After our busy morning at the Donkey Sanctuary we took the short drive along the coast to Seaton for a ride on the Seaton Tramway.
This is a real step back in time to an age before mass transportation, when most families had no way of transporting themselves other than perhaps a horse (and a carriage if they were wealthy). This fleet of lovely narrow gauge trams run back and forth along a 3 mile line between Seaton and Colyton, There's a large car park next to the station (pay and display). When we arrived a tram was just loading so we had to wait for the next one, but during the busy summer season they run every 20 minutes each way. Tickets are £10 for adults and £6.50 for children, that's for all day travel. Under 3s are free and the family dog is very welcome at £1 each way. They also hold quite a few special events across the year.
Undercover downstairs seating is quite limited on most of the trams so we had to head upstairs to the open top area. As there had been a few showers the chance of a soaking was high, but what the heck, we were on holiday! The next problem was getting up the stairs. They are tiny winding steps which proved challenging for husband as the opening wasn't designed for someone with his bulk! But finally we were seated and ready for the off.
The 25 minute journey out to Colyton is lovely - the track runs along the River Axe estuary and you pass through a fabulous wetlands development area where the bird life was abundant. You're surrounded by some very green and pleasant land!
As the track is single there are a couple of passing spots where you pull over and let the train heading back down pass by - we waved cheerily as the pink party tram trundled past.
It was soon time to head back down the stairwell (all passengers must alight at Colyton) and we decided to have a look around this lovely little village rather than just climb back on the next tram. By this time the sun was shining and Colyton looked very welcoming.
Off we set on about a 15 minute walk into the village (town?) centre. Our route took us over a bridge, past a few cafes, and alongside this lovely little stream.
We came across a lovely pub, The Kingfisher, with a beautiful garden. Although lunch service was about to end they were happy to cater for us and we enjoyed a delicious meal before setting off back to the beautiful Colyton Station.
By this time there were quite a lot of people waiting to head back to Seaton but we were still able to board the 2nd tram. This was another fun activity for our holiday week in Devon and C learned something about what it was like to travel before we all had cars!
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