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.