Devon & Cornwall 28 - 29 April 2023

The flight:

We would not usually class a 7 hour flight as a quick flight. But after our 17 hour leg from Auckland to Dubai the 7 hours from Dubai to London seemed positively brief. A little on flight entertainment occurred when an English person in front of Lance ( it would be a mistake to call him a gentleman) went off at the hostess about his seat in premium economy and how there was no leg room (he had a bulk seat, more leg room that us behind). And he went on and on that he was “positively livid”! 

 Anyway the flight went on and he reclined his seat into Lance’s face and had a nap. I could see because his head was nearly in Lance’s lap. Time passed and the food arrived and Lance gave the man a tap and asked him politely if he could pop his seat up so he could eat his meal. I so wish that I had videoed this. The man had a face like a newborn baby and spluttered loudly “Did you do that just to wake me up!” And had another rant. He was a really angry little man. He huffed and puffed. It was hilarious! What a miserable life he must lead. And to make matters worse he had a wedding ring on. Poor wife. 

 Anyway, we landed in Heathrow, and despite airline notifications to say there was industrial action going on and to expect delays we whizzed through and were met by Lance’s brother Matt and his partner Adrienne who live in London.

Arriving at our airport hotel, we dined, said good night to Matt and Adrienne and readied for the next leg of our journey n the morning.

The hire car pick up from Heathrow was easy, and yes there was a bit of swearing from the seat next to me for the first few miles as we negotiated intersections. The drive down the A30 towards Devon was very easy. Well easy for me because all I had to do was confirm navigation! Lunch time found us close to Dorchester which we found to be a really quaint town.

Parking was easy and I had the Just Park app already downloaded. However I hadn’t added my payment details and every card I tried wanted to text me a security number before I could add the card. The problem is that we now have UK sims in our phones so can’t receive the text with out a swap of sims. Luckily I had some cash. 

 The Old Tea House looked and felt every bit of it’s almost 400 years. The toilet was up a narrow flight of stairs and the floor rolled so much that it was hard to walk straight. Union Jack bunting and old china adorned the tea room and a couple of ancient grannies sat in the corner chatting loudly with their broad accents. We both ordered soup and I suspect it was out of a can, but the soft white bread was good. I had a bit of a wander and snapped these King Charles supporters out for a spot of shopping.

 As we drove into the county of Devon the landscape and towns became more and more picturesque. The roads are narrow and front doors pretty much land you on the road. 

 

We have passed fields and fields of these bright yellow flowers. They are stunning. 

Heading south to Sidmouth we were hoping that our choice of seaside villages to stop at was a good one. And we were in no way disappointed. 

The Sidmouth Harbour Hotel sits on a hill overlooking the village, beach and magnificent cliffs. Fortunately our room looked out to this vista. The room was quaint, compact and more that adequate. And . . . they offered complimentary gin!

 How lovely, especially when Lance doesn’t drink gin!

I popped down to the village and being a Bank Holiday weekend and the first sunny day of summer the beach and boardwalk were packed with families enjoying an ice cream and some were even swimming! 

Although the day was sunny and bright it was still only around 15 degrees Celsius! We dined in the hotel restaurant, which looks out across the harbour. The food was okay and the French pinot noir was great.

A dozen oysters yum yum. Not quite as fleshy as our NZ oysters but delicious all the same. 

A couple of travel hacks for future reference:

1. I usually use a steamer at home for my more delicate clothes. Of course there is no steamer here, so I held my blouse up on a hanger and puffed steam from the iron. Perfect. 

2. The next hotel had no iron at all so I held the blouse up on a hanger a blasted it with the blow dryer. Again, perfect.