Tiverton Canal and Mamhead Woods

Yesterday we had an outing with our friends, to enjoy the beautiful spring weather and all the new growth.

The first part of our day took place along the Tiverton Canal, somewhere I had never been before.

The start of our walk along the tow path, in the village of Sampford Peverell near Tiverton.

So lovely walking along the level tow path and enjoying the serenity of the surroundings.

Looking across the canal to the houses opposite. You can see that the canal is raised up above the level of the houses.

What a thrill to find a swan sitting on its nest.

The male swan wasn’t that keen on us being there, we didn’t think, so we moved on smartly as he swam purposefully towards us!

The village church.

Approaching Sampford Peverell Bridge, walking along the curving tow path.

An amazing wooden carving in someone’s garden. It has been carved from a tree stump, still rooted in the ground.

There were gardens all along, meeting the water’s edge.

Bullrushes.

Weeping willow tree.

Sampford Peverell Bridge.

Underneath the arch of the bridge. I love the pink tinge of the bricks, and the unusual way they are laid.

A sleeping duck.

The other ducks started approaching the sleeping one.

Out of the water and busy preening, but the other one didn’t wake.

More gardens along the canal bank.

An old barge.

A moorhen pottering about amongst the reeds. He made quite a noise.

This beautiful house, visible through the trees, was for sale and we each fantasised about the price and came to the conclusion that we probably couldn’t afford it!

A bit further down we found this nice little house with a veranda curving around in front of the house.

A large wood store. Someone’s got a big wood burning stove!

Returning to the village of Stampford Peverell.

An ancient mounting block set into the wall. I am glad that features like this have not been removed, despite the fact that they are now redundant.

Jack’s Cottage.

The Globe, where we had lunch – an excellent meal. We sat in a covered area at the back so we felt half inside and half outside – a very nice compromise considering how cold the wind was.

Return to Mamhead

We still had plenty of time to enjoy, so we decided to spend the afternoon in Mamhead Woods, where our friends took us last year, and which immediately became one of my very favourite places. To preserve the memory of that lovely visit, I made a mixed media mini-album which I completed in January of this year.

This time I didn’t take nearly so many photos as I’d covered it pretty comprehensively last year. I had hoped to find the woods carpeted with bluebells but we didn’t see any! It was interesting seeing the woods in the early spring because the leaves were not fully out, and it looked very different from how it looked last summer.

Here is some delicate blossom just coming out on one of the trees.

The only bluebells we saw were white ones!

Over at the far side of the woods, where the vantage point is with a view over to the sea, I love the curving paths with the wooden railings.

Tree bark with lichen.

The interesting wooden seats and path continuing to curve away from the view point.

The magnificent view over towards the sea which came as such a surprise to me on our first visit, as the trees open up in a quite unexpected way.

Towards the left, another beautiful view in which you can just see the Exe estuary.

After this we returned through the woods, taking a shorter route back to the car, and taking in the obelisk on the way.

Tree roots.

The obelisk through the trees.

Light and shade through the trees.

Twisted tree trunks.

A mossy tree stump.

Mamhead Woods are so full of tall mature trees, generating an atmosphere of calm and peace as one is surrounded by the magnificent trunks reaching heavenwards. The place is carefully maintained, and they have worked hard to provide varied and interesting seats made from wood, which do not shout against the surrounding natural beauty, but rather enhance it.

It was such a great day out. The weather was fine all day but cloudy at times, and the air was cold. We were glad of our hot meal at the pub, and we all had a lovely time enjoying each other’s company.

Treats and Tigers

Only a few more days to go to my surgery, and today was a day full of treats.

We decided to go out for a meal to one of our favourite restaurants so that I could have a final steak until goodness knows when! We were getting ready to go out when the delightful Indian lady who with her husband owns our local corner shop rang the bell and presented us with some samosas she had just made, still warm from the fryer! How very kind. We were unfortunately not able to eat them while they were so fresh or we’d have had no appetite for lunch, so saved them for this evening.

