GROUND FARCE - Pastures new: September 2013

The world’s laziest blogger returns after a whirlwind summer of weddings, 18^th birthdays and a weekend of ponies, pixies and ‘pancakes’ of the countryside variety. You can’t beat that wholesome country air but phew, Dartmoor’s free WI-FI or ‘whiffy’ as my mum would say is largely due to thousands of sweaty ramblers and bovines dotting the hillsides.

Free 'whiffy' on Dartmoor

Walking off cake, wedding and birthday, mostly deposited round the waistline like some kind of fatty ‘tor’ left behind after a celebratory ice-age. It seemed rather apt to be exploring a few of the granite tors on the moor. Some of the rocky deposits around Haytor look like my cellulite lumped thighs but with more moss.

Haytor Rocks

Views from the top

Dartmoor is beautiful at this time of year. There are plenty of places to explore and enough wide open spaces for everyone. We started our circular weekend tour by stopping over at the Woodleigh Coach House in Cheriton Bishop on the Friday night then driving down to Becky Falls near Manaton, sweeping back to the centre of the moors via Postbridge and Princetown before heading off to Plymouth for a Saturday night stopover at Warleigh House.

Woodleigh Coach House - Cheriton Bishop

Becky Falls

Postbridge

What can I say about Warleigh? All the adjectives in the dictionary couldn’t begin to describe the magnificence of this country residence that we were lucky enough to be staying in thanks to Travelzoo.

Warleigh House - Tamerton Foliot

Overlooking the estuary

A Grade II listed Tudor manor house, Warleigh House nestles quietly next to the Tamar estuary near Plymouth. It’s recently been refurbished by its new owners, Kris and Steven, who are doing a splendid job in converting the place into a luxurious country house.

We stayed in the Foulston Suite, a palatial suite very tastefully furnished with superb views over the estuary. Our room had a huge four poster bed, marble fireplace and a collection of eclectic antique furnishings.

Foulston Suite

Adjoining en-suite bathroom was larger than my lounge and contained a roll top bath, stone fireplace, marble flooring and a shower large enough to hose down half of the Plymouth Argyle footie team in one go. Believe me when I say that soaking my aching joints in that bathtub was nothing short of divine!

Sumptuous bathroom

Beautiful Venetian mirror

Breakfast was served on Sunday morning in a delightful room facing the side lawn that swept down to the estuary. Sadly no photos of this room – it’s definitely chavvy to take your camera to breakfast especially in the country.