Gretchen knows how much I love Dartmouth. It is my special and favourite place in the whole of the UK, the place I would like to retire to and have my ashes scattered when the time comes (sorry to be morbid). My time spent at the Naval College in 1985 are some of the happiest memories of my life and the flavour and atmosphere of the place just makes me feel as though I am home whenever I visit. To be different, Gretchen booked us in at a lovely hotel, nestled in a valley around Dittisham called Fingals. A large, relaxed and somewhat eccentric place, we were the only visitors there for the two nights of our stay and had personal access therefore to the swimming pool, sauna, games room and restaurant. The owners’ 2 dogs, Fennel and Leaf roamed around the grounds like friendly security guards, checking us out everytime we wandered through the grounds. At breakfast they would come to our table to see if they could help us clean our plates, same thing at Suppertime and at afternoon tea. We saw them more often than the owners! We stayed in a wooden house in the grounds called The Folly. It was 2 stories with a bedroom downstairs and a door that opened out onto a small landing that hung over the raging river outside. Upstairs it was like a summerhouse with big sofas, TV and an old Vinyl record player plus vinyl records. We enjoyed an obligatory bottle of champagne on arrival. Yum.
On my Birthday I had lots of presents to open. Amongst other things Gretchen gave me a beautiful pair of pearl earrings from Tiffany’s to match my pearl necklace (a birthday present in 2008 from Saboohi). They are really very special.
We spent the morning in my beloved Dartmouth and then crossed the river on the ferry to visit Coleton Fishacre the 1920’s home of the D’Oyly Carte Family and one of the most gorgeous National Trust houses I have visited. I love the architecture and styles of the 1920’s, clean lines, simple but quality designs and textiles, I love it. The gardens are stunning too and stretch down to the cliffs with magnificent views. I couldn’t believe that I had never visited this house before in all the times I have visited Dartmouth. A real find.
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