Colleton Manor, Gin and SUNSHINE

When we met Damon and Sandra de Laszlo (see earlier post), they said we should look up Damon's sister Grania when we were in Devon.  So we did and they invited us to join them for a night.


We set out from Grendon in the Volvo with map in hand to tackle the little lanes of the beautiful 'back country'.  Our route took us roughly north past lovely villages (often with fewer than 20 houses) with names such as Yeoford, Coppleton, Chawleigh and Chulmleigh till we made our way to Colleton Manor, Grania and Simon Phillip's farm.  Another lovely farm, this time with a stone manor house.  Grania farms Ruby Red Devon's (a breed of cows) for showing and for meat and it was interesting to learn a bit more about different types of cows.

Geoff in front of Colleton Manor

Checking out the seedlings in the Glasshouse

Lucy chatting to the Red Devons

It was really lovely to meet extended members of our family (Grania is Mike du Toit's 2nd cousin) and to be so welcomed by them.  We hope to see them and others of the de Laszlo family in SA.

Grania, Simon and Geoff

The next day we woke up to clearing skies, and potentially some sunshine!  After ear-tagging and weighing the youngest calves and feeding the horses with Grania, we had a lovely breakfast and started making our way back to Grendon under progressively blue-er and blue-er skies.  

Jeremy had finished working with the cows by the time we got back, so we all headed down to Plymouth for the afternoon.  Dartmoor looked drastically different in the sun and it was fun to have tour guides pointing out ponies and tors (small rocky koppies) and the prison and water furrows.  Down in Plymouth we went on a fascinating tour of the Plymouth Gin Distillery (of course sampling their wares and procuring some for home sampling) and explored the Barbican area (the old town), before wandering along the coastal path past the Citadel and The Hoe (where Sir Francis Drake reportedly insisted on finishing his bowls game after the Spanish Armada fleet was spotted on the horizon. He subsequently took the British Fleet out to sink the Spaniards).  It was glorious to be beside the seaside in the sunshine :)

The lighthouse (Smeaton's Tower) was originally built on the Eddystone reef in 1759, but was taken down in the early 1880s when it was discovered that the sea was undermining the rock it was standing on.

Jeremy, Maggie and Geoff

Then home to homemade Cream Tea…….