Wednesday 12 April 2017

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.

01 Martyn, Mary and Margaret Beginning our Walk

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

02 Along the Tow Path

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

03 Canal-side Houses

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

04 Swan on 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!

05 Swimming Swan

The village church.

06 Sampford Peverell Church

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

07 Approaching Sampford Peverell Bridge

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

08 Owl Carving

09 Owl Carving Detail

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

10 Canal Bank Gardens

Bullrushes.

11 Bullrushes

Weeping willow tree.

12 Weeping Willow

Sampford Peverell Bridge.

13 Sampford Peverell Bridge

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

14 Underneath Sampford Peverell Bridge

A sleeping duck.

15 Sleeping Duck

The other ducks started approaching the sleeping one.

16 Swimming Duck

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

17 Ducks Out of the Water

More gardens along the canal bank.

18 Canal Bank Gardens

An old barge.

19 Old Barge

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

20 Moorhen

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!

21 Beautiful House Through the Trees

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

22 House with Curved Veranda

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

23 Wood Store

Returning to the village of Stampford Peverell.

24 Returning to the Village

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.

25 Ancient Mounting Block

Jack’s Cottage.

26 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.

27 The Globe

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.

01 Blossom on the Trees

The only bluebells we saw were white ones!

02 White Bluebells

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.

03 Broad Path with Railings

Tree bark with lichen.

04 Tree Bark

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

05 Mary at 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.

06 Magnificent View of the Sea

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

07 View of 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.

06 Tree Roots

The obelisk through the trees.

07 The Obelisk Through the Trees

Light and shade through the trees.

08 Trees with Light and Shade

Twisted tree trunks.

09 Twisted Tree Trunks

A mossy tree stump.

10 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.

3 comments:

  1. Looks like a lovely day out indeed! My kind of places! And look, there's a house for sale LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely images Shoshi! We (the whole family that is - 3 generations!) had a barge trip from Tiverton along the canal - it was a lovely day out! Looks like you had a great day!

    ReplyDelete

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