A Short July Visit

 Our stay in Parkham in July was only a short one as some of our family also planned a trip down and 6 people is just too much for more than a night or so in a small cottage.  Nevertheless we filled a lot into our 6 days in the village and the weather was also kind to us. 

After a good journey down we planned to empty the food items we had brought down in a cool bag into the fridge, before having a relaxing cup of tea.  However, we found that at some point in the last three weeks the kitchen socket circuit had tripped, switching off the fridge and freezer. Whilst there was not much of value, there was enough to make a mess with thawed raspberry sorbet dripping from the freezer and one or two items of frozen fish  rotting nicely.

It took well over an hour to clean out the fridge and freezer and even then we were convinced the smell of fish was still there. It wasn't until we bought some sodium bicarbonate and put this on saucers in the fridge and freezer that the smell began to disappear.

We had previously decided that this should be a quiet few days at the cottage and we would use our time to catch up with many of our friends and also have a few lovely coast walks. After our efforts to clean up the fridge-freezer this definitely seemed like a good idea. It also meant that we could prepare ourselves and the cottage for the arrival of our visitors.

The family arrived on our sixth day having left Cheshire at around 6:00 am and we had an excellent lunch together at The Bell.  The weather was good and the children were keen to get to the beach.  As it was low tide in the afternoon we decided to visit Bucks Mills, a good decision as there was a wide area of sand .  The children spent a good hour or so standing on the rocks as the tide crept in, until they were forced to take a step back and thus  gradually work their way back up the beach.

Earlier in the day we had been to Honey’s to buy supplies for a barbecue and on our return from the beach the barbecue was lit and the sausages and burgers enjoyed by all.

By early evening the children were exhausted after their early start and busy day and were soon asleep.

The next morning we set off for home leaving the family to spend four more happy days in Parkham where they enjoyed more days on the beach, catching crabs at Appledore Quay and walking the dog in Brownsham Woods.

May and June in Parkham

 We have had two visits to Parkham in May and June and with fine weather for both we were able to make the most of our visits.  We have also had good journeys to and from Knutsford with the end of roadworks on the A361 (well almost!), we are hoping it will stay that way.  However summer holidays are on the way and we shall have to be careful on the days we chose for travelling.  Family came down for half term and made the mistake of travelling back on Saturday and it took them 8 or 9 hours to get home with a  closure on the M5.

We noticed that the primroses had now all finished but they were replaced by plenty of other flowers to brighten up the hedgerows as we walked the village lanes. In particular the wild honeysuckle seemed to be flowering well.  The flowers covering the blackberries suggested that we could be in for a bumper crop of fruit when late summer arrives.

With the major work planned for The Granary all completed we were left with a weedy garden patch particularly at the front where scaffolding had been erected.  Quite a few hours were spent clearing the gravel and a trip to the tip with half a dozen bags was required.  All now looks tidy although the sparrows seem to distribute as much seed from the bird feeder as they eat and it will soon be grassy again!

We have been on our usual beach and coast walks although we were restricted on our June visit following an accident, which I will not go into here but suffice to say recovery is going well.

Sunny walks at Instow provided some spectacular views across the estuary to Appledore.  

We did manage a trip to RHS Rosemoor to see the roses in full bloom and we were also allowed to take the dog as there is a trial for 3 days this summer.  Hopefully it will continue!

It was sad to the see the remaining stump of the wonderful oak tree that was taken out by Storm Darragh.  We had often admired the tree as we walked past towards the vegetable garden.  Happily they are planting new trees and hopeful that there will be some regrowth from the remaining roots.

The oak tree in 2022

The oak tree today

We had several visits to The Bell and on both trips really enjoyed the Pie and a Pint night with friends.  The pies are excellent and it will sad when the regular Monday nights end in July.  We also managed to catch up with all our local friends including one couple now living in sheltered accommodation in Barnstaple.

A New Roof for The Granary

Another good journey down to Devon at the beginning of April although this time we stopped for an hour to visit family in Upton upon Severn on the way.  When we arrived at The Granary we were delighted to see scaffolding erected at the front and work well on the way to remove all the concrete tiles to be replaced with new slate tiles.  Not only will we have a sound roof, the slates will be much more in keeping with the building.

Work on the roof continued through out our stay including the delivery of the slates by JCB, saving the effort of carrying the slates up a ladder to the top of the scaffolding. Luckily there is an alternative route for vehicles and the lane was only blocked for a short while.

