Beautiful Brixham

We've moved on from Southampton to South Devon where we'll be staying for the next three weeks. Our place is in a lovely part of the country called the South Hams, known for its beautiful landscapes, quality local food, culture, and scenic beaches. I fell in love with it when I was here last year.

Our first day trip was to Brixham, a coastal town in the borough of Torbay.

Since medieval times it has boasted one of the largest fishing fleets in the UK and fishing is still one of its biggest industries, along with tourism. That was pretty much all I knew of Brixham, so I was surprised to discover that one of the slipways in the harbor was built for the embarkation of troops and equipment of the 4th Infantry Division of the US First Army for their departure during the D-day invasion.

A new plaque, recently unveiled, pays tribute to WWII divers.

The harbor is sheltered by the Brixham Breakwater with its lighthouse, built in 1916.

Along the waterfront you're spoiled for choice of places to eat; chippies (fish & chip restaurants) are everywhere.

For those who dream of life on the high seas, there's a full-sized replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hind. Curiously, someone chose to paint it black.

Even though it was a cloudy midweek day, the streets were filled.

After a walk around the harbor, we headed for Rockfish, a seafood restaurant right next to the Brixham Seafood Market building. It was a windy day, but the patio was sheltered from the wind and had an unbeatable view.

Lunch was fish and chips with a difference: the fish was lemon sole.

I also ordered one of my favorite things, unavailable in the US, samphire. It's a sea vegetable, often referred to as "the asparagus of the sea", but it bears no relation to it in flavor. It's briny and crunchy and a perfect foil for seafood.

After lunch, Bruce went in search of pubs. I went in search of The Chart Room, a place I had heard about from my friend Pam. She said it has the best cream tea in England. and is full of cruise ship memorabilia. With my dairy allergy, I took some small consolation in the fact that I had just had lunch and probably would have been too full for the glorious Devon clotted cream that comes with the cream tea. (Yes, I'm trying to talk myself out of my disappointment.) I did find the Chart Room

and, as promised, it was filled with cruise ship memorabilia.

Sadly, the owner wasn't on the premises so I didn't get to talk to him about an item I'd like to donate: a scrapbook from my mother's cruise aboard the RMS Lancastria in the 1930s.

The story of the Lancastria is nearly forgotten now, but a few weeks after the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, there were still an estimated 150,000 British servicemen in occupied Europe. The Lancastria was tasked with bringing some them home. About 4,000 men, women and children lost their lives when the ship sank 20 minutes after it was bombed by the Germans near the French port of Saint-Nazaire. My mother was heartbroken, thinking of the officers she had met while aboard. There's no one in my family who is interested in having the scrapbook, so it's my hope that it can find a home in the Chart Room. We plan to go back to Brixham, so I'll try again then.

From there, I wandered around town and ended up in a small gallery, The Colours of Brixham, owned and operated by three sisters who are all accomplished artists.

As I was chatting with Lynne Peets, one of the sisters, a casual look at my watch showed that our parking time was due to expire, so I bade Lynne a quick farewell and raced to the car park. We'll definitely return to Brixham before we leave Devon. Between the scenery, the food, the art, and the people, how could we not?

Oh, and speaking of scenery, we were treated to some typical (gorgeous) South Hams scenery on the way home.