Last Friday the Fibre Harvest mill team (Sara, John and I) left straight after work for a long weekend in Lynton. Sara and I drove up together, excited about testing out her bell tent, Beatrice, for the first time this season.
The drive was only an hour, but I'm quickly learning that an hour is a very very long drive by English terms. So funny! The landscape here is amazing - I don't think I'll ever stop being fascinated by it. During our short (or very long, depending on how you look at it) drive we saw lush green woodland, rivers and streams, moors covered in mist, heather and ponies, and then ended up at the sea! By the time we arrived at our destination (the Rising Sun pub and hotel) I was so overwhelmed by the ponies and wilderness that I didn't even notice the sea...pretty sad actually.
We
planned our trip specially to coincide with the famous nibbles Friday.
Fresh and local food is served up to guests every Friday evening on the
house, what a fab idea! I may have overindulged that night, the exmoor stag ale is particularly dangerous...and delicious!
The next morning Juliet - the very lovely other half of Fibre Harvest -
brought Sara and I to the Lynton farmer's market. I do love a good
farmer's market, especially when it's held is this beautiful Tudor
building
.
I fell in love with Lynton almost instantly. To be fair, a place with so many cream teas is impossible to dislike. It has a happy and easy going feeling that is unique in sea side communities (I think).
...and more stunning sea views that I knew what to do with!
After the farmer's market, Juliet and I took a little walk. Lynton is a very hilly place, I learned this quickly. Every local I spoke to said "I like just up/down/next to/around that hill". So the two of us hiked up a little way, encountering an iron age settlement, the ruins of a Victorian mansion, wild goats, a fawn, breathtaking woodland and eventually overwhelming sea views. All of this was in the span of about 20 minutes!
Of course, my camera battery died on my second day in Lynton. I don't have photos of my swim in the sea (very cold!) or the lovely jubilee fireworks display or my scrumptious carvery dinner at the Sandrock. I had the pork belly, oh my!
Even though I come from a family of avid fishermen (and fisherladies), I never managed to get into it - until I saw this...
Fresh mackerel and pollock for dinner, yum!
To top off a very dreamy weekend, John and Juliet may have my favourite home. Ever. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of their inspirational collection of great stuff...
In the end, I had way more fun than I could ever fit into a single blog post. So much fun, in fact, that I'm going to be moving to Lynton in about a month's time. Yay! You can look forward to me nattering on about how great it is for a long time to come!
