Tuesday, 24 September 2019

A little break in North Devon part 2.....Clovelly

A couple of things were included with our stay at the hotel. A free cream tea, bottle of wine etc. and also a ‘day out’ voucher. We opted for a visit to the village of Clovelly. I’ve often thought about visiting it, however it is a bit of a drive from where we’re live and you have to pay to visit it. That is because it is a privately owned village and has been run by the same family since 1738. (We had hotel vouchers for the £7.50 per person fee.)

Another strange thing is that there are no vehicles allowed through the village. A few local vehicle skirt around the village and stay at the bottom, but that is it. You park at the top, in a large car park, pay your dues and make your descent down through the village. And it is a steep cobbled descent! It’s not a walk for anyone with mobility problems. The view from the top is beautiful....


Part of the way down, in a little garden, someone had made a wonderful bug residence!...


A lovely view of the old rooftops....

The author Charles Kingsley lived here for a short time, but loved it so much, he returned many times...

We continued our walk down the cobbles. There were some quirky doorways...


The only way to get supplies from top to bottom, is by pull-along sleds! A lot of the cottages had them outside. And then it got windier and steeper as we got nearer to the harbour...

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Eventually we were at the bottom. Clovelly has quite a small harbour. The fishing boats are smaller ones. Lots of crab baskets stacked up, ready to use. The ladders going down the harbour wall to the water are new looking, but still made of wood....


We sat on the harbour walls with two very cold drinks, the sun was beating down and took in the view....

One can only imagine what it is like to live in Clovelly, as it is so very different. We could have gone back to the car park by trekking up the hill again. However hubby’s back was feeling the effects of such a steep descent and my knee was just starting to niggle, so we cheated and caught the Land Rover back up, going around the village. 

So I’ve ticked Clovelly off my list of places to visit. It’s not somewhere you’d go back to again and again, but I’m definitely glad I’ve been. 

We had a lovely time away. I’ve fallen in love with the hotel and its location. We don’t have big holidays abroad, so I’m saving my pennies like mad to return, perhaps in November or December for a night or two (they do some special offers in off peak times) and I do love the beach in the winter. 

In the here and now, it’s washing, ironing, going back to the gym and eating sensibly again. Until next time, cheerio for now, Ann x

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for taking me back to Clovelly. xx

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    1. You're welcome :) it's a lovely and very original place xx

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  2. I've been there several times, it's just so unusual.
    Always walked back up with lots of rests - but that was when I was a lot younger!

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    1. Well done you, for walking back! I wonder what it's like to live there, must be like living in a different age.

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  3. It's a beautiful village, the walk up is hard work but I love the houses.

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    1. It is beautiful. I'd love to peek inside some of the houses, to see what they're like. Can you imagine moving furniture up that hill?

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  4. Such a pretty little place. Thank you for bringing back some nice memories. I'd like to go again but think we would also need the landrover nowadays!

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    1. I'm glad it brought back some nice memories, Eloise. The land rover was a must for us ( at the moment anyway) and they make a pretty penny running it. I also wouldn't contemplate going down if it was wet, the cobbles would be treacherous. There was a warning sign at the top of the descent.

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  6. We went to Clovelly about 20 years ago and I walked down to the little seating area just above the harbour, although my husband and daughter went all the way down to the harbour. We even, me included, walked all the way back up. It is a lovely unique picturesque village. We also saw the donkeys hauling things up on the sleds.

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    1. It certainly is unique, Joan, not sure if there are many more like it around Britain. They don't use the donkeys anymore, but there are a few at the top, mainly for promotional purposes I think.

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  7. What an idyllic place, would love to visit as well. Thank you for taking us along!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the virtual visit! It is an idyllic place, to us. But I wonder what the people who live there think, about the tourists teetering down the cobbles.

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  8. It looks amazing and quirky. I must pit it on my list to visit. Great photography.

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    1. It's definitely worth a visit if you are down this way. Thank you, just my trusty old phone camera :)

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