A dull November

 Whilst we were in Parkham for the first few days of October, we could not make another visit until the middle of November as our son and family had booked the cottage for a half-term break at the end of October.  They very much enjoyed their second visit to The Granary this year, including several meals at The Bell, crab fishing at Appledore Quay, cinema in Barnstaple and time on the beach.

We had anticipated mixed weather conditions and arrived well prepared with waterproofs and warm clothes. With showers expected most days, we spent much of our time walking around the village lanes rather than on the beach or coast path.  We did however manage a lovely walk at Instow along the beach and the Tarka Trail. We travelled on from Instow to Barnstaple to visit friends who we  first met in Parkham 10 years ago,  Since then they have moved on three occasions and now live in sheltered accommodation in the centre of the town.  This was our first visit to their new home and it was good to see them well settled and with all the facilities they need to enjoy life.

After 10 years in the cottage we realised, seated in the lounge, that a door closer would make life more comfortable, particularly after the dog barges in and leaves the door wide open.  After fitting the closer we soon realised that this was something that we should have done years ago!  We then enjoyed a number of cosy afternoons and evening in the lounge.

We also made progress on planning of the refitting of the bathroom in the cottage.  It is a very small room on the ground floor and the options are somewhat limited by the location of the drains in the solid floor.  A few tiles were lifted up and we eventually worked out the run of the various pipes and what our options might be.  The plan is for the work to be done in February once we have finalised the details.

The dull weather gave us plenty of opportunities to meet up with friends for tea or coffee and of course to visit The Bell.  There were no real opportunities for photographs although I did take one picture on a moon-lit night, looking down the lane from outside our cottage.

The weather turned worse at the end of the stay and we woke up to a good coverage of snow on the morning that we were to leaving .  Luckily it was fairly localised and once we reached Bideford the roads were clear. There was more snow as we crossed the edge of Exmoor and on the M5 in Somerset, whilst it slowed the traffic a little we still got home in good time.

We had planned to return to Parkham in December but following eye surgery for cataracts we decided that it would be better to wait until the New Year.

More Friends in September

Many of the blogs I have published here have also appeared in the Parkham village magazine. This blog will be the last to appear in Parkham Pie and it has caused me to think back over the years we have known the village and the reasons why we always love spending our time there so much.

There have been changes in the village over the last ten years since we bought The
Granary, the most obvious being the significant number of new homes.  We have also
sadly lost a few of the friends we made. However, fundamentally it is still the same
welcoming, friendly place that it was when we first visited The Bell almost 20 years ago.
Indeed there seems to be more going on in the village in terms of social activity over
recent years, which we try to participate in when we are down.  We always enjoy our
visits, despite the occasional bad journey, and we have managed to make regular
monthly trips to Parkham over the last three years after the bleak years of COVID and
our own house move to Cheshire from the West Midlands. It is our intention to continue
this pattern in 2025 and beyond.  
In September we were again joined by friends for a few days.  The Granary is only a
small cottage and therefore we find that three nights is probably the maximum for
non-family members to stay, with the inevitable queues to use the bathroom facilities
morning and night and the limited living space.  Once again we very much enjoyed
our time showing friends around and managed, in the main, to choose different places to
visit this month.  This included walking along the Tarka Trail and into Instow for coffee
at John’s, which is always a treat. Our visitors really enjoyed the peacefulness of Bucks
Mills as we sat on the pebbles and watched the tide slowly coming in.  We had to agree
that it is a very special place and one I always think of when I feel in need of a little
relaxation.

One visit worth repeating was to The Bell where we had an excellent meal. Our friends
felt that we were very lucky to have the pub on our doorstep (in fact this was one of the
reasons for buying The Granary ten years ago!).  They also enjoyed meals prepared in
the cottage with meat from Honey’s and a lunch of Honey’s pasties.
It was also good to have just a few days on our own when our visitors left and we were
able to get up at leisure and choose how we wanted to spend our day.  It also gave us the
opportunity to catch up with local friends.
Now that the summer holidays are over our journeys to and from Devon were much
better with just minor delays on the A361, as the major construction work comes to an end. 
Hopefully we can look forward to even better journeys when we return in a few weeks time.

More Sun in August

We have been very lucky with our visits to Parkham this summer and have hit on several patches of good weather in what has been for many been a very mixed season.  Our August visit was no exception and we enjoyed some excellent weather.

Our walks around the village lanes were slowed considerably by the ripening blackberries which we collected and enjoyed on our breakfast cereals and in various puddings.

