Marwood Hill Gardens

I'm still catching up on posting photos from our Devon trip. These were taken at Marwood Hill Gardens near Barnstaple. The garden, in a beautiful location, was established by the late Dr Smart. The tea room is new since I was last there, so we had to try it!

The Recycling Goddess

With her Nigella-esque looks, let me introduce you to the Recycling Goddess -well if Nigella Lawson can be the Domestic Goddess, then why not?


If you happen to be in North Devon on holiday (or not), it’s worth paying a visit to the Recycling Centre at Killacleave, Ilfracombe, managed by Mark and his friendly team. I kid you not. Okay, so it was really a visit to see my sister, who IS the Recycling Goddess, but there is much to see there and a bargain to be had – from furniture to fish tanks, it’s all neatly displayed for easy browsing and is like an al fresco recycled department store. One person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure and this recycling centre certainly is saving a whole load of stuff from going to landfill.

The Recycling Goddess in action – with 2 discerning customers behind her.

There were a lot of potential furniture projects - sadly we didn't have the space to bring them back - but I did come away with a 2006 hardback edition of Bill Bryson’s “Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid” in perfect condition and only 20p.

Devon Days

Now that I’ve got the holiday washing up-to-date (is washing EVER up-to-date?) I've an opportunity to post a few photos of our stay in Devon.

On the first day we collected Mum and Sis and made for Fremington Quay for lunch – but the small carpark was full and the place was absolutely teeming with cyclists following the Tarka Trail or should it be Trial? Why, oh why, this North Devon obsession with calling EVERYTHING Tarka? From caravan parks, cycle trails and chiropodists to pubs, railway and spring water, the name is everywhere. Surely there’s only so much of a little otter’s name that one can take? For all I know they’ve re-named Georgeham (where Henry Williamson wrote the book) Tarka Town.

Anyway, we decided to go to Instow instead which was good – less people and a lovely lunch at The Boathouse. The weather was overcast, but I couldn’t resist taking a photo towards Braunton Burrows, with a tiny glimpse of the Saunton Sands Hotel in the distance.

After lunch and dropping off Mum and Sis, we drove on to the cottage – what a beautiful place we had in store!

And, as well as fresh flowers on the table, we had a delicious cream tea (homemade plum jam) waiting for us – thank you Simon and Margaret.

Ducks on the Doorstep Part II

Just got back from Devon and thought I would do a quick post – I have realised that there is a bit of a duck theme going on! Just before we went away, we had 3 ducks at our front door one morning and, when we arrived at the cottage in Devon, well there they were again – not the same 3 but certainly a case of déjà duck.

Then we visited Marwood Hill Garden and I couldn’t resist a photo of these!