Today is technically the last day of Dearly Beloved's holiday as he goes back to work on Monday and my life resumes as usual. Today we went to Totnes. I love the place even though it's so far up its own ar*e that most of it is totally pretentious. (Apologies to anyone reading who lives in Totty, but you have to admit............it is almost a parody of itself). Totnes is wonderfully ethical, fair trade, organic, vegan/vegetarian/macrobiotic/local food that you can actually spend money every where and anywhere and not have to spend every minute with a magnifying glass; reading the labels trying to decide whether the product is fit to buy or not. I must add readers, that I should do that, I know I want to do that but I'm realistic and buy with what I have and certainly not the way I know I should. But I think we all know that we have to buy what we can afford.
We arrived in time for lunch and headed to what I believe to be the World's best restaurant- Willow. I came across this tiny place by accident years ago and have never been to a restaurant as good since. It's vegetarian and predominantly vegan, the food is local, organic, homemade and as you can imagine fekkin' expensive but I would like to add that it's worth it. It's very much part of the slow food movement and once lunch is gone it's gone, so get there early. Lunch is between £6.90 and around £9.00 and with two drinks today we spent about £16 but that is the only sit down, eat out meal we've had so far this year and this is the last day of our holiday.
We parked at the bottom of town by the quayside of the river Dart and walked up the hill. It was pouring with rain and also extremely hot but we made the best of our day out. I couldn't take photos outside as it was just too wet, so you'll have to make do with stock photos. We made our way to the market after lunch, mostly to walk off what we had eaten. We bought a bar of soap from Emma
(see her website here) and I was interested in her ingredients, her packaging and what real homemade soap felt like. It feels like a massage bar from Lush, it feels quite greasy. When I got it home and tried it, it was so soapy and luxurious and left my hands feeling like I had just used hand cream. I think I will wrap my soap in cotton and use a small ribbon when I give mine to people for gifts. You can see this on her website.
We didn't buy much at the market as it is very expensive, although I don't mind paying more for ethical and local products, there is a limit to my expenses. My favourite stall is run by a collective called
Common Loaf and I had a good nose, so I can make similar loaves myself. In fact, I spent today being very nosey and looked in bakers and food producers windows for ideas, in shabby chic emporiums for ideas and have filed away a lot of things I might do myself.
Below is my actual lunch of soup, smoked tofu dip, salad, cheese scone and I can assure you that I won't need to eat again today. I bought smoked tofu today and will try to make a smooth smoky tasting dip for us to eat tomorrow. I also dug out my sprouter and have some seeds soaking.
My usual splurge from Totnes market was off cuts of fabric, all at £1 each from the rummage basket outside. Tonight I shall enjoy cutting out lots of squares as I work towards my target of 1080 squares needed to make my quilt.
Today is technically the last day of Dearly Beloved's holiday as he goes back to work on Monday and my life resumes as usual. Today we went to Totnes. I love the place even though it's so far up its own ar*e that most of it is totally pretentious. (Apologies to anyone reading who lives in Totty, but you have to admit............it is almost a parody of itself). Totnes is wonderfully ethical, fair trade, organic, vegan/vegetarian/macrobiotic/local food that you can actually spend money every where and anywhere and not have to spend every minute with a magnifying glass; reading the labels trying to decide whether the product is fit to buy or not. I must add readers, that I should do that, I know I want to do that but I'm realistic and buy with what I have and certainly not the way I know I should. But I think we all know that we have to buy what we can afford.
We arrived in time for lunch and headed to what I believe to be the World's best restaurant- Willow. I came across this tiny place by accident years ago and have never been to a restaurant as good since. It's vegetarian and predominantly vegan, the food is local, organic, homemade and as you can imagine fekkin' expensive but I would like to add that it's worth it. It's very much part of the slow food movement and once lunch is gone it's gone, so get there early. Lunch is between £6.90 and around £9.00 and with two drinks today we spent about £16 but that is the only sit down, eat out meal we've had so far this year and this is the last day of our holiday.
We parked at the bottom of town by the quayside of the river Dart and walked up the hill. It was pouring with rain and also extremely hot but we made the best of our day out. I couldn't take photos outside as it was just too wet, so you'll have to make do with stock photos. We made our way to the market after lunch, mostly to walk off what we had eaten. We bought a bar of soap from Emma (see her website here) and I was interested in her ingredients, her packaging and what real homemade soap felt like. It feels like a massage bar from Lush, it feels quite greasy. When I got it home and tried it, it was so soapy and luxurious and left my hands feeling like I had just used hand cream. I think I will wrap my soap in cotton and use a small ribbon when I give mine to people for gifts. You can see this on her website.
We didn't buy much at the market as it is very expensive, although I don't mind paying more for ethical and local products, there is a limit to my expenses. My favourite stall is run by a collective called Common Loaf and I had a good nose, so I can make similar loaves myself. In fact, I spent today being very nosey and looked in bakers and food producers windows for ideas, in shabby chic emporiums for ideas and have filed away a lot of things I might do myself.
Below is my actual lunch of soup, smoked tofu dip, salad, cheese scone and I can assure you that I won't need to eat again today. I bought smoked tofu today and will try to make a smooth smoky tasting dip for us to eat tomorrow. I also dug out my sprouter and have some seeds soaking.
My usual splurge from Totnes market was off cuts of fabric, all at £1 each from the rummage basket outside. Tonight I shall enjoy cutting out lots of squares as I work towards my target of 1080 squares needed to make my quilt.
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