Part of our trip to England was taking a wonderful quiet car train ride (those things are great) from Paddington Station all the way down to Exeter to spend the day with DH’s aunt and uncle. It was a great way to see parts of England – without having to drive – that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. When we got off the train at the Exeter station we looked around for Aunt P and Uncle R. Fortunately Uncle R is a rather tall gent so I could see his head over the crowd. After hugs and hellos it was into their car and off to parts unknown…well at least to me. DH has been there before.
Uncle R was our tour guide and pointed out so many things that I would’ve happily have spent much more time exploring but we were on a schedule. Let me tell you something, you haven’t lived until you’ve driven down a country road between enormous hedgerows that are only about one car wide but are two way roads! There are little coves in some parts of the hedgerows where one car pulls over and allows the other one to pass. That was a bit of entertainment. The architecture is hundreds if not thousands of years old in some places. We drove past the moors, home to The Hound of the Baskervilles, and we were even fortunate to see the wild ponies of Dartmoor.
Since these photos were taken in 2011 Aunt and Uncle have moved and are now right on the English Channel in Sidmouth. That should make for some interesting photography when we go and visit them again.
Thatched roof home in Devon
Images by T.Dashfield Photography 
It is so cool to see some homes retaining their thatched roofs. Nice photos
Thanks. Aunt and Uncle’s old house was a historic one hundreds of years old with 6ft mud walls and a thatched roof which had to be replaced periodically.
I’ve heard that despite being made of thatch, having a thatched roof repaired or replaced is no longer inexpensive. No historic construction methods are.
That’s what they said…re-thatching wasn’t cheap.
I know exactly what you mean about the narrow country roads because on family vacations we’ve driven along them.. Exciting at times but usually there was not too much traffic. If there are trees on either side of the road, the branches meet overhead and you’re driving down a green tunnel. Lovely!
It was a first for me and one time we did have to pull over as someone was coming the other way!
Sounds like a great excursion, Teri, cruising among the hedgerows. Nice that your Uncle could spend time to take you around, even if you had a schedule to contend with. Hopefully, next time you’ll have more time to check some things out.
Next time I think we will plan on doing some exploring on our own and hopefully not getting too lost 🙂
It sounds and looks idyllic.
It was a bit of stepping back in time.
Don’t you just love the European architecture? I love all the old homes and the character 🙂
You know I was a happy camper with the camera. Although I did get thrown out of one old church 🙂
Wow, something right out of a movie – I love it, you are truly blessed to have the opportunity to visit and then share these great pics.
Thank you. I have been blessed with the will and the way to explore great places.