My hometown City of Plymouth is known as Britain's Ocean City. It is a vibrant waterfront city which is surrounded by water, and with the hills of Dartmoor close by. I love living in heavenly Devon, and I'm proud to be a Devon Maid π
The magnificent Plymouth Sound with the art-deco lido, where I learnt to swim, over 65 years ago. Seems like only yesterday ππ.
Today I thought I would take you on a tour of the historic Barbican, with its cobbled streets and Elizabethan buildings. To me, it has always seemed remarkable that these buildings are still standing after the continuous bombing, known as the Plymouth Blitz, during the Second World War. The city suffered a series of bombing raids, which flattened many parts of my home city. My parents were involved in one of those raids. In March 1941, my dad was returning home on a short Leave from the Army. As darkness fell, he turned the corner of the street where they lived, and the house was gone, reduced to a pile of rubble, and my poor mum was buried underneath. Neighbours were scrabbling at the bricks with their hands, desperately trying to get to her. Fortunately, she survived, but her back was badly damaged and she suffered for the rest of her life with severe back problems. After the Blitz, very little of Plymouth remained, and the whole City had to be rebuilt. During the 59 bombing attacks, 1,172 civilians were killed and 4,448 were injured. King George the sixth is pictured here visiting the devastated City.
Image courtesy of Daily Mail archives.
But now it's time to continue with the tour. I hope you will enjoy these photos, which were taken on a glorious Summer's day last year. You can just double click on any of the photos if you want to make them larger.
The quality of the following photo isn't particularly good (I took it from Plymouth Hoe looking out to the Sound) but I thought the old with the new was pretty cool π.
I do feel very blessed living in this little corner of heavenly Devon! On that note, I'll love you and leave you until the next time.