Dartmoor | Maelcombe House | East Prawle | Devon

East Prawle, Kingsbridge, Devon, England: We had to move from one lavish country estate to another today. Life is stressful, isn't it? We woke to clouds, but I found it refreshing as it had been so hot since our arrival to England. We had breakfast in the dining room of the hotel and were joined by a little mouse trying to find his way out of the room.

Today our Fabulous Tour Guides drove us through even more charming English countryside, as the terrain and architecture began to slowly change. We drove past Tickly Cottage (not near Tiddlywink) in Tinkly Corner, Nympsfield, Dursley and North Nibley. Martin and Shirley have "traffic alert radio" - some sort of system that turns your radio on, switches your CD to the alert, or pauses your usual radio broadcast if there is a traffic situation! Very interesting. All day a voice would come over the car speakers telling us of an accident in a nearby village or road construction traffic on the M-something. The system only alerts you to the trouble in the immediate region you are driving. In Devon we drove through the rustic moors of Dartmoor National Park and saw the famous Dartmoor Ponies living in the park. Cattle and sheep also graze in the park. At one point, the largest cow I have ever seen (and I'm a country girl!) walked past our car and her back was as tall as the car. She could serve as the dairy for an entire village.

Huge cow


Sheep


Dartmoor Ponies


A view from Dartmoor National Park

After touring through the park, we started toward the coast. I cannot tell you how many quaint villages we drove through, but I can tell you the roads are so narrow DT and I could both touch the buildings if we had our arms out the windows. The most exciting element about the narrow roads is they are two-way roads! Several times today we would meet a car in a section of road that was so narrow, Martin would have to reverse to a wide-spot so the on-coming car could pass! A few times we even passed tour buses, as large as our motorhome. DT was horrified at the thought of driving our motor home in England.

A sign at the pub where we did not have lunch

By two o'clock, we were all a little hungry, so we stopped at a cute little pub near the Dart River. They stopped serving lunch at two o'clock, so our lunch was a glass of beer and bag of potato chips. Excuse me, what I meant to say was a pint and a bag of crisps. After lunch, we stopped at an ancient bridge over the Dart River at a canoe take-out point.

DT and me


The Dart River

We followed the Dart River to Dartmouth. Not only is it a pretty port, the Royal Naval College is here, Admiral Nelson lived here and from this harbor 424 ships sailed to Normandy in June of 1944.

Dartmouth


DT pointing to the mouth of the Dart River


Dartmouth street


DT posing in the cannon turret

It was now nearly five o'clock so we headed to Kingsbridge and down the most narrow road of the day, to Maelcombe House on the shore in East Prawle. The owners, Sally and Peter, are good friends with Martin and Shirley and had invited us for the night. Maelcombe house sits over a rocky cliff on the English Channel. The view is outstanding.

Our room...


with a view at Maelcombe House

After settling in and having a cup of tea and home-made cream-tea scone, we went into their little village for a drink at the Pig's Nose Pub. Peter and Sally knew everyone in the pub and it was really a very nice spot to enjoy a cocktail. Next, we went to the Tower Inn for dinner. I did not learn the history of the restaurant, but since it is next to this tower, I will let your imaginations figure out the reasoning behind the name.

The Tower Inn

The Tower Inn is pub-like, but not a pub - it is a restaurant. They have an extensive menu and also offered ten or twelve dinner specials. I enjoyed the local Devon cheese and had cod for dinner. The atmosphere was wonderful, Peter and Sally are very interesting and somehow we spent three hours at dinner! After a harrowing drive back to Maelcombe House, we had a drink in their lounge before retiring to our four-poster bed overlooking the sea.

Our hosts, Peter and Sally of Maelcombe House
(Sad note: Sally passed away in 2008)