The day started today seeing, just how far off I was in my estimation yesterday. It turns out from my hotel in Plymouth to Dartmouth Castle is around an hours drive. The castle is open on weekends at this time of year, but unfortunately, today is a weekday. Below is a photo of Dartmouth Castle, but with the sun still rising it is more a silhouette. The day ended much better than it started with a visit to Babbacombe Model Village and Old Sarum Castle.
English Church
Today it was a little easier to stop at a couple of spots along the way and get a photo or two. One place was passing a church, which I believe was called St Peter’s but cannot recall the exact location. It is one of the first places that has caught my eye and had a convenient place to park for a photo.
Babbacombe Model Village
If you have been reading since I started this blog you might know that I like models and miniatures. In the past, I visited a Replica Tudor Village in Melbourne and a Miniature Museum in Victoria, Canada. As I was driving I spotted a sign for Babbacombe Model Village. It was not out of the way and I decided to make the small detour and take a look.
I was very happy with my choice to stop and visit Babbacombe Model Village. There is just such a wide range of models, with some excellent detail. From houses to buildings, businesses and just about everything in between.
The Babbacombe Model Village covers around 4 acres of land and it is around 1km fro walk around. The village contains a lot of houses, a petrol station, main street full of stores, Stonehenge and a model railway. But that is not all there is a castle, sports stadium, dragon and castle, and some 13,000 figurines. I spent around an hour exploring Babbacombe Model Village, but easily could have spent the whole day. It is places like this that you just find new little details every time you walk around.
Many of the models are based on places and events from the past five decades. Babbacombe Model Village was originally opened in 1963, and well worth a visit if you are in the area.
Old Sarum Castle
Old Sarum Castle is not too far from Salisbury and is one of the earliest sites settled in the area. Today though the location is not much more than a dirt mound surrounded by dry moats. But the mound with partial ruins of the castle still does stand as an imposing part of the landscape. Unfortunatly, after being disused hundreds of years ago, the castle was demolished and sold off for building materials. All that remains is the base of some of the walls of the castle.
The mound on which the castle say is around 400m long by 360m wide. With the view from the top of the mound quite spectacular over the surround lands. It would definitely have been a difficult spot to approach without being seen if you were to attack the castle.
There is also another ruin present on this site, that of a Cathedral. All that is visible of these ruins is the footing of the building. From what I can see this would have been a vast Cathedral even by today’s standards. There are bigger Cathedral’s now, but for the time it would have been very large.
On To Portsmouth
Today turned out to be quite an enjoyable day especially enjoying the visit to Babbacombe Model Village. From Old Sarum Castle, it was on to my hotel in Portsmouth and to find a stop for dinner. I found a great spot next door to the hotel for dinner and enjoy the Mixed Grill; I hope the photo does not make you hungry.
