A Truly British Holiday

As you know I'm not afraid of a cliché. And so for my post about my very British Summer holiday I have a picture of our sandcastle (without bucket or spade) along with the inclusion of my finger over the camera lens. You can't get more British than that.

As with most summer holiday's taken in Britain the best of the weather was on the 4 hour drive down. It was utterly sweltering. We set off at 06:00 to beat the traffic and we actually achieved it. We were in our North Devon 'home' - Appledore - by 11:00. With 3 hours until we could get into the house we found a spot in the shade around the corner and camped for a bit. Husband rang the holiday company and we were lucky enough to be in and unpacked by 12:30. Result.

This meant that we could head straight for the beach at Westward Ho! and husband and son could get their first surf of the holiday in. I stayed in the house to unpack and pull myself together after the lengthy journey - as well as taking the dog for a much needed walk.

We woke up on the Sunday and the sun had gone, but it wasn't too bad, cloudy with brightness above it. Looking at the weather forecast for the week we felt lucky - it was definitely going to be the best weather of the week. At 11.00, husband and son headed back to Westward Ho! for a surf lesson to get the skills up to scatch again. 

I decided to walk through Appledore, down Irsha Street and to my favourite place. The bit between Appledore and the Burrows. Unfortunately I hadn't checked the tide and it was in so I couldn't walk along the river bed. 

We stayed in a different area this year, 'the wrong side of the tracks'. The problem was that this meant it was a very long walk to my favourite bit (as described above), it wasn't my usual gentle stroll and on discovering the tide was in, just wandering back so I could return a bit later. This time it was a good 25 minute walk - much too far for me to just decide to wander back later.

The views were great from the house we were staying in, but I'll be honest it wasn't the best spot for a holiday. Though that said, as you know husband and I are thinking of moving there. As son is about to start A levels that time is not too far away. We both agreed that to live the wrong side of the tracks was a good idea. Not great for holidays, but great to live because it was out of the areas where all the tourists (like us) go.

After their surf lesson husband came and picked me up and I spent the afternoon on the beach whilst husband and son surfed. A really pleasant afternoon. I hate blazing son and so the cloudy but bright weather was perfect.

On the Monday we woke up and the weather was terrible, the wind was up and so not good surf weather and the rain was coming down heavily. We decided to brave Clovelly. Actually the second we arrived there the rain stopped and whilst it wasn't great weather it meant we were not too hot as we made our way up and down the hill. I do love Clovelly.

I'll not bore you with the weather every day, but needless to say whilst heavy rain was forecast actually it wasn't too bad and we managed to spend most of the rest of the week on the beach. Though I'm not going to pretend the weather was good. We'd all only taken one jumper/sweatshirt with us, by the end of the week they were in need of a good wash.

Ahhh washing, that reminds me. On the Saturday I took out the dogs towel to wipe her down and it smelt horrific, I hadn't washed it before we left and it literally stank of poo!!!!! When we got home I decided to wash it, but our food shop wasn't due until the next day and I knew I'd put washing powder in that. I decided to use washing up liquid. However I forgot that soft water has a different effect on bubbles and soapy stuff. 

The boys were out surfing and I covered the blanket in washing up liquid and went to the outhouse of the house we were staying in where the washing machine was (thank goodness). I set a wash and about 30 minutes returned to see how it was going. I kid you not the washing machine and the washing