Back at last!

We finally made it down to Parkham for a few days now that medical issues are finally under control.  It was so good to be back and to receive a fantastic welcome from our many friends in the village.
The most important news is that good progress is being made on The Bell and there is loads of activity from a variety of trades including the thatcher.

If you look carefully on the picture below you can just see a corner of the completed thatching.

The targeted date for opening is 1st July which is earlier than anticipated, lets hope the target can be hit!

We were lucky with the weather on this occasion and had a couple of lovely sunny days for beach walking where we re-visited some of our favourite haunts.  I took the opportunity to test out my new camera which has much better zoom lens than my old camera or phone.

View of Appledore from Skern

Whilst the Appledore lifeboat is only a speck on the photo above, the zoom lens brought the boat into focus,  I am looking forward to using it for some wildlife shots.

Walking round the estuary from Skern we saw the damage caused by the recent storm damage including the 8th tee of the Royal North Devon Golf Club.

We met up with some new friends in Instow for a cup of tea and enjoyed a stroll with dogs on the beach.

The View of Appledore from Instow

On our journey down the first primroses were appearing in the Devon lanes and when we made our return journey 5 days later many more were in bloom, a sure sign that spring has arrived.