Tag: devon

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Then and Now Take Two One More Time – Killerton Chapel

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

I visited Killerton back in June 2023 and made a return visit in May 2025, I also went in February 2026.

This photograph of the chapel was taken in February 2026 using an iPhone 13.

Killerton Chapel

When I made my return visit in May 2025 I took a photograph of the chapel, this was taken with a Canon EOS R100.

When I visited in 2023 it was covered in scaffolding. I took this photograph with an iPhone 13.

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Killerton once more

It was lovely dry and sunny day, so I headed down to Devon to visit a couple of National Trust properties. I headed down the M5 first to Knightshayes and after visiting there I drove down to Killterton.

I have visited Killerton twice before, once in June 2023 and then again in May 2025.

It’s a lovely house which is dressed as a 1920s house, though the first floor is an exhibition area for the National Trust’s fashion collection.

Killerton

A family home and a great estate. Glorious landscape garden surrounded by parkland with fine 18th-century house.

Current saving £74.50
One adult £17.00
Parking £4.80
Total saving £21.80
Cumulative saving £192.30
Membership cost £96
Net cumulative saving £96.30

Upon arrival I headed to the Killerton Kitchen Cafe for some lunch.

After lunch I went into the house itself and enjoyed exploring the different rooms and chatting with the volunteers.

I did have a look at the fashion exhibition upstairs, mainly I think to walk up and down the staircase. I then did another tour of the house.

After enjoying my walk around the house, I went for a walk in the grounds.

This year I have planned to visit fifty places (as I did last year). Each time I visit a place I will post a blog post and some photographs. I can’t repeat places, and in an extra twist I can’t use the fifty places I visited in 2025 in the list as well which is why Killerton is not my on my #50places26 list.

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Back to Knightshayes

It was lovely dry and sunny day, so I headed down to Devon to visit a couple of National Trust properties. I headed down the M5 towards Tiverton and then to Knightshayes.

I have visited Knightshayes twice before, once in January 2023 and then again in May 2025.

Knightshayes

Explore vibrant post-war gardens, miles of 19th-century parkland and grand Gothic Revival architecture by Victorian visionary, William Burges.

Current saving £52.70
One adult £17.00
Parking £4.80
Total saving £21.80
Cumulative saving £170.50
Membership cost £96
Net cumulative saving £74.50

This is a place of splendour. There are some incredible rooms and delightful furniture in the house. This time the Burges bedroom was closed, but I had seen that before on my last visit.

As with most National Trust properties I visit, I walked around the house twice, you often miss things on that first wander, so I always appreciate the second look. After my tour of the house, I went for a walk in the woodland garden.

I did think about lunch, but the cafe was very busy and there was something of a queue. Collecting my car I headed off.

This year I have planned to visit fifty places (as I did last year). Each time I visit a place I will post a blog post and some photographs. I can’t repeat places, and in an extra twist I can’t use the fifty places I visited in 2025 in the list as well which is why Knightshayes is not my on my #50places26 list.

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Greenway #50places2026

As with Coleton Fishacre, I had looked into visiting Greenway last year before my membership ran out, but I missed getting there before they closed for the winter. The property is only a few miles from Coleton Fishacre, so after enjoying a few hours at Coleton Fishacre I headed off to visit Greenway.

They reopened on the 14th February, I hadn’t planned to go on the day they reopened for the new season, but the weather forecast was saying it was going to be sunny and dry, and after weeks of rain, it was too much of an opportunity to miss.

You do need to book parking when visiting the property, so I planned my visit around the car parking booking. If you came by train, boat, or bicycle, then you can just turn up, otherwise you will need to book parking, and note that it does “sell” out quite quickly. 

Upon arrival my car park booking was checked and then I went to the car park. As a member I can park for free, once I got my parking ticket sorted and in the car I headed off to the house.

Greenway

Georgian house with 1950s interiors, holiday home to Agatha Christie and her family’s varied collections. Agatha Christie called Greenway ‘the loveliest place in the world’ and treasured it as a holiday home for her and her family. They filled it with items dear to them, brought to Greenway from Ashfield, Agatha’s childhood home, and from their travels and extensive collections. 

Current saving -£7.90
One adult £17.00
Parking £3.60
Total saving £20.60
Cumulative saving £108.70
Membership cost £96
Net cumulative saving £12.70

This was quite a large house. Across the house are various collections that the family amassed over the years.

I liked the pocket watch collection. The house was very much dressed as a 1950s house. Within the house are lots of references to the novels that Agatha Christie wrote including some rare first editions.

As well as the house, I took a walk in the grounds. The boat house was closed, but I walked down to it anyhow.

I stopped for a coffee and a cheese scone, however they didn’t have any, so I had a toasted teacake instead.

This visit also means that I have already saved the cost of my National Trust membership for 2026 and I am only six weeks into the year. Last year I “broke even” in March. In 2023 though managed to cover my membership cost by the end of January.

