Clevedon on Sunday

I found this great library book which tells you about what to see in each town in the south west and enjoy opening it and saying Where shall we go today? As we didn't feel like going far we chose Clevedon which is about 30 minutes drive from here. We took the wrong turning in the town and landed up at the beginning of a path which took us up the hill and down towards the main centre. Had a lovely walk (in the rain) along the promenade and met a NZ couple who have lived in Bristol for 2 years (she had a 'Made in NZ' label on her bag so I couldn't resist asking). They are both teachers and one of them haled from Fielding (no I didn't ask if they knew Aaron but boy was I tempted). Along the main road is another salt water swimming pool that no one would dare swim as it hasn't been cleaned in a long time - I think that they are now called 'marine parks' and are for sailing model boats, duck life and fishing. We had a walk on Clevedon Pier (where locals could purchase a little metal plaque to put on the bridge for a donation - there was one that said 'Chris will you marry me? James' I hope she said yes). The Clevedon Pier was not long but quite spectacular particularly because the tide was out. It was opened in 1869 and was used by a number of ships delivering sugar, timber, iron etc. However, it hasn't had a happy life, having weathered a few storms that saw part of it collapse in 1899, 1910 and 1970's before full restoration occurred a few years ago. The cafe at the end of the pier was surrounded by intricate wrought iron. The lovely old stone hotel next to the pier is soon to be made into apartments - we could just imagine the rich holidaying there in the 1920's. We had a wander into the grounds of an old building and saw our first fox - cute to watch as it played on the grass. One of the girls at work said that she had a 'pet' fox and a 'pet' badger - a bit like us having a 'pet' oppossum I guess. Took another photo of a thatched room cottage - moved carefully so not to disturb the peacocks sitting on the roof and felt a bit stupid when we realised they weren't real! The photo of the stone wall has an 'odd' rock - if you enlarge the photo you might just be able to see it.