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!