Friday 8 September 2017

Stowe Barton and beach garden


This is the beautiful Stowe Barton, that features in The King's General by Daphne du Maurier - and provides the last walk of my book about her. It's near Kilkhampton - Bude way - and we did a mammoth walk there a few weeks ago.

It took us 5 hours to do this walk but the walk for the book won't be quite as long - we did do a detour via the beautifully named Duckpool just below King William Woods, and then we chatted to the current tenant of Stowe Barton which was fascinating - she runs it as a B&B so if you fancy some walking on the North Cornwall coast, it's well worth a visit. The original house was lived in by the Grenville family, but was derelict when Angela and her husband moved in - they have done a fabulous job restoring it to its former glory.

We stayed at Higher Horslett farm which was amazing - an old farmhouse where we were made to feel so welcome, and part of the family, that it's definitely worth a return visit.

ON my return home, we decided to redo the bit of lawn in the front. Some friends dug it out and took the topsoil away, then we put a membrane down, got some gravel delivered, and are now making a beach garden. As storms are forecast this weekend, this could be a good time to do some beach combing to add to it....

8 comments:

wannabe a writer said...

Oh, that makes me want to re-read the book! It looks beautiful. I've only been to Cornwall once but absolutely love Du Maurier so am looking forward to seeing your book in print! It sounds like it really has been a labour of love.

wannabe a writer said...

Oh that looks lovely and makes we want to re-read the book again. I love Du Maurier but have only been to Cornwall once. I'm looking forward to seeing your book in print though. Sounds like a real labour of love.

wannabe a writer said...

Oh that looks lovely and makes we want to re-read the book again. I love Du Maurier but have only been to Cornwall once. I'm looking forward to seeing your book in print though. Sounds like a real labour of love.

Flowerpot said...

Wannabe - well not much of a labour, but certainly love! Thanks for that - the book will be out next Easter.

Kim @ Him, Him Me said...

More lovely Photo's. Stowe Barton looks lovely. I'm liking the beach garden very much. We did much the same with our garden, as previous owners had dog's who had ruined the lawn by using it as a toilet. After 5 years trying to get it back to a usable space, We did the same as you.
So much easier & it looks good all year around.

ADDY said...

What a lovely idea and saves on having to mow the lawn regularly.

Flowerpot said...

Addy - yes it should look after itself. And with these storms, a great excuse to go beachcombing!

Flowerpot said...

Kim - glad your garden has worked for you, too - great fun to do, isn't it?!