Back to BMV Shaftesbury & Sherborne - 8th Aug ‘19

Another moving day and for the first time it wasn’t scorching hot. Thankfully the Devon drizzle came after Isabella was taken down.

Derigging pretty much runs like clockwork now. In about 2 hours we were all sorted and ready to get breakfast at a nearby Garden Centre before hitting the road. The Mallards has been a more than adequate CL site - see pros and cons below...

We made the / hour journey to Blackmore Vale at Shaftesbury. We are staying overnight so they can get a full day on the small list (about 6 things) of warranty work.

We pitched Brunnehilda up (just the basics) in double quick time- I backed her in not even needing the motor mover - whose a clever boy then?

We went to the farm shop down the road- The Udder Farm Shop. http://www.theudderfarmshop.co.uk/. Had “tunch” again - these strange eating times are becoming a norm! We had Dirty Fries with pulled pork . I accompanied it with a pint of strawberry milkshake. Annoyingly a middle aged skinny super fit couple decided the would do their very impressive yoga moves right by our table. To be honest you’d think this women was a jelly baby the positions she got herself into. I thought about offering them some of my dirty fries and milkshake when she had finished but I guess she wouldn’t have appreciated it?!

We went onto to Sherborne for a couple of hours this evening. The normal window shopping (just as they were closing again!) and coffee on a bench. This time outside the beautiful Sherborne Abbey. I sneaked in for a quick 15 look before it closed. https://www.sherborneabbey.com/
It’s a very pretty little town and this evening there seemed to be a lot on.

Back home to Brunnehilda (by 7.30) for a quiet evening. We watched our first DVD of the trip. Another Coen Brothers - this one I had never seen before, Intolerable Cruelty. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intolerable_Cruelty It was very good with rather a lot of genuine LOL moments. My favourite was when George Clooney asked his mate during a passionate rant about aggression and decisiveness ...  “what do have Alexander the Great, Atilla the Hun and Henry the Eighth all have in common?” His puzzled answer ... “they have the same middle name???”

So ...

The Mallards CL site, Woodbury Salterton:
Pros:
1) Adrian, the owner is very friendly chap and very attentive to the site and visitors.
2) Perfectly placed for all the East Devon / Dorset places we wanted to visit.
3) Exceptionally quiet - the cows and the milking machine about the only sounds audible.
Cons:
1) The flies! Lots of them.
2) The view was ok but really could have been any number of farmers fields in Northamptonshire!
3) Toilet and shower kept clean but far from luxurious.

Darts Farm, Seaton & Beer - 7th Aug ‘19

Last full day in Devon and a very lazy one.

Quiet morning before heading out to get some “tunch” at Darts Farm. We picked some sunflowers and popped into a local garden centre to buy a couple of hydrangeas. Apparently they are cheaper down here?

In the evening we headed out to Seaton, for a walk along the beach and a few minutes book reading at the waters edge, and then onto Beer.

Seaton is a funny little seaside resort. Not much there and not particularly pretty.

Beer on the other hand ... What a lovely little place. We spent a very pleasant evening there eating fish and chips on the beach and watching the locals fishing from the beach.

Now that the Devon Trip is virtually over, here are my “best bits” / recommendations:
Best Beach: Woolacombe- especially the quiet bit in the middle of the bay.
Nicest “seaside” place: Lyme Regis
Best Crabbing / Secluded Beach: Lee Bay
Nicest quay / port to visit: Dartmouth
Prettiest village: Clovelly
Hidden Gem: Topsham
Most interesting / different: Totnes
Best allrounders: Ilfracombe and Sidmouth
Not worth a second visit: Dawlish and Seaton
Best meal: The Puffing Billy, Exton
Best fish and chips: Lynbay Ilfracombe

Coleton Fishacre & Dartmouth - 6th Aug ‘19

Another mixed day of weather. It stated as always with a very pleasant and relaxed morning. Kim managed another shower in Brunnehilda - the hot water situation was better than last time!

Trip out this afternoon to Coleton Fishacre a National Trust place between Brixham and Dartmouth. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/coleton-fishacre#Opening%20times It was the 1920’s home of the D’oly Carte's. Beautiful gardens down to the sea and the sun came out in the afternoon so it was a fabulous place to be.

After the obligatory cup of tea and slice of cake / scone, we set off for an evening in Dartmouth.

The £6.70 needed for the ferry caused a mild panic! Partly because we we did not expect a ferry, or a cost, or that they wouldn't take card. After a lot of scratching around in pockets and down seats we found enough!

Dartmouth is a fab place. Very boaty and quite “upmarket” but very pretty and lots of activity around the quayside. Kim made the comment that we always come to places with lots of nice shops when they are closed! We had a nice walk round and just sat, stopped and stared at ferries, boaters, crabbers and anyone else that caught our eye!

