Back from short break. (Pics)

Stevepage

The wife and I traveled down to Newton Abbot this week to stay with some old family friends. We planned to do our usual tour of some of the places to visit (Canonteign Falls, Haytor, the moors etc) but this time we done some unplanned exploring. 

Our first unplanned stop was at Widdecombe In The Moor. A picturesque village where places like Watford and London seem to disappear from the mind. We found this little country pub called Rugglestone Inn and got myself a local ale. 

We had the whole pub to ourselves and had a great walk around the area too. Couldn't of been better.

The next day we planned to go to a place called Wistmans Wood. Smack bang in the middle of the moors.

Not a car or building for miles. It was like a landscape out of Skyrim. A good hour walk and we saw this

Wistmans wood. 400 year old Dwarf Oak trees surrounded by moss and boulders. Doesn't seem like much from the picture but when you're there it's just surreal. We came across a couple of people who were playing music on the boulders with their violin and accordion (folk).

I've never had my breath taken away like that day. To know that modern technology was left at the gate over 2 miles away (except cameras of course) and it was just you and the landscape was amazing. 

The wife and I have decided that we plan to move down to Devon at some point in our life (preferably within 10 years) as it's definitely where we want to live. We saw so many other things that I can't type it all down.

VimFuego

nice, we moved down from just outside St Albans 4 years ago now, don't regret it at all. We're in NW devon, so a lot less touristy and a bit ignored here (for now anyways).

Stevepage

The family friends we stayed with moved from Garston (Watford really) to Newton Abbot about 30 or so years ago and they themselves said that if they stayed in Herts they probably wouldn't be around today. Life is a little less rushed, a bit more difficult in wages but the lifestyle is so much more preferable.

We came across a tiny village called Buckland-In-The-Moor and found our perfect home. 

Unfortunately we could never afford the sort of prices that those houses demand so I've been thinking heavily about buying a country pub either near or in the moors to both live and work there.

VimFuego

yeah, Dartmoor is a bit on the pricey side, lots of moneyed types living the boho dream, reckon our place would be 50% up there (though we can see Dartmoor from the garden).

xmrchi

Wow, what a place!

holnrew

I've been to that pub! There's a campsite a bit of a walk from there that lets you have fires, stayed there a couple of times. Last time I was there there was a dog in the beer garden that didn't get bored of having his ball thrown, I think it belonged to one of the barmen.

Sambostar

Looks like a damp ridden shytehole to me.  Very pretty although I reckon, although by the looks of it, the fog sits in those valleys most days of the year.

xHymnal

looks incredible. It's amazing to just forget the business of the modern world and appreciate nature and simplicity. I've never been to fussed about going to NZ but it would be very very cool to see some of the LOTR landscapes!