Seagulls and Crab Pots!

Well, Christmas and New Year have been and gone, and the world is slowly getting get back to normal. We had some snow on Boxing Day, then the temperature plummeted and everything was covered in ice and thick frost, until yesterday, when it got a little warmer, but very windy. So, somewhat perversely I suppose, I’ve got some nice, cheerful, sunshiny piccies for my Saturday Snapshot! These were taken in Brixham, on a lovely sunny day back at the end of August when we were kitten sitting for our Elder Daughter and her Boyfriend while they went on holiday – they acquired two little black cats after they’d booked their trip, then found the local cattery was full up…  So, of course, it was Mum and Dad to the rescue, and we had a wonderful (but unplanned) stay in Devon!

A view of Brixham - isn't it beautiful?

While we were there we had a day out in Brixham, which is a beautifully unspoilt little fishing town, and isn’t really ‘touristified’, if you know what I mean, and we thoroughly ourselves. As we arrived the first thing we noticed was the picturesque row of old, brightly coloured, fishermen’s cottages up on the cliff (though I doubt if many fishermen live in them these days).

The Golden Hind - at high tide she floats but, as you can see, it wasn't high tide!

 Then, in the harbour we spotted a full-size replica of the Golden Hind, the ship in which Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe back in the 16th Century (I know, I’ve already seen one reproduction of it at Southwark, in London – there are obviously a lot of them around!). Apparently, this particular vessel is here because in 1963 a TV series about Drake was filmed in and around Brixham, and this is a replica of the replica used in filming, because the first one was destroyed in a storm… confusing, or what?

Trying to be arty and get a close-up of the masts and all
that rigging. 

The original Golden Hind (Drake’s flagship – there were four other ships in his fleet) was launched as the Pelican, but was renamed to honour the wealthy patron who provided most of the funds for the expedition. Officially the brief, as explained by Queen Elizabeth, was to explore new lands and ‘find out places meet to have traffic’, which I gather means discovering new opportunities for trade. But unofficially the Queen had let it be known that she wanted revenge on the King of Spain for ‘divers injuries that we have received’.

A Brixham seagull. There are gulls everywhere!

So Drake and his crew had carte blanche to harry the Spanish, and that’s exactly what they did. They set sail in 1577, and the Golden Hind made it back three years later, laden with riches looted from Spanish treasure ships. The Queen was delighted – and no wonder, because she got half the proceeds. Drake made his fortune, was knighted, and became a national hero.

A fire juggling pirate.

Brixham seems to have a long history of piracy, smuggling and the like. When we visited there was some kind of pirate event going on, with children (and adults) dressed as buccaneers, and there were market stalls, street theatre performers, and all kinds of activities going on.  It gave a real carnival atmosphere to the day, but we never did discover what was happening – there is a proper Pirate Festival every May, so it can’t have been that!

A wall of crab pots..

Fishing has always been important for the town. From the Middle Ages right through to the 19th century it was the biggest fishing port in the West Country, and it’s still a thriving, working fishing port today. The quays around the harbour are piled high with nets, ropes, pots, baskets and all kinds of paraphernalia to do with fishing, and it all looks just as you imagine it should.

... And a close-up. I was trying to be artistic - again!

 Brixham, apparently, was famous for its fast-moving, powerful sailing boats, which were able to trawl for fish in the deep sea, in all weathers. Several of them, with their distinctive red sails (dyed with local ochre, which helped protect the canvas against sea and weather damage), have now been restored, and provide cruising holidays and training expeditions. We had hoped to see some of these Heritage ships in the harbour, so we could get a good look, but they were all out, and we were a bit disappointed - until we spotted this glorious craft sailing past in the distance, and felt as if we'd been transported back 150 years or so. We were really thrilled to see this - much better than looking at one in the harbour!

Red sails in the sunshine!

Doubtlessly, WW2 buffs will know that the Americans trained in Brixham  prior to the D-Day landings, as part of Operation Overlord, and the 'slipway and hard' that they used is now officially ‘listed’, and there is  a blue plaque explaining how troops and tanks left from here bound for Utah Beach, and convoys followed loaded with supplies and equipment. 
 

A D Day landing - A reminder of World War II.

There's a big, modern marina as well, and all alongside the quay, nestling up against the cliff sides, are little gardens, created by local volunteers as part of a Pride in Brixham project, and there were people fishing for crabs with string and bits of bacon, and I do wish we'd had a go at that - next time, perhaps!

 

Garden by the sea... One of the gardens created for the Pride in Brixham project.

