Connaught Gardens

A cold overcast start to the day but the sun soon broke through although it has remained cold.  I went to a supermarket in Sidmouth this morning to return the large volume of caster sugar I had mistakenly bought for marmalade making.  It was replaced with demerara sugar which is a lot cheaper as well.

While I was here I decided to take a photo of the outside of the Connaught Gardens for todays Wide Wednesday with its theme of old.  The tower structure that you can see was built sometime after 1820 when a plot of land above Chit Rocks was purchased and a marine villa called Cliff Cottage built.  The cottage was changed and enlarged over the years and a pseudo castle and boat house built on what was an old lime kiln.  

The cottage was changed and enlarged over the years and renamed Sea View. The kitchen garden stood where the sunken garden is now, and a pseudo-castle and boat house were built on what was the old lime kiln.  In the 1930s the house was demolished and the gardens opened for public use.  The tower can be seen with white steps known as Jacobs Ladder leading up to the gardens.