Delightful Dartmouth

Last week we disappeared down to the West Country for a few days to escape for a little holiday. I last visited Dartmouth with my parents when I was at University, so it was great to go back and explore again, and to take David who had never been.

We had a fantastic few days, and here's a few of my favourite snaps;

Day 1: Ferry up the River Dart to Totnes

We set out up the river at 8.00am in the morning as the only two people on the ferry taking our breakfast croissants with us. Little did we realise that half an hour later it would be so misty we wouldn't be able to see a thing!

We explored the lovely little town, but not before stopping for some tea and a sticky just to warm up! On the plus side on the way back the mist had cleared and we had a great trip complete with commentary from the crew and a few seal sniffs! Unfortunately they were too quick for me to get a picture.

Day 2: Discovering Dartmouth

Ignoring maps and tourist trails, we set out to explore all of Dartmouth that we could, including scrambling up tiny steep steps and finding all of the blue plaques that we could. Dartmouth is a fascinating place for inventors and sailors that pioneered everything from the first steam powered motor cars, Arctic voyages and colonising Newfoundland! The Britannia Royal Naval College looks down on the town from its position on top of the hill, and it's great to see the officers of the future practicing their manoeuvres out on the water from the quay.

After climbing many a flight of steep, stony, overgrown, spiral and slippery stars, we treated ourselves to proper Devon cream tears at The Sloping Deck in the Butterwalk. It is the most delightfully wonky and higgledy-piggledy place I have ever been, do not go if you are a fan of straight lines or even sitting up straight! We had two of the largest scones I have ever seen with clotted cream and jam, which definitely set us up for the afternoon! 

Day Three: Dartmouth Castle and the South West Coastal Path

Thursday was our best day for weather, so we walked out to Dartmouth Castle at the mouth of the estuary. The English Heritage property is a fantastic place to visit and has beautiful views. You can get a boat from the centre of Dartmouth, but we wanted to explore a bit more of the coastal path and enjoy some more of the views.

The start of our walk down to the lovely Sugary Cove.

Best name for a Ferry landing I have ever seen! 

Day Four: Steam train to Greenway

On our last full day in Dartmouth we went back to the golden age of travel and took a steam train to Greenway Halt, then walked through the woods to visit the home of Agatha Christie. We thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous house and gardens, exploring the Battery with its own canon and Boat house where Mrs Christie would sit and edit her manuscripts. 

When in a wood...mess around with a big stick pretending you're Gandalf! 

The perfect holiday bolthole

Whilst we were down in Dartmouth we had the perfect place to stay, called Lily Cottage from Dart Holiday Rentals. Tucked away behind a private barrier, the little blue cottage was a perfect place to stay whilst we explored. I loved coming back to its beautiful quirky decoration and cosy home comforts.

Below are some pictures of my favourite parts of the cottage

I loved the master bedroom in shades of blue and white and painted wooden furniture, but my favourite part was the gorgeous nautical wallpaper. I loved the scenes of boats and fishermen, I may have to get back in contact to see where they got it from.

Mason Ball jars are everywhere, but I have never seen them as light fittings and these were used throughout the cottage and casted a lovely glow.

The second bedroom was half clad and painted in a lovely light aquamarine, set off with a navy and cream geometric mat.

The dresser in the kitchen was styled so prettily in shades of blue and cream with the odd pop of colour, all set off with lovely rustic and lace bunting.

The dining room was up a set of large stone steps from the kitchen and had a high ceiling with Velux windows letting in lots of light. The circular and window mirrors reflected the light around the space and made it feel lots bigger.

I love this trend for drawing, printing and creating pieces of artwork with old books or dictionary pages, and Lily Cottage had a fantastic display of nautical critters in a picture wall over the fireplace in the lounge.

To see the beautiful range of properties available for rent from Dart Valley Cottages, follow this link: https://dartvalleycottages.co.uk

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The graphic art of Harry Potter

This weekend I was incredibly lucky as for my birthday I was taken to go and see Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and Two at The Palace Theatre in London. It was a fantastic show and we both enjoyed it so much, and it took me straight back to my childhood and how much I loved (and still love!) Harry Potter now.

Whilst we were waiting to go into the theatre we were handed a leaflet about a Harry Potter exhibition just around the corner from the theatre, and in the break between parts we decided to go and take a look.

The bold and vibrant flyer

You know when you stumble over an absolute gem of something you hadn't expected and it makes the experience just so much better, that was exactly how I felt about the House of MinaLima at 26 Greek Street. MinaLima is a graphic design collaboration between two incredible graphic artists Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima (excellent witch and wizard names if ever I heard any!) who for the past 15 years have been collaborating on the graphics for the world of Harry Potter including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

This fuchsia-fronted shop contains four floors of exceptional pieces of artwork from the film, including the original Marauder's Map that was actually used during The Prisoner of Azkaban. Even the staircases and floors are covered in pieces and it makes the whole house a tribute to the world of Harry Potter.

1920's style posters from Fantastic Beasts

Wanted posters and Daily Prophet pages

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes posters and packaging

For more information, here's a link to the website - http://store.minalima.com/house-of-minalima/