Thursday 25th August – Saturday 3rd September

Our annual trip to Salcombe with The Salcombe Crew; this year fronted by two nights near Sidmouth.

Thursday 25th August

We are staying at Minchcombe Barn https://mincombebarn.com, a very nice B&B, which Husband found, just north of Sidmouth. The three guest rooms are set around a courtyard on a working farm. There was homemade cake for tea!

After settling in we made our way down to Sidmouth to find some dinner. Not as easy as it might appear – we struggled to find anywhere with any space but eventually found Mocha Restaurant, which didn’t initially look all that promising, but was very good. https://www.facebook.com/The-Mocha-Restaurant-452621994879658/?paipv=0&eav=Afb5KlxQY7J3UJM0OBgVDKkKegE7-63CdJCITyuV97u71ldTN9dq0P0oqD4XD5bjiUo&_rdr

Friday 26th August

After a delicious home-cooked breakfast, we spent the morning in Budleigh Salterton, this time exploring further along the beach towards the town’s distinctive clump of pine trees at the mouth of the River Otter.

We drove on into Exmouth.

As we walked by Rockfish https://therockfish.co.uk/pages/exmouth-seafood-restaurant?utm_source=exmouth-google&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=third-party-tracking we booked a table and, after a stroll, returned, for a late lunch without the crowds and with a stunning view.

Having had lunch out, we purchased a ‘room picnic’ from Waitrose to enjoy that evening over a film at the B&B.

Saturday 27th August

We moved on to Salcombe but, as we can’t get into our property until 5.00pm, we stopped at Totnes. It was a glorious day and Totnes never disappoints with its market, quirky shops and colourful people.

We checked into our property – Edinburgh House https://www.coastandcountry.co.uk/cottage/Devon-Salcombe/Edinburgh-House-995399.html. We have had a few ‘partial views’ from properties during our many stays in Salcombe …. but none quite as stunning as this one!

Tesco delivered and we are off to Carol & Nick’s for, what is always, a fun evening with fabulous friends and copious amounts of food and wine.

Just after midnight, Husband walking home with some overspill stuff for the fridge!

Sunday 28th August

Today I am mostly chilling, knitting and podcasting, with the world (and the Happy Ferry) at my feet.

Tonight is BBQ night and also a celebration for the up-coming wedding of Natasha & Wills, who got engaged this time last year!!

Monday 29th August

Today Husband and I walked from the house, via Batson Creek to Snapes Point. A classic Salcombe walk with stunning views.

Tuesday 30th August

Today to Dartmouth, via the park and ride, (never try to park in Dartmouth in high season!!). Then a boat trip up the River Dart https://www.greenwayferry.co.uk/dartmouth-to-greenway-house/

The boat trip takes you to Greenway, the former holiday home of Agatha Christie. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/greenway A beautiful house with gardens in a high position over-looking The Dart.

Wednesday 31st August

As we have a large property this year we are having drinks for all and dinner for the grown-ups at our house with a view.

The house is in a great position but it is a family home and is rather over-cluttered with ‘stuff’, instead of the usual, simple IKEA equipment. Not everything was as clean as one might have liked so there was a manual washing up effort to be done to get what was needed up to scratch.

Husband prepared canapés, but, OK, we didn’t actually cook but had a takeaway meal delivered!

Thursday 1st September

Today, the annual trip on the Kingsbridge Ferry. Its timetable is very constrained by the tide so we are going one way on the ferry and returning by bus.

We’ve been to Kingsbridge many times but have never stepped inside the Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum – it was really interesting with enthusiastic volunteers. http://kingsbridgemuseum.org.uk

Friday 2nd September

This morning, breakfast at Captain Morgan’s; most of the ‘Salcombe Crew’ are homeward bound as their property let was Friday to Friday. We are Saturday to Saturday.

We walked via North Sands, up and over to South Sands.

At South Sands there has been an empty hotel (The Tides Reach) which has been the subject of planning permission attempts for some years. Permission was finally given and then the pandemic intervened.

Two years ago it was a building site (keeping some of the original hotel walls); last year The Harbour Beach Club Hotel & Spa (inc apartments) may have been open, but we ignored it.

This year we tried it out for a drink. Yup, I think next year we’ll give lunch a go! https://www.harbourhotels.co.uk/harbour-beach-club?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=hotel-harbourbeachclubhotel

We made the return journey by my favourite Happy Ferry (known to others as The South Sands Ferry) https://www.southsandsferry.co.uk. At South Sands the sea tractor’drives through the waves to meet the boat and passengers swap from tractor to boat at sea.

Saturday 3rd September

Initially, we had planned to go home Friday evening, thus avoiding the traffic and the scramble to get out of the property by 10.00am. Well it was worth staying for just one more sunrise!

Leaving early at 7.30am with one 45 minute stop and no traffic jams we were home at 1.00pm – 5.5 hours – pretty good.

Farewell Salcombe, until next year.