We had a wonderful meal – we both had steak, my hubby had salad with his, and I had vegetables, and both were served with chips and sauces. My hubby had cheese and biscuits to follow, and I had a crème brulee served with Baileys ice cream, a shortbread biscuit and garnished with three raspberries. It was all exquisitely served, as always, and quite delicious. We always enjoy eating there, and who knows how long it will be before I am fit to eat out again?

They took quite a long time to serve us as the place was busy, it being Saturday, so we didn’t leave till getting on for mid-afternoon. This meant that we had very little time at the zoo, which was our next destination!

I said to my hubby that it would be great to have a tiger fix before I went into hospital. I have always loved tigers. You can read about the pages I made in my Recycled Mini-Album last year on the subject of the tiger cubs my dad operated on, back in the 1950s, here. Here is the tiger picture I painted in my little leather art journal (I used a scanned version of this picture in the mini-album):

After I scanned it, I edited it to remove the fold down the centre:

and this was the finished mini-album page:

We had very little time at the zoo so we went straight past the lions and found the tigers! It was quite a steep climb, and we were glad that we had arranged to hire one of the zoo’s buggies for me – it was  quite similar to my own, which is too big to go in the car. (We have paid the deposit on a small folding one which we will be able to take with us for outings such as this.)

Here are the pictures I took.

Then my hubby took a photo of me looking at the beautiful tigers:

It was amazing being able to get so close to them.

As we went further up, we came across a couple of display boards, the first giving the details of the tigers. They are Sumatran tigers, and in the wild, these magnificent creatures are on the verge of extinction, being trapped in a horrifically cruel fashion by poachers who sell their bodies for Chinese medicine and on the black market.

The work of our zoo, and other zoos around the world, helps to preserve the tigers through breeding programmes, and also through education, and fund-raising to provide wardens in the jungles of Sumatra to fight the battle to save the tigers.

Here is the board with the tiger’s footprint, and a plaque for brass rubbing.

Aren’t they the most beautiful creatures? I have always loved them.

Here is a picture of my own little tiger – sadly no longer with us. She was Phoebe’s sister Chloe. lying flat out and displaying all her beautiful tigeriness. I think she was the most beautiful kitty we’ve ever had.

We had to make a fairly quick dash back to the reception to return the buggy 15 minutes before closing time, but managed to get the following pictures on the way. Here’s my hubby with a peacock.

The peacock made his way towards me.

You can see how nicely the zoo is laid out, with walkways and landscaping and lakes.

Ducks on the lake.

The main zoo buildings. The further one is where the reception and shop are situated, and the nearer one is the restaurant. We have been to a wedding reception here – a really fun place for a wedding! They have excellent facilities inside.

Opposite the buildings is the railway for the little train. After the reception, the wedding guests all had a ride on the little train that goes round the entire zoo complex! You can imagine all the wedding guests in their finery, taking their seats on the train for the tour around the zoo!

Some interesting tangled tree roots.

We had a quick dash through the tropical house – entering this hot and humid atmosphere, our glasses, and my camera lens, instantly steamed up!

No time to take photos in the desert house which led off the tropical house, but I did manage to catch a quick shot of the flamingos on the way back to the reception.

You can see what an overcast and dull day it was today. It was also very cold, but we were fortunate that it didn’t rain. We are going to return to the zoo when the weather is better and hopefully in the sunshine, when I have recovered from my operation, and when we have got my new light-weight buggy. We will spend more time there, and hopefully get lots more photos – we saw very little today but at least I got to see my tigers!

Finally, I have at last managed to get my hubby to take a photo of my new hair colour which I had done at the end of February just before I was originally due to go into hospital!

Altogether we had a brilliant day out together. After a quick cup of tea at home my hubby left to go out for the evening, and I have spent the rest of the evening on the recliner, watching TV and being on the laptop, enjoying my samosas, sorting my photos and thinking about this special little oasis of time that we have been granted, to rest and relax without Mum in the house, and to prepare for Wednesday when I go in for my surgery.