Missing Parkham!

This is the day we normally drive down to Parkham to celebrate the New Year including the traditional brunch in The Bell on New Year's Day.   The tradition started several years before we purchased The Granary and it is one we hope to renew next year.
Hil is  recovering well from heart surgery but we have decided that our next visit will be after she has seen her consultant at the end of January.   Neighbours have been keeping an eye on the cottage for us but it will be good to get back.
In the meantime we had a great family Christmas here in Stourbridge.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

A Sunny Autumn

We arrived back in Parkham at the very end of October and were lucky to hit on some lovely sunny days albeit with some cold weather towards the end of our stay.

Most of the urgent maintenance jobs on The Granary have been completed on recent trips so, other than removing bubbling paint on the lounge wall (caused by condensation) and  repainting, we were able to spend our time meeting friends, walking on the beach and entertaining guests.  Each time we visit we seem to spend more time with the new friends we have made and this also makes it harder to leave.

On most days we walk around the village to collect a newspaper and give Pebbles some exercise -  on the walk we always stop at this gate to admire the view towards the church.

The sunshine through the clouds also created some fantastic views on the coast.   The picture below shows two of the ponies which roam on Northam Burrows silhouetted at the top of the Pebbleridge.

Friends from the Midlands joined us for the weekend and we were able to introduce them to the delights of The Bell at the Cheese and Wine Evening.  The evening began with a sloe gin and bitter lemon cocktail before we moved on to a number of different wines.  We took a break after trying 3 or 4 wines to sample the excellent cheese board that had been prepared. There was a very friendly atmosphere as the 4 teams competed in a quiz between glasses and it was even better news when our table of eight won at the end of the evening -  the prize being 2 more bottles of wine!

This was our visitors' first trip to this part of North Devon and they were amazed at the wonderful scenery and fantastic skies when we visited Northam Burrows.  We also visited Appledore and Instow and enjoyed the delights of Suzies Tea Rooms and John's cafe.

Our visitors left on Sunday following the Aga Roast at The Bell, well equipped to face their journey back up the M5.  I am sure they will join us again having sampled the company, food and drink that Parkham offers along with the amazing scenery and unspoilt beauty of the area.

A couple of days later we followed them up the motorway, sad to be leaving Parkham as it may be a number of weeks before we are able to return, probably in the New Year.

De-stressing in Devon!

We arrived in Parkham on the 4th October with the objective of relaxing after all the stress and excitement of our daughter's wedding on the 1st of the month.  We had an addditional passenger for the trip, Dot our daughter's dog, who we are looking after while she is away on honeymoon in Africa.  Luckily she and Pebbles get on fine and mostly ignore each other.

It would have been tricky keeping 2 dogs amused for a couple of weeks in a small cottage  if the weather had not been so good meaning that we were able to get on the beach for walks every day.

I decided  this year to be prepared for the cold winter ahead and brought down with me a new draught excluder for the front door which I fitted on arrival. This, along with the new infrared heater courtesy of Kevin at Mutiheat  that is now installed on one of the beams in the kitchen-diner should mean that the cottage stays warmer and hopefully we can reduce the amount of expensive bottled gas we use for the central heating system over the coming months.

Once again we had a great evening at The Bell with friends, this time it was the Curry Evening .  There was a good choice of homemade curry's and sauces and the opportunity to catch up with local friends.

As well as walking the dogs on the beach we regularly walked round the village to get the newspaper or just to enjoy the sunshine.  There were some lovely views looking back at the village and some great cloud formations.

Other time was spent catching up with local friends or just reading in the cottage, we both felt very tired for the first few days of our visit but it was not long before we acheived our objective and we returned to Stourbridge rested and far less stressed than when we left.

Kiki Dee and a lot more

Our recent visit to Parkham ended with the legendary Kiki Dee performing in our village hall to an intimate audience of under a hundred.  It was a fantastic evening and she sang much new acoustic material with her partner Carmelo Luggeri along with a new take on her past hits including Amoureuse  .

The visit started with work on our bedroom where the carpet was removed and replaced with Rhino flooring and some rugs.  There had been a faint damp smell in the room since we moved in over 2 years ago and we decided that the carpet had to go.  Glad to say the smell has now gone completely.  Once again we relied on small local suppliers and had excellent service and very good prices.

We had some very good days and very little rain so we made the most of it and got out and about a fair bit.  We visited some of our favourite beaches and also made a further visit to RHS Rosemoor  where the late summer flowering plants were looking fantastic.

 



The 'Build your own Burger' Night at The Bell was a great success -  all home-made burgers and sauces along with great company.   We look forward to the next one!

