Delightful Dartmouth…..the best kept secret in England!!

 

This is the beautiful town of Dartmouth....a hidden gem on the coast of Devon. Dartmouth has a fascinating history of pirates and privateers, Roundheads and Cavaliers, Steam engines, the D-Day landings, the Mayflower and is very proud of its Royal Naval tradition. The town has a bizarre array of Elizabethan, Tudor and Victorian Gothic architecture, many of the buildings having hidden Green-men, mermaids and other beasties (every corner tells a tale and is a fab photo opportunity!). Summer is a rainbow blaze of flower filled streets. Timbers are salvaged from stricken Armada ships, the church is bejewelled with exquisite stained glass and mosaics….in fact the whole town is a riot of quirkiness, colour and quintessentially English eccentricity!

 Dartmouth Castle is the best place to grab a Devon cream tea (a local’s secret!)  after an awe inspiring walk from town, catching hidden glimpses back inland, saying hello to the mermaid of  Warfleet Creek (yes we do have one!), and on up to the dappled shade of Gallant’s Bower. The Embankment is unsurpassed for people and yacht watching by the River Dart, and the immaculately cared for Gardens are just made for lazing around in the sunshine, or for a sneaky ice-cream with maybe a bit of unexpected music from the bandstand!

 Imagine a small hillside town on a deep blue estuary, where sailboats and brightly painted small trawlers bob around, steep hills behind are sprinkled with pastel painted doll’s houses. On the opposite side of the river, a hill just as steep…Kingswear, with less of the faerie houses, but a steam train to make up for it, puffing white cotton wool clouds into a  blue sky as she travels back and forth to Paignton. Look downriver and out to sea and catch a glimpse of Dartmouth Castle and the cliff-top church of St. Petroc. Look upstream and you cannot fail to miss the imposing palatial grandeur of the Brittania Royal Naval College. The Dart winds its way past and up to the quaint village of Dittisham (Ditsum to locals) and  passes Agatha Christie’s Summer retreat of Greenway.   Our town has a superb variety of restaurants, shops and accommodation to suit every possible need, a great spa hotel with its own moorings and of course the famous Royal Castle Hotel!  Sounds idyllic doesn’t it…no wonder we find it hard to drag ourselves away…and sulk like mad when we finally do!

 And very close by? Stunning steep cliffed coves hugged by green hills and pines. Slapton Beach and Ley (a must for bird lovers and Military history buffs)….a huge bay of azure sea with a ribbon of road between sea and freshwater lake (and the best fish and chips in the universe at Torcross!) We are close to the thoroughly bizarre and alternative historical town of Totnes too….full of art and crafts and healers, a must for lovers of bookshops!  We are only a hop, skip and a jump from our beloved Dartmoor too….our moorland fix of weathered hills, ghostly tors, wild ponies, wicked legends and faerie woodlands. A visit truly explains why so many Faerie artists like ourselves have an irresistible pull to Dartmoor, it takes your breath away, and filled the hole leaving our ‘Wuthering Heightsie’ moors left in a great big way! (Chagford and Ashburton both have great cafes, galleries and really good delis too, softies must visit the Miniature Pony  Centre!). 

AND of course, as its name tells us, Dartmoor is the birthplace of the wonderful River Dart…..it tells its own Faerie story too… a story in perpetual motion…tumbling and weaving its majick as its journey winds from moor to sea….kissing the land goodbye at…

DARTMOUTH.

 

Hope you can make it here some day!

Kelly the Magpie x