CLOVELLY 
137 
and to left become lower and lower, and open up to our 
delighted gaze the valley which we have just left below us, 
with hedge, wood, meadow, and corn-field. Now, as we 
reach the crest of the hill, we have accomplished a four- 
miles run from Bideford ; and as our road winds slightly to 
the right, again the misty view of the soft blue sea bursts 
upon us. Away beyond, gently-sloping corn-fields, and 
wood and tree and hedge. Below us, on our left, lies a 
bosky valley, the dark green of the woods beautifully con- 
trasting with the lighter and brighter green of the meadows 
seen away over undulating corn-fields. Beyond and above 
the bosky valley a church spire calmly rises in the midst of 
its quiet parish of a few clustering houses. 
Now from the hill-top we traverse a long descent to the 
valley below, and halt at the straggling village of Hoops, its 
white-walled cottages prettily contrasting with their dark 
brown thatch, and charmingly fronted with fruit and flower 
gardens, containing fuchsias, roses, pinks, stocks, and 
geraniums. We stop at the door of the rustic inn — inn and 
post-office in one— fronted also with full-blown fuchsias in 
their red or light pink colour. How picturesquely and 
simply are the gardens arranged in this little spot ! now 
shut off from tire high road by a wall crested with grass and 
tiny Fern, and many another wild growth ; now parted 
merely by a painted fence ; now close by cottage walls 
where fences avail not, and a tiny patch of ground has 
been utilized and flowers planted, the charming colours of 
the full-blown blossoms contrasting with the white-wash of 
the cottages. 
Now we leave the straggling village and pass hedge-banks 
with a wealth of the beautiful foxglove and of hazel-nut and 
blackthorn bushes. Then as our road winds round to the 
right we get a peep of sea-cdiff and blue sea away below us, 
and the sloping combes that run down to it. Anon we pass 
k 2 
