Great Britian: Day 2 Torquay, Devon & Cornwall

Torquay - the Grand Hotel

This was a beautiful, restored hotel right on the seaside.  Originally built on the seafront in 1881, at the terminus of the Great Western Railway, it was named the Great Western Hotel after the railway. Unfortunately, I have no picture.  A note about that:  I took my camera and a video-cam (very new back then).  Unfortunately, I have the videos I took, but no way to view or print.  This picture is from the internet.

We had a room at the top of the hotel, which probably was originally a servants room, but beautifully refurbished as a guest room.  One of the best features I enjoyed in most all of the rooms we stayed was the heated towel bars.  Rinse out your undies and hang them on a towel bar & they were dry in the morning.

One of their most famous guests, Agatha Christie, was born in Torquay on September 15, 1890. She and Archibald Christie, a young army officer were married in 1914 and honeymooned at the hotel.   

After stowing our luggage in our rooms, we re-boarded the coach to travel to the village of Kenn in Devon. 

Kenn, St. Andrew Church & Ley Arms

We were given a tour of the Parish Church of St. Andrew, Kenn by the Bellringer a very old man (he was in his 90's and had been a bellringer since he was 7) his son and grandson are also bellringers. He let me ring the church bells!

The church was built over several different periods having been chartered by King Stephen in 1200, the baptismal font remains from this period, between 1280-1300 the first major changes were made to the church and extensive renovations were made and battlements erected in the 15th Century during the Wars of the Roses.

After our visit to St. Andrew's, we walked to the Ley Arms for a wonderful dinner.  The Ley (pronounced Lee) Arms was built in 1290 to house the stonemasons who were building the parish church.  Squire Ley and his family won the land & inn in a gambling debt and the pub has been called the Ley Arms ever since.  

My mom had her first mis-hap here.  She left her purse (including her passport) at the restaurant.  Our tour guide called the Inn and they made arrangements to meet us as we traveled by on our way to Plymouth and Cornwall.  Calamity averted this time!