We were also  in The Bell for the Aga roast on Sunday which we enjoyed with our good friends from Northway.  We also visited friends in the village for a cup of tea one afternoon and ended up finding our way home in the early evening after several glasses of wine - luckily Parkham is only a small village!

Parkham is a very sociable village and we seem to be making more friends on every visit - at the Kiki Dee concert we must have known the first names of at least half the audience.  We saw this tractor parked outside the church before we left, just about sums up the village!

We were sorry to return home after a great visit but have our daughter's wedding to look forward to in the Midlands on 1st October.  First thing to do when we arrived was to cut the lawns which had had a growth spurt while we had been away - a very satisfying job!

A Garden re-vamp!

We managed to time our August visit to The Granary with the arrival of a spell of warm sunny weather. Unfortunately it did not last for the whole of our stay and our weekend visitors experienced 2 days of rain.

Despite having been re-treated  last summer the decking and steps to the front door were looking very much in need of work. We decided to make the most of the spell of good weather and began with a search of the internet for the best options. We found a new product, Ronseal Decking Rescue Paint which looked as if it would do the job. We chose charcoal grey as we felt a dark colour would best cover the the poor quality surface below.  After cleaning the surface and applying two coats it seems to have done a great job, just need to see how well it lasts, will report back next year!  We are pleased with our colour choice which goes well with the garden furniture and gives the garden a completely new look.

Pebbles demonstrating the poor surface
 earlier in the summer

The finished decking and bench

As mentioned earlier we had visitors for one weekend, their first visit to Parkham.  The weather was so bad that we were unable to see a great deal but did manage a trip to Appledore and also to Hartland Quay.  We also managed Sunday lunch at The Bell before they left which was enjoyed by us all.

Hil was kept busy preaching on both Sundays at the tiny church in Bucks Cross and then at Clovelly the following week.

We also had a barbecue with close friends and really appreciate having an excellent local butcher.  Honey's provided us with excellent steak and sausages which were very much enjoyed by our friends.

Hil and I enjoyed many sunny walks on the beach with Pebbles -  our favourite local walk is at the estuary end of Northam Burrows.  There is a grassy area as well as large stretches of sand and fantastic views across the Skern which is an area of mud-flats, salt marshes and beach.

Pebbles enjoying the sun!

The Skern

Now back in the Midlands so we shall sadly not be around for the Parkham Summer Fete on Bank Holiday Monday and Hil will miss the opportunity to repeat her success in the baking competition.

Don't Travel on a Friday (or Saturday)

We drove back from Devon today, the last Friday in July and the M5 was busy all the way from Tiverton to Worcester, where we took the SatNav's advice and exited to avoid further hold-ups caused by an accident. All in all the heavy traffic added over an hour to our usual journey time.  Now home safely, we can relax and reflect on another two good weeks in North Devon.

We arrived in Devon on Hil's birthday and spent the evening celebrating over dinner with good friends.  The weather was extremely warm and continued that way for the next day or so.  The sunshine really brought the lavender into bloom in our courtyard garden.

By the time we came to leave many of the flowers had died and needed dead-heading.

We paid over first visit to the Woolsery Show, our local agricultural show.  The setting at Clovelly Court was beautiful with the coast providing a magnificent backdrop to the exhibits.  We bumped into a number of people we know from the village and it was good to share in this important event in the local calendar.

 

We completed a number of small jobs around The Granary including re-fitting the wooden sign on the cottage which had become damaged by damp and had been renovated by a good friend in Stourbridge.  

We still managed to achieve a good walk each day whilst dodging the rain showers towards the end of our stay. We particularly enjoy walking at Northam Burrows.  From the far end of the Burrows you look across the Taw and Torridge estuary towards Saunton.

From further back you can look across the The Skern towards Appledore.

We also enjoyed a lovely walk at Instow with friends and their dog Louie who Pebbles ignored the whole time.

One of our final jobs before leaving  was to go and collect a further dozen eggs from Vicki and Kevin at Parkham Ash to keep us going until we return next month.

A busy social life

Since arriving back from Parkham earlier this week life has been non-stop with a trip to Ikea with son who has no car, cutting lawns which had grown rapidly with the warm and damp weather and generally tidying up the garden.  There is currently a rain shower so I am taking the opportunity to update my North Devon blog.

Our trip to Parkham this month had a a variety of weather from warm sunshine to heavy rainy and gusty winds bringing down power lines.  Not quite what you would expect in 'flaming June'.