After a few very noisy days in the cottage, all was completed before we left and we were delighted with the finished job. The work had been first planned before COVID but was not urgent as there were no leaks! 

There were a few minor jobs to be completed in the cottage including a repair to a rotten bathroom door frame and re-gluing laminate on the kitchen kickboards.  Having had major work completed has given us the incentive  to get these small jobs done  and we have more in mind for our next visit in May.

We had our usual quota of coastal walks in beautiful weather.  We particularly enjoyed a walk at Instow along the beach and Tarka Trail ending up on The Boathouse balcony for coffee with a view across to Appledore and Saunton.

We also drove to East Titchberry near Hartland Point for a walk along the coast path to the lighthouse and back along the lanes. 

Two visits to the Pebbleridge Cafe, walking along the beach from Greysands and back around the golf course completed our walks.  It was great to be able to sit outside and enjoy our coffees in the sunshine.

Seeing friends is always an important part of our visit and we were able to catch up with many on this occasion.  Once again we enjoyed Pie and a Pint night at The Bell with friends and of course a different range of pies.

Walking around the village lanes the primroses, which were just coming out on our last visit, were now in full flower.  Often we seem to miss the primroses when they are at their best so we took the opportunity to get a few photos.

The journey home was completed safely and in good time and we look forward to returning again in May.

Our First Visit of 2025

 After an unplanned three months absence from Parkham I completely forgot to write up this blog until just before we set off for our April visit.  

We decided to postpone our December visit because I had just had a cataract operation and did not fancy a 250 mile drive and then, in January the weather here in Knutsford was snowy with icy roads and we decided it was not a good time for travelling.  We had told the plumber refitting our bathroom that we would would not visit in February to give him a chance to remove the existing fittings and plan and install the new layout. With no other facilities in The Granary it would not be possible to stay whilst work was in progress and so, it was not until March that we were back in the village.

After a good drive down the M6 and the M5 it felt very good to be back.  The  brand new bathroom was better than we could have imagined without the dangerous step up to the washbasin of the old layout.  The local plumber had done a brilliant job despite many challenges, not least getting the wall panels and fittings down the winding Granary stairs to the bathroom, which is downstairs in our quirky cottage.

It was good to see that not much had changed in the village except of course for the wild flowers in the hedgerows where the primroses were coming into bloom, a very special time in Devon.

We arrived on Saturday and had already booked our Monday meal at The Bell for Pie Night. We had not been to Pie Night at The Bell for many years but once again in did not disappoint and we enjoyed our meals amongst many village friends.

The weather was sunny for almost all our visit although at times it was also very cold.  We enjoyed our usual beach walks often including a coffee at one of our regular cafes.  We also enjoyed walking around the village and the lanes around Bocombe.

Much of our time was spent catching up with friends that we had not seen since before Christmas so there was plenty to talk about.

We left after a very enjoyable week and with  our next planned visit to Parkham only just over two weeks away. 

A dull November

 Whilst we were in Parkham for the first few days of October, we could not make another visit until the middle of November as our son and family had booked the cottage for a half-term break at the end of October.  They very much enjoyed their second visit to The Granary this year, including several meals at The Bell, crab fishing at Appledore Quay, cinema in Barnstaple and time on the beach.

We had anticipated mixed weather conditions and arrived well prepared with waterproofs and warm clothes. With showers expected most days, we spent much of our time walking around the village lanes rather than on the beach or coast path.  We did however manage a lovely walk at Instow along the beach and the Tarka Trail. We travelled on from Instow to Barnstaple to visit friends who we  first met in Parkham 10 years ago,  Since then they have moved on three occasions and now live in sheltered accommodation in the centre of the town.  This was our first visit to their new home and it was good to see them well settled and with all the facilities they need to enjoy life.

After 10 years in the cottage we realised, seated in the lounge, that a door closer would make life more comfortable, particularly after the dog barges in and leaves the door wide open.  After fitting the closer we soon realised that this was something that we should have done years ago!  We then enjoyed a number of cosy afternoons and evening in the lounge.

We also made progress on planning of the refitting of the bathroom in the cottage.  It is a very small room on the ground floor and the options are somewhat limited by the location of the drains in the solid floor.  A few tiles were lifted up and we eventually worked out the run of the various pipes and what our options might be.  The plan is for the work to be done in February once we have finalised the details.

The dull weather gave us plenty of opportunities to meet up with friends for tea or coffee and of course to visit The Bell.  There were no real opportunities for photographs although I did take one picture on a moon-lit night, looking down the lane from outside our cottage.

