Somerset

Back in the UK, I treated my parents to a weekend away in Somerset. We stayed at The Cleve Spa, a very quaint, English hotel where the majority of the cars in the car park seemed to be for the gym. Our spa package included one treatment, dinner and breakfast. Dinner was a little spoilt, Mum’s steak was well done to the point of burnt and my slab of deer has a too tough.

Not really ventured into the west of the UK, I was delightfully surprised by the very English countryside we saw on the way to Dulverton, Wellington villages and the Tarr Steps in the Exe Valley. The Tarr Steps is an example of a clapper bridge, a medieval bridge made from large flat slabs of rock.

The houses all seemed to have space for a horse, there are bridle ways galore for said horse and there was an abundance of places to enjoy an afternoon tea. We stopped at  Lewis’s Tearoom in Dulverton. With one’s afternoon tea, one should have clotted cream which is basically creamy fat, and oh so delicious. Homemade scones, cakes, and giant tea cups, a great place to enjoy a break.

Crossed into Exmoor, we saw a little Exmoor pony foal with Exmoor pony Mum. Very cute.

Ended the day in the coastal town of Lynmouth, that looks out on to the Bristol Channel and on to the Atlantic where we enjoyed a British dinner by the seaside at ‘North Devon’s Favourite Fish and Chip Shop 2010’.

Somerset