Coastal Scenes

After our visit to Dunster we drove through Blue Anchor Bay to Watchet.  Here are just a few scenes from this lovely little town.

The Harbour at Watchet

Over the Harbour wall, Watchet

The Ancient Mariner Statue, Watchet Harbour

After lunch in a lovely little cafe on the main street we drove back through Blue Anchor Bay and down towards Porlock and Porlock Weir.  Porlock is surrounded on three sides by the hills of Exmoor

Porlock High Street

The Lorna Doone Hotel, Porlock

Dovery Manor Museum, Porlock

Porlock Weir looking out to the Bristol Chanel.

Coastgard cottages, Porlock Weir

Shingle beach, Porlock Weir

Looking back towards Porlock Weir village

It was time to drive back to our B&B; visiting Dunster, Watchet and Porlock in one day was not only very tiring but left us feeling as if we had just 'scratched the surface' there is so much to see and do along this coast that  we have decided to return very soon and spend a whole week around these places so we have the time to discover more of their history and heritage and enjoy some of the coastal and moorland walks.

A Walk around Dunster

On our way to Watchet on the Somerset Coast we stopped to have a walk around the village of Dunster.

It is a very pretty, photogenic place with lots of interesting ancient buildings and a splendid castle which overlooks the village.  The castle was mentioned in the Domesday Book and was home to the Luttrell Family for 600 years. 

The 16th century tithe barn - now a community hall - from the front.....

...and from the back.

The old Dovecote

St George's Church taken  from the lovely public garden which can be accessed from the walled garden at the back of the tithe barn.

 

The garden was so peaceful.

The  timber framed Yarn Market on High street was built in 1590 by George Luttrell to shelter the wool and cloth traders from the weather.

High Street is full of lovely little shops most of which were just opening when we arrived.  We decided that we must go back and look at the castle and the watermill and take the walk to Dunster beach another time or we'd never get to our main goal of the day -  the coastal town of Watchet

Back to Day One

After telling you about the last day of our holiday first, I'll now take you back to the beginning.   We set out about 8a.m. and drove through Stone, Eccleshall and down through Telford and  Bridgnorth, stopping for breakfast on the way to Kidderminster.  We  joined the M5 as far as Weston-Super-Mare which was our first real stop and leg stretch.  I wasn't sure what to expect as I'd never been before but was pleasantly surprised.

There was a lot of work going on along the front and of course, around the pier, which was being rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in 2008.

Weston has everything that you would expect a seaside town to have like a big wheel

vast beaches to walk along

a place of entertainment and a retreat from windy weather

and donkeys,  the real ones above and another kind as seen below....

we found the one above in the entrance to a coffee shop and the one below....

in the Museum.  I'm guessing that there would be more around the town but these were the only two we spotted.

It was time to move on to find our accommodation for the night - the next couple of days we spent exploring the Somerset coast from Watchett to Porlock and beyond.  I'll be back with more in the next post.