England 2023- Winchester to the Devon Coast
Waking up our first morning in England is always exhilarating. It’s no secret that England is one of my favorite places and of course for my husband waking up in England is waking up at home. So, that morning waking up in Winchester we had a bounce in our step, despite the very little sleep I got.
Jet lag can be a real drag. Usually it lasts for a few days when we head over the pond but this particular trip the jet lag lasted the entire first week. So there I was the first morning, wide awake at 3 am. I tried so hard to fall back to sleep but alas I was ready to go. Thankfully my husband, the driver on this trip, was snoozing away quietly beside me getting his rest.
My husband and I are creatures of habit and our morning habit whilst in England is to get our breakfast at a reastuarant called Wetherspoons, which a lot of England calls Spoons but we playfully call it Spoonies. That name means nothing to anyone outside of the UK but within the UK this invites a giggle and secondhand embarrassment. Wetherspoons has a bit of an unsavory reputation, sometimes deserved. Like the time we went to one in Gloucester and a man was 2 pints in at 9am. In our experience most of them have been just fine, in fact some like Tewkesbury and Salisbury have more than just fine, they were downright lovely. But alas as I said the chain as a whole has a bit of a “common” reputation. For my husband and I the allure is: in app ordering, self serve all you can drink coffee, tea and hot chocolate and consistent food. I know exaclty what I want from there for breakfast and it tastes the same each location. Oh and did I mention it’s very inexpensive? If you have a budget it’s a great place to go.
All of that to say, the breakfast decision was already made for us before we even woke up. Winchester’s local Wetherspoons was only a 3 minute walk on that chilly morning. We were the first patrons to arrive at the Old Gaolhouse JD Wetherspoons. I should also note for those outside of the UK. Wetherspoons MO is to purchase old historic pubs or buildings and breathe new life into them. Every Spoonies location has a story to tell and for a history nerd like me, this is part of appeal.
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| The Old Gaolhouse, JD Wetherspoons (blue building currently under renovation) |
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| Winchester |
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| Inside the Wetherspoons |
We chose a seat near the window, opened the app to place our order and enjoyed our first cup of tea on English soil. With breakfast consumed we walked back to the Winchester Royal Hotel to grab our luggage and make the 1/4 mile journey through the town center to our car. Wanna stick out like a sore thumb? Walk several yards over cobble stoned streets pulling luggage. You’ll have the whole place staring at you. Luckily for us this is a more common sight than in California. Many people travel by train and therefore have to walk through town with luggage hopping along behind them. But still, people will look. You just have to keep your head up and act like you own that sidewalk and the soundtrack of bouncing wheels.
One of Winchester's many claims to fame, besides the large cathedral and its permanent residents, is the City Cross or Buttercross as it is known locally. Dating to the early 14th century it has 12 statues of the Virgin Mary, other saints and historical figures. It was also the cause of a riot in the 1770’s. A man called Thomas Dummer purchased the cross and had plans to move it. When the day came to dismantle the cross a small crowd prevented the workmen from doing this task. The sales agreement was canceled and the cross stayed where it was originally erected. Some restoration work took place in 1865 but other than that it stands as it always has. It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument protected from any further change.
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| The Buttercross |
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| Winchester city center |
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| The different rooflines of the buildings from different centuries. |
Heading out of town we decided on the fly to change our route from Winchester to our final destination of Torquay. Originally we planned to go via the A30 which would take us past Stonehenge but this would add almost an hour to our trip time and we were quite eager to get to Torquay, as we decided the night before to add Exeter Cathedral onto our list. So on the A31 we went. This route took us through the New Forest National Park, the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (otherwise known as the AONB) and the East Devon AONB.
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| The best Starbucks latte I’ve ever had (near Wimborne/Corfe Mullen). I’m telling you the food quality in england/europe can’t be beat! |
One of my favorite things we saw on this drive was the edge of the Charborough House Estate. This estate has one of the longest brick walls in all of England, containing more than 2 million bricks. Called the Drax Wall after the man who built it in 1841, it is an impressive sight. It goes on for about 3 miles, occasionally being punctuated by imposing gates. I came across a blog post of someone called Benny who hates this wall with a passion. We could not be more opposite in our feelings about this wall and its grand entrances. To me it represents mystery, and a bygone area. I saw this wall and became giddy with the excitement of what might be behind it. I was madly typing away in Google trying to find out what grand estate was hidden behind these miles of stone. Benny on the other hand thinks this wall is the folly of a power hungry man who he compared to Donald Trump. Is Benny correct? Maybe, but I think he’s reading too much into it. I choose to take the romantic road that leads me to imagine a story worthy of Jane Austen. All I saw was beautiful stonework that ignited my imagination while Benny would like to take a stick of dynamite to it.
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| The Stag Gate photo credit: Krys Bailey |
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| The Drax Wall- goes on for 3 miles (not sure who took the photo, i was too excited researching to take my own photos) |
Rounding the outskirts of the adorable but expensive town of Dorchester, we passed many darling Dorset villages and eventually crossed over into the County of Devon (also known as Devonshire). Devon is one of those places that I had unrealistic expectations of. When I think of Devon, I think of the rolling moors of Dartmoor and the trees of Wistman’s Woods. But really it’s a lot of coastline. I don’t know why I don’t think of the sea when I think of Devon. I also don’t think of large towns like Exeter. Devon showed me how ignorant I can be when my only exposure to a place is photos on instagram, twee books, and Agatha Christie’s large country house.
Dorset countryside (entering Winterbourne Abbas)I don’t know if I got the wrong end of the stick about Exeter or if I saw it for what it really was, but I walked away from Exeter truly disappointed. Maybe it was because my first impression was a dark, graffiti covered multi-story car park that was littered with broken glass, dog excrement and stank of stale urine. Exeter felt gritty. I brought this up to my husband who hails from the industrial city of Sheffield and he genuinely didn’t notice the things I noticed. Actually reading this back I’m realizing I didn’t give Exeter a fair shake. I can’t judge an entire town by a disgusting car park. It does have a lovely cathedral but now that I’ve checked that box I don’t feel the need to go back. If you’ve been there and loved it feel free to convince me otherwise, I’m open to conversion.
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| Entering the county of Devon |
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| The aforementioned car park. I took this picture to remember which level we were parked on. This photo brings back memories of dodging broken glass and smelling urine. |
Driving through Teingmouth on our way to Torquay
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By early afternoon we finally found ourselves at our final destination of the day, the seaside resort town of Torquay (Tor-Key). When I booked our accommodation I was incredibly picky. The reviews for hotels and B&Bs in our price range in Torquay are critical to say the least. Very few places have a majority of glowing reviews. When I finally settled on a place that met both our parking and location requirements, I locked it down. The owners of that establishment had other ideas. About a month after I booked the hotel I got an email from them that let us know the hotel was going to be closed the days we were due to stay and they would be putting us up in their sister hotel, which I should add had terrible reviews. After some negotiations and a shortening of our days in Torquay I got a full refund and booked a B&B that had originally been out of our budget. This little happy accident ended up being a bright spot in the trip. If you ever find yourself in Torquay I can’t recommend the Haytor Hotel highly enough. The owners were absolute gems, location was perfect and the room was *chef’s kiss*.
Torquay Harbour
Torquay Waterfront
Pedestrian bridge Torquay
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| Agatha Christie was born in Torquay |
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| The Harbour |
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| Our lovely hotel, the Haytor Hotel |
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| The beautiful, yet steep road to our hotel |
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