« June 2008 | Main | August 2008 »
West Leigh Farmhouse - Summer Holiday
Posted by Webby at July 26, 2008 09:32 PM | Comments (0)Thursday 17 July 2008
Travelodge (Bristol Central)
Just two minutes and two miles into the journey to our Cornish holiday home we joined traffic jam, in heavy fog, on M62…Terrific! Fortunately, a short detour around Saddleworth Moor, through Denshaw and Oldham brought us to the M60 and a comparatively trouble free journey to Bristol without further traffic complications.Having successfully parked the car at the Travelodge, we all went for a look around the nearest parts of Bristol, where Jilly remarked upon how like Poitiers, France, it was. After dinner at Pizza Hut, we returned the the Travelodge for an early night.
Friday 18 July 2008
Travelodge (Okehampton)
At just four years and three months (or thereabouts) Evelyn seems to have gained a basic understanding of sarcasm.
"Thanks Dad", she told me this morning, after following me into the bathroom, "that smells disgusting!"
Brilliant.
Eager to make the most of our remaining National Trust membership (due to expire at the end of the month), Jilly suggested that we visited Castle Drogo (not to be referred to as Castle Drongo) on the way to Okehampton. A lovely castle built by a retail ‘magnate’ between 1911 and 1930, and now owned by The National Trust (it is, according to The National Trust, the last castle to be built in England!). It struck me, immediately, how like a set from an Errol Flynn movie the inside of the castle looked; huge stone ‘bricks’ making up the walls, but all of them still looking as good as the day they were laid…very peculiar!
We found a hotel and restaurant just outside Okehampton for dinner. Unfortunately, the food at Betty Cottles wasn’t very consistent. I enjoyed my gammon (which came complete with eggs and onion rings, oh yes!) but the vegetables that came with Jilly and Kieran’s meals were all over-cooked; which was a shame really, because the service was good, and I really enjoyed my meal.
Saturday 19 July 2008
Arrived at West Leigh Farm
Breakfast at Morrisons as Little Thief in Okehampton was heaving. On arriving in Bude, we went to Sandy Mouth Beach (National Trust), just north of the town, where we met Ben, Jean & Hebe. After lunch, we went on to Widemouth Bay (south of Bude) before returning to the house to prepare a curry for dinner…yummy!
Sunday 20 July 2008
'Splash-about' and B-B-B-Q (sic)
As a relaxing introduction to Bude and North Cornwall, Jilly and I decided to go swimming at Bude’s ‘Splash’ Leisure Pool this morning, then spent the afternoon on Sandy Mouth Beach. Ben treated us to the first B-B-B-Q of the holidays for dinner (at least one of the ‘B’s stands for burnt) which was excellent. Winding down in the evening, we
Monday 21 July 2008
My First Wet-Suit
Agin, we started the day swimming at Bude’s ‘Splash’ Leisure Pool, where Evelyn performed her first ‘dive’ into the pool. Evie stood on one of the islands in the pool (standing about 20cm out of the water), and was diving forward into the pool, in what was not quite a good dive, but far better than a belly-flop style, and swimming two or three strokes underwater...our very own little 'Melody' (see Disney's The Little Mermaid II (Return to the Sea).
After swimming, we spent the afternoon on Bude Haven beach, where we bought Evelyn her first wet suit (£12.50). Jilly and I agree that it is going to prove to be the best £12.50 we’ll spend all holiday, as it’s been impossible to get Evelyn out of it. At one point, Jilly looked over to Evelyn to see her stroking the material of her wet suit in much the same way she strokes any plasters she’s wearing! Had the first fish & chips of the holiday on the way home.
No photographs, as I forgot my camera…d’oh!
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Tintagel (mk. 1)
Caught in a traffic jam following (what looked like a serious RTA), which delayed arrival in Tintagel. Had lunch at 'The Crossbow' in Tintagel then left for Rock without seeing anything of King Arthur, the Castle or the National Trust's Old Post Office. Got to Rock to find it impossible to park so that we could get the pedestrian ferry over to Padstow, as intended. Eventually, we abandoned our efforts to find parking in Rock, and drove to Polzeath Beach where we sent the rest of the afternoon.