Called into Exeter on the way home for a KFC! When we did to back to Brunnehilda we discovered we had new neighbours- the farmers herd of milking cows had been put out in our field. Nice on the eyes not so nice on the nose!

Dawlish, Topsham & Quiz Night at the Diggers - 5th Aug ‘19

Second day in a row doing the blog a day late - not a good habit to get into?!

Monday was the sort of day that is great if you are an old retired couple just travelling around aimlessly but if you were on holiday you might think it a bit of a wasted day?

The morning was certainly wasted as we didn’t have breakfast until 11.30! We needed some shopping so we headed for the bright lights of Exeter. On the way back we saw a sign to Dawlish so we thought  ... why not? Although as it happens we did miss the turning first time round - ironically there was a man standing at the traffic lights with a sign proclaiming that “Jesus was the only way”. It’s just a shame we or he couldn’t say the same about Dawlish?!

Dawlish is an odd little place. Surprisingly quiet given the time of year - although it was far from summer beach weather. We had coffees and pasties in a pretty little park that ran didn’t through the centre of the town and into the sea. Watching the ducks, seagulls and black swans - yes black!

After that we had an hour or so on a very deserted beach reading our books - rock and roll lifestyle or what? In all a pleasant diversion. Not somewhere we would rush back to but certainly worth an afternoon of anyone’s time.

Our ex-neighbour at the caravan site had recommended a visit to Topsham. Her previous recommendation (The Puffing Billy) had been top notch so we called in on the way home.

It is a quant little village with a lot of boat activity and some really interesting old buildings. We spent an enjoyable hour or so walking around the little streets and perusing pub / restaurant menus - but nothing really grabbed us so we headed back to Brunnehilda.

We had always planned to walk the 1/2 mile into the village and eat at the pub so it seemed an ideal time to do just that.

The Diggers Rest (http://www.diggersrest.co.uk/) was ramming - and on Monday night!!? It turned out this was the monthly curry and quiz night! Well for £6 each we were in! Given there was only 2 of us and about another 15 or so teams of 4 to 6, folks we did OK finishing about 1/2 way up (or down?) the field. Apart from a disastrous picture round on Mister Men we might well have made the top 3! For goodness sake .. who knows the names of Mister Men? Obviously most of Woodbury Salterton! It finished with a fun game of “play your cards right” with £300 for the winning team - it wasn’t us! Could a night get anymore exciting? The locals were incredibly friendly and welcoming and the curry was Ok as well!

A 20 minute walk home in the pitch back up the hill by the very smelly farmyard got us home soon after 11 - a late night for us!

So, what a day ... book reading, looking at old buildings and pub quizzing. I reckon an 18-30 holiday itinerary setter could learn a lot from us?!

It may not be everybody’s cup of tea but .. we enjoyed it!

Exmouth, Exton & Dart Farm - 3rd Aug ‘19

What a difference a day makes! We’re missing the boys hugely but the relaxation has now officially started!!

We didn’t leave the campsite until gone 1pm. We can’t blame the Twinnies for that - just unashamed idleness. We both managed a shower this morning  - Kim in Brunnehilda, me in the onsite shower room (really more like a shed with a shower in it!). Another lesson learnt - if you shower with Brunnehilda’s tank nearly empty, it doesn’t matter if you are filling it up as you shower, you will end up with a cold one!! Who’d of thought? Everyday is a school day!!

Off to Exmouth for the afternoon. We parked at the far end of the beach and walked on the Promenade into town where we grabbed a coffee and cake at The Bumble and Bee Cafe http://www.bumbleandbee.co.uk/. We would have liked more but rather officiously the lady insisted that they couldn’t do sandwiches because it was 3.05 and they stop serving lunches at 3!!

We could have stayed at the coffee place longer as we were sitting next to a party who were having a conversation that you just couldn’t help overhear and be fascinated by! They were a very spiritual group all agreeing at one stage that anger was a healthy emotion! Best line though was from the women who was training how to be a relaxation therapist .. she had finished a session late last night and was too stressed to drive home!!!

We walked back along the beach watching the huge variety of life that is the English seaside resort on a typical summers day - not exactly hot but dry and enough sun to make you want to make the most of it.

We had a drive around to kill some time before dinner. We went down many a Devon lane between Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Otterton and Branscombe. The later was particularly nice and definitely worth a re-visit.

The couple in the next van had recommended a pub called the Puffing Billy in Exton to eat. http://www.thepuffingbilly.co.uk/And they were certainly right ... we had a great meal there tonight. My mussels in cider were fab as was Kim’s BBQ chicken. Staff were very friendly too.

We stocked up with a few things (including coffee) at Darts Farm Shopping Village. http://www.dartsfarm.co.uk/A fantastic place with lots of nice things to eat, drink and buy! We both noticed that the clientele there were a little bit up themselves (present company excepted). It was the sort of place that could attract that sort .. if you know what I mean? Certainly a different type of folk that you meet on Exmouth beach?

