Dartmouth to Exmouth

Wake up Steve put the mini-kettle on!

Get down for breakfast – I personally regret the untimely passing of fried bread and the appearance of the so-called hash brown.

Originally, the full name of the dish was hashed brown potatoes or hashed browned potatoes, of which the first known mention is by American food author Maria Parloa in her 1887 Kitchen Companion, where she describes the dish of hashed and browned potatoes as a fried mixture of cold boiled potatoes which is folded like an omelet before serving.

Years later we got them.

Thursday 30th July 2015 and the sun is a shining brightly on the Dart.

Get on the ferry!

We’re off again.

The Monkey Puzzle tree Araucaria araucana is one of the oldest trees in the business – of being a tree.

It is native to central and southern Chile, western Argentina, and a welcome visitor to the English Riviera.

The hardiest species in the conifer genus. Because of the prevalence of similar species in ancient prehistory, it is sometimes called a living fossil.

The refined white rectilinear box shaped houses of the genus Seaside Moderne, are an offspring of the International Style, to be found all over the globe.

The sea covers seventy percent and rising, of our planet.

Seaside shelters are ubiquitous along our coast and form a typology determined by a rich variety of wild and wonderful Municipal tastes – flat, broke, baroque, modern and functionalist, hardly two the same.

Electricity is a popular power source both locally, nationally and internationally.

Model villages originated in seventh century China, there is only one way around a model village.

This one is in Babbacombe.

Time for a 99 – quick it’s melting Steve!

This Georgian Court is situated just outside Torquay, a restrained Neo Classical/Deco brick and render apartment block – the couple I chatted to, very kindly offered to show me around the place.

Ghost signs have the habit of disappearing all over the place.

So to shops of all shapes and sizes.

Whilst others prevail.

Including this arcane example in Exmouth – The Wool Shop.

Laundrettes may be on the way out but this gallant knight of the road continues to record them, both online and in print.

Here in Teignmouth a pier appears not uncommon on certain parts of the coast.

Teignmouth Grand Pier is a great day out for family and friends. There’s something for everyone – from big kids to little ones – it offers you all the traditional attractions and entertainment in the Great British spirit of the seaside.

Time to get on the ferry again Steve – crossing the Exe Estuary on the Starcross to Exmouth Ferry.

Bikes carried for a small additional charge.

No time for Bingo, reading the local paper or the amusements – time for a pint, in the form of two halves.

Then a wander back to the digs – see you all tomorrow.

Night night

Modernist Model Village

I’ve always dreamt of a Modernist Model Village.

So much so I bought a book.

Drew up a list of buildings, made plans – dream on.

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley.

However, whilst on my 2015 cycle tour of the south west coast I arrived almost accidentally yet serendipitously outside Babbacombe Model Village.

A good place to visit as dogs are welcome and this is important to us. The models were very cleverly designed and each one is recognisable and very funny anecdotes and labels. It was much bigger than it looked but flowed easily and was fun and charming to walk around. There is also a free mini crazy golf room which makes a change to not charge for something like this and a joy to see. I really enjoyed myself and it is all so well maintained you can feel the passion of the people creating it.

I went in – how could I have done otherwise?

Many of the buildings reflect the areas’ Seaside Moderne styles, from the holiday chalets to the substantial Modernist Villa, plus all the up to the minute services and infrastructure one would expect in a modern model village.

Let’s take a look:

Other model villages are available – Bondville Bridlington and virtually in Hastings

Hastings – Model Village

Blimey, I remember the castle and the hamster wheel thing. It was, in those days, as close to you would get to an adventure play park, it was on the same site that is now held by Clambers and it was all outdoors. The Castle, the Hamster Wheel, an army zip slide, seesaws, roundabouts and I think there was a small paddling pool. The Castle stunk of wee, probably where kids couldnt be bothered to get to the toilet. I remember it even had towers that you could go up .

Next to the play park was a putting course and you use to pay where the bowling green hut is now. Then the other side was a crazy golf course and you purchased the tickets from the model village hut. We had some great times up there . We use to spend the morning in the museum and then a snack and a drink at a very small cafe that was just below White Rock Road, in Cambridge Road (since gone) and then off to the putting, the play park and then the crazy golf, in that order 

Can you imagine kids being allowed out to do that now ? We were 12 years old in 1973 and use to catch the 433 bus from the Fortune of War (well thats what we called the bus stop anyway) in Priory Road, to the Oval and back.

Happy days 

The Hastings Model Village took three years to build and opened on 19th February 1955. Designed by Stanley Deboo, it featured models of classic Sussex houses including oast-houses and timber-framed houses.

Sadly the Model Village was forced to close in December 1998 after vandalism caused £5,000 worth of damage. It was replaced by a miniature golf course built by Chris Richards.

The model village was replaced by a lazer maze style gaming centre in 2011, but still some of the original model village foundations remain at the site to this day.

 I love model villages, the real rendered diminutive in tiny eye bite size pieces. I have a particular affection for lost model villages, and particularly lost model villages which I have never visited. Having discovered a set of vintage images at the Vintage Village – I set out on a virtual journey by postcard, into a collective unconscious, previously uncollected.
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Here are the mechanically retrieved lost remnants of a lost world.
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Bridlington – Bondville Model Village

If you walk far enough away, you’ll find yourself right there.

The sea to your right, Bridlington to your left. You could even catch the Land Train if you are so inclined, I declined and walked wet streets, in ever eager anticipation of my first visit to:

Bondville

A family run enterprise, tucked just away from the Yorkshire coast nestled in the village of Sewerby. Jan Whitehead and her team of willing helpers kindly allowed me to get a sneak preview of the village, as they prepared for the imminent Easter opening.

This one twelfth scale wonder is filled with everything you might wish to find in an idyllic village – but smaller and made lovingly by hand. Wandering its narrow streets, each tiny turn is a new and exciting surprise, an irresistible vista of diminutive figures, set in a cornucopia of architectural delights.

The trains always run on time, and the trawlers bob merrily in the harbour.

The wedding party remain forever almost snapped by the arched photographer, blink and they don’t move.

So step inside a world of wonder – I’ll be back when the sun shines, I promise.

http://www.aboutbridlington.co.uk/bondville/

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