On the way down to Parkham we stopped at my brother's in Upton upon Severn to pick up a wood burner which he no longer needed.  Pick up is an understatement as it is cast iron and needed two of us to lift it into the back of the car.  Fuel consumption rose noticeably for the rest of the journey!

The stove had to stay in the back of the car until a friend was able to call round and help me remove it and place it in the kitchen.  Hopefully we can connect to the existing flue although the installer who called round was not sure about this as he needs to be certain of the type of flue.

I removed the existing electric fire which we have never liked and that has now found a new home with friends in one of their holiday cottages, The wall needed filling and repainting and now is as good as new!

We spent 2 enjoyable mornings drinking coffee with new friends we have made in the village, an afternoon drinking tea with other friends and several evening in the Bell with even more friends.  Hil was delighted to have a sit on a 1966 Ford tractor bought by our friends at Northway -  the engine was not running!

We are coming to realise that our social life in Devon is as busy as that in Stourbridge.

I had a trip to Tiverton to take Hil to get the train back to the Midlands as she had to take her Mum to a hospital appointment.  It is about an hour each way in the car and saved her the slow train journey from Barnstaple to Exeter which is the alternative route.  She came back the next day by car and brought our younger son back to spend a few days  with us.

We did the usual long beach walks every day at Northam Burrows and Instow and we also explored the coast path near Hartland,  generally we managed to avoid the rain showers.

The mild but damp weather meant that weeds had grown rapidly in our small courtyard garden so some time was spent generally tidying up the garden so that it does no look quite so neglected.

All in all it was good to be in Devon again and we are already looking forward to being back in July -  unfortunately it looks like we will miss the Parkham Beer Festival - bad planning!

May Time in Parkham

Arrived in Parkham in time for the Steak Night at The Bell  which was great value and a good evening with friends.
We decided to try to travel a little further afield on this visit as we tend to stay within a 10 mile radius of Parkham, where we still find plenty to do.  This time we ventured as far as Croyde where we parked the car and then walked around Baggy Point to Putsborough and then back along the lanes to Croyde.  It is a good walk with fantastic views and well worth the journey of 50 minutes or so.
We were joined by daughter, future son-in-law and dog for the second week which meant that The Granary was at full capacity and the new dishwasher came into its own.
We all travelled into Cornwall to Sandymouth on a lovely sunny afternoon.  This was the first time we had visited Sandymouth at low tide and we were amazed at the huge expanse of beautiful beach  -  we shall certainly return as it is only 40 minutes away.
We also walked the coast path from Greencliff to Westward Ho! and back, after a coffee break at the Pier House restaurant.  Westward Ho! was getting lots of national publicity at the time. Local businessman Rob Braddick had bought the car park near Seafield House and made it free to park, as well as buying Seafield House, a house on the cliff-edge which has been in derelict condition for many years, although it was lived in by an old lady until a few months ago.  Rob was standing by the car park being filmed as we passed by.
We had not walked this path in late spring before and had not seen the fantastic wild flowers in particular sea pinks and sea campion.  We also saw the effect on the gorse of the dodder which we had seen last summer covering many plants with some dead and partly dead bushes.

Our journey back to the Midlands was eventful  for the last 15 miles as we began to smell diesel and then saw steam rising from the radiator grill when stationary.  All the gauges were reading fine so decided to carry on carefully home and the garage has a found a pinhole in the fuel hose which was squirting diesel onto the hot engine. It might have been a very different story in a petrol-engined car!

Life Changing...

Well perhaps life changing is going a bit too far but..... we do now have a dishwasher installed in The Granary! Getting this and other jobs done was our plan for the last two weeks of April but we also managed to make the most of the sunnier days and enjoy some of our favourite walks and some new ones.

The first task we tackled was to redecorate our bedroom.  As the room is only small it should be a relatively easy job however, the bed takes up the bulk of the floor space and can only be moved by a maximum of 12 inches in any direction.  This gives little room for manoeuvre when carrying a paint pot in one hand and a loaded brush in the other.  The job was completed in a couple of days with no major spillages and is a big improvement.  The preparatory work in March when any damp wood from the skirting boards was removed and filled means that the room no longer has a slight smell of dampness and hopefully will stay that way.

A kindly neighbour agreed to put in the necessary water supply and drainage for the dishwasher, not an easy task working underneath the kitchen cupboards.  The machine was up and running in three hours or so.  The final task was the creation of a new cupboard where the freezer had been.  Again a neighbour who is an expert carpenter took on this job and at the same time managed to straighten up properly the other kitchen cupboards and drawers.

The dishwasher has already been used to good effect and is particularly appreciated when friends join us for a meal or overnight.

