A Visit to Torre Abbey Gardens

A beautiful day today, and my hubby having some free time in the middle of the day, he took me on an outing to Torre Abbey in Torquay. The beautiful gardens are looking their best in the fine spring weather.

Here are the Abbey ruins from the reception area inside the house.

Some bluebells growing by the garden gate. You can see the tropical house beyond.

Along the fence some fruit trees were trained, and I was fascinated by this twisted branch.

One of Torquay’s most famous daughters, Agatha Christie, is celebrated in the centre of the gardens with the “Potent Plants Garden” full of poisonous plants yielding the deadly toxins so favoured by this writer in her detective novels.

A corner of the Potent Plants Garden. Around the garden were signs with clues and questions to answer about Agatha Christie’s stories. In which one do the “cockle shells all in a row” appear?

Another sign in the Potent Plants Garden. I am so glad that the Elf & Safety Brigade haven’t muscled in on this act and demanded that this garden be dug up – it is a lot of fun!

A mirrored sculpture. I love reflective surfaces, and it is fascinating how the “wing” on the right hand side seems to disappear into the background greenery as it reflects the greenery underneath.

The house and gardens.

The gardens with the ruins of the Abbey beyond.

A corner of the garden with trees and spring flowers.

One of a network of arbours around a central fountain. My hubby enjoying the sunshine. (Note the patches on his elbows – I’ve never known anyone with such sharp elbows, which go through his sleeves so quickly! Most of his jumpers have these circular crochet patches that I’ve made, picking out the colours of the jumper. They look like targets in a shooting range!)

The fountain. Beautiful reflections in the water.

Finally, another picture of our naughty kitties trying to get a bite of my hubby’s supper – not salmon fish cakes this time, but pizza! If you look carefully, you can see that a couple of hours after their own supper, Phoebe still has some gravy on her nose. I’ve never known a kitty so keen on her food that she literally buries her face in it!

By the time we’d had lunch outside the cafe at the Abbey, and been round the gardens, I was a bit too tired for anything else, so we decided to postpone a tour of the inside of the house till another time. A lovely day all round.