|
|
holiday accommodation english riviera holiday accommodation english riviera, hotel, b&b, torquay, devon, hudson, harbour, non smoking, rooms, holiday accommodation english riviera, bed breakfast, eden project, wind surfing, diving, fishing, holiday accommodation english riviera
The first stone of this extensive building was laid with masonic honours by Earl Fortescue, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, June 27, 1842, and completed in 1845. It is from the design of Charles Fowler, Esq., Architect, and was built by Messrs. Harvey, of Torquay. The plan combines great simplicity, with the most perfect efficiency and convenience for the purposes required. The whole ground is laid out in the form of a semicircle. The centre building comprises the dispensary, residences for the medical superintendent, matron, and other officers. Around these are encircled and connected by corridors the sick and day rooms of the patients, and other necessary apartments for attendants. From this circle radiate to the extent of the circumferences of the ground, at equal distances, six wards or sleeping apartments for the different inmates. These wards are nearly the same on each story, and afford ample room for classification, and the making up of about four hundred beds. A neat chapel is conveniently placed on the first floor. The open spaces between the wards are appropriated as airing grounds for the patients. The expense of building and furnishing this philanthropic institution was about £50,000, and was borne by the ratepayers of the county of Devon. We traverse the Exminster marshes, passing the Exminster Station, near where the Railway to Exmouth is to branch off, the line preserving the same level, which is continued till it approaches Powderham church, where it makes an ascent. We pass in review, rising from the side of the river, on the left, the beautiful grounds of tbe.Retreat, the residence of A. E. K. Hamilton, Esq.; also the. town of Topsham, and begin to make the opening of the Clyst river, which here falls into the Exe; and a pretty peep is obtained up the valley through which it descends. We arrive at Turf, the name of the place where the Exeter canal joins the river. This is the Blackwall of the Exeter citizens, who resort here to eat White Bait, which are caught between the locks in considerable quantity during the season. There is a small inn at this place, pleasantly situated. Here, and for the next three or four miles, the stranger will be charmed with the beauty of the scenery. The railway enters the shores of the wide estuary of the Exe. The vista over this extensive sheet of water, especially if filled by the tide, when it has the appearance of a lake, is peculiarly charming, and especially so if enlivened with the flowing sails of a goodly number of vessels, making to and from the port of Exeter. The land view on each side is equally striking. On the left are the elevated hills of Woodbury and Withycombe, - the richly cultivated country covered with villas, farms, and pleasure grounds from Topsham along the whole side of the river, with the lime white houses of Lympstone, and the more bold and elevated town and prominent tower of Exmouth, at the furthest point of view, where the Exe finds its way to the sea. On our right, the most striking objects are the high and densely wooded heights of Powderham Park, with the Belvidere rising out of the midst. |