Sampford Courtenay & the Three Hares

Here is my latest painting and the last one in 2012! It is one in a new series I am doing depicting the Three Hares symbol which is particularly prevelent in this areal, in fact there are seventeen Parish Churches containing one or more carved roof bosses of the three hares. This one is of the fine church of St Andrew's at Sampford Courtenay where I live which has two bosses as seen in my painting.
I wish you all a Very Happy New Year..........may it be a drier one!

Christmas Day 2013

A few photo's from my Christmas day walk from Sampford Courtenay to Honeychurch a tiny village with a charming 12th century church with a simple interior. I did manage to get a glimpse of sunshine giving some fleeting and dramatic rainbows but it was mostly rain, rain and more rain!

RAMRAID in CHAGFORD!

Everyone was shocked when they discovered our local Spar shop had been broken into during the night, Chagford is such a normally safe place you can leave your house open all day and your car keys sticking out of the car door (I have several times) and nothing happens, so this is a major incident! The theives stole a car from Mortenhampstead and about 3am in the night drove it right through the shop window where they then took the till, surprisingly they left the booze!

Dartmoor Pony

I took this picture of one of the four Dartmoor ponies kept on the moorland below Castle Drogo to help keep the bracken under control, it was enjoying the first rays of the early morning sun on a frosty morning. Kestor can be seen in the distance.

Then & Now!

A dry day at last! We have had so much rain recently and when it is not raining it has been so miserable and grey making it difficult to see to paint even in my usually light studio. Here are a few pictures taken before and after the storms, standing in the same spot on the bridge over the river Teign the top two pictures looking one way and the other two towards the salmon pool.

From Autumn to Winter!

The Autumn colours have been spectacular here with hardly any wind and warm weather after an early frosty spell. Here are two pictures taken a few days ago. One of fabulous reflections in the Salmon Pool on the River Teign below Castle Drogo, one of the beautiful row of Beech trees lining the drive to the castle, and one of a Red Admiral butterfly taken yesterday basking in the sunshine! However it is all change today with howling gales and lashing rain and not a leaf left on the trees! I just hope that butterfly found a safe spot to hibernate in.

Bantham

A beautiful warm Sunday and we went down to the South Hams to Bantham where I took these pictures of this pretty boat house at Jenkins Quay on the clear blue River Avon, the pink reflections are just a perfect contrast to the blue/green water and if I had time would be good to paint. We had a great walk along the cliff path past Thurlestone to Hope Cove where I can reccomend a great Sunday roast at The Hope & Anchor.