Synopsis: A day out by bus, travelling to Torbay. We first visited Greenway (NT), the holiday home of Agatha Christie. We then caught a ferry from Greenway Quay down to Dartmouth.
(selection of photos from Flickr photo album – use link above to view album) This 'Mothering Saturday' day out seemed to go as well as I might have hoped. The weather was brilliant, Greenway looked marvellous, the food and drink was good, and the company excellent. And we didn't miss a connection (just), and made good time on all legs of the journey.
The walking party sets off across Ludwell Valley Park this early Saturday morning. The day started with the sun coming up over the hills and deep frost on the grass. We were all met up by 6:30 and set off across Ludwell Valley Park for our first bus, the 7:10 to Newton Abbot. By 7:55 we were in ASDA waiting for the cafe to open in 5 minutes, so that we might get some breakfast. We all have a light snack, except Louise who settles on sausage baps. I can sympathize: this early a body needs all the help it can get.
View of Dittisham across the River Dart. We then return to catch the bus for the next leg of our journey which will take about an hour, a bus trip to Broadsands that will take us along the seafront of Torquay, finally arriving at Broadsands by 9:50. From here we start our walk to Greenway down country lanes, a distance of 2.2 miles, which we cover in 55 minutes, arriving at Greenway by 10:45. On the way we pass the Church of the Good Shepherd, Galmpton. We pass comment on the 'pub of the drunken shepherd'. Apparently the Galmpton church used to be a cider barn, so obviously there's been something of a conversion at this establishment. As we entered the gate of the Greenway estate at the head of Greenway drive we were greeted with a "We like walkers here", which was nice to hear.
Fountain in the Fern Garden, Greenway. As the house can only accommodate a certain number of visitors at any one time, entrance is by timed ticket, and ours is for 11:20, which gives us a small amount of time to explore some of the garden. Some of the plants in the greenhouse seem to have been hit hard by our long cold winter. From here we walk on to the Fern Garden, and then circle back to the house. We drop our bags in lockers and brush our boots clean, and after an inspection, we're allowed into the house.
Greenway House
All the furniture was acquired by the National Trust along with the house. There are plenty of Agatha Christie novels filling most of the book shelves. The furniture is just how you would imagine a 50s house to be like. It's easy to picture Agatha reading her novel to her husband who would attempt to solve the mystery. Although a holiday home not a working home, Agatha did apparently do some proof reading whilst at Greenway.
There is a frieze around the wall of the lounge, painted by American troops stationed here during World War II. The person who painted the frieze was a trained artist, and his work is very good, and has survived the years well. It is very evocative of what those times must have been like.
We have a light lunch in the Barn Cafe which is just behind the stables. I have a bottle of Moggie beer, named after the venerable Morris Minor, not the cat. We're running a little late and haven't seen all the garden, so I suggest we postpone our ferry trip to Dartmouth from the original time of 01:30 back to 02:30. We're all agreed with that, and so spend some more time in the garden. A little too much as it happens, as we lose our way trying to get to Greenway Quay, and only arrive just as the last passengers are boarding. We manage to stall the boat departure, purchase our tickets and are on board and away within minutes.
Departing on the Ferry from Greenway Quay. As the ferry boat casts off we look across to Dittisham on the other side of the River Dart. Then a little further down stream we look up and see Greenway House, perched majestically above the river. It is certainly a location that commands the river. The Greenway boat house comes into sight, which is where I imagine a private boat would have been kept. How handy is that?
Dartmouth bandstand On landing at Dartmouth at 3:00, we take a little stroll around the gardens and through the town, finally purchasing ice creams and eating these on benches by the river front. There's a biting cold wind coming in off the sea, so we're soon looking to be on our way. We board the lower ferry and travel across to Kingswear where we catch a bus (4:00) back to Paignton.
We're running a little early as we arrive in Torquay at 16:50, so we find a cafe on the harbour-side and have tea. We then catch the 17:40 X46 as planned, and head for Exeter. We had dinner at Cafe Rouge in the Exeter city centre, which was a very nice way to end the day. Our final bus of the day was an H1/H2 from the High Street at 9:00 which gets us home by about 9:30.
The day went well, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The weather was gorgeous, and Greenway proved a lovely place to visit. It was a long day, and quite tiring, but worth the effort. Thanks to everyone that came and made this such a splendid day. I wonder if this might set a 'Mothering Saturday' trend in our family. Well, who wants to be conventional anyway?
The planning behind this trip can be seen here as another blog post for this same day.
Journey Statistics:
Total Distance: 80.5 m Walk from Broadsands to Greenway:
Distance: 2.2 miles
Duration: 55 mins
Average Speed: 2.4 mph
Total Ascent: 74.4 metres
Maximum Elevation: 71 metres
Ferry from Greenway Quay to Dartmouth
Distance: 2.5 miles
Duration: 30 mins
Buses: X64, 12, 120, X46, H1/H2
There’s not much to see at Dunkery Beacon, despite all my efforts to reach here, as the top is shrouded in fog. At least the feel-good-factor makes the effort seem worthwhile. There are some substantial banks of snow still remaining on the hillside from the snows of two weeks ago, testimony I feel to how much snow fell on Exmoor.
