Our Trip to England PART SIX (Teignmouth and Shalton)

Friday was our last day in Teignmouth so we dedicated the whole day to staying in the area. We started the day out at the beach and took a ferry over to Shalton where we walked through “Smuggler’s Tunnel” that spit us out onto this gorgeous windless beach. We let the kids pick through rocks and sea shells. They also had a small zoo there with monkeys, lemurs, ocelots, and meerkats, so we had to go there too.

In the afternoon, we went to Twenty-Six downtown Teignmouth for “high tea”—I had the chocolate mint truffle infusion tea, an apple-walnut-blue cheese tartine, the sea food platter, and a Mississippi Mud Bar. Everything was so delicious. We spent the rest of the day letting the girls kick through the waves and pick through the sand to find more “seashell” treasures. We returned to the castle and began packing.

This was the last night we got to enjoy our “Room(s) with a View” (as the boring, character-less hotel room in London paled in comparison). Have I mentioned the views from the windows of each room at Yannon Towers yet? I don’t think so. Seriously, every room had an amazing view and we didn’t even use the tower room, which had the BEST view of the house apart from actually standing outside on the tower. Mom and I stood atop the tower one night, and I hurt my finger yanking the rusty lock from its hiding place to open the door. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the foresight to bring our camera and never got up there again. Here’s the view from my room. 

And while I’m at it, here are the rooms where everyone stayed. Here are the girls in their room and my mom's pink room:

Here's the room that Bianca dubbed her music room since I did make her practice while we were there (yes, I know, I'm a Tiger Mom):

Here's Eric's and my room.  When you laid down on the bed and looked up, the ceiling was a complete octagon and I loved the plaster and flower-decorated crown molding.

I can't close this blog without mentioning the plumbing. While I LOVE old houses, I do not LOVE questionable plumbing. In the bathroom on our floor, we had an amazing steam shower and a very scary toilet that burped several times everytime we flushed and usually didn't take most things away. Mom and the girls had a much more pleasant experience with their bathroom. The fireplace mantel from downstairs. The detail woodwork is incredible.

I loved staying in this little castle, that we had all to ourselves and were able to eat our own breakfast and explore and play. I did end up leaving a copy of my book in the bookshelf for future guests. We will miss Teignmouth and how wonderful every person we talked to was. Before I went to England, I wouldn't have believed that a community as a whole could be so incredibly nice.