We arrived in Devon in time for the Curry Night at The Bell which was great value and a good opportunity to meet up with friends.  On the Friday before we left we met up with new friends from Westward Ho! again for a meal at The Bell.  In between we managed a few other visits to sample the Razorback.

On a  lovely sunny Sunday we visited Hartland Abbey for the first time to experience the 'Bluebell Walks'. It was very beautiful and we were able to walk down the track to the beach at  Blackpool Mill, past the cottage that was used as the location in 'The Nightwatchman' recently shown on BBC television. http://www.hartlandabbey.com/blackpool-mill/

The path down to Blackpool Mill

We also walked at 'Bloody Corner' in Northam where the path follows the Torridge estuary with good views of Bideford and its bridges.  It is apparently called 'Bloody Corner' being the site of a battle when ' Hubba the Dane' landed with a fleet of 33 ships but was defeated by Odun, Earl of Devon (although others stories say it was Alfred the Great who defeated Hubba).

Finally we managed a trip to RHS Rosemoor and caught the last of the tulips looking very fine.

All in all a busy fortnight with weather ranging from warm sunshine to hailstorms with a biting Arctic wind!  The sunny days were definitely appreciated by Pebbles who enjoys the opportunity to sunbathe whenever possible!

An interesting experience!

We arrived in early March to find The Granary looking very smart with new fascias and guttering along with a newly painted end wall, thank you Colin and Phil. Expected to find an invoice in the letterbox but nothing has appeared despite chasing - we must get used to the Devon way of doing business, they do know where we live!

The external work on the cottage  gave us the incentive to use the sunny weather to complete some other outdoor jobs put off in recent months .

The small garden area needed a good tidy up after the winter storms which had further destroyed some of the trellis.  Five panels of trellis have now been replaced and this has made a big difference. The containers which I planted up in the autumn with crocuses and tulips are flowering  well and been commented on by visitors parking in The Bell car park.

Inside The Granary we have decided to do away with the separate, fridge and freezer and replace them with a stand-alone fridge/freezer.  This will give us room to put in the dishwasher ( the job for our next visit). Removing the fridge and freezer proved a harder task than expected but with help from a friend they were eventually levered out from underneath the work surface.  The new fridge/freezer is now installed and working.

I also did repairs to the skirting boards in our bedroom which had in the past got damp which had softened the wood and caused it to smell!  The use of wood hardener followed by wood filler has improved the look considerably and we now plan to give the whole room a coat of paint next time we visit.

The excellent weather also provided plenty of opportunity for long beach walks.  Shown below is the beach at Peppercombe, one of our favourite walks following the footpath through the woods from Northway down to the beach.

Perhaps the highlight of the visit was when my offer to assist in loading 14 llamas into a horsebox was accepted and I arrived at Vicki and Kevin' smallholding at 6:30 in the morning. They have sold their herd of llamas to focus on other animals and 14 had been purchased by a land-owner in Dumfries. Based upon the experience of that  morning I will stop using the phrase 'it is like herding cats' and replace it with 'it is like herding llamas'!.  Initially all went well and the llamas were duly penned in close to the luxury horsebox where they were then tempted with food to go up the ramp and enter the box.  Luckily I had the job of maintaining the integrity of the pen in case the llamas attempted to backtrack.  This meant that I was the other side of the fence or hurdle to the 14 llamas!  With some strong persuasion and shoving from behind one or two were encouraged into the horsebox however, on several occasions the rest of the llamas decided that this was not a good idea and looked for potential escape routes.   This meant that the two Kevin's standing in the middle of the group were knocked around a fair bit as panic set in.  Fortunately injuries were limited to bruising and a broken pair of spectacles.
Eventually by keeping them calm and splitting the llamas into smaller, manageable groups they were all aboard.  The task for Vicki was to sort them into the three separate areas within the horsebox in which they would travel -  shuffling llamas is no easy task!
Finally around 8:00 the doors of the horse box were closed and the llamas set off on their long journey to Dumfries where apparently they are all now settled in.
It was certainly an interesting experience and probably one I will never repeat!

Photo by Kevin Woodward

What do you expect in February?

We had  miserable weather on our last few days in Devon with a mixture of wind, rain and occasional dry spells  but as  someone said to me in The Bell, 'What do you expect in February!'.  We did have a couple of cold sunny days and as we left yesterday there was a clear blue sky and so it apparently continues this week!

