Fremington Part 1

Aside

Fremington is a large village beside the River Taw estuary, 3 miles west of Barnstaple. The cottage was on the edge of the village, up a track off a lane - so quiet and peaceful. Its great attraction was that the ancient quay which used to service merchant vessels was on the Tarka trail and could be reached by walking over the fields from the cottage. In addition, the Quay had an award winning café. There were lovely views to the estuary and a raised deck made it an excellent bird watching spot. Hoss (sidebar) would have loved it.

We drove there via Wheddon Cross and as we knew our friend Mick would be preparing his float for the Wellington Carnival that night, we called in to see it. The theme was China and although it was in pieces, one could imagine how exciting it would be with the hundreds of lights, the music. and the children dancing and singing. They were up against the big boys recently, at Barnstaple but managed to get ‘best in show’ - which for a small village is amazing. They raise thousands of pounds for charity on a shoe string, and hours of devoted work by Mick and friends.

We had a little difficulty finding the cottage but once inside we were delighted; it was a real home from home, pretty, comfortable and cosy with lots of space for the two of us. As it was warm and sunny we delayed unpacking and repaired to the raised sun deck with a glass of wine. The garden was full of autumn tinted flowers and shrubs and as we had brought lots of supplies we could have happily holed up there for the week.

However once unpacked I couldn’t wait to pop over the fields and investigate the Quay. Leaving MTL soaking up the sun, I followed the path outside the garden to a stile, and then tramped through a field to another stile, then another long tramp down towards the Quay. One thing was certain - MTL would not be able to walk down and back but I was desperate for him to see it with me so came back to the cottage to try to work something out.

Looking out at the continuation of the track we had driven on it appeared to wind away out of sight but ahead could be seen a glint of water and what must have been the estuary. Surely if we followed that track in the car we would eventually hit the Taw and then double back to reach the Quay. That would be our goal tomorrow.

More later but as Friday is the walk with Sir Ian Botham – probably tomorrow.DV