There are really no ways to make this sound truly awesome. So I’m just going to come out with it.
For the last year, I’ve been living…
…in Devon.
I know, I know, cue commiserations all round, a few condolences high fives, the deep understanding of the trauma I’ve been, and still am, going through. You thought I was going to say something mild, something relatively painless like “with syphilis”, didn’t you?
It’s been driving me crazy though. All the talk about combine harvesters, and the giving of keys and how many acres a man might have – it’s all I hear! It’s terrible, truly awful stuff. I suppose I should stop making the same joke all the time then, really! Honestly, I just can’t help myself – it’s hilarious!
In all seriousness, it’s not too bad. People are friendly, the country is nice and the weather’s mild. Everything’s really far away and hard to get to, but I kinda expected that and I’m fairly used to it. The biggest problem has been a lack of adventure. How could Devon live up to frolicking (that’s right) in South America? The answer – it couldn’t – and through no real fault of its own, it’s suffered for it. In my mind, that is.
But…(and I hate to start a sentence with a but) that’s not to say nothing of note has happened. Plenty has, mostly just not the adventurey type of stuff. The kind of make life decisions stuff, and improve myself sort of claptrap. New qualifications, for example, have made me mildly employable by some. I’ve also forged (slightly) ahead in website writing, bakery and photography skills (amongst others). That’s right, I watched Bakeoff, and I have now made biscuity things and a sort of cake/bread. More importantly, both were edible.
It’s that last skill I want to focus on right now though, purely because it makes a really nice segway. Not that my photos are any better than they were while I was away (I’m certainly not convinced), but I do actually possess some from the last year. I knew I wanted to summarise my time here so far somehow, but wasn’t sure how, until a great idea popped into my head.
“I could just be really lazy and create a post full of photos.”
That’s genuinely how my brain sounds.
I gathered the photos all up, eliminated all the ****, only to be left with loads. I’m that good. I mean, that sounds like a realistic set of circumstances, right? No? Well, never mind, I’ll skip to the end. What remained from my eliminations was a selection of my favourite photos from the past year – the good, the bad, the interesting and the mundane.
So here it is, one year in Devon, in pictures.
Autumn 2016
Exploring on arrival.
A view from the top of the world. Around here, anyway.
A cottage has been hidden in the woods.
Looking out.
A long bike ride. For me at least.
Bridge over the river Torridge.
Autumn setting in.
Through the trees.
A lovely cottage in the middle of nowhere.
Winter 2016/17
One lucky cat enjoys his Christmas present.
I actually took this through the window just to avoid getting cold.
A couple walk into the sunset.
A man pulls off a miraculous photo, where a cat actually looks toward the camera.
The opportunity repeats itself. Seriously, they’re like gold dust these shots.
Postbox in the wilderness.
The winter’s sun shows itself.
Spring 2017
A family affair. Honestly the closest you’ll find to a group shot.
It’s a steep path down to the bottom of Clovelly.
The path winds much further up.
The parrot flower. Technical term, obviously.
The original cat once more, this time slightly less hyped up on catnip presents.
Garden robin.
Summer 2017
Possibly the best photo I have taken. Honestly, it’s a pretty nice looking rose, right?
Yeah, it was the start of a few photos in the same vein, but so many turned out really nice!
And again.
Ahah, this one’s different it’s got a….oh wait, I already had a few of these, too.
It’s blue!
I sure took a lot of these photos.
Fine, fine, fine. Let’s skip past these and find something different.
Dartmoor! Look at the views.
Widecombe in the Moor.
Behind the churchyard.
