Naval gazing

Colin / Coleen (the 747 captain with an uncertain gender who you met before) had told us that we had to visit the Britannia Royal Naval College. We tried last time we were here but were told that the tours were booked up for almost a month ahead.

So, we wandered into the Tourist information office with little hope but were amazed when they told us that they had space for that very afternoon. Amazed and happy we trotted off (well, took the RIB actually) to get some photographic identity. The building, artefacts, history and tour were just amazing. Two hours well spent.

The imposing building on the hill looks even more so close up:

It was modelled on the two ships which formed the original college here - the Britannia and the Hindustan. It also had some very neat technology for its age. An example being "no energy use air conditioning" - the metal towers on the roof heat up in any sun and the warm air inside rises and escapes, sucking cooler stuff into the hollow walls of the building via the arches you can see in the pictures.

As an example of the many historical links, here is the garden in which Queen Elizabeth II first met Prince Philip (or Phil the Greek depending upon your upbringing and education!):

The building is about an eighth of a mile long so you feel like you can see the curvature of the earth in the corridor that links all the areas:

As you would expect, the main man (Captain) has a suitably grand house and appropriate adornments:

On our boat, the captain has no such luxuries and is treated with a little more contempt. Quite a lot actually.

The mess area (the nicer one) for the inmates is quite a place to eat in, reminds us of the typical Oxford college dining rooms:

Except it has pictures and details of sea battles around the walls. The chapel was lovely, including a window with a cross built into it that (if the sun is out) projects a cross onto a statue of Jesus on the anniversary of Nelson's death - even at the right time. This amazing attention to detail was evident in the whole building. Here is the interior of the chapel in beautiful hand made brick which was then sanded flat and grouted to produce this effect:

You can also see the sailing ship model hanging from the roof. The river views from the front of the building are pretty impressive too, although Colin / Coleen says that when he was an inmate, they kept him too busy to enjoy the location, history, views or anything much at all:

As you've probably gathered, we liked the place a lot. A must go and see if you are in the area. Book the tour and prepare to be impressed.

Talking of "the area", we have been very disappointed by the staff in the local food shops. The lady upstairs in the chandlers was lovely. The staff trying to sell stuff in Seasalt were equally nice. The people serving in the Co-op were truly scary and the M&S folks were not at all "M&S like". Perhaps Dartmouth suffers from having too many wealthy retired types and yummy mummies living locally and not enough normal people who want to work in retail! Local house prices are interesting....