Wed 6th Aug
Our Dartmouth Apartment: here
It was a 3 hour drive from Poole to Dartmouth and this took us just outside the western limit of the Jurassic Coast. We had left the County of Dorset and were now in the county of Devon, an area still renown for having a stunning coastline but also for the tradition of Devonshire Tea and being the home of Agatha Christie.
Check-in at our Dartmouth apartment wasn’t until 4 pm today and we eventually found the place, not because of the instructions provided by the host but in spite of them! We were pleased to find it was a large, modern and clean space for our next two nights but very disappointed to find that the washing machine was broken. I can’t get over my run of bad luck with having broken washing machines in three successive lodgings. What are the odds of that I wonder?
So, instead of instead of spending our time before dinner going on a nice walk in the sunshine along the harbour front, we went in search of a laundromat. We were able to source coins for the laundromat and, luckily, there was a pub next door for us to spend the 35 minutes whilst our load cleaned. We had a bit of a wander on the way back to the apartment and were pleasantly surprised with the vibe of the local area. Dartmouth was much more impressive than Poole and had a greater number of interesting shops, cafes, bars and restaurants so we were very happy to be here, despite the washing machine situation.
Our dinner tonight was booked at Seahorse which was literally downstairs and next door but we were too tired to wait for our 7 pm reservation. What was I thinking? We went down just after 6 pm and they fitted us in early and had an okay meal but it’s not somewhere I’d urge you to go. Interestingly, we were to find out the next day, that the head chef is a highly regarded celebrity chef of the area, Mitch Tonks, and that he is also behind the Rockfish chain of restaurants.
We were back in the apartment by 8 pm and ready to watch some Netflix but the TV remote wasn’t working so it was an early night.
Thurs 7th Aug
Our day started with a morning walk and a stop at the only cafe open of a morning in Dartmouth, Cafe Alf Resco. It was very busy at 7 am but, given it was the only open Cafe, I suppose that’s why.
Dartmouth is very pretty and much more upmarket than Poole. Both are harbour ports and I was intrigued about this disparity so I got Mark to ask ChatGPT for possible reasons but this didn’t really help us out much. We supposed that the larger size of Poole Harbour meant it may have been more industrialised and, hence, the different demographic.
Our morning was spent on a 2 hour walking tour with Les, the self proclaimed Town Crier and this was excellent. It was amazing how such a relatively small village could be steeped in so much significant history. One of the previous inhabitants, Thomas Newcomen, is credited with developing the first steam engine that went on to be modified by James Watt that then led to the Industrial Revolution. Les entertained us throughout the tour with stories of Privateers, essentially marauding Pirates sanctioned by the King, and gave us a great potted history of the local area and its inhabitants. One such Privateer, John Hawley, is credited with initiating the first ever Poll Tax in Dartmouth in the 14th Century, well before that introduced by Margaret Thatcher. Dartmouth was also a port where the famous Mayflower ship, and its 43 Pilgrims, had docked on the way to the New World. Les also mentioned there had been an inaugural Sardine Festival on the previous Sunday and this pleased Mark to no end. We went on to have lunch afterwards and, thankfully, grilled sardines were on the menu.
The weather had turned to drizzle after lunch but it didn’t really matter as we had a one hour river cruise booked for 1.45 pm. The cruise was worthwhile to see Dartmouth from the water but we gained much more insight about the area from Les during our morning tour than we did from the commentary on the cruise. The rest of the afternoon was spent revisiting areas we’d passed by on the morning tour before heading back to the apartment for a night of dining in.
We’d enjoyed our short stay in Dartmouth but I would advise new visitors to allocate two full days to the area so as to do the town justice. Our apartment was in a great location, a good size, had a lovely view and was well appointed, except for the lack of a washing machine which was annoying. The managers have now removed ‘washing machine’ from the listing of amenities so it doesn’t look they’re in a hurry to get it fixed. Tomorrow we leave Dartmouth and head to St Ives, Cornwall.