The weather turned worse at the end of the stay and we woke up to a good coverage of snow on the morning that we were to leaving .  Luckily it was fairly localised and once we reached Bideford the roads were clear. There was more snow as we crossed the edge of Exmoor and on the M5 in Somerset, whilst it slowed the traffic a little we still got home in good time.

We had planned to return to Parkham in December but following eye surgery for cataracts we decided that it would be better to wait until the New Year.

More Friends in September

Many of the blogs I have published here have also appeared in the Parkham village magazine. This blog will be the last to appear in Parkham Pie and it has caused me to think back over the years we have known the village and the reasons why we always love spending our time there so much.

There have been changes in the village over the last ten years since we bought The
Granary, the most obvious being the significant number of new homes.  We have also
sadly lost a few of the friends we made. However, fundamentally it is still the same
welcoming, friendly place that it was when we first visited The Bell almost 20 years ago.
Indeed there seems to be more going on in the village in terms of social activity over
recent years, which we try to participate in when we are down.  We always enjoy our
visits, despite the occasional bad journey, and we have managed to make regular
monthly trips to Parkham over the last three years after the bleak years of COVID and
our own house move to Cheshire from the West Midlands. It is our intention to continue
this pattern in 2025 and beyond.  
In September we were again joined by friends for a few days.  The Granary is only a
small cottage and therefore we find that three nights is probably the maximum for
non-family members to stay, with the inevitable queues to use the bathroom facilities
morning and night and the limited living space.  Once again we very much enjoyed
our time showing friends around and managed, in the main, to choose different places to
visit this month.  This included walking along the Tarka Trail and into Instow for coffee
at John’s, which is always a treat. Our visitors really enjoyed the peacefulness of Bucks
Mills as we sat on the pebbles and watched the tide slowly coming in.  We had to agree
that it is a very special place and one I always think of when I feel in need of a little
relaxation.

One visit worth repeating was to The Bell where we had an excellent meal. Our friends
felt that we were very lucky to have the pub on our doorstep (in fact this was one of the
reasons for buying The Granary ten years ago!).  They also enjoyed meals prepared in
the cottage with meat from Honey’s and a lunch of Honey’s pasties.
It was also good to have just a few days on our own when our visitors left and we were
able to get up at leisure and choose how we wanted to spend our day.  It also gave us the
opportunity to catch up with local friends.
Now that the summer holidays are over our journeys to and from Devon were much
better with just minor delays on the A361, as the major construction work comes to an end. 
Hopefully we can look forward to even better journeys when we return in a few weeks time.

More Sun in August

We have been very lucky with our visits to Parkham this summer and have hit on several patches of good weather in what has been for many been a very mixed season.  Our August visit was no exception and we enjoyed some excellent weather.

Our walks around the village lanes were slowed considerably by the ripening blackberries which we collected and enjoyed on our breakfast cereals and in various puddings.

On this occasion we were joined in The Granary for a few days by friends from Derbyshire. Like many of our friends, our time with them is normally a few hours in a pub over a lunch or evening meal so, having them to live with us in a small cottage could be seen as slightly risky.  However, all went well and we found that we had even more in common than we had expected.

They were visiting this part of Devon for the first time and once again we were able to show visitors some of our favourite haunts. They enjoyed seeing Appledore where we walked down to the lifeboat station and Instow. We walked to the lighthouse at Hartland and also to the Pebbleridge Cafe at Northam Burrows.  They were particularly impressed by the meal and hospitality at The Bell and felt we were very lucky to have this facility literally on our doorstep (we agree!).  On their final evening with us we even lit the barbecue and enjoyed excellent sausages and burgers from Honey's.  They left with the promise of another visit and we have already planned other places and walks that they would enjoy.

The three days we spent with them were very busy and for our remaining days we spent a more leisurely time catching up with friends and visiting other quiet spots for a walk.  Greencliff is still one of our favourite walks.  Now that the grass and bushes along the path down to the coast have regrown, following the work done by the National Trust a year or so ago, the path looks much more natural and the views of the coast through the trees are excellent.

The coastpath at Greencliff

There was not much time left on this visit for doing jobs around the cottage however we have firmed up our plans with local people for work to be done to improve the bathroom and also to put new, real slate on the roof to replace the existing asbestos-based slates, this has needed doing for some time.  

As I write this piece the weather here in Cheshire has turned distinctively autumnal but hopeful there will be few more warm days in September and we look forward to our visit later in the month.