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South Coast Sea, Sand and Attractions with Phil and Melanie

What an amazing fortnight away we had down in beautiful sunny Devon. We truly were blessed with 14 glorious days of constant sunshine!  When we arrived at our gorgeous chalets, we knew the 2 weeks ahead of us would be packed full of wonderful things.  During our stay, we got to know the site very well, visiting the Clubhouse each night to watch the fantastic entertainment.  We saw Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat, We will Rock You, a Motown Show, a James Bond Show and many more great shows. 
We were staying in the beautiful Dawlish Warren, and on quite a few occasions we ambled down to the beach front and enjoyed ice creams and the world’s best milkshake!  We walked along leisurely, taking in the stunning sea views.  We saw a man on the jagged rocks performing some very clever tricks on his bike – we clapped and cheered him on! 
Some of us enjoyed a lovely swim in the on-site pool, splashing and spending time in the Jacuzzi.  We visited a lovely little village called Chudleigh and found a great little art exhibition where we all voted what our favourite painting was!  We had a wonderful visit to Kent’s Caverns one afternoon, exploring the prehistoric caves.  We learnt how stalagmites and stalactites are formed and saw some incredible old artefacts. 
One morning we went to the Donkey Sanctuary and saw lots of rescued Donkeys.  It was lovely to see how well they were looked after and how healthy they are.  On another day we spent the entire day at the wonderful Paignton Zoo.  It was like a giant nature trail and so beautifully looked after. We saw orangutangs, gorillas, giraffes, elephants and many more animals.
We spent a delightful morning in Torquay, dipping into a few souvenir shops.  We had a very relaxing lunch overlooking the beautiful harbour.  On the middle Sunday afternoon, we went to Newton Abbot Racecourse and put our bets on the horses!  A couple of us won and were very excited! 
We took a very exciting ride down the cliff on the cliff railway in Babbacombe!  We all climbed aboard and it took as down a steep Cliffside and dropped us at the bottom where we got out and had a lovely stroll. We saw some awesome red cliffs!  We then visited the Babbacombe Model Village.  It was brilliant, and we saw lots of models of things and places we all recognized.
We went to a local market one morning and strolled around looking at the variety of things on offer – we even saw a man holding a snake!  Some of us were brave enough to touch it!  We then went on to Powderham Castle. What a treasure of a place!  The castle itself was breath taking and the grounds that surrounded it were idyllic.  We took a tractor ride through the deer park which was so beautiful.  We saw lots of families of deer grazing and running around having fun.  It was really quite special to see them in such great numbers and in such close proximity.  We then took a guided tour of the castle which was extremely interesting and we learnt a fair few facts about its history!  All of this was rounded off with a castle garden cream tea, of course! 
One of the most memorable days was doing the ‘Round Robin’ trip.  For the first part of the journey we had an exciting ride on an open top bus and took in the magnificent countryside around us!  We then hopped off the bus and onto the Cardiff Castle river cruise boat.  We had the most serene journey along the river dart.  The scenery either side of us was incredible and so lush and green.  We cruised past a salmon farm, Greenway House (Agatha Christie’s summer home) and lots of little villages tucked away in little coves.  We then arrived in glorious Dartmouth and enjoyed a fish and chip lunch overlooking the port.   It was then time to catch the foot ferry over to Kingswear and have a scenic steam train ride back to Paignton where we started.  What a wonderful day!
We devoured many a fine meal during our stay.  One of our favourites was The Boathouse, which was right on the sea front in Dawlish Warren, and we could walk there within no time.  We went to a beautiful little pub called the Anchor Inn one evening which overlooked Dawlish Warren’s harbour.  It was very atmospheric inside and we all fell in love with it!  We also had a couple of BBQ’s outside our chalets in the beautiful evening sun.  We sipped on refreshing drinks and chatted away!
 
What a wonderful week away and thank you to everyone for making it so special.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 


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