A Quick Little Trip to Devon

My sister moved to Fremington in Devon back in October, and as it was high time I visited I decided I could take a couple of days away from the farm this half term.  I took the train from Newbury to Exeter, then Exeter to Barnstaple.

I love going on the train.  I looked out the window the whole way there and back - in the towns I look at the houses and wonder about the people's lives; how different, or not, their lives are from mine.  I look at the farms, and think how I must start tidying up more outside

On the way to Taunton I was shocked at the flooded fields.  This may look like a lake at first glance

 

but as we whizzed by you could see the hedges and trees poking up out of the water

 (I know, you can see my little camera reflected in the window, but I don't think it detracts from the floods).

The next leg of the journey was quite different - all through the little Devon hills

I think I'd like to be a ticket collector on a train.

Once at my sister's house the sunset from the kitchen window promised a lovely day on Thursday.

However, it turned out to be a cold and wet day but we went for some lovely walks.  We did part of the Tarka Trail along the estuary

and then down to the Quay for lunch in the charming café and Heritage site.

It's hard to believe but 30 years ago this was a thriving, industrial Quayside with railways delivering goods for import and export.  They said when the boys dived into the water from the bridge they came up black from all the coal dust, and during harvest the farmers in the field came back covered in black dust rather than yellow corn dust.  Now it's simply a wide open estuary with a big sky:

 

In the afternoon we visited Rosemoor RHS Garden and I got lots of ideas for landscaping our garden:

 

 

Well, apparently this place used to be a Dairy Farm!

Then I needed to visit the sea so we drove up to Westward Ho!  - Under a very dark and glowering sky we looked out to Lundy (where, as we all know, what happens on Lundy, stays on Lundy)

and looked up and down the beach and agreed that it was freezing

What a great time we had.  And then I had a poke around Carolyn's workroom and took snaps of her micro-macrame in progress

and her dolls which I so coveted when I was little but wasn't allowed to touch

Finally, this morning, I caught the train back home.  I settled into my seat, and as I was getting out my croissant to munch, happened to glance at the lady sitting next to me.  I decided I wasn't quite as hungry as I thought I was when she popped out her teeth and gave them a good clean!  Reminded me of the lunch queue at school when we all took out our braces but, still, not really something to do in public!

Easter Day

Well, I'm sitting here full of chocolate and roast dinner and feeling quite content with the world.

A few things have worked out well today.

First of all, when I put the ingredients in the bread maker for my Easter Plait I accidentally set it to quick bake instead of dough.  Realised in the nick of time and emptied it out and then kneaded it by hand - I was worried that the yeast had been killed though.

However, it was fine.

Then, one of the ewes was lambing for the first time and struggling quite a bit.  Jonathan pulled the lamb out

checked her over

and realised she was having another one so pulled that one out too.

He put both lambs under her nose for her to clean them up

but she was having none of it.  This sometimes happens the first time they lamb, especially if they have struggled - I suppose they just associate the lambs with pain.  Every time the lambs tried to get near she'd push them away.  Twice Jonathan held her fast so they could feed but it was hard work.

Then, this evening, I went out to have a look and

 

both lambs were suckling away!

So that was a happy ending.

Then George is back from Lundy and he wants to move there (two children each on different islands - that would be really unfair).  I have enjoyed looking at the photos.  He said it was like another world

It does look beautiful.

Finally, apologies to everyone I have accused, both outright and in my head, of breaking and hiding two of my breakfast bowls.....I found them at the bottom of the cupboard!

Home (almost) Alone

As everyone knows, Victoria is now living on Jersey and on Thursday George went off for a week on Lundy (I hope he's keeping away from the edges in this wind....).  He's doing conservation work out there - pulling up Rhododendrons and dry stone walling - hope he comes back with lots of photos.  So Jonathan and I are home alone.

Suddenly the house seems very quiet, it's surprising how much noise, mess, laughter and chat one extra person can make.  I know how it will be - just like when he boarded at Sparsholt.  First couple of days you mope around missing him, next two days you adapt, last two days you decide that actually it's great, and then he comes back.

Anyway, I re-visited one of our past workshops to make a present for my niece:

Hope she likes him.

And then Julie M sent me a couple of photos of her finished pieces from the last two workshops she came to:

Very Spring-like!

Countdown to April 1st has started - by next weekend there should be lambs popping out all over the place.....hope the sun shines for them!