South England

Since I was able to come to the UK, mum, dad and Anita all took a week off, so that we could go away, and have a nice family holiday. They planned a week away in a town called Torbay, which is on the coast, in Devon.

Torbay

The Torbay area, is know as the English Rivera. It is very definitely a sailing town, and is rather quaint. We explored the harbour, walked along the pier, and did the fish and chips thing :), which is a must in places like this. There was also a market there on Sunday, which added to the festivity of the place.

Torbay from the upstairs balcony

Apart from taking it easy on some of the days, we also ventured out a bit. On our way there, we visited Stonehenge. Spent a day travelling to Cornwall to see the Eden Project. We also saw a couple castles; Dartmouth castle and Berry Pomeroy castle.

Stonehenge

Yay, Stonehenge is one of those places that I’ve always wanted to see. People tell you that its origins are a mystery, and this seemed to further make me want to visit it. I had the feeling that if I went there, I’d figure out why it was there. Nope, it’s still a mystery. They had a nice audio guide which really made the visit that much more interesting, as you were explained the history and everything that they have managed to piece together about it so far. Audio guides rock!!

Stonehenge

Eden Project

The Eden Project, in Cornwall, is an impressive display of biodiversity, and has plants from dry – arid regions to humid tropical regions, and focuses on plants which are important to human society, and sustainability. The entire display was great. There were loads of interesting things to learn. From English folk lore about what certain plants can do for you to how plants are used as crops, or for potential future wide scale uses (eg. Hemp).

What was really awesome was that the tropical section had so many plants that we used to grow in Triangle. It was a nice walk down memory lane.

The Eden Project

Dartmouth castle

This was one of the three castles that English Heritage manage. We decided to see it since it was closeish. This castle was a bit disappointing in that it was only built for a military purpose. It was used to defend the river mouth from attack during the various wars that England have been involved in. What was rather amazing tho, was that one of the things that the castle did for defense was hoist a cable across the mouth of the river to trap boats entering. They would then attack them with the cannons. Ingenious.

Dartmouth – the mouth of the river Dart

Berry Pomeroy castle

Definitely the best site that we saw. This is a castle that was originally built by the Pomeroy family, and then sold to the Seymours. Very little of the original castle remains, because it was mostly rebuilt, and further extended by the Seymours. It was destroyed in the late 1700’s by a fire, and never rebuilt. What I really enjoyed about this visit was the architecture, and how grand and luxurious this place must have been. Oh, it is also reputedly the most haunted castle in Britain.

Anita at the Berry Pomeroy castle