Early bluebells in Torquay

Bluebells at Meadfoot Green 

Did you have a good Easter? We treated ourselves to slices of homemade Simnel cake from a stall at Torquay Indoor Market and managed to resist the allure of chocolate eggs. I might look to see how much the unsold ones have been reduced by when I pop to the Co-Op later though! I learned that Torquay's branch of Thornton's is closing down in a couple of weeks so there might be good bargains there too. There's a 60% off sale at Thornton's online!

I have enjoyed rediscovering my way around Torquay over the past couple of weeks. Those of you who know my appalling sense of direction will understand how much of an achievement it will be for me to actually learn the whole town! Just before the Bank Holiday weekend Dave and I walked down to Meadfoot Beach where there were actually people - mostly children admittedly - swimming in the sea. In April! Madness!

Looking over towards Thatcher's Rock 

We paused to look out to sea and wondered at what appears to be wall remnants on Thatcher's Rock. Does anyone know if it was ever inhabited or is this just how the rock has eroded? And why is it called Thatcher's Rock? Travelling always brings up more questions than answers, even when I travel at home.

Cutting inland from the far end of Meadfoot Beach, we turned into Meadfoot Green parts of which are anything but green at the moment. Apparently the water board have been digging trenches. The ground is now refilled, but awaiting grass seed. We crossed one of the wooden plank bridges into the woodland and I was delighted to find bluebell carpets. I always think of them as a May flower because I generally see them around my birthday, but here in the English Riviera at least, they are already putting on quite a show. Coincidentally, in my brilliant Rebecca audiobook that I am currently listening to, the second Mrs de Winter had been discussing Maxim's opinion of bluebells the day before we saw ours! Even more profuse here are a white variant that I think are probably Spanish bluebells, not the rare albino British ones. They are eyecatching too, but in a different way and didn't have the same ethereal quality as the blue ones.

White bluebells