We venture to South Devon!

We managed to fit a second week-long visit to Parkham at the end of June and again had some lovely weather whilst our friends back in the Midlands experienced  heavy rain.
Our first task on arrival was to complete the decorating begun on our last visit by painting the woodwork in the lounge.  Once completed the lounge was looking much improved and without the constant smell of  damp where water had leaked into the roof insulation.

We took a trip into South Devon to visit a cousin of my late father.  We last spoke to him eighteen months ago when he was living independently but now, at the age of 99 he is in a care home in Sidmouth.   The journey was not that far but seemed to take for ever as our sat-nav took us across the lanes of rural Devon.  After almost 2 hours we arrived at the care home and were very well received and spent an hour reminiscing with the 99 year old as he looked at photographs we showed him.
We then drove in to the town itself for some lunch and were amazed to immediately bump into  a couple of friends from the Midlands who were holidaying in the town.  Whilst  Sidmouth is a pleasant town the journey around Exeter made us realise why we love North Devon so much.
On our return journey we stopped at Castle Drogo which is still undercover for restoration work but this was not a problem as we just wanted a walk in the grounds where there are some magnificent views.

The rest of a our week was spent walking or visiting friends.  We had a very enjoyable afternoon eating a cream tea in our friends' garden in Northway, such a peaceful spot with amazing views of the coast.

By the time we set off home on Thursday a heatwave was forecast for most of the UK and we were pleased to be back before an expected very busy weekend on the roads.