This limestone plateau is the southern protective arm of Torbay (Hope’s Nose is the northern one) and has the sea on three sides, affording wonderful views across Torbay, down the South Devon Coastline towards the mouth of the River Dart, and of course, out to sea.
Originally posted 2020-11-18 06:58:31.
If you feel cheated in not being able to wander around and watch all the activity, then there is a viewing platform where you can see most of the harbour and the boats that are in port. For a better idea at what happens on the other side of the gates, I can highly recommend one of the early morning tours of the market, although during this year of Covid, I don’t believe they’ve been running them. You may also like to read my post, Brixham and Fishing for a better understanding of what the industry means to the town.
Originally posted 2020-10-24 16:12:37.
Up until then, deep sea fishing had largely been done by long lining which, as its name suggests was a technique that used hundreds, if not thousands, of baited hooks. Although trawls had already been invented, a much better system was developed by Brixham boat builders and fishermen that allowed trawls to be towed from beams that not only caught more fish but could also do so in all kinds of weather.
These boats with their tall gaff rig had sails which were treated with a local red ochre dye to make them more durable, and a design that made them both fast and strong. Only a small number of these boats have survived, but six of them have been restored and at least two or three can usually be seen alongside the pontoon next to the Prince William pub on the far side of the harbour.
There were in excess of 200 of these boats that sailed from the harbour to places as far away as the North Sea, where demersal fish such as plaice, haddock, and cod were much more plentiful. To begin with they returned to Brixham with their catch but as time went on, they started to put down roots in places like Hull, Grimsby, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and it wasn’t long before these ports became much bigger than Brixham itself.
Originally posted 2018-05-27 16:17:12.
There is a connection with the Scottish hotel however, because the first owner of the hotel in Asheldon Road named it after her favourite part of Scotland. Beatrice Sinclair bought it in 1964 when it was a private house and converted it into holiday apartments, and then, along with her husband Donald, gradually converted it into a 41-bedroom hotel.
Originally posted 2020-07-03 15:02:45.
In this context ‘park’ means Country Park, which in the UK refers to a recreational area which I think of as a half-way house between an urban park and the open countryside.
The idea was conceived in the 1960s to encourage people in urban areas to get up off the sofa and out into the fresh air without having to head off into the sticks and trample all over farmers’ fields.
The Country Park at Cockington, like others throughout the country, was initially set up with central government funding through the Countryside Commission, but surprise surprise, the baton has since been passed over to the local council to foot the bill for the upkeep and provide free access to all.
Originally posted 2021-10-16 06:00:48.
The village centre harks back to a bygone era when it was part of the Cockington Manor Estate: It has all the quintessential ingredients of what every visitor’s idea of an old Devon village should look like; a place where thatched cottages with hanging baskets entice people into their gift shop or garden for the obligatory Devon ‘Cream Tea’, but there’s more to Cockington than that, and in a separate article I will be describing the estate that surrounds the village which is now a 420-acre Country Park. In this blog though, I’m going to give a short introduction as to how the ancient manor became what it is today and what the village has to offer.
Originally posted 2020-04-12 09:28:51.
The focal point is Babbacombe Downs, which at 300 ft. above the sea below, offers commanding views around Lyme Bay towards Dorset.
On a clear day it’s possible to see as far as Portland Bill, so where better to just lounge around and enjoy the view, perhaps with some fish and chips from Hanbury’s in nearby Princes Street. As tempting as that might be, it’s probably better to work up an appetite first, and a short walk around Babbacombe will not only do just that, but will also provide you with quite a few things to see and do along the way.
Originally posted 2020-01-09 17:15:06.
Explaining the planet’s history is really best left to the experts, but as one of the geological time periods is named after the county of Devon, I think it’s worth knowing how this occurred and how it all fits into the grand scheme of things.
To put it into some sort of perspective, geologists tell us that the earth was formed some 4,600 million years ago, with the oldest rocks in Britain being about 3,000 million years old (and found in North-Western Scotland). From this we can see that Devon’s beginnings don’t go back quite as far back as they might first appear, so why was the Devonian Period so named?
We only need to go back to the 1830s to find the answer. Up until that point, scientists from the early 18th century onwards were trying to map and categorize different geological time periods, and Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick, two eminent members of the Geographical Society in London, had identified two separate eras which they called the Silurian and Carboniferous Periods.
This neat classification was thrown into some disarray when a colleague, Henry De la Beche, who was categorizing rocks himself in Devon, suggested there was also likely to be an intermediate period: The disagreement between the two parties led to the debate becoming known as the ‘Great Devonian Controversy’.
