Totnes

We spent four nights at Steamer Quay campsite, which is very near the heart of the town of Totnes. The site lies adjacent to the River Dart and the quayside where the boats leave to run down the estuary to Dartmouth. Owing to the tide patterns the steamers were not running during our stay so we confined ourselves to Totnes and its environs.
Totnes reminded us a little of Nimbin behind Byron Bay in New South Wales although not quite as relaxed - a very british hippy town full of individual food outlets, coffee shops, gift and clothes shops. The old town castle remains in good condition and we took in an English Heritage tour which was most interesting - a Mott and Bailey dating back to 1068.
We walked along the River Dart upstream to Dartington Hall - to the shopping village - closed on Mondays - and the Old Hall itself, all kept in immaculate condition. The river upstream of the town is kept full by a weir creating large bathing areas which were well used on three exceedingly hot days.
On our last day we took to the countryside around the Town, following a 6.75mile trail through sun dappled country lanes and quiet C roads. The route took us past a few hippy camps with old caravans shoe -horned into the hedgerows. We narrowly missed a dog fight as we passed by one of them, the fury caused us concern but didn't seem to excite the dog owners unduly. We extended the walk through the village of Cott to take in the Dartington Hall shopping village on our return. We returned by the riverside walk past the archimedes screw power generation installation once again. Totnes is a great little town, and one we will happily revisit some time.Read more