Rosemoor Gardens.

After some very tricky driving through Exmoor National Park, involving roads barely wide enough for our one car with blind curves and stone walls on both sides, we wound up at Rosemoor Gardens. Because we only had two hours for our visit, we got discounted tickets. My dad was slightly dismayed by the disclosure that two hours was not even going to be enough to see all of the gardens and threatened to sit down on the husband bench, where there was already one poor gentleman sleeping. We got him past the husband bench and into the garden, though!

The garden is set up as a series of different outdoor rooms with various themes.

Even though it was late September, there were still lots of roses blooming. I think I took a picture of almost every one...

There was one "room" in particular that was very vibrant and full of fall colors.

Since it was fall, the dahlias, sedum, and sunflowers were fantastic.

The gardens are quite large, and we did spend most of our two hours walking from section to section- and there were definitely parts that we missed!

The end of our tour led us to the fruits and vegetables garden, which featured gourds and squash grown up on fences and trellises like other vines. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about walking through the arch with large melons hanging precariously over my head, but it seems to work.

This plant was so cool!

The melon-festooned trellis.

Even though we only had two hours, I really enjoyed our trip to Rosemoor Gardens! A garden is something I really miss having in Switzerland, so I appreciate the chance to enjoy other people's gardens. Plus, I firmly believe that you can never smell too many roses!

A day in Devonshire.

Our next stop after Salisbury was Combe Martin, in Devon. We stayed in a B&B that was near the ocean, which was quite pretty. We were also adjacent to Exmoor National Park, which is exceptionally beautiful. The way the fields were laid out in varying shades of green and delineated by dark rock fences made me think of stained glass windows.

Dad and I in Combe Martin.

On our first full day in Devon, we drove through Exmoor park to the towns of Lynton and Lynmouth, which were old holiday towns on the coast. We walked from Lynton at the top of the cliff to Lynmouth at the bottom of the cliff, at sea level. It was low tide, so my dad and I walked out toward the sea on the exposed rocks, finding shells and sea creatures along the way.

In Lynton.

View from Lynton over Lynmouth.

At the harbor.

The low tide created a really funny site, in which all of the boats were sitting on the river bottom. I thought it was pretty amusing!

After exploring, we had dinner in Ilfracombe, just as the tide was coming in. The weather was getting a little wild and windy. It was crazy to see the tide coming in over docks and jetties that were normally quite far out of the water. I was also amused to see one of the iconic red telephone booths perched above a staircase that was almost entirely covered in water. Apparently it is only available half of the time?

Normally this dock is quite above the water!

I think that the scope and wildness of the ocean is something that I really love, and is one thing that Switzerland does not have, so it was really nice to get to enjoy it on vacation.