The town itself was lovely, with some nice little independent shops - and a statue commemorating William of Orange who landed at Brixham in November 1688 with his Dutch army during the ‘Glorious Revolution; when the Catholic King  James 11 was forced to abdicate in favour of his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William..

 

Crowned with a seagull! I accidently deleted my photo of the e statue of
William of Orange in Brixham, so I've borrowe this one, from the
 http://www.devonperspectives.co.uk/brixham.html site.

You’ll find more photographs, and details of how to participate in Saturday Snapshot at Melinda’s site, at West Metro Mummy Reads.

Recreating a Medieval Abbey

 

 

Lavender blue dilly, dilly... Relaxing in the Lander Garden at Buckfast Abbey.



I seem to have been a very sporadic blogger this year. In fact, sporadic is a bit of an understatement – non-existent is nearer the mark. Anyway, I thought I would share some pictures on Saturday Snapshot, though it's a long time since I've posted anything. These were taken during a visit to Devon a couple of weeks back. Not Plymouth this time, where our Elder Daughter lives, but Paignton. We wanted to explore a different part of the county, so we treated ourselves to a package coach trip/weekend in a hotel. Stupidly, on the Saturday I let the Man of the House persuade me to join a trip across Dartmoor, which turned out to be a Big Mistake for a Bad Traveller like me… Besides, Dartmoor can only be fully appreciated when you’re walking.

We stopped briefly at Princetown, the small village where the prison is, and there was another stop at Tavistock, which had a fabulous market with crafts and books and suchlike, and looked a really nice little town – just my sort of place! But we weren’t there all that long, and I was just beginning to feel better when it was back on the coach again, and off we headed for an unscheduled surprise location, and all I wanted was fresh air, ground under my feet, and not to move!

But the journey was worth it, because this is where we ended up: 

Buckfast Abbey

Buckfast Abbey has to be one of the nicest places I’ve ever been, providing balm for body and soul. It is magical, really, really beautiful, and so tranquil and soothing. It’s a modern building but, unlike most 20th century cathedrals (Coventry, for example), it looks old – as we walked towards the entrance I thought it was Medieval Gothic, cleaned up and restored, although the MOTH felt the two types of stone used meant it was more likely to be ‘new’. But we agreed it has to be the most incredible architectural feats we’ve come across, built by just six monks, only one of whom had experience as a mason, in 31 years.  I think that is so amazing. It is the most stupendous achievement, and whether or not you’re religious you have to admire the faith, skill, energy and sheer hard work of that group of men who turned their dream into reality. 

Another view of the Abbey.

Apparently, Buckfast was established as a Benedictine monastery in 1018 – when King Canute was on the throne. In the following century it was taken over by the Cistercians, and was largely rebuilt. From that point on it was a thriving community for some 400 years until, of course, dear old Henry VIII Dissolved the Monasteries. The monks had to leave in 1539, and anything of value was sold off, along with the Abbey lands, manors and so on (it strikes me that the Dissolution of the Monasteries was a nice little earner for the Royal Coffers).


I just love this doorway - it is so ornate.

In the centuries that followed, the Abbey Church and most of the monastic buildings fell into decay, but a few were put to other uses – for instance the guest house complex was turned into a farm and cottages, and wool was dyed in the almshouses. 

Inside... I think the arches and the ceiling are lovely.

Then, in 1800 most of the remains were demolished to make way for a grand mansion house - only the Abbot's Tower and the Undercroft were left. However, the house changed hands again, and again, and again… four times in all, in just a few years.  The final owner put it up for sale in 1882, describing it as ‘a grand acquisition could it be restored to its original purpose’. And that, amazingly, is exactly what happened, because the site was bought by a group of exiled French Benedictine monks. They refounded a monastery, dedicated it to Saint Mary, and set about building. Originally they based their plans on an old print of the ruins – then, while digging in the vegetable garden, one monk stumbled across part of the Medieval foundations. Gradually, more stonework was unearthed.


Arches and windows.

It meant new designs were drawn up, enabling another Abbey Church to rise from the outlines of the old building. It was based on other abbeys built in the middle of the 12th century, such as Kirkstall, Fountains and Tewksbury. Work on the church started in 1907, and finished in 1937, and it’s as magnificent inside as it is out, with stone arches and pillars, vaulted ceilings (I hope that’s the right word), a decorative marble floor, and a great, golden altar. 



The Altar.

