from places with Cleeve with the wish I could nip back in time and see them as working communities.