Having a few duller days gave me the opportunity to do a few jobs around The Granary. The first was to complete the diversion of the rainwater from the pub car park, away from the front corner of the cottage towards the lane. I had purchased the appropriate 90 degree bend in the Midlands and it was fitted fairly easily although dismantling the previous joints proved more troublesome. Fitting of the joint was followed in the evening by a period of rain and it was very satisfying to see water pouring away from the house and down the hill!
I also fitted a waterbutt on a down pipe from the lounge roof. This means that water is now available in the garden and avoids having to carry watering cans across the kitchen-diner and down the steps. The butt holds 100 gallons and with the frequency of rain in North Devon is likely to be kept full most of the time.
The sweet peas in containers needed a bit of tlc and watering when we arrived but by the time we left we had picked our first bunch of deeply coloured flowers.
We have started to do a series of walks from two books, 'Shortish walks in North Devon' and Really Short Walks in North Devon'. The shortish walks are up to around 5 miles while the really short walks are between two and four miles. Having said that, we found one of the really short walks around Hartland Point to be pretty exhausting with some very steep sections of cliff path - all in all around three and a half miles. The walk had some fantastic views of the coast across to Hartland Quay and beyond, Lundy also seemed remarkably close.
We also walked along the Tarka Trail near Instow with lovely views across to Appledore.
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| View of Appledore from the Tarka Trail |
The summer flowers at Rosemoor were outstanding although most of the vegetables had been picked in Mr McGregor's garden.
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| Mr McGregor's Garden |