Most amazing of all are the stained glass windows. The ones in the main part of the church are beautifully traditional, based on those at Cathedrals in Canterbury and Chartres. Then you walk into the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and it’s something else altogether. It’s like entering another world. Ahead of you is wall of blue glass fragments, forming a giant picture, Jesus at the Last Supper, with light pouring through, and it is truly, truly awe inspiring. And when you turn around there are other windows, in other colours, in abstract designs, and the whole thing just takes your breath away. You seem to be surrounded by colour and light, and it is so modern, and such a contrast to the rest of the building. The Buckfast website acknowledges this difference, saying:
 

“In contrast to the rest of the Abbey, the Blessed Sacrament Chapel brings a touch of modern. After the main church was completed, the chapel was added to provide a place for quiet prayer, especially during the summer months when thousands of people visit the church daily. The splendid stained glass windows depicting Christ at the Last Supper, were designed and made in the Abbey’s workshops by the monks.” 


A wall of glass: Jesus at the Last Supper in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.
(Pic courtesy of the ?Buckfast Abbey website)

I did try to take some photos, but they didn’t come out, which I guess is some kind of Divine Retribution, because there was a sign saying photography was forbidden… So, as you can see, I’ve used a piccie from the website.

While downloading some other pictures from my camera, I just found this, showing the above window from the outside - for some reason it didn't get downloaded with everything else. Anyway, the contrast between colourful interior and dull exterior is so great I felt I had to add the photo to this post - it shows a kind of transformation between the outer and inner picture.

That insignificant looking square on the left of the building is the outside of
that incredible stained glass window, though you would never know when you
view it from outside - the glass needs natural light pouring through to bring it to life.



Stained glass windows in the main part of the church.

According to a leaflet I bought, all the windows were made by the monks, under the guidance of the late Father Charles Norris, who trained at the Royal College of Arts, and developed new techniques in this ancient art. The monks’ work is so highly acclaimed that they have produced stained glass windows for churches all over the world, as well as a memorial in New York dedicated to the firemen who died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre.  

A peaceful spot in the gardens.

The gardens that surround the Church are lovely but, sadly, we didn't have time to wander round the Sensory Garden and a Physic Garden. But we sat in the Lavender Garden for a while, enjoying the perfume from some 150 varieties of the plant – I had no idea there so many different types of lavender! It was a warm, sunny day, and there were still a few bees around, even though it is late in the season. According to another leaflet I bought during our visit, the ‘Buckfast Bees’ bred here are much sought after because they are good honey producers, and disease resistant. 

And another shot of me by the Lavender Garden. If you look carefully
you can see there are little sculptures and things dotted about in the formal planting,
and it smelled wonderful, and was very peaceful - just the thing to restore
you when you're feeling poorly after an icky coach trip.

 We’d hoped to have tea and cake in the restaurant, but there was no time for that either (that’s the problem with coach trips, you’re on a strict timetable). But it’s easy to get there from Plymouth, so we can return and explore at our leisure – and make sure we have time for afternoon tea!

To see more Saturday Snapshot photos, or to participate, go on over to West Metro Mummy

Copper Sinks and Chinese Silks

The poshest back door I've ever seen! Much nicer than
the front I think. 

It seems a while since I posted a Saturday Snapshot – we’ve been away three times over the last few weeks (the Man of the House teaches, so he has to take time off during the school holidays) so we’re completely out of routine at the moment. Anyway, the new term has started, so normality is slowly re-establishing itself, and for this week’s Saturday Snapshot I thought I would post up some more of the photos I took when we visited our elder daughter and her boyfriend in Plymouth.

Saltram's front entrance,

These were taken at Saltram, a beautiful Georgian mansion about a 20-minute walk from Lucy’s home in Plympton. During our visit we looked at an old map on the wall and were fascinated to discover that the housing estate was built on land which once belonged to the ‘big house’. We were also intrigued to learn that the house featured in Ang Lee’s film of Sense and Sensibility (the  where Emma Thompson played Elinor) – Saltram was ‘cast’ as Norwood Park, the home that Mrs Dashwood and her daughters are forced to leave when her husband dies.

Part of the saloon, where guests would have been
 entertained. It is very ornate indeed!