Nevertheless we enjoyed our time in Parkham and still managed plenty of dog walks and  were able to spend time eating and drinking with friends.  Some of our friends from the Midlands were staying in Barnstaple at the very grand Imperial Hotel.  We went to see them and brought them over to Parkham to savour the delights of lunch at The Bell stopping en route at the The Pier House for coffee.  There would have been a wonderful sea view at The Pier House but for the weather, we will return with them on a sunny day!

We have finally decided on our plans for the kitchen which include removing the faulty fridge and freezer and replacing them with a fridge/freezer and a dishwasher.  Whilst hand washing dishes is ok for 2 of us,when friends and family stay it becomes a chore.

The latest talk in the village is of the concert arranged for September when Kikki Dee comes to Parkham!  The last group we heard at the village hall were the Littleham Howlers so this is something very different for the village -  tickets are already being bought to ensure a seat!

On Monday evening I collected another dozen eggs from Kevin our friend to keep us going on our return to the Midlands.  The eggs from Kevin and Vicki's hens are the best we have ever tasted and we shall enjoy them over the coming days.

A dozen of Kevin and Vicki's delicious eggs!

 We left on Tuesday morning just as the local builder arrived to fit new fascias and guttering and to paint the end wall of the cottage, with such good weather he should be able to finish the job and we look forward to seeing the improvement when we come down next month.

A varied mix of activities and weather!

We travelled down to Parkham with the car thermometer reading minus one and returned yesterday with it reading 15.5!  Just about sums the variety of weather we have had over the week which has enabled us to enjoy sunny beach walks as well as cosy evenings, dining with friends.

Have eventually managed to complete the handrail bought last October for the lounge steps. Several obstacles have prevented installation, however we cracked them on Monday and the rail is now securely fitted and doing its job.

Had some glorious beach walks with Pebbles including one with the Westward Ho! Dog Walking Group -  a good chance for Pebbles to meet up with some other dogs.

Unfortunately we found a punctured tyre on the car on Monday which involved a trip to Barnstaple to have a new tyre fitted as the tyre wall had been damaged.  I had just put my winter tyres on which have had little use so it was annoying to have to buy a new one however, a little internet shopping meant I was able to buy exactly the same tyre much cheaper than the original.

We had a lovely evening with our friends at Northway and we are now considering following their example and installing electric underfloor heating in the bedrooms which should eliminate the potential for any dampness through condensation.

We also entertained our friends from Parkham Ash, it was a bitterly cold night and we were pleased to be doing the entertaining and not having to travel.  They have decided to sell their herd of llamas in order to focus on their other businesses including pygmy goats -  if you are interested in buying a llama have a look at their website www.llamasfor sale.co.uk  .

Since we had Pebbles at the end of October we have not visited Rosemoor as dogs are not allowed and we did not like to leave her shut up for too long until she was settled with us. We went for a short visit this week and saw snowdrops in flower and some lovely narcissus blooming in the greenhouse.

On Sunday morning Hil was taking the morning service at St James Church in the village so we did not start our return journey until lunchtime.  We stopped at Instow to give Pebbles a last walk on the beach, which was full of dogs, but were still back in the Midlands for 5.00 pm with most of the journey in the daylight.

New Year 2016

Having returned to the Midlands on 20th December, to spend Christmas with family locally and in Manchester, we were back on M5 on 28th December to spend New Year in Parkham.
Whilst overall  the weather had not improved much since our last visit we did have one lovely sunny day for walking and on most other days managed to find a dry couple of hours to take Pebbles on the beach.

We brought down with us a print of 'North Devon' (literally) which was a Christmas gift and it looks great next to the Ordnance Survey map which is centred on The Granary.

Several of our friends celebrate birthdays over the New Year period so there were opportunities to meet up with them  in The Bell.  Close friends from Stourbridge arrived on the 30th and were able to join in the celebrations.

We saw New Year in at The Granary and then went for a walk on Instow beach on New Year's Day morning.  The beach was full of dog walkers as it is the only beach with sand remaining at high tide, which was mid-morning .  A great opportunity for  Pebbles to do some socialising.
The walk was followed by a further visit to The Bell for the traditional New Year's Day brunch which we have enjoyed for the last few years,  followed by a quiet afternoon in the cottage when our friends returned to the Midlands.

Unfortunately Pebbles seems to have picked up a sickness bug so we returned early on 3rd January and luckily had a good journey home despite the torrential rain which seemed to follow us up the M5, apparently it was a lovely day in Parkham once the storm had passed!

There are a number of jobs still to be done on The Granary, and now Christmas and New Year celebrations are over, on future visits we will be spending more of our time on these including, replacing trellis which has blown down in recent high winds and sorting out the bedrooms with possibly electric underfloor heating  to prevent condensation.