Onward to Exmouth ...

I had bought all my train tickets before I'd ever left Canada; doing it that way can save you a lot of money.  The only catch is that the tickets are for a set day and a set time and not changeable. 

The ticket doesn't have a gate number on it.  Upon arriving at the train station passengers park themselves in front of a large board listing upcoming departures waiting for their train to arrive, get cleaned and be ready to go again.

Be warned -- you must be on the train 40 seconds prior to the departure time as the doors will be locked.   And yes, the trains do run on time.

The train ride from London to Exmouth was just over three hours with a couple of changes

  

Exmouth is toward the bottom left of England situated at the mouth of the tidal River Exe on the Atlantic.  

Walking from the train station to the guest house where I would be staying, I took photo after photo to help me recall  first impressions of cross walks ...

of roof lines, 

and wisteria,

and flowers growing in impossible places.

Once at the guest house I was in for a bit of a surprise; my en-suite bathroom didn't include a toilet !  Apparently in England "bathroom" does not equal "toilet".  The toilet was down the hall.

After I settled in,  I met up with my Exmouth family and they took me to the shore of the River Exe for the quintessential  English welcome dinner;  

Phoebe, Louise and Kieran

fish and chips by the sea !

It was a wonderful start to the visit.

My cousin Louise and her daughter Phoebe both had taken time off work to show me around.  

Visiting a castle was #1 on my go-to list.   This is Powderham Castle and it fit the bill quite nicely.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside as it is a private home.  Well lah-dee-dah !

I love castles but am coming to understand that they are emblematic of a very well-defined class system that exists to this day.

The Earl of Devon, his wife (a former "Baywatch" babe) and their adorable entitled children live in another building on the 9,000 acre estate so that we commoners can tour the castle and help them cover the cost of keeping up appearances.   

The map of the grounds was a bit ambiguous and the trail I went to explore proved to be much longer than I expected.

Nevertheless the scenery was stunning; birds chirped, butterflies flitted and the scent of Spring was heavy in the air.

These roots on an old wall look like they could be hiding a Hobbit hole.

Hard not to just walk and walk and walk ... heck there weren't even any mosquitoes to spoil the day.  

Even the drive back to town on one of England's typical country roads was an adventure;

with barely enough room for two cars to pass.

Our next outing was to visit was the newest castle in England.   But that story is for another day.