Phew! It’s been a busy old day… Hence the slightly later than usual posting time! Fortunately, the subject matter for today’s post is a lazy stroll around one of the prettiest and most unusual places that Paddy and Plunkett have visited in a long time. Welcome to Clovelly, a village in northern Devon which has been privately owned since the 13th century! It’s built on a veeeeeery steep slope, and the houses almost appear to tumble down the hill into the harbour…
Clovelly is well-known for its beautiful cobbled streets, which are apparently made from stones gathered at the beach below. Paddy wanted to take a photo of himself with the sea waaaaay down at the bottom of the main street…
… But then Plunkett commandeered the camera for a snap of the cobbles themselves.
“Beautiful! Look at those nice smooth edges!”
Fortunately, Paddy was able to regain control of the picture-taking by telling Plunkett that there were even better cobbles further down the hill. Normal service resumes!
You might have noticed already that these streets, as well as being very steep, are also reeeeeally narrow. And that makes Clovelly officially a car-free zone! In fact, using any form of wheeled transport is pretty much impossible – although I wonder how many runaway carts ended up in the harbour before they figured that one out?
Anyway, back in the day, donkeys did all the -ahem- donkey work of ferrying people and their chattels up and down the hill. But that’s a hard day’s work for anyone, and these days you’re more likely to see the donkeys taking it easy in the sanctuary at the top of the hill. So if you want to move anything, you’ll be using one of these!
These sledges are what locals use to bring home their shopping. After parking their cars up at the top of the hill, they load up the sledge and bring their deliveries to their front door on foot. At least it’s downhill all the way!
And as you can see, Paddy has found the perfect way to turn this system to his own advantage.
“Hop in, Plunkett! Let’s get a lift to the harbour!”
Their journey took them past some of the achingly pretty shops and houses on the main street…
… And soon they could look right into the harbour from above!
It’s lucky the tide’s out, or Paddy probably would have tried to dive in! The lads decided to opt for a sedate walk down to sea level instead.
“Ooooh! It’s beautiful!”
And the view behind them wasn’t bad either!
The only thing they have to worry about now is how to get back up that hill!
We’ll be rejoining Paddy and Plunkett in a couple of weeks… Because now it’s MY turn to go on holiday! I’ll be taking a break from blogging while I’m gone, but I’ll be posting on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as I travel.
See you again on the 19th for fresh Beastie fun!