The estate gets its name from the salt that was harvested on the nearby river estuary, and the original house seems to date back to Tudor times, but was extensively altered and enlarged in the 18thC, when it was acquired by the wealthy Parker family, who became Earls of Morley. It was they who had it fitted out in the fashion of the day, with no expense spared. Each generation added and embellished, keeping it sylish and luxurious. Most of it was designed by the great Robert Adam, and the ornate drawing room (or saloon, as they would have called it), with its decorative plasterwork and furnishings, is considered to be one of his finest interiors. The walls are packed with paintings, and there;s golden gilding, and glittering crystal chandeliers, and it's all very beautiful, and very opulent, but a bit overwhelming - almost intimidating. A room to impress visitors perhaps, rather than somewhere for the family to curl up and relax.

Oh dear, this is saved upright, and it's doing  that weird
thing again, but you can get a glimpse of the ceiling, and
the chanderliers, and some of the paintings. 

At the same time formal gardens were created, and a landscaped park was established, forming artistic 'natural' views from the windows.

Is it time for lunch yet? I love  the clock
perched up on the roof.

There are so many rooms and corridors I wonder if guests or new members of staff ever got lost! I certainly would have done: I have no sense of direction, and without the Guide Book I might still be wandering round and round searching vainly for the exit! There are the most incredible bedrooms, with four-poster beds and adjoining ‘dressing rooms’ – the walls of one bedroom and dressing room are covered in exquisitely hand-painted silk, all the way from China, showing little Chinese scenes. And there’s a grand staircase, and a dining room with a table laid out with out with silver cutlery and delicate china and glasses. It all looks so posh I would be terrified of eating or drinking, but I guess this was what the Parkers were used to. 

Oriental Art: A room papered with hand-painted
Chinese silk..

Then there's a mirror room (more Chinese paper and decorations here - chinoiserie was very popular in high society), a garden room, a map room, a study, and a wonderful library, lined floor to ceiling with leather-bound books, and there were lots of little bookshelves in the other rooms, so I like to think the family enjoyed reading. I get the impression they were very cultured; they were certainly patrons of the arts, and the place is packed with paintings, many by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was a friend of the family (he was brought up in Plympton, where his father was in charge of the school).

The big hearth, with its open range and roasting spits.

But, as with so many period houses, it’s the areas where the servants lived and worked that are the most unforgettable. There must have been an army of people employed here (in the house and on the land) to keep the family in such luxurious style, and it must have been such hard work. With no electricity, the only form of heat and light would have been open fires and candles, which must have created a lot of smoke and soot, so the maids must have been constantly sweeping and dusting and cleaning and polishing. There were clothes to be laundered and pressed, bedding to be regularly aired, acres of carpets to be beaten clean, and what seems like miles of woodwork to be polished.

Copper pans on the cooking range. This was state-of-the-art
kitchen equipment in the 1880s. The range would have been
buffed  to a shine with black lead.

In the kitchen a whole host of staff must have been kept busy cooking for the family, guests, themselves, and their fellow workers. The servants ate plain, filling fare made from cheap ingredients - the sumptuous dishes served up in the dining room were obviously considered to be far too good for them, and I guess there was the cost to be considered as well. Kitchen staff didn't just do the daily cooking. Sure, they baked and roasted and boiled and fried to produce meals for everyone, but there were no fridges or freezers remember, so food had to be preserved using traditional techniques, which were very labour intensive. There were jams, pickles, and chutneys to be made; meat to be cured, and fruit fruit to be bottled. Butter was churned here, and I am sure they would have made cheese as well. And on top of all that food preparation, there was cleaning to be done...

The original slow cooker: A hay box, used for long, slow
cooking in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The kitchen was remodelled in 1913, but still has the great hearth and roasting spits, as well as open range installed around 1810, so you get a pretty good impression of what it was like working here a couple of hundred years ago. And the huge, cast-iron, coal-fired closed range which stands in the centre of the room also predates the early 20thC revamp, dating from 1885. There’s a pantry, a scullery, a butchery, a larder, and the most incredible collection of copper utensils I’ve ever seen – some 600 items ranging from minute intricately shaped sweet moulds up to gigantic, plain saucepans, and all gleaming like new pins. There were even copper sinks in the scullery for washing the pots and pans! Just imagine the scouring and polishing that must have gone on to keep it all in tip-top condition!  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: progress is a wonderful thing where housework and cooking are concerned!

Dining in style - but this room was a long way from the kitchen.

There must have have been an awful lot of fetching, carrying, and lifting as well. I bet most of the staff ended up with back problems. They were cooking for vast numbers, and the pots and pans were enormous - they must have been so heavy when they were full of food. In addition, the kitchen quarters are a fair old distance from the family rooms (this is always the case at these places - the landed gentry didn't want to be disturbed by common things like cooking smells and noise). So food, and hot serving dishes and everything would have been carried backwards and forwards to the dining room, which must have been a task and a half. Makes you wonder how much stuff got dropped, spilt and broken!

