What ho!

One of the first things we did when we bought our current home was to drop the name it had been given when it ceased to be a farmhouse. "I refuse to live in a house with an exclamation mark," I said. The house had been called Westward Ho!, now it glories in being plain number 20.

We went to visit the seaside village the house had been named after, which itself had been named after Charles Kingsley's book.  We didn't stay long, finding the place run down and rather tacky and we haven't been back in the 21 years since. Until yesterday, that is, and what a transformation: bright new seafront buildings, everywhere trim and sparkling clean, everyone friendly and helpful.

In case you think I am making up the exclamation mark in the name, here's a picture of the Post Office:

(click on picture for a clearer view)

There is a beautiful 2-mile long sandy beach:

plenty of rock pools to explore

and the pebble ridge, which protects the nearby golf course from the sea.

Until 2008 local people would gather on the beach twice a year for "potwalloping."

Everyone would gather the pebbles that had been washed down by the tides and pile them back onto the ridge. I hear there was much frivolity and local ale involved. The ending of this practice has endangered the oldest golf course in England and destroyed another local tradition.

 For those who find the sea too cold or too big, there is a very convenient beach pool.

Until yesterday, I thought that North Devon beaches lacked beach huts but Westward Ho! has a row of them. Behold:

I got really excited when I saw them. We used to have one on the beach at Eastney when we lived in Hampshire and we had great fun there when the children were small.

Up the hill, beyond the beach huts, we saw what we thought might be Bates' motel.

The closer we got, the more convinced we became so we turned back at this point.

Heading down to the esplanade again, we looked across to "our side of the bay." You can't make out our village because of the mist but the headland is Baggy Point.

  We couldn't see any evidence of the shabby seaside resort of twenty years ago. The ice cream van, a stall selling shell fish from Lundy Island and a couple of cafes provide the seafront refreshments.

and we didn't have to have fish and chips, we sat outside at a bistro, enjoying the sea view and a very pleasant lunch.

Having wasted twenty years, thinking Westward Ho! was a place to be avoided at all costs, we fell in love with it. Should we move to one of the seafront apartments? Or perhaps this would suit our taste and pocket more:

I would still find it difficult to live in a place with an exclamation mark, though!!

Boxing Day on the beach

Christmas Day was an unusually quiet affair in our house with just my husband, his mother and me. Our real festive time begins later today when Mr, Mrs and Miss Brit arrive from Bristol and Millie and her Mummy and Daddy arrive from Oxford. At present they are all stuck in traffic on the motorway, leaving me with a few minutes to post some pictures.

Boxing Day was a perfect day for a stroll on the beach. My dear friend D came over from her icy valley to share some festive food, sunshine and conversation. We went to Crow Beach, one of the local beaches that I haven't written about before because we like to keep it secret but I'll share it with you as it is Christmas! D has posted some of the great pictures she took over here.

Crow Point and beach are on the estuary of the Taw and Torridge rivers, at the edge of Braunton marshes.

Across the water is Instow

D's handsome Edinburgh Boy was quite happy with the sand and sea until he spotted the wreck

Excellent sniffing ground!

 

And what could be better than finding a wreck to explore?

Finding another one. At first, D and I thought we might be able to head off to a life of adventure on the high seas in this one but a closer inspection of the interior suggested that would be unwise...

The family arrived before I finished writing this post so  I'm just going to click on Publish Post without editing or completing it.  Tomorrow we are all going further round the coast to Morwenstow. More pictures to follow.

Beside the seaside

We had some really good weather while baby Charlotte was visiting, so we introduced her to the seaside.

Day 1. Basic vocabulary

 sand

  puddles

 surf

"And that," said Mummy and Daddy, "is the sea."

Charlotte made such good progress in her lesson at Croyde Bay that next day we ventured a little further:

Day 2. Advanced concepts

great tourist attraction

 great seaside tradition

great seaside nuisance

On her next visit, Charlotte will learn about boats and angling and later on we'll tackle farming and wildlife in the region.

(Charlotte's photos appear on her own blog. My son is happy to send invitations to any of my online friends to view them - just send me an email address to monix123@gmail.com)

The sandy side of the bay

It is hard to believe that we are in the middle of March; this afternoon we had temperatures of 15 ºC (59 ºF), the usual temperature for March being around 10 ºC (50 ºF). Where better to enjoy this unexpected sunshine than at the beach?
We are fortunate to live close to many lovely beaches. Today we went to Instow, a place we rarely visit because it is almost impossible to get close to in the summer. Although the lovely day had encouraged lots of local people to head for the beaches, the holiday season isn't here yet and we managed to find a parking space and we even got a window table at the Boathouse for a superb lunch of locally caught fish.
I showed some pictures of Appledore, which is on the other side of the bay, in this post. It is a prettier village with lots of galleries and eating places but it has no beach. All the sand is on the Instow side of the water.
The sea and sky were as blue as on a summer's day.
There really wasn't anything more to photograph but a few shells.....
.... and this rather nice willow sculpture.

Grey seas

A very brief spell of sunshine this morning tempted us to go for a walk by the sea. We settled on Ilfracombe, just 9 miles away but by the time we got there the sun had disappeared and the sky and sea were almost as grey as the rocks. But there were some magnificent waves to see.
I love the sound of waves crashing onto the rocks ....
.... and Ilfracombe is the perfect place to see and hear them.
Things looked calmer as we walked along the path towards Capstone Hill .....
..... and when we reached the harbour there was a hint of blue in the sky.
It was a mere hint, though. By the time we got back to the car park, the rain had started and is set to last for the next few days - back to the sofa and my books.

The beach on a cold and frosty morning

We walked off our Christmas pudding on the beach this morning. While we (husband, son, friend Keith and I) strolled....
....shivered....

.... and cast long shadows ....

....the Junior Rugby team ran and .....

... planned their next match strategies.
You might recognise the beach from the Pink Floyd album A Momentary Lapse of Reason, although the beds were removed long ago.


This is not Pink FloydBut this is:

The coastal path at sunset

I was hoping for a spectacular sunset this evening, so headed for Baggy Point with my camera.
Before getting very along the path, a great bank of cloud appeared and Baggy almost disappeared.


Not as spectacular as I would have liked but pretty enough after a glorious, sunny day.
It seems that October is making up for the cold, wet summer. I certainly wouldn't want to be anywhere but on the coast right now.