On a cloudy, mild Wednesday morning thirteen Devon GOC members came to Torquay to explore the twenty blue plaque sites around the centre of the town. They heard about  both famous and lesser known people such as Agatha Christie, George Edmund Street, Edward Vivian & Murial Byck and saw notable buildings including The Green Ginger, Torre Abbey & Lyceum Theatre that shaped the Town we see today.

We all learned that Torre Abbey’s tithe barn was built around 1200 to store taxes paid to the abbey in the form of grain, hay and other farm produce. For centuries, however, it’s been known to locals as the Spanish Barn with its resident ghosts! Torre Abbey was run by the Premonstratensian Canons (can you pronounce that??)

After all that culture, we made our way to a roof top café that gave a panoramic view of the harbour and enjoyed a well earned coffee and snack.

My thanks to everyone who joined us and supported an enjoyable day