On this occasion we were joined in The Granary for a few days by friends from Derbyshire. Like many of our friends, our time with them is normally a few hours in a pub over a lunch or evening meal so, having them to live with us in a small cottage could be seen as slightly risky.  However, all went well and we found that we had even more in common than we had expected.

They were visiting this part of Devon for the first time and once again we were able to show visitors some of our favourite haunts. They enjoyed seeing Appledore where we walked down to the lifeboat station and Instow. We walked to the lighthouse at Hartland and also to the Pebbleridge Cafe at Northam Burrows.  They were particularly impressed by the meal and hospitality at The Bell and felt we were very lucky to have this facility literally on our doorstep (we agree!).  On their final evening with us we even lit the barbecue and enjoyed excellent sausages and burgers from Honey's.  They left with the promise of another visit and we have already planned other places and walks that they would enjoy.

The three days we spent with them were very busy and for our remaining days we spent a more leisurely time catching up with friends and visiting other quiet spots for a walk.  Greencliff is still one of our favourite walks.  Now that the grass and bushes along the path down to the coast have regrown, following the work done by the National Trust a year or so ago, the path looks much more natural and the views of the coast through the trees are excellent.

The coastpath at Greencliff

There was not much time left on this visit for doing jobs around the cottage however we have firmed up our plans with local people for work to be done to improve the bathroom and also to put new, real slate on the roof to replace the existing asbestos-based slates, this has needed doing for some time.  

As I write this piece the weather here in Cheshire has turned distinctively autumnal but hopeful there will be few more warm days in September and we look forward to our visit later in the month.

Summer Sun in Parkham

We only had a weekend at home after our trip to Northumberland before we were again loading the car to head off for Parkham.  Our journey down was a little slow as we had to drop off an item at Fieldings Auctioneers in Stourbridge where our friend, Will Farmer from the Antiques Roadshow, is based. He had been in Knutsford for an event where he helped us to raise £4,000 for charity. We also took the opportunity to visit our old neighbours and enjoyed a coffee in the garden with them. We then hit worse traffic than expected as we drove through Somerset and arrived at Parkham exhausted after five or six hours in the car.   We were travelling on a Monday, a day we normally try to avoid and this journey confirmed why! 

Although we arrived to rain we had good weather for the whole visit with the exception of the Saturday when Putford FC held its Family Fun Day on the football pitch. Hopefully the event was still successful and I understand the children all had a great time, despite the rain.  

 The fine weather for our visit gave us the opportunity to do what we enjoy most in North Devon-go for a good walk incorporating some part of the coast path or along a beach. The trip to Sandymouth is always worth the journey, as long as you have checked the tides before leaving home. We arrived fairly early to guarantee a parking spot and were able to take a long walk across the whole span of the beach. 

The deserted beach at Sandymouth

Another favourite walk, which we hadn't done for a while, was from the National Trust car park at East Titchberry along the coast path to Hartland Point and then we returned along the lanes. On this occasion the small cafe at Hartland Point was open, but only just. The person running it arrived at the same time as we did, having been held up on the lanes in Hartland. There was a delay of a few minutes while we waited for the large coffee machine to warm up, but it was definitely worth it. 

The footpath towards Hartland Point

I took the opportunity of the good weather to do a few jobs in The Granary including painting a wall where the paint had bubbled badly, this time with some breathable paint which hopefully will solve the problem. The weather also allowed us to have several walks in the village lanes which were looking beautiful in the sunshine with lots of greenery because of the generally wet weather in early summer. 

As well as getting out and about we also managed to see many of local friends for a coffee and there were of course several trips to The Bell. We have friends joining us at The Granary on our next couple of visits so may have less time to catch up with friends as our visitors will want to see as much of the local area as possible. 

We travelled back home on a Tuesday and had a much better journey with no major hold-ups on the M5 or M6 and look forward to being down again towards the end of August.

June Visit

Writing this piece in July, it seems a long time since we were last in Parkham but in fact it was only three weeks.  However since then, we seem to have been pretty busy. 

Our June visit included a trip to South Devon to visit my brother, whose home is now in Malborough, just outside Salcombe.  

A couple of days after arriving in Parkham we set off on the journey down to the south coast.  This journey always seems much longer than we anticipate and the satnav always seem to choose the narrowest lanes as shortcuts.  On this occasion this was partly our fault as we decided to visit Lydford Gorge on our journey, which is a little off the beaten track.  However, it was well worth the diversion to see this beautiful spot. 

We stayed for a couple of nights in Malborough and saw a little of the local area including Kingsbridge, Hope Cove and Salcombe.  Salcombe is a lovely town and I can see the attraction, particularly for those who enjoy sailing.

