A few days down in Budleigh Salterton

 We had the opportunity of staying at a friend's home and enjoyed our stay, even though we had a mixed bag of weather.  It was just a short walk to the beach and most days we went to walk along the shore where the cobbles rumble up and down pushed along by the waves, getting smaller the further east you walk.

There had been some very heavy rain and strong winds, and the coco coloured sea was churning with earth from the fallen cliffs. Above the pebble beds seen on the lower section is the Otter Sandstone formed by windblown sand dunes. 

Looking through the pebbles on the beach, I found some unusual very dark ones, and believe them to be tourmalinised hornfels, according to the Fairlynch Museum in Budleigh. We spent the whole of one afternoon at that Museum which is very well set out. 

The bridge across the lower Otter River was still being worked on, and it would have been nice to be able to walk across the small estuary and walk eastwards along the cliff.  From the western cliffs there is an iconic view and blowing up the picture I took with my phone gives a 'picturesque' look.

We enjoyed our circular walk up the Otter Valley following the river for part of the walk and returning along the opposite site of the valley with plenty of opportunities for bird watching en route.

A second visit to A la Ronde after many years was interesting, but it seemed that it was not as interesting, post covid I think they have decided to remove the birds such as the hens and guineafowl.  The café is no longer on the lower floor, but we did enjoy a snack with the opportunity to shelter from the rain in a yurt. This was the first time for me in a yurt and it had been interestingly furnished and quite roomy.

I suppose one cannot take in all the details on just one visit, and this time I was interested to see the details of the feather frieze in the drawing room. 

"What you can see here may look like a painting, but it is in fact an intricate collage of thousands of tiny feathers. The feathers come from a variety of birds including parrots, guinea fowl, game birds and chickens, and are glued to painted paper boards with a type of animal glue call 'isinglass'. These delicate feathery roundels were hand-made over 200 years ago at the time A la Ronde was built, and may even have been made by Jane and Mary Parminter - although it would have taken them a while! Formed in two parts, the frieze at the top of the room is over 17 metres in length, and the lower frieze is over 9 metres."

From A La Ronde's Face Book Page

I took a number of close ups so that I could study the details without a crick in the neck.

In effect they were 'mandala type' activity with feathers on square boards that are then placed along the edges of the ceiling, around the doors and around the fire places.  This picture shows a bird with many small feather stuck on with a little painting in the background.

Around the fireplace which here shows part of a shell collection.

The octagonal entry hall in which there is a magnificent 'rents table' is really quite magnificent with the silvered witch ball which hangs down from the full height of the house just below a flying wooden dove.

Another special treat for me was spending the afternoon at Bicton Gardens, and that deserves a separate post which I shall be working on during the week.