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.