No, it's not a giant's watering can - it's for filling baths
with water, and you have no idea how heavy it was!

But the worst job of all must have been carting hot water along the corridors and up the stairs to the bedrooms, where it was poured into 'hip' baths so the family, and their visitors, could wash themselves. And when they had finished, the dirty water had to be heaved away and disposed of!  Metal hot water cans, which look like watering cans for a giant's garden, were used to transport the water. When full, one of these containers weighed around 13kg, which is 28.7lbs, or just over 2 stones - and it took around six of them to fill a bath! It was one of the duties allocated to chambermaids, who were usually about 15 years old, and I cannot imagine how they coped. Neither my daughters nor I could lift the full can displayed in a sink in the scullery, and even the Man of the House struggled to move it, so how these young girls managed I just don't know. They must have staggered under the weight, and walked along with the hot metal can banging against their legs, which must have been permanently bruised, and hot water slopping over their feet. 

The family make a new friend!dd caption

The gardens and grounds would have been just as busy, for Saltram would have been pretty much self-sufficient, producing fruit and vegetables for the estate, raising animals and poultry on the estate farms to provide meat, milk and eggs, and even growing its own grain and brewing beer. Timber was grown on the estate woodlands and sold to shipyards and barrel makers in Plymouth, so foresters were employed, as well as men to work in the sawpit and the mill where wood was processed (though neither of these has survived). But the stables can be seen, as well-built as the house itself: top quality accommodation for top quality animals - race horses were bred here. 

In the pink! Waterlilies in the formal pool.

Exotic plants from all over the world can be seen in the formal gardens, which were largely developed in the 19thC, and are a joy to behold, with winding paths leading you through all kinds of little areas, and fabulous flowers and foliage, all very lush and green. 

The orangery. Isn't it beautiful?

There's an amazing orangery, built in 1773 in neo-Classical style - so says the Guide Book. I'm never sure exactly what that means, but it has pillars, and lots of glass windows, and is all in proportion. It looks like something from Versailles, and best of all, it is still used to over-winter citrus trees. How cool is that? We were tremendously excited to see little green fruits hanging from the branches (the trees were all lined up outside in the largest of large pots, and appeared to be thriving, despite the vagaries of the English weather). We so hope these are oranges, but one small, unripe citrus fruit looks much like another to us. However, the trusty Guide Book only mentions oranges, so I shall assume we have seen oranges growing outside an orangery, and that makes me happy!

Citrus fruit growing outside the orangery - you can see from
the water droplets that it was a bit rainy that day.

We even saw a ha-ha, a kind of ditch, running along the edge of the lawn in front of the house to separate it from the fields where cattle still graze, down at a lower level. I’ve read about ha-has, but don’t remember seeing one before, and there's a duck pond, as well as an ornamental pool with a fountain and water lilies. 

Don't push! Younger Daughter and the Man of the House
by the ornamental pool.

The house and its lands remained in the hands of the Parker family for more than 200 years. They were still here during the Second World War, when an American army unit set up camp in the grounds. But the property suffered bomb damage, the family fortune dwindled, and life changed - people were no longer prepared to spend a life of drudgery 'in service', and by the 1950s there only two servants left to look after the elderly fourth earl, who was childless, and his bachelor brother. So when the fifth earl succeeded, everything was transferred to the National Trust.

A shady spot in the garden.

Like all NT properties, it isn't cheap to go round, but the house is wonderful. There's masses to see, including photographs and portraits of the family, and lots of information about the way (and their servants) lived, with a special focus on the late 1700s and early 1800s.  And the gardens are an absolute delight - there are plenty of labels telling you what the plants are, which is nice if you are not much of a horticulturist. You could spend a day just roaming around outside, and I gather the remaining parklands have become a wildlife haven, with rare species of plants and animals, which I think is rather nice, but you need to know what are looking for.

Don't let Mum loose in the library - we'll never get her out!

We thoroughly enjoyed our day out, and saw so much it's hard to know what to write about. In addition to the house and garden there's a lovely little cafe, a shop, charming follies in the grounds, and the old chapel has been turned into a gallery for local artists and craftspeople. And there were second-handbooks stacked in one of the old stables. Just for once, I didn't find anything I wanted, but I thought it was a lovely touch. 

And so to bed!

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mummy - click to follow links and see photos from other paticipants.