Lee Abbey is situated on the edge of the Exmoor National Park. Our third day's programme saw us exploring the area of Exmoor known as the Doone Valley, around Malmsmead and Oare. Malmsmead is a picturesque hamlet with a ford and an old packhorse bridge over Badgworthy Water, the river that forms the boundary between Devon and Somerset. I loved all the place names displayed on the signpost. There was lots to photograph, including some patient horses.
The Doone Valley is named after the famous Victorian romantic novel 'Lorna Doone' by R D Blackmore. It's set in 1685, the the tale of a local farmer, John Ridd, who falls in love with the adopted daughter of a band of outlaws, who lived in a hidden valley near Oare. It is said to be culled from real-life, based on tales of a band of Stuart sympathisers who fled Scotland for Exmoor, where they preyed on travellers.
All these pictures make me want to go there again. I re read Lorna Doone with and OS map for reference, its all there.
ReplyDeleteLorna Doone is a wonderful story - but a very hard read; the sentences are so long, you forget how they began... Hope you made it to the wonderful little church where, in the novel, Lorna was shot.
ReplyDeleteThere is a Ladybird version available for people in a hurry, Mike!
DeleteLove the stepping stones at the ford in the river!
ReplyDeleteI read Lorna Doone many years ago and it was a hard read for me too!
ReplyDeleteThe pretty arch of that bridge is a beauty.
ReplyDeleteLorna Doone gives its name to Lornado, the name of the official residence of the American ambassador here.