East Dartmoor

Earlier Visits

We started our 2018 activity in February by having a guided tour of the Met Office in Exeter, this proved to be extremely interesting.

Security for this visit was very tight and we had to give personal details and take photo ID with us, so be prepared!!

Our next two visits were to Exeter Airport. The most interesting part of the visit was the the fire department. Sadly on the second visit that Dept. had an emergency and therefore off limits.

For our Summer Social we went to Ugbrooke House and Park near Chudleigh. The house has been in the Clifford family for centuries and fortunately still remains privately owned. We had two excellent guides to show us the house and how wonderful to find that all the artifacts on show were in the house originally.  The family history was fascinating and the house has been beautifully maintained. We ended our visit with a scrumptious cream tea in the Orangery.

At the end of July we went to the Arla Foods cheese factory at North Tawton. We were given an introductory talk with pictures by the “big cheese” and expert Tim. We then had to don our health and safety gear prior to our tour of the cheese making process. 

The figures are simply staggering and on the day we went they were making cheddar for Waitrose. It is heartening to know that 70% of the milk used daily comes from farms within a radius of 30 miles. The factory is producing 35,000 tonnes of cheese this year!!

Lastly for tis year we went to The Royal Mint near Llantrisant, Wales.

We had to take a coach due to the long distance and the number of members that wanted to attend (over 30). We arrived just before lunch time and after taking sustenance we embarked on our tours in two groups. It was fascinating and very instructive the quantities involved are mind blowing, sadly there were no 'free samples' but we each got to mint a £2.00 coin that was produced to a higher standard than normal and took it home in a container that will ensure it stays in 'mint' condition.