Paradoxically, it was Murchison who made the discoveries to prove that De la Beche was right all along. This intermediate era was determined to be between 359 and 419 million years ago, and was subsequently called the Devonian Period.
In the chart below, the Devonian Period is half-way down the Paleozoic column coloured brown.
Originally posted 2019-10-04 06:40:58.
This area of Torbay is as good as anywhere to understand why the English Riviera was given status as a UNESCO Global Geopark, one of only seven locations in the UK. Kent’s Cavern is the best place to begin discovering what all this means, and if you want to find out how the area gave its name to the Devonian Period, check out my post, Kent’s Cavern and the English Riviera Geopark.
Originally posted 2019-04-13 17:11:58.
The footpath between Peaked Tor Cove and Daddyhole Plain is about a mile long and known locally as Rock End Walk, but to make it easier to find I’ve decided to start the walk from the Victoria Parade side of the harbour where it meets Beacon Hill.
As you start to walk up the hill, you’ll see a brown tourist sign that leads down to Beacon Cove. Unlike the red sandstone beaches that this part of Devon is well known for, this is a small rocky limestone bay, which until 1903, was a ladies-only beach and a favourite spot for the young Agatha Christie. Next to it is the now empty ‘hairnet’, which before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, was the home of seabirds and other marine life that made up Paignton Zoo’s Living Coasts. There’s no access onto the coast path from Beacon Cove, so you’ll need to walk back up onto the road if you venture down here.
Originally posted 2019-02-20 22:00:41.
The Inner Harbour is the main focal point and, just as you might expect, includes a variety of shops, bars and restaurants, as well as boats. Thanks to the pedestrian Millennium Footbridge that connects the Old Fish Quay with the South Pier, it’s possible to complete a circuit of the inner harbour without re-tracing your steps; and underneath the bridge is a cill which allows water to remain inside the harbour regardless of the state of the tide.
During the day, seagulls permitting, wandering around the harbour makes for a pleasant pastime, and there is also the opportunity to catch the ferry over to Brixham if you fancy a different harbour to wander around.
If you’ve brought Aunt Maud with you, it’s probably best to pack her off back to the hotel before the clubbing crowd turn up, especially on weekend nights during the summer. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I would have been joining them, but these days, like Aunt Maud, I find myself going home around the same time as I used to be going out.
Originally posted 2019-01-26 16:04:25.
Abbey Park lies in front of the Riviera Centre and has some low-key sporting facilities such as tennis and crazy golf if you like that sort of thing, but the gardens, with their sub-tropical plants and water features are what I like, and in particular, the Italian Garden which is a riot of colour during the summer (see featured image at top of page).
If you’re not in any rush to get the sand between your toes, you might also want to check out the One World Café and Bistro which is the ideal place for doing absolutely nothing for an hour or so.
Originally posted 2019-01-09 05:24:13.
Not only does a visit offer an insight into how Torquay developed from the time Torre Abbey was founded in 1196, you can also impress your friends by telling them it was occupied by the Canons of the Premonstratensian order. These wealthy landlords were responsible for adding the ‘quay’ to Torre, and were here for over 300 years until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.
Originally posted 2018-04-03 14:02:51.
This post is a list of my recommended places to go in Torbay. Like any Top 10 list, it’s subjective, and everybody’s list will be different. Having lived here for more than twenty-five years, I’ve covered all these places in my blogs on Torbay, and have provided links to them for a more in-depth look at what’s on offer at each place.
If there are any places that you think I should have included, and maybe some that you think I shouldn’t have, please let me know. Places are constantly changing for one reason or another, and it’s not easy to keep abreast of everything.
The list that I’ve compiled runs in a descending order that coincides with my preferences, but I wouldn’t take too much notice of that, as everyone’s opinion will vary. Having said that, the places on this list should find favour with most people. I hope you agree, and don’t forget to send me a comment on what you think.
Originally posted 2021-07-09 10:43:12.
Torbay doesn’t get many cruise ships normally – maybe a couple a year will drop in for a quick overnight stop and that’s about it, but it’s been different since the pandemic arrived. People living in Fort Lauderdale or Piraeus might not get over-excited about seeing a cruise ship turn up, but here in Torbay it’s somewhat different. We’re more used to seeing fishing boats and cargo ships rather than luxury liners, and when the first cruise ship anchored in the bay last year, little did we know that more were to follow.
