The fact that we eat really well while we there probably helped too! We had an entire day basically about FOOD. Organic, homegrown, fresh, food. One of the best visits of the whole week was to Riverford Organic Farms, where we had a tour and tried some of the vegetables in the field.
Afterwards we were led to the Field Kitchen, below, where they fed us a huge, family style meal. The only meat we had was a little bit of duck, and besides that it was lots and lots of vegetables. I think it may have been the best meal of my life. The meal did not fit the English food stereotype at all! The cooks were gourment-trained cooks from London, and I think it may have been an expensive meal, but it was on DIS's bill. I, like most of the other students, couldn't resist buying a cookbook before leaving.
Besides the food being amazing (it really was, everywhere we ate) we stayed in what I'd call a mansion! It was the Sharpham Estate, below, where we slept, had class, and toured the grounds. I want to say the building is from the 1700s. Inside is a huge spiral staircase winding up three stories. I stayed on the top floor with a beautiful view of the River Dart and the surrounding valley.
I am currently reading a James Herriot book to Pager, and Dr. Herriot also writes about the beauty of the English countryside, in his case Yorkshire up north. He has been away during World War II and has just returned to his country veterinary practice: "During my time in R.A.F. blue I had thought constantly of Yorkshire, but I had forgotten how beautiful it was." Ch. 3 in The Lord God Made Them All.
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