View from Salcombe Yacht Club

On our return to Parkham we met up with friends from Cheshire who were staying in Bideford for a few nights.  We always enjoy showing friends around the local area.  It was a first visit to the area for these friends and they were very impressed.  We included an evening visit to Clovelly where we enjoyed a pint and bar snack at the Red Lion. 

View over Clovelly harbour

For the first time in several years we managed to fit in a trip to Rosemoor when the roses were in full bloom.  The display was spectacular as was the fragrance!

The rest of our time in the village was spent visiting local friends and catching up with a few jobs in the cottage.  All the outside lights had stopped working and I had spotted that one appeared to be leaking and full of water.  In fact, when I took it down and dismantled it, it was full of many woodlice which appear to have caused a short circuit!   I had brought a replacement fitting down with me and the new light was easily fitted.  The outside steps are now finally well illuminated.

After a lovely break with generally good weather we left  Parkham for Knutsford on a Saturday and the traffic was fine however, we will avoid Saturday travelling for the next few trips whilst the schools are on holiday. 

Since returning we have had our first trip away from Knutsford which was not to Devon for many years!  We decided that being relatively close to Northumberland we should spend a few days there. We can certainly recommend the county although it is an awful long way from Parkham (450 miles).  There are some beautiful beaches and wonderful castles but  the weather can sometimes be a little bracing! 

We will be back in Parkham in a few days and are hoping that we will also get good weather for this trip.

2 Visits to Parkham

 I have had 2 visits to The Granary since I wrote my last blog. The first was our planned monthly visit towards the end of April.  I then returned in early May for a few days but on this occasion, I came with  a friend who needed a break from his caring duties in Knutsford.

On our first visit we met up on several occasions with friends who had travelled with their caravan from their home in Dorset  to a small campsite at Northam.  They had visited The Granary before but were still pleased to join us on walks along the coast path at Westward Ho!  We also went to Instow and walked along the Tarka Trail.  Seeing the reactions of friends to the wonderful views along the coastline always thrills us and reminds us how lucky we are to be able to visit the area regularly.  Their visit was not complete without an excellent Sunday Roast at The Bell. 

Once our friends had returned to Dorset we had a chance to meet up with our friends in the village for coffee.  I also took the opportunity to wash down the internal walls of the cottage which were showing some signs of black mould following the very damp weather in recent months.  Generally we seem to have got on top of damp problems in The  Granary with in particular, a  ventilation system which  constantly circulates air from the loft area around the cottage.  

The small Granary garden also needed a tidy up now that the weather is warming up and weeds are growing rapidly.

We returned to Cheshire after 10 days in the village but it was only five days later that I set off for Devon again.  I would not normally travel on the Friday before the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, indeed we normally travel on Tuesdays and Thursdays when traffic is hopefully lighter.  On this occasion I had no choice as we were limited to the days that my friend was able to get away.  The journey was slow with heavy traffic around the Bristol area and we also were directed through South Molton and Torrington to avoid hold ups around Barnstaple.  We eventually arrived in Parkham in the late afternoon and were definitely ready for a couple of pints at The Bell.   We were also very ready for the take-away fish and chips when we left in the early evening.

My friend was overwhelmed by the friendship shown to him by fellow-drinkers and friends in the pub on each of our visits.  Although in his early eighties, he had never visited North Devon and was keen to meet my local friends and also to walk along part of the South West coast path.  Luckily he is very fit and we had an excellent walk from Greencliff to the Pier  House at Westward Ho! where we had a welcome coffee and sandwich.  We then walked into Westward Ho! before returning back to Greencliff.  

Views from our coast path walk

That evening we had booked a table for dinner at The Seagate in Appledore.  The food and service were both excellent but we were slightly put off when the group performing later in the evening decided to do all  their noisy sound checks while we were dining. We will go back to The Seagate but we will double-check that there is no group performing later in the evening.  It was a pleasantly warm evening and we also enjoyed a stroll around the village and down Irsha Street.

Sunday saw us back at The Bell for another excellent Sunday Roast and after that meal we needed nothing else that day.

On Monday morning we visited Rosemoor for several hours.  I was pleased to be able to spend longer than usual looking around the gardens with no dog at home to get back to.  All the tulips and other bulbs had finished and spring bedding was not yet out, however, the gardens were still very beautiful on this sunny spring day.

We returned to Cheshire on Tuesday and fortunately had a much better journey.  My friend enjoyed his break from caring duties and his experience of the beauty of North Devon and the hospitality of the people did him a power of good.

