We were joined for our first weekend by our elder son and his family. They were camping nearby but after 2 nights our daughter-in-law decided that that was enough of sleeping on the ground, being 6 months pregnant. They were however very impressed with the facilities offered at Westacott Campsite near Abbotsham. We coped pretty well with 5 of us in The Granary and luckily the weather was good so we could spend time outside. In particular we enjoyed a barbecue with fantastic steaks, sausages and burgers from Mr Honey, the village butcher.
Had a great time on the beach at Instow with grandson who delighted in throwing water at his grandparents.
Hil and I worked hard on painting and oiling the old dark Ercol dining suite which was previously my parents and we are delighted with the way it looks in The Granary.
We enjoyed spending time with old and new friends from the Parkham area including several evenings at the bar in The Bell. We visited friends at their apartment in Ocean Park, Westward Ho! and were amazed at the spectacular views which they have across to Saunton Sands and beyond.
On Sunday we went to church in Parkham, there were only a handful of us there with no organist and the lady operating the CD player for the hymn accompaniment was missing in the Sunday School. Knowing that Hil and I are both singers we were asked to lead the hymns unaccompanied. All went well until Hil started the third hymn way to low and we ended up singing in our boots by the time we got to the last line of the first verse. At this, Hil had a fit of hysterics and I was left to soldier on, whilst she had tears streaming down her face. Luckily no-one else appeared to notice and we were thanked profusely for leading the singing after the service. Hil spent the whole of the rest of the day bursting into laughter whenever she thought about the morning.
We went on a number of coastal walks and were amazed at how clear and close Lundy seemed - had it moved since we were last in the area.
I took a few more photographs around the village as a reminder for when we are back in Stourbridge, including one of the 'newsagents' or rather the display of papers outside a house with an honesty box, where we get our daily paper - they even take our Times subscription vouchers!
