Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1956-05-11
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"a Town

AOAANLoA1s LEV OAN \ Ath'
town of Torquay is quite a
lovely vacation spot and the
season is just beginning here.
Our hotel, the Grand, is an old
and popular establishment
which was used by American
troops during the war. At one
time about 1900 Americans
were here and General Eisen-
hover once spent the night
here. The hotel is situated on
a high bluff overlooking Tor
quay bay--a rocky inlet shap-
ed like a horseshoe. We stay
here for a couple of days en-
joying sunny weather and
wonderful accommodations.
A trip to Brixham about ten
miles away rewards us with
look-see at the new "Mayflow-
er" which is being built here.
The Mayflower is being con-
structed by hand in the same
way that the original was.built
and the exact model of the or
iginal ship is being used to
produce the new one. All the
work is by hand and the tim
bers and spars are all worked
down with adZeS and other
tools which were used in the
1600's. The Mayflower is due
TO be completed in the fall of
this year and will be sailed
across the Atlantic to Ply
mouth, Massachusetts where a
celebration will be held to
commemorate the landing of
the first white people in north
ern United States. The little
shin looks seaworthy enough
put we agree that we will not
attempt to book passage this
year-or any other!
The language here in Devon
is slightly different from Sur
rey in that the natives here
pronounce water" in the same
way we do-not "waw-tah" as
they do in other parts of the
country. We have a great time
with the language everywhere
we go and there is no disguis-
ing the fact that we are Ameri-
cans and proud of the fact.
During our stay in Torquay
we take another side trip to
Slapham which is situated a
little further down the coast.
There is a memorial at Slap
ham which was erected after
the war by the u. S. Army
which honors the former resi-
dents who gave up their homes
SO that we could train am
phibious troops along the
beaches here. In all. five vii
lagos were completely torn
down so that thousands OF SOL
diers could be taught beach
head landing tactics. 1t was
here that the first assault
troops embarked for Norman
dy on D-Day and the thought
comes to us that perhaps some
of our own Madison Countians
may have trained here. At any
rate, the war seems a long way
off on a beautiful day and we
leave the scene with the
thought that it was all worth
il.
Back at the hotel we sit a.
round q pot of tea and plan
our own strategy concerning
the balance of our tour of the
tight little isle AS it now
stands, we will go north from
here through Wales and thence
to arriving hack at
Charlwocd in time to catch our
ship back to the States on the
3Oth of May. Odd how fast
time goes. Already we have
been here two weeks eseh
though It seems only a day or
two. But that is the way it al
ways is when one IS .acation-
ing.
Striking thing about Eng
land is the fact that a country
of over 40 million can live on
such a small island. But then
the Englishman is a hard
working person and 1t seems
that every possible square foot
of land is under cultivation. AS
far as the eye can see are
green meadows and newly
plowed fields. Certainly, no.
where i'm the world is the coun-
tryside more beautiful than
here. The brick-red soil and
the green grass make a lovely
panorama which we hope we
have captured with our color
camera. England is a neat
place where there are but few
blemishes.
On our last day here we go
to the nearby town of Newton
Abbot to watch what is known
locally as "point-to-point" rae
ing. A point-to-point is like a
county fair with country peo-
pie from all over here to watch
the horses go over the jumps.
The horses are all locally own
ed and are driven by the young
men and women Of the neigh
borhood. A very daring bus
mess Is this-especially since
many of the riders tumble off
as the horses fall at some or