Visit to Dartington Hall-March 2008

[David Nicholson]

This Wednesday's jaunt was to the Dartington Hall Estate, near the small South Devon town of Totnes. It is less than half an hours drive from home but oddly this was our first visit in 20 years of living in Devon. We were accompanied by non-gardening friends so not a lot of pictures today (when with these friends we normally move quickly from morning coffee, to lunch and then afternoon tea- so suffering from excess cake now!)

Dartington Hall is a 1200 acre estate with the River Dart running through it, and has a 14c medieval courtyard and great hall. It was originally built for a half-brother of King Richard 2nd in 1388. He 'lost his head' in 1400 after an unsuccessful rebellion against King Hery 4th. The estate was purchased from the Crown in 1559 by Sir Arthur Champernown, Vice Admiral of the West Country under Queen Elizabeth 1st. His successors lived on the Estate until it was purchased in 1925 by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhurst. They were early 'eco warriors' with the vision of creating a school and work opportunities to integrate education and the uplifting of rural life.

The Estate is managed today by the Dartington Hall Trust. On the estate is situated the Dartington College of Arts which has a worlwide reputation in Drama, Music, Theatre, Film etc. Teacher members of the Forum will most likely have heard of it. The College is presently in the early stages of merger with a college in Falmouth, Cornwall and when that has gone through will be situated in Falmouth. This move is creating all kinds of controversy, none the more so in the Town of Totnes which gains much from the spending of students and staff of the College. It is said you have no chance of living in Totnes unless your garb is highly colourful, you wear sandles in all weathers, you have a beard (blokes only!) and have about you the slight whiff of 'wacky backy'!!

Now to pictures, since these are all pretty much non alpine I will not describe them other than the file titles I have given them.



 

[Lvandelft]

So it seems to have been a good day then David?
Nice pictures.

We were accompanied by non-gardening friends

Still better than buying shoes ofcourse???   

[Paul T]

David,

Nice place by the look of it.  What was the white thing growing against the house in the first pic? 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Seems like a very nice place to visit David - and you did have nice weather !!!!    
Thanks for letting us enjoy it.

[David Nicholson]

David,

Nice place by the look of it.  What was the white thing growing against the house in the first pic? 

Paul, some kind of Prunus I think.

[David Nicholson]

So it seems to have been a good day then David?
Nice pictures.

We were accompanied by non-gardening friends

Still better than buying shoes ofcourse???   

Much better Luit, and cheaper!!

[Paul T]

David,

Ah, so it was a tree in front, not a climber attached to the building.  I had thought from the picture it looked like it could have been a climber, which is why it piqued my interest.  Only thing I could think of would have been Beaugainvillea, but it didn't look right.  Thanks for the response.