Honey's bakery

The Monday of our stay on Dartmoor was the day for the elder of BH's two brothers, resident in Dousland, across the moor. So a day that took us across the moor to Dousland, Yelverton, Horrabridge and Badgers Holt.

A day which started with rabbits on the lawn outside our kitchen window and continued with sheep and cows on a rather misty Dartmoor.

Unusual detailing of a column

Piano two, reprised. Pity about the lighting of the floor

First stop, the large church at Yelverton, the church where the piano made the second entry in the omnibus, opening episode of 'Pianos' at reference 1, just about a year ago. A church which a notice told us cost £34,000 a year to run - a notice which gave us no indication of which costs this sum was supposed to cover. Presumably not the clerical staff - which adjective which may be correct here, but which has a rather different ring than it ought, from the civil service of old, the civil service that I knew, with its rooms full of clerks, back in the 1970's.

Second stop, the butcher at Yelverton, from whom we bought three hogs' puddings, a Devon variety of white pudding. We had them roasted, after which they had turned a handsome golden brown, on return to Epsom, and very good they were too. Served, as regular readers will expect, with mashed potato and boiled cabbage. Not that one needed anything stronger with the strongly flavoured puddings.

Third stop, the café at Yelverton, where I took tea and tea cake. Which became tea and tea cakes because they delivered two by mistake and said that while they would not charge, there was no point in taking the extra one away. And, as they no doubt expected, I ate and paid for the second tea cake. Very good it was too. I am reasonably sure that it was a genuine mistake rather than a try-on.

Diggerland

The concrete waste water pipes noticed at reference 2 were still there, but no-one wanted to come clean about what they were doing there.

Fourth stop, Badgers Holt, a tourist trap near Dartmeet, recently made over. An adequate lasagne for me, interesting fish and chips for the others. Not the usual public house fish (usually pretty good these days), but apparently quite acceptable nonetheless. The establishment asserted its foodie credentials by serving the fish and chips with neatly moulded portions of battered peas, possibly bashed about a bit while still frozen and then tossed in a little boiling water.

Fat hens and young peacocks

Semi-derelict sheds

The zoo part of the outside was work in progress, with a selection of hens and rabbits to one side, a selection of semi-derelict aviaries on the other. With a couple of short-tailed adult peacocks sitting on the roof.

There were also a few holiday apartments in a small block around the back, not particularly inviting on this damp and overcast day. It would be interesting to see the place in high summer, when both it and the Dartmeet picnic ground adjacent would usually be crawling with holiday makers. With Dartmeet being a very pleasant spot, despite said crawling. See reference 4.

The baker

And so onto to Horrabridge, where we were pleased to find a village baker, Honey's Bakery, which had been running since long before they put the 'artisan' into bakers. The front room of which sported an enormous double oven, lots of iron and steel, made in Bristol a long time ago, once coke fired and now oil fired. I bought a couple of Eccles cakes, a Devon fruit cake and a large white loaf. This last having had sour dough nowhere near it: a proper English white loaf. Very good it all was too. I did think that I ought to go and tell Ella, the hard working artisan baker in Ashburton (reference 5), all about my find - but that might not have been very sporting and in any case I did not get around to it.

Interesting swing.  Not tried by all

Water works and mill leat

Weir

Sadly, not the River Horror, rather the River Walkham, a tributary of the Tavy of Tavistock. Followed by a very quick visit to the late nineteenth century church, already noticed at reference 6.

Nave, with aisle behind laid for harvest supper

Unusual wrought iron pulpit

Devotional painting

The real thing

Not fair to score the first painting as a fake as it is clearly labelled as being after Veronese. Turning to Veronese, Google image search failed to turn up anything much at all, never mind the original, but a bit of work with Bing found the second painting, 'The Mystical Marriage of St Catherine', painted around 1575 and now to be found at the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. So the first painting is not a very good copy of the second at all. This Saint Catherine possibly being the same one as at reference 7, martyred at the age of 18 on the orders of the Emperor Maxentius.

Exterior

The church was designed by one George Fellowes Prynne, a Plymouth boy of eclectic education who went on to build and renovate many parish churches. No sanctuary lamp.

Home to learn that Corbie the Crow had promised to bring more democracy into the running of our premier division football clubs, should he ever become Prime Minister. This on a day when one might have thought he had rather more important matters to ponder about.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/10/church-snaps.html.

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

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/10/fake-87.html. The fake scored at Badgers Holt.

Reference 4: http://badgersholtdartmoor.co.uk/.

Reference 5: http://ellaartisanbaker.co.uk/. A minimal website. But her white bread is very good, as are the cakes which we try from time to time, less often now that we are now based on these occasions in nearby Holne rather than Ashburton itself.

Reference 6: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/10/piano-29.html. The piano captured at Horrabridge.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Alexandria.

Reference 8: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/05/abbotsbury.html. The last mention of St. Catherine, from the other side of the Exe.