TOR BAY, a bay in the SE of Devon; extending from Hope Nose on the N to Berry Head on the S. It measures 4½ miles across the entrance, and 3½ to the head; makes a nearly semi-circular sweep into the land; presents and commands very fine scenery; was the landing-place of the Prince of Orange on 5 Nov. 1688; was a common resort and anchoring-ground of the channel-fleet under Lord St. Vincent; and was pronounced by Bonaparte, when brought to it in the Bellerophon in 1815, to resemble Port Ferrajo in Corsica. See Torquay.
- John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870
One thing I love about Devon, is that at one o'clock in the afternoon, you can be umming and ahhing on the sofa about what you should do the rest of the day and then less than two hours later you can be walking in the brilliant sunshine, looking over the sea and beautiful beaches. We got the train to Paignton, in Torbay near where my great grandmother had a house, and my father caught mackerel as a kid and cooked them with bay leaves from the garden and Grandad watched the 1966 World Cup Final. Though modern Paignton is really not to my taste, we had a wonderful walk along the cliffs to nearby Brixham with my trusty carrier bag in my pocket just in case...
First find of the day, was MORE wild garlic in the woods by Churston Golf Course. After months of hunting for it, its lost its novelty value, but the smell in the air was still good - just shows how your sense of smell is important when you're out foraging... we smelt it before we saw it.
More exciting was finding my first load of wild chives in the park near Fishcombe Cove - yippee! Its a bit stragglier than bought chives and has a sweet oniony taste. There was so much of it, it took all my might not to get over excited a take only a little home to experiment with.
Finally, after climbing a billion hills we reached Brixham where William of Orange apparently landed during the Glorious Revolution in 1689. A sleepy, seaside town, famous for its fresh crab and its replica of the Golden Hind in the harbour, we were also delighted to find that it had a CAMRA award winning pub in its midst!
The Queen's Arms (http://www.thequeensarmsbrixham.co.uk/) is South Devon Pub of the year and fully deserving of the title. It was so friendly (the landlord popped over to see how we were) and a great selection of ale and a sleeping pub cat (cuteness!) by the bar. We enjoyed a nice pint of Queen Arms Defender Ale and the cosy atmosphere.
Back at home it was time to get to work on the chives. I decided I wanted to make Cheese and Chive muffins based on this recipe http://www.food.com/recipe/cocktail-cheese-chive-muffins-343675. Not entirely healthy - I shudder when I think of all that cheese clogging me up - but very tasty nonetheless.
Back at work tomorrow (nooooo!) but wish you all a very Happy Easter Bank Holiday from Devon.
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