Devon continued

Following notice of a couple of Devon delicacies earlier in the month, the story now resumes. On the trip to Yelverton where we bought the pudding noticed at reference 1, we also paid a visit to Honey the Baker of Horrabridge where, for once, I was able to buy a large white loaf. Plus a seriously wholemeal small loaf, a couple of buns described as Chelsea buns and a couple of rock cakes.

The white loaf was entirely satisfactory, although a little undercooked and not as good as some we have bought of late. We wondered what the dough was like for the tin end to be as snapped above. Very wet? The wholemeal was good with cheese fresh, and good toasted when not so fresh. The Chelsea buns were improved by not having been soaked in some syrup, as is the usual south eastern fashion, and once we scraped the sugar off the tops, they were rather good. Essentially, current buns, with plenty of bun to fill one up. And the rock cakes were quite different from those that we get from Yaverland on the Isle of Wight - but just as good in their own way.

Tea and tea cake in the busy café at Yelverton. Tea cake not bad, even if is was brown, which I do not regard as a proper colour for a tea cake. Entertainment provided by a young person in a high chair endeavouring to eat one of those little wrapped pats of butter provided in most such places. 

I was feeling a touch seedy, so we also invested in a COVID testing pack from the chemist. £8 for 5 of them, or something of that order.

The next stop was the establishment in Dousland that one of BH's brothers used to live in, closed down by the CQC and now being repurposed as a privately run special needs school. Not yet up and running but destined to pull in 50 or 60 day pupils from a large chunk of Devon. All this being explained to us by a pleasant and competent sounding young lady, presumably part of the commissioning team. With commissioning including a substantial new wooden fence, part of which is visible right in the snap above.

The school is to be found at reference 3, while Spaghetti Bridge, the parent organisation is to be found at reference 4. A group of half a dozen or so west country schools, with a couple of pages from the brochure of one them snapped above. It should not be too difficult for the interested reader to find out about the spaghetti.

We never did get to the bottom of the massive drains being installed a few years ago, snapped at reference 2 - and probably never will now.

The next stop was the Burrator Inn, also in Dousland, a place we had used in the past, but not for some years. I think it had been closed for what turned out to be a substantial refurbishment. It had been a slightly shabby place, but serving us well and where I suspected the stock in trade had been boisterous parties of seamen from the naval base at Plymouth, out on the beano, out of range of the short patrol. A place where we had once come across the local hunt - not very big - gathering outside. For which see the brief notice at reference 5.

Now a regular pub dining experience with all the usual trimmings, at what had been the rather shabby back room - left in the snap above - now got up as a rather handsome dining room. Rather a big place now, with lots of tables both inside and outside, and one would need a fair trade to keep it going. A modest amount of accommodation available upstairs, an option which was not without interest. And then was indeed a fair amount of business this end-season, Monday lunchtime with maybe as many as twenty of us eating.

My pie, not bad even if I failed to find any chicken lumps in what was sold as a chicken and ham pie. Crust thick, gravy on the side as is proper and vegetables better than average, even if they did not involve any cabbage. I forget, but presumably the pie is perched on a small mound of mash, as seems to be the fashion these days.

A picture which we thought had survived the refurbishment, although it had been relocated. On the other hand, the curious artwork above the fire place in the back room, noticed at reference 7, had vanished.

A neat crumble, taken by one of our number. I thought delivered whole by Bidfood (or whoever supplied the establishment), while BH thought that it had been assembled in-house, assembly which she claimed would be no big deal, with the three ingredients taken from three tubs from the refrigerator. Probably very sweet, although we did not get to find out about that - or about provenance. Not the sort of thing that one asks a pub keeper that one has only just met.

The following day was designated a rest day, part of which was taken at Newbridge, on the Dart, a little below where we were staying at Holne.

A modest stroll with one notable feature being a large fallen branch and another being a cormorant, flying downstream. Not a bird I recall seeing there before, not a bird we come across on inland rivers much at all. 

Plus a slit drain across the path which caught my eye. Presumably big enough to stop the path soaking up the water and eventually drifting down to the river below. 

On the other side of the river, down by the bridge, we forget to visit the large pond full of water hawthorn - the pond that gave us the idea of buying some for ourselves (now a touch infested with duck weed), but we did take a picnic and a siesta in the sun (this being the end of September) on one of the patches of open ground on the way to said pond. What I took to be granite not far beneath the surface, with some boulders sticking out.

Meanwhile, the little ice cream van from Molly Maid in the car park did a good train from the various parties of school children taking breaks from their adventure training.

Home to take a COVID test, which I failed, that is to day no COVID in sight, which was good news, if a little late in the day, in the circumstances. C line but no T line. 

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/10/another-devon-delicacy.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/05/tavistock-day.html.

Reference 3: https://www.heatherbridgeschool.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://spaghettibridge.co.uk/.

Reference 5: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2016/12/livestock-and-deadstock.html.

Reference 6: https://www.burratorinn.com/.

Reference 7: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/05/sheepstor.html.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_ironing. For real or a spoof prepared for an upcoming Wikipedia festivity in November? Or a bit of both? If a spoof, maybe they need to have a care: too much of this sort of thing would damage the brand.