Sailor Bill

Our last expedition of the recent trip to Devon was a visit to Totnes to visit the King William IV public house there, to inspect their copy of the famous painting included below.

Sailor Bill

We started from Buckfastleigh, not far from where we were staying and from where we were able to catch the steam train to Totnes. A station full of memorabilia from the days of steam and of the people who go in for that sort of thing, some of them being allowed to dress up and actually work the various stations and trains.

Locomotive

I think it would be fair to say, judging by the reflections on the side of the locomotive, that this last gets a lot more TLC than the carriages.

Non-rolling stock

While the non-rolling stock did not get much at all.

Plenty of suitable fields on the way to Totnes but I did not spot any rabbits, which I thought odd.

Arrived at Totnes we made our way across the river, slow flowing and rather murky looking, wondering whether it was tidal at this point. Something to be checked at a next visit. Up the hill, through an old part of town no longer containing any public houses, past the castle and onto the high street. Past lots of shops selling beans and related products, causing us to wonder how they all made a living. Eventually arriving at the King William IV where we found the picture we were looking for in a corridor. We also found lunch, in my case warmed up roast pork, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and gravy. Not bad at all, with pudding and potatoes well above average. Plus vegetables which were not so hot. In fact, quite a decent pub altogether.

Back to the station along the river, which had the advantage of being level.

A tree boil

Tickets

One of the features of the ride was real tickets, the thick cardboard affairs of my youth. Punched with a genuine British Rail punch by a guard wearing a genuine British Rail uniform, dating from the days when such things were made with real wool and cotton somewhere up north, rather than somewhere far out east.

Trolley notice

We were amused to find an advertisement for the very trolley that we had seen the day before at Parke (reference 2) on an exhibit set up in Buckfastleigh station car park. Click to enlarge to see the picture of the trolley bottom right.

Someone else's pie

Closed the day with a couple of substantial slices of homity, bought from Totnes market, warmed up in the microwave. Rather good, essentially a savoury version of mashed potato. I quote from Wikipedia: 'a traditional British open vegetable pie. The pastry case contains a filling of potatoes and an onion and leek mixture, which is then covered with cheese'. The snap above turned up by Bing gives something of the idea. If I remember sometime, I will have a go at making such a thing.

After the event I read up on the King on my telephone, learning that he spent some years doing good service in the Royal Navy, starting as was proper, as a midshipman. He was expected to learn the trade more or less like everybody else. But, annoyed that he was not allowed near the action, he went on to spend twenty years with his actress mistress (Irish), having ten children by her. She was then paid off - which did not stop her eventually dying in poverty in Paris - while he went on to marry a princess (German) better suited to his new status as likely heir to the throne. And at some point during his regular quarrels with the government about his allowance, he threatened to stand as the M.P. for Totnes, so perhaps there is some more substantial connection than the public house carrying his name, something more than his having sailed into nearby Dartmouth from time to time during his naval career. On the other hand, there used to be a King William IV public house in Ewell, so perhaps there are lots of them scattered about the land; perhaps he paid off all his old servants with pubs, in the way of the Marquis of Granby and his sergeants.

PS: I add by way of a footnote that of the four bird feeders hanging outside our kitchen window, filled up for our arrival, two had been more or less finished by the time we left. While our feeder here in Epsom, which I did not get around to taking down for the summer, has not been touched for months. From which we deduce that suburban birds are better fed than their country cousins.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom.

Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/10/parke.html.