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Coleton Fishacre #50places2026

Coleton Fishacre

I had looked into visiting Coleton Fishacre last year before my membership ran out, but I missed getting there before they closed for the winter.

They reopened on the 14th February, I hadn’t planned to go on the day they reopened for the new season, but the weather forecast was saying it was going to be sunny and dry, and after weeks of rain, it was too much of an opportunity to miss.

I left early and arrived just before the property opened. I walked to the house and waited a short while before the front door was unlocked and in I went.

Coleton Fishacre

Coleton Fishacre

1920s country retreat of the D’Oyly Carte family. Arts and Crafts exterior, Art Deco interiors, servants quarters, sea views.

Current saving -£28.50
One adult £17.00
Parking £3.60
Total saving £20.60
Cumulative saving £88.10
Membership cost £96
Net cumulative saving -£7.90

Virtually all the house is open to view which was nice. I explored the upper floor first and there were some amazing views of the grounds and the sea in the distance. Unfortunately most of the original furniture was sold or disposed of, however the house has been dressed to resemble how it looked when it was built in the 1920s. There was a Country Life magazine feature on the house, so they have some reference photographs they can use. The National Trust also had some replica furniture built to match the items in the photography.

After exploring the first floor, it was down to the ground floor with the main living spaces as well as the ancillary areas such as the kitchen and pantry.

living room

It was a beautiful house and I really appreciated been able to explore virtually all the rooms in the house.

I then stopped for a cold drink in the cafe before heading into the woods for a walk. There is a viewpoint overlooking the sea which was lovely.

view of the sea and cliffs

Overall a lovely visit to a lovely house.

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Killerton

For Christmas I got a National Trust membership. It’s being a few years since I was last a member, but now looking forward to visiting new places and going back to places we have been to before.

Back in 2016 I did start to keep a note of how much we saved with the membership, but looking back over the blog, I never kept up to date with that, but with this membership I am intending to blog about the visits we do this year and the savings we made.

Killerton

A family home and a great estate. Glorious landscape garden surrounded by parkland with fine 18th-century house.

Current saving £188.85

Family ticket £38.50

Parking £4.00

Total saving £42.50

Cumulative saving £365.15

Membership cost £133.80

Net cumulative saving £231.35

Continue reading “Killerton”

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Lynmouth

The last time I was in Lynton and Lynmouth was in September 2020, at the height of the pandemic. The previous visit was way back in 2011.

It was a sunny dry day and we headed to Lynton and Lynmouth.

This time I took the coast road and drove along the A39, past Minehead towards our destination. The road into Lynmouth is quite steep and narrow, but we got there in the end.

Parking was a challenge, but we did find a space. We took a walk around Lynmouth, popping into shops, before stopping for a disappointing cup of tea.

We then headed up the hill towards Lynton.

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Lovely Lynmouth

I didn’t think it had been that long since I last visited Lynmouth, as we walked around the town, but checking my photographs (which is always a good indicator of when things happened for me) I realised that the last time we had visited Lynmouth was in 2011. Was it really nine years ago we had driven along the A39 along the coast to this pretty North Devon town? I felt we had been there more recently.

So it was a sunny Sunday in September when we thought it would be nice to visit Lynton and Lynmouth again. Once we were all ready we set off, Waze gave us directions via Tiverton and then up the A361, which in theory, though longer in distance, would be quicker than travelling along the A39. I am not quite sure it was. However I thought I would give this route a chance and it would be different. If we didn’t like it, I would drive back along the A39 past Minehead (which in the end is exactly what we did do). Driving this route I was reminded of our journey home once from the Barnstaple area many years ago where we got delayed by some trucks loaded with the huge blades of a wind turbine. The turbines always look small, but that’s because they are far away. Driving next to one reminds you how big these things are.

It wasn’t too long before we were directed by Waze off the A361 and onto the A399 and we headed towards Lynmouth.

What was nice, was as we passed Woody Bay Station we saw the Lynton & Barnstaple steam train. I had read about how the heritage railway now had a replica of the trains that use to run there in the 1920s before it closed and along with original coaches, looked very much the way it did when it was operating as a commercial railway. I would certainly like to visit there again in the future. Though we hadn’t been to Lynmouth since 2011, we had been to Woody Bay in 2014, but even that doesn’t feel like six years ago!

The road into Lynmouth is quite steep and narrow, but with care we got through the traffic and parked cars. Arriving at around lunchtime it was a little challenging to find somewhere to park, as the car park was not only quite full, but our car is quite big and the spaces didn’t seem big enough. We eventually found a space right at the end of the car park (typical).

You could tell how thing have changed since we last came, as I paid for our parking using an app on the phone! We grabbed our packed lunch and headed to the beach. Continue reading “Lovely Lynmouth”