Torrington

We spent just over an hour today walking around Torrington. When you drive through it you tend to forget there is more to the town than just the one road, but we discovered quite a lot of it today. We did a Treasure Trail that my daughter was given for her birthday. It was quite an easy one to follow, although we spent a long time in the church yard looking for the date the church was blown up. We walked through the town square, shown above, with its 17th century pub, The Black Horse, through the tiny Pannier Market, and round to the back of the town where there are stunning views into the valley with its winding river. If you have time to kill its worth a little wander, and there is always Torrington 1646 to visit as well (see earlier post for more details).

Verity

We had friends down this weekend and for lack of anything else to do on a wet and windy Sunday in February, we went for a walk around Ilfracombe with the chief intent of visiting Verity. It's the first time I've been since she went up in October. Verity stands on the edge of the pier in Ilfracombe, a 20 meter bronze statue by artist Damien Hirst. She's like statue-marmite; you either love her or hate her. I think she's great. From the town side she appears to be naked, but anyone approaching from the sea can see the skin striped away and all the muscle revealed below. The face is really quite wierd, and you can also see the baby inside the womb. She's definately something else, and if you are in the vacinity, I think she's worth a visit.