10 years of owning The Granary

As we drove down to Parkham in March we were hoping for better weather after consecutive trips when the weather has been pretty damp.  In fact we did get a couple of good days and were able to take a long walk along the beach and enjoy coffee at the  Pebbleridge Kitchen on both.  However, generally the weather was dull and rainy and we noticed that many of our friends in the village have also found the weather depressing over recent months, with only a handful of sunny days so far this year.

Views from Northam Burrows  18/03/24

Despite the lack of sunshine it was a delight to see large patches of primroses flowering in the village hedgerows and this alone made the visit worthwhile!  Back here in Cheshire I am developing my own primrose patch from a few plants originally bought from a wildflower supplier and then transported from our garden in the West Midlands nearly 4 years ago.  I don't think they are as happy here as they would be in Devon and indeed I have not seen any growing wild in the Cheshire lanes.  There are now about fifteen plants, not yet all in flower.  Hopefully I can split the larger ones later in the spring when flowering is over.

Mentioning spring, I have been getting confused over when spring really starts.  There are two different definitions of the seasons, one Meteorological and one Astronomical.  

The meteorological definition of the seasons is based on the annual temperature cycle and measures of the meteorological state, the definition also coincides with the months of the calendar.  The calendar months of March, April and May are thus defined as Spring.  

The astronomical definition of the seasons refers to the Earth's orbit of the sun.  These seasons vary in length and can fall on different days each year.  In 2024, astronomical spring began on the 20th March and ends on the 20th of June.   

For my purposes the meteorological definition makes more sense and coinciding with calendar months makes it  much easier to know what season we are in (even if the weather does not always seem to know!).

We had planned to do a few jobs around The Granary on our trip but only managed to get some of the garden weeding done.  We did however manage to visit many of our friends for coffee and also enjoyed meeting friends in The Bell.  I also visited the Bideford Rotary club who now often meet at The Thatch in Abbotsham and it was good to catch up with friends there who I have got to know over the past 10 years or so.

In fact as I write this we are celebrating 10 years of owning the cottage. We actually collected the keys from the agents on 11th April 2014.  It has certainly been one of our better decisions and we look forward to many more visits to Parkham in the years to come 

A Delayed Visit

Most years we have tried to spend our New Year in Parkham (except when there were COVID restrictions) but we were delayed by minor health issues this year and did not arrive in the village until almost the end of January.  We thought that this might give us a chance of some better weather but sadly this was not the case.  

Whilst poor weather is to be expected at this time of the year, it does not provide much inspiration when I come to sit at the computer to write this piece. We perhaps spent more time than usual sitting in The Granary reading as there was no great incentive to go out in the cold and the damp.  However, it also meant that we could take the opportunity to invite village friends to join us for a coffee or tea.  There was also the opportunity to make the very short journey next door to catch up with more friends at The Bell.

We did manage several walks at the coast and avoided the rain for the most part by judicious timing.  A walk along the coast path at Westward Ho! (somewhere we avoid in peak season) was bracing and we enjoyed the comfort of the Pier House afterwards .  Similarly, after a walk along the Taw/Torridge estuary from Greysands and along Westward Ho! beach to the Pebbleridge Cafe we were ready for a hot cup of coffee.  Our third walk was at Instow and on this occasion we ended up at Johns for coffee after being caught in a brief shower whilst on the beach.

The coastpath near Westward Ho!

Whilst walking along Westward Ho! beach we came across the remains of what appeared to be a very strange animal.  Suggestions for what it might be have ranged from sheep to porpoise and alligator!

What is this creature?

One evening we drove into Appledore for a meal at The Yard  restaurant.  We are rarely at the coast in the evening and on this occasion the air was clear and there was a pink glow from the setting sun across the estuary to Instow.  This was our first visit to The Yard and the tapas style food. was excellent. We hit on the night that they were launching their new menu and, as the first to arrive in the evening, we were the first customers to sample its delights.  Strangely the next guests to arrive came from our former home town of Stourbridge and it turned out that we had mutual friends in common.

Appledore in the evening looking towards Instow

We have had some electrical problems at The Granary which we have pinned down to the external lights, which I have now disabled.  I think water has got into them but this is a job to be sorted when the weather is warmer.  We also have several solar powered lights and we may decide to rely on these as their performance is excellent even when the weather is dull. I positioned a new solar -powered light at the top of the drive and now all the key places where light is needed are covered.

After over a week in the village and no sign of improved weather on the way we decided to return to Knutsford.  There was a forecast of snow in the North-West and we decided it would be wise to get back before any snow arrived.  After a good journey up the M5 and M6 we were home safely and, three days later there is no sign of snow.  There was however a fall of several inches in Buxton, 23 miles away in the Peak District.