Torquay, the Rivert Dart and Dartmouth

Up with the lark after a splendid night’s sleep in a four poster bed. My hosts, Paul and Linda Garwood very much treat their guests as friends and its all first names. The Cary Court’s (www.carycourthotel.co.uk) is splendid, with smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels among the choices.

I am booked to take a 1942 Fairmile launch to Dartmouth, but there’s an easterly blowing and I am told that most passengers would see their breakfasts appear again in no time at all as soon as the craft nosed her way into the bay. I am disappointed, because it’s a rare opportunity to experience a craft which served the Royal Navy valiantly for many years.
But the operator, Greenway Ferry (www.greenwayferry.co.uk), has a splendid alternative in the form of a lovingly restored 1948 Leyland bus. Roger, the driver, is an excellent host and gives a commentary that is interesting, amusing and original.
Nobody is expecting me at Greenway, Agatha Christie’s holiday home overlooking the river Dart and when I ask to see Robyn Brown, the property manager, I receive a rather terse ‘Do I have an appointment’ message back. But eventually, after every one else in the queue is dealt with, I am allowed in.
I have to deposit my bag before entering the house for my timed entrance, only to be told that ‘cameras are not allowed’. I explain that I am a journalist, writing a feature, but it is prohibited, verboten. Supposedly the taking of photographs ‘breaches the Trust’s copyright’. I will investigate further, but I find it very odd that they want publicity but seem to do everything they can to prevent it happening. Their copyright? I thought the National Trust was looking after properties for us, not them.
I arrive back at the bus less than pleased, but Roger calms me down and sends me down to the quay to get a ferry to Dartmouth. The boat deposits nearly a hundred folk before I get on board, the sole passenger. The trip from Greenway starts opposite Dittisham, for many years the home of the Dimbleby family. David and Jonathan are both regular visitors and their sister also has a home in the village.
I have only been to Dartmouth once since I joined the Royal Naval College exactly forty years ago and it’s become rather twee. Or maybe it was then and I just didn’t notice before.
There are loads of art galleries and antique shops and the town is clearly very popular. I spend some time at one of my favourite haunts of yesteryear, the Cherub Pub, dating from around 1380, although my memory has forgotten quite where it is and I have had to seek directions at the tourist information office. The Cherub bitter is off (it transpires that whoever changed the barrel reconnected the old one), so I settle for an excellent half of ‘Proper Job’ which comes from St. Austell in Cornwall.
Sitting on a bench beside the river Dart in the autumn sunshine is delightful, watching the comings and going of the higher and lower ferries and the steam train puffing along from Kingswear on the other side. The river is a lot busier than I remember, with new marinas on both sides, but the essential character of the place very much seems to have been retained.
Back at Greenway, Roger is there to take me back to Torquay. Obligingly, he stops in the local village to allow a tourist to take a photograph and he takes a small diversion in Torquay to drop an elderly couple closer to their hotel. It’s just splendid customer service.
I am booked to take a flight in the Hi Flyer tethered balloon, but the wind is being difficult, so I decide to call it a day.