We returned to Bude where we had something to eat in Morrisons (we all agreed that, if we were going to rescue anything from the day, we needed to eat something simple and cheap, and do it quickly!) and then played 10-pin bowling in the neighbouring Harlequinn’s Leisure Centre. Quite astonishingly, and to everyone's shame, EVELYN WON (and she was to the only one to get a STRIKE!)
Wednesday 23 July 2008
Tintagel (mk. 2) and 'The King Arthurian Centre'
After yesterday’s miserable failure to visit Tintagel Castle, Jilly, Evie, Kieran and I tried again, today. On our way to Tintagel, we ‘stumbled’ across The King Arthurian Centre and Battlefield, a small shop/museum providing details about the legend of King Arthur. The centre is a shop selling lots for Arthurian paraphernalia (including many fine looking books), and ‘housing’ several interesting archaeological relics. With a £2 entrance fee, Jilly and I agreed it represented excellent value for money (lol).
As today has to have been the hottest of the holiday so far (Jilly and I agree that we have been really lucky with the weather, having only had one poor day so far), we decided that the ascent up the cliff to Tintagel Castle was a little unnecessary. Instead, we had a lovely time in the cove beneath Tintagel Castle. The ‘mermaid caves’ (Merlin’s Cave) proved exciting for Evelyn (and Jilly), and the cliffs of the bay provided me with essential shade from the sun (it had been beating down, relentlessly, all day) as we sat and enjoyed the view. Beautiful!
The evening weather report said that today had been the hottest of the year…exactly as the computer predicted!
Thursday 24 July 2008
"Belly Stopper!"
Went swimming at Bude’s ‘Splash’ Leisure Pool in the morning. During one of the wave periods, I looked up to see Evelyn throwing herself, repeatedly, into the bigger of the waves, belly first, shouting “Belly Stopper!” as she did. Fantastic!
After swimming, we returned to the house for a spot of lunch before going into Bude for a little shopping, and to try and find somewhere for Jilly and I to go to for dinner in the evening…finally settling on The Falcon Hotel. The restaurant was full, but there were tables available outside. The skies were a little dark, during dinner, always threatening to rain, but the downpour held off until later in the evening. The food was really good (much better than Betty Cottles), but the service was a little slow.
Friday 25 July 2008
"Cornish Pasty-tastic"
Last nights weather forecast was for scattered showers through-out the day. The forecast was part-right in that I woke at 06:30 this morning to the sound of heavy rain outside. I went back to sleep and woke nearer 08:00 to discover that the skies were still a little grey, so we went swimming again(!). During our time in the pool, as I held her in my arms, Evelyn beckoned me towards her, conspiratorially, and whispered in my ear, "Sometimes, I like to pretend that I have fins (again, see Disney's The Little Mermaid II (Return to the Sea) By the time we'd finished in the pool, the weather had improved greatly, so we went into Bude for a final wander around and to buy lunch (while I hid from the glare of the sun. We all shared a selection of excellent pasties for lunch [tick box number one], which we ate in the lovely ‘park’ in centre of Bude, and then went to play a couple of 9-hole rounds of crazy golf (which Evelyn loved and was rather good at!) After the exhilaration of the crazy golf, we went for a relaxing pot of tea and a very satisfying Cornish cream tea [tick box number two]…yum yum!
Saturday 26 July 2008
The Journey Home
We left the farm at 10:00 and arrived through our door at 18:00. That's a full working day driving up the country. As I sit here, now, typing this; after only 26 miles and about 20 minutes of the journey home, Evelyn asked, "Are we nearly there yet?" How Jilly and I laughed!
Flickr photographs to follow when Jilly has had time to censor them!
Knight Stainforth Camping
Posted by Webby at July 9, 2008 08:21 AM | Comments (0)AKA - Absolute F*****g Disaster
As my Father's day camping trip to Knight Stainforth was originally postponed until this weekend (as a result of the appalling weather on the Friday night of that weekend), Jilly reorganised the camping trip for this weekend. This time, though, we decided that it would be preferable to arrive during the day on Saturday to give us more time to set the tent up in the invent that the weather was poor. If only the weather was all we had to worry about...
We arrived at the camp-site at about midday, and began erecting the tent...only to discover that we had come away without any tent pegs...'fiddle-dee-dee', I exclaimed! I quickly drove the two miles into Settle (as the camp-site shop had just closed for the lunch hour (and a half)), to buy more pegs. By the time I had returned from Settle, it had begun spitting, (that's right, "it's spitting...save yerselves...")
Jilly and I pitched the tent and were half way through putting the wind-break out, when the skies suddenly opened and deposited a MASSIVE lump of water over, what must have been, the whole of North Yorkshire. Jilly, Evelyn and I huddled together in the tent for 90 minutes as the sky exploded around us, during the biggest and longest thunderstorm I've witnessed for years.
We considered de-camping and returning home, but Evelyn (in her weather-proof coat and trousers) was lovin' playing in the adventure playground...so we decided to stay at least one night.
The rain did ease up a little during the afternoon but we still ended up finishing our BBQ in the tent...with the doors zipped up! We finally dared to emerge from the tent at about 16:00 to discover that many campers had decided to leg it.
After a rainy night (and, consequently, an interrupted night's sleep), Sunday looked a little more promising though not exactly sunny. We went for a swim in the baths at Settle, followed by a wander around Settle and then drove to the Wensleydale Creamery, in Hawes. On arrival Evelyn demanded to know where Wallace and Gromit were. The spotty youth, behind the counter (obviously used to this type of enquiry) quickly replied that Wallace and Gromit had flown to the moon again, in search of more cheese. Evelyn seemed quite convinced!
On our return to the campsite, we discovered that ALL BUT THREE of the tents had been taken up, and all the campers had returned to the heat and dry of their respective homes. We decided, too, that it was time for us to go home.
Advanced Meteorological Techniques - Part I
Posted by Webby at July 4, 2008 08:16 AM | Comments (0)
Some time ago, Evelyn's Great-Grandma and Great-Grandad gave her the weatherhouse from their kitchen. Ever since, Evelyn has eagerly awaited any indication from the house as to what the coming day's weather will hold.
Very soon, Evelyn realised that when the old lady comes out of the house, to see what the weather is like, it stays fine. Of course, Evelyn also realised that when the old man comes out, the weather seems to deteriorate (in honesty, this behaviour has always confused and bewildered me, a little, too). Evelyn's answer to this problem is fantastically simple, if a little brutal...
"Can we chop the old man out of the house, Mummy? she asked Jilly during last week's downpours.
Clearly, Evelyn believes that it is the old man coming out of the house which forces the change in the weather, not the change in the weather calling the man out. But still; to brutally hack the old man from the house? I'm shocked!
No, but really...how do these things work? Answers on a postcard please.
Evelyn's First Visit To Her New School
Posted by Webby at July 3, 2008 08:22 AM | Comments (0)Evelyn will be starting at her primary school in January and, in preparation (and as introduction to the school) Jilly took Evelyn to an arranged 'open day' at school today.
Fantastically (and not very surprisingly), Evelyn was looking forward to visiting the school, and even offered to take herself to the school.
"I can go on my own, Mummy. You can stand at the door and I can go over the road myself. I will be careful (a little disturbing, that!), then you can come and get me when it's time to come home".
Evelyn really enjoyed herself, and says that she likes her new teacher. Already, Jilly as begun threatening Evelyn with not going to school...but Evelyn countered Jilly's threat perfectly. We told Evelyn that she had to wear a uniform to school, and that she couldn't wear her favourite pink shoes. Evelyn told Jilly,
"I don't think I want to go to school anymore".