I can’t remember which ship it was exactly, but it was a ‘Dam’. That I do know, because there were any number of ‘Dams’ that were first on the scene. They were here of course because they had no passengers, and although they would normally be tied up in a port somewhere, I can only hazard a guess as to why they chose Torbay as a resting place as it doesn’t have the facilities to cater for large ships in the same way. I assume one of the considerations must have been cost, and although it’s a safe haven for shipping during a south-westerly gale, dropping anchor here would not have been without its pitfalls, especially if being laid-up for a long spell.
I suppose this was why there seemed to be quite a large turnover of ships sailing in and out of the bay, but whatever ships were around, there always seemed to be a ‘Dam’. Westerdam, Volendam, Nieuw Statendam and Zaandam are all part of the Holland America Line and became a regular part of the scene. There were as many as six ships anchored in the bay at any one time and they were joined by two or three more around the other side of Hope’s Nose at Babbacombe.
During the time they’ve been here a rapport has been built up between the locals and the ships. The crews have been quarantined of course, but they’ve blown the ships’ horns to commemorate Armistice Day, New Year’s Eve and other occasions, and in return locals have sent Christmas parcels and made friends.
With the pandemic easing off (supposedly), the ships are now starting to leave the bay, and so I thought I would put together a gallery of some of the ships I’ve been able to capture on camera before they’ve all gone. Unfortunately, I’ve not got any pictures of those special moments like waking up to see the ships on a peaceful misty morning hovering above the sea like ghost ships or the moon shining down on them last thing at night. Those moments are priceless, and if nothing else it goes to prove that there can be some good things that happen in times of adversity.
This week, Oosterdam was the last ‘Dam’ to leave the bay: The night before it left, the ship was lit up in a way that spelt “We love you Torbay” and the following morning the ship’s captain was on local radio saying how he was leaving with a lump in his throat, but he would be back with his family sometime in the future to meet the people of Torbay.
He and his crew may miss Torbay, but many of us here will also miss the ships. Bon Voyage!
Originally posted 2021-06-06 11:44:43.
The UK has the highest per capita consumption of cider in the world and although there are other areas of the UK such as East Anglia that have a tradition of producing fine cider it’s generally regarded that the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the West Midlands and the West Country in general are the areas with which it is most associated.
The county of Devon has had a long history of cider making, and although there are no really large commercial businesses down here these days, there are still a number of smaller producers dotted about – including Hunts of Yalberton.
Yalberton is a small village on the outskirts of Paignton, and although the nearby industrial estate and new housing have started to encroach on the once serene countryside, there are still plenty of apple trees growing in the fields. In years gone by, many of these apples were used by the famous Whiteway’s Cyder firm of Whimple, but they also spawned a couple of local Yalberton cider farms as well – namely Churchward’s and Hunt’s. The friendly rivalry between them ceased to exist after Churchward’s closed down sometime during the 1990s, the exact date of which I can’t quite remember.
Fortunately, Hunt’s is still going strong, and it was in 2018 that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to have a look around Higher Yalberton Farm to see where the apples came from and how their cider was made.
Originally posted 2018-06-23 14:54:51.
The Round Robin includes a steam train from Paignton to Kingswear, a ferry across the River Dart to Dartmouth, a boat trip up the river to Totnes, and an open-top bus back to Paignton. It can be done the other way round and you can start from Paignton, Dartmouth or Totnes.
Part of the attraction is to be able to explore the towns of Dartmouth and Totnes and so you would need to factor in the tide times of the Dart if you intend to do the whole journey in one day.
For expediency, in this post, I’m just going to describe the train journey between Paignton and Kingswear.
Originally posted 2018-06-20 18:11:43.
Originally posted 2020-08-19 16:36:09.
Preston sits between Old Paignton and the boundary with Torquay at Hollicombe, and over the years has expanded up the hill inland, but from a visitor’s perspective the main points of interest are the beach, known as Preston Sands, and Oldway Mansion.
At low tide Preston Sands are a continuation of Paignton Beach, but is generally regarded as the shoreline between the Redcliffe Hotel and Hollicombe Head. It’s a safe beach ideal for sunbathing and swimming, as well as rock-pooling at Hollicombe Head.
Originally posted 2018-06-09 06:13:06.
In those days, the area just inland from the beach was backed by sand dunes and marshland, which meant that the settlement grew up slightly inland where the land was drier.
The origins of Old Paignton village are located around Palace Avenue, Church St, and Winner St, the names of which give a clue as to what was here. Winner Street gets its name from Wynerde, (or vineyard), and reflects its association with the palace’s trade in wine.
Originally posted 2018-06-05 17:31:04.