Last weekend we went to Devon to see my parents. I think I have mentioned before that they now feel that they want just a short visit of an hour or two, anything longer creates a lot of anxiety. We do as they wish but it always seems a long way to go for so short a time. We try to make a weekend of it and squeeze in some time at the coast.
This is Budleigh Salterton in East Devon. I grew up in Somerset and this is somewhere I have been coming for most of my life and on the surface it seems unchanged over the years.
On the beach, freshly caught fish for sale. There was a steady trade and the gulls were interested in any trimmings as the fish were prepared for sale.
This young gull was tackling a starfish.
Another view of the beach. In the summer there are pastel coloured beach huts along side the beach, it looks different in the winter with uninterrupted views of the beach.
We visited Mum and Dad on Saturday afternoon and then again on Sunday morning before making our way home.
We take the A303 home and often try to find somewhere new on the way to stop and explore. This time we chose Shaftesbury. It was very quiet on a Sunday afternoon with the shops closed but it looked as if it would be a bustling sort of place at other times. We had a coffee before strolling round the town.
Good views over the surrounding countryside.
We followed a path down to the bottom of Gold Hill, made famous by the Hovis TV advert.
This is the view looking up,
a few of the cottages
and the famous view looking down.
As you can see from the photographs, there was nobody about - the benefit of playing tourist out of season.
There are two museums open in the spring and summer. The Gold Hill museum which sounds quite interesting and also the grounds of the Abbey and the Abbey museum. I'd like to make a return visit when these are open - might not be so peaceful on the hill then though.
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