Days Out.

Had a couple of days out this week. Both were a little disappointing, both partly for the same reason. The first trip was to Buckfast Abbey, a 12 to Newton Abbot and then an 88 to Buckfast. The timing of the 88 meant I could spend either one hour or two hours at the Abbey. Now I am not a church going person but churches can be quite dramatic to photograph. So I took myself into the church and this is where two things happened to provide the disappointment. One, a big sign saying we sell photographs of the church so none of that 'Do It Your Self' stuff here thank you very much. The second disappointment was the church itself. Grim and dull. OK, I know the monks built it themselves with their own bare hands after the worlds best know bigamist tore it down in the 16 century but a bit more imagination next time please Fathers. I did find something interesting to photograph, a 1957 AEG open top bus.

So I caught the next bus back to Ashburton which is a small town about half way to Newton.
I have driven through Ashburton many times back in the days when I used to work out of Newton the 72 went up to Buckfastleigh every hour Monday to Saturday. So I got off and had a look round. And took a few photos. This used to be the A38, the main road to Plymouth before the by pass was built. Used to get crowed.

A couple in Sands School where the pupils were staging a small exhibition of their art work.
The second trip wasn't as far, just to The Spanish Barn. Number 32 from town heading for the Willows but get off at the end of Falkland Road and turn left into the grounds of Torre Abbey. This Abbey dates back to the 13th Century and was also closed down by our friendly bigamist but he must have forgotten to send the bull dozers in because the building is still there and for a small fee you can spend a few hours wandering round (and take all the photographs you want). But I wasn’t after the Abbey, I was after the Antony Gormley show. This one is the opposit of his Angle of the North which is big and stands on it’s own. This one is called Field for the British Isles and consists of 40 000 6 inches high statues all looking at you. As with Buckfast Abbey there were two disappointments, the first was the positioning of the clay figures. The Barn is about 3 times as long as it is wide and the eyes are all facing one end. This means the poor sods standing at the back are so far away they don’t get a look in. If they have eyes they are too far away to notice. I do feel it would have been better if they were turned through 90 degrees and the door in the centre of the barn had been used as the viewing place. It took two days to set the figures up so it wouldn’t be too hard to turn them all round one night half way through the two month long show and see which way we, the viewers prefer. The second let down was again the bar on taking photos. Now I know there are photos for sale and if you go on the internet you can download any amount of photos but they are not the shot you would take if you had permission. It’s not as if there were football match type crowds waiting to get in. (See photo). Still get along and have a look. Catch the 12/12A to the Grand Hotel from either Torquay or Paignton/ Brixham and walk up Kings Drive or get a 32 to the end of Falkland Road and turn left into the Abbey grounds. The Land Train from Torquay Strand also goes there.