Finished a relaxing day with a relaxing night. Snuggled down in Brunnehilda with the Dart Shopping Village coffee, Spotify, the blog and our books.

It’s so bloody quiet!

Lyme Regis - 2nd Aug ‘19

Well they’ve gone. The Vikings soon settled in to our peaceful way of life and, unlike the 10th century Anglo Saxons, we are gunna miss them! Laura headed north with an XC40 full of boys at 7.15pm. They’ve been great fun and well behaved but it’s only when they’ve gone that we realised that we’d  not truly relaxed for the last week. I can hear Laura screaming .. “welcome to my world”! We’re already looking forward to the next trip out with the boys later in the Summer holiday.

The day started in the normal relaxed way ... breakfast on the Caddy ( I didn’t perform quite as well this morning and managed to burn stuff!!), getting ourselves and the boys ready and then out at about midday.

We fancied Lyme Regis. We thought the boys would like the fossil / dinosaur connection and the opportunity to throw more pebbles into the sea.

They thoroughly enjoyed their time on the beach. All 3 of the boys went in the water which was really very warm and pleasant. The Twinnies also enjoyed helping find interesting rocks / pebbles - the highlights being one that looked like a shoe and one with a hole right the way through. Hey, don’t knock it, when you’re retired and 60 you get your excitement where you can!

An early tea at the Cornish Bakery was a good choice - for once a Cornish Pasty I wasn’t disappointed with! And of course ... more ice creams!

We found a fossil shop so the Twinnies stocked up with dinosaurs and Charlie got a few rocks. Just time then to get back to Brunnehilda, get Laura packed and on the road.

Kim and I christened the Cadac Paella dish for dinner - it was splendid. We had a quick walk around the village before a cup of tea and turning in.

Seems very weird not having the boys flying around our feet and making Brunnehilda buzz with noise and excitement. One good thing though ... no bloody Jurassic World on the DVD tonight!!!

Moving from North to East Devon & Sidmouth - 1st Aug ‘19

As Franki Valli so aptly put it ... “Oh what a night?”. Although not for Franki’s reason. Ours was purely Grandchild based. Charlie has a scary habit of sitting bolt up right and talking in tongues. Finners seems to have a central point of balance around his belly button and then, whilst fast asleep seems to go around like a Catherine Wheel - indeed it is so distressing the last time I witnessed anything like it was a scene from The Exorcist. But the most genuinely worrying MacArthur junior evening activity was poor old Harry. He had a massive coughing fit and ended up wheezing quite badly. Kim moved into bed with him and ... you guessed it - broke the Dinette bed again! Needless to say, it was far from a restful night.

Which was unfortunate as today was moving day and involved lots of effort and a small amount of stress. Up at 8am and 2 1/2 hours packing up, taking down and Twinnie herding got us ready to leave with more than enough time to enjoy a coffee and a bacon roll from the camp shop.

A 90 minute journey got us to our next campsite, The Mallards (near Exmouth) at 1.30pm. An altogether smaller affair with just 5 pitches and some very questionable facilities!!

Laura arrived at 4 just as we were putting the finishing touches to Isabella. I’m much happy with the look of her this time- which I guess was due to the fact it was a nice flat pitch. Kim managed to keep we’ll clear of falling poles so all in all it was a bit of a result.

We were all starving by this time - fancy that?? - so we went the 10 miles to Sidmouth. It’s only when we got there that we realised it was the place that my parents went to every year. Indeed we tried to eat at their regular hotel but we were told they were too busy to accommodate us as we wanted to eat outside. As it happens that was quite a lucky break as we walked .next door to Dukes and had a fab meal. I had the Brixham Fish Pie which was excellent.

There is a week long Folk festival going on so the place was buzzing. We watched some Morris Dancers before buying more ice cream and heading for the shingle beach to throw stones for a bit. The Twinnies are in their element with a whole beach of pebbles to lob.

Stocked up at Waitrose on the way home and got settled down for bed before 10. Kim and I are sleeping in Isabella tonight. Leaving Laura to face the horror show that is sleeping with the MacArthur boys!!

As promised, here are my pros and cons of Damage Barton Caravan site:
+ The view was bloody amazing
+ The gorgeous walk from the campsite down to Lee
+ The office and shop staff are super friendly
+ The facilities are spotless
Conns
- Sloped pitch
- Long walk to the chemical toilet disposal point
- Not enough toilet cubicles. Had to queue most times and everyone knows what you are queuing for!
- Other campers not as friendly as a CL site
- The mirrors in the wash rooms are sizeist. Why put s 9” mirror up to cater for 5’ to 5’9” folks - in a gents toilet!? Put it at 5’5” to 6’2” and cover the majority of the male population!