Lighthouse

It won't be long before our regular trips to Torquay are at an end. The house clearance is all but finished. Just a few more boxes of small items to be moved, and the large pieces of furniture that no one seems to want will have to stay for company that's handling the sale to deal with.

Some of things I shall miss most about the journey are the views, especially those places around the area where I grew up. Ten minutes walk from the house and you would be amongst the hills and valleys of Devon.

This is the hamlet of Daccombe. Winding lanes, high hedges, farms, barns, thatched cottages and all the smells of the country. On a clear day you can see Liverton and beyond that, Dartmoor, some twenty miles away, but the haze has rather spoilt the view today. To the left of the farm in the foreground is a lane leading up to the Daccombe Treacle Mines. These are natural caves and caverns formed during the last Ice Age.

The health giving treacle slowly drips from the roof of these caves and is collected in stone jars by dedicated workers. The jars are then decorated and sold to the many visitors, or grockles (a Devon term of endearment), that the area attracts. Just one of the little industries that helps support the local economy. An enterprising lot, us Devonians.

# posted by LePhare @ 10:47 PM