Tuesday, October 1 (Afternoon):
After our 3 hour train ride from London to Totnes, we get picked up by "Bob the Bus" and a few taxis. About half an hour later, we pull up to... I kid you not... a castle. Our castle. Sharpham Estate to be exact. After exchanging many puzzled looks, I think everyone's jaw dropped once we discovered this would be our humble abode for the next few days. This estate is within the rolling hills overlooking the Dart River. We dropped off our things in the gorgeous rooms (I roomed with Emma) and then got a tour of the grounds in the rain. Dinner included chilli with salad, vegetables, and bread, then for dessert we had a berry tart with clotted cream. After dinner, Bob the Bus (driven by Hal) drove us to the town pub for a fun filled night of "Heads Up!" Yes we were those routy Americans on the pub on a Tuesday night with the locals, but it was a lot of fun.
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| Sharpham Manor |
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| Music Room |
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| Second flight of grand staircase |
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| Side View of Sharpham Manor |
Wednesday, October 2:
Breakfast was at 7:45, and the day's activities started at with a group activity from 8:45 - 11 to establish group culture and a common understanding of context for Transition Town Totnes. The Transition movement began in Totnes in 2006, and this is what we came here to learn about - "a grassroots network of communities that are working to build resilience in response to peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability."
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| Manfred Max-Neef Model of Fundamental Human Needs |
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| Activities Room |
After the activities we loaded onto the buses and visited the REconomy Center before a delicious organic lunch at the Bay Horse Inn. We had some time to walk around the cute town before meeting up again at the Market Square and splitting into two groups for the rest of the day's activities. My group drove to Dartington first to visit a school farm, a really cool mushroom project, and a community garden initiative. We then traveled to a woman's house to learn about her story on Totnes Streets, then went to Conkers (a sustainable show store). We regrouped at Albert Inn, got yet another free drink (thanks DIS), and learned how Albert Inn brews their own beer. Dinner was on our own, so a group of us went to an Indian restaurant where I got coconut lamb and vegetable fried rice. The bus took us home at 9, then the rest of the night was very low key.
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| Growing mushroom spores from used coffee grinds |
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| Garden |
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| Some Conker Shoes |
Thursday, October 3:
Our planned activities today had to change because of the torrential downpour storm all morning and into the afternoon. It was a little upsetting that we didn't get to hike around Dartmoor National Park (Mama Deb's favorite part of the trip). Instead, we drove to the coast in hopes we could hold a discussion there. Unfortunately, the rain got worse and was blowing completely horizontal, so the shelter didn't work. As environmentally minded people, the entire class decided to run outside in the rain and into the ocean. Needless to say, we were completely drenched and the bus ride back was a little uncomfortable. It was so worth it though. We then drove to Riverford Organic Farm and ate at Riverford Field Kitchen, where I had the best meal of my entire study abroad experience yet. I can't even describe it - all organic, locally grown, delicious dishes that were shared around the table. We also had more sticky toffee pudding for dessert! Miranda and I decided to split ours, so I also got to try a chocolate ginger cake. While we ate lunch, the rain stopped and from then on it was just mostly cloudy - perfect timing for our next adventure (and also my favorite part of the whole trip).
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| View from Riverford Field Kitchen Vineyard |
So in the afternoon, we did a lot of reflection down my the Dart River at Sharpham Manor. The instructors let us go on a 30 minute "date with nature," where we had to simply be with nature without judgement or analysis. Just be. I ventured up to the top of a hill with no one else around overlooking the river and rolling hills with sheep and cows. It was such a familiar sight for me, with familiar smells and sounds. I just sat on my rain coat and took it in. Then I started crying. I knew immediately that I was so emotional because it's exactly like my favorite place in the whole world - Scotland. And I know exactly what triggered my tears - the faint sound of a single morning dove, which is the sound I would always hear in the morning at my Nana's house. The whole scene just reminded me of the greatest days of my childhood, and the reason why I study the environment and will do anything I can to protect it so future generations can have that same feeling as I did. I often go out in nature by myself as a way to reflect, but the whole ambiance of the countryside hit home. Sometimes studying environmental science, renewable energy, and environmental humanities can be depressing, overwhelming, and emotionally draining, but I just think about how I grew up traveling and all the breathtaking natural sights I've seen and realize it is the single most important thing in this world to study and protect, because without it there is nothing to protect. I could go on forever about this topic, but I'll leave it at that. So after that time, we got back together to wrap up and celebrate the world we live in. Dinner was served about an hour later, where we were all way too full from lunch to eat much. The rest of the night we had on our own.
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| The Dart River |
Friday, October 4:
Today, after breakfast and making pack lunches, we had a speaker come to the castle in the morning to talk about permaculture. We then moved out of our beautiful residence and visited the Forest Gardening and Agroforestry Research Trust and got a tour around the forest garden. Before I knew it, it was 1:00 and time to leave Totnes. Our train came around 1:30, took 3 hours to get to Reading, where we switched to another hour and a half train ride toward the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:30, but it was delayed by almost 2 hours. That meant we got back to Copenhagen at 2 in the morning. It was a long day of traveling, but the whole trip was a blast and everyone got so close. It's weird that our class doesn't have any more trips, but we're already planning our next reunion (outside of class of course).
Thanks London and Totnes! As a hardcore Scot, I never thought I'd enjoy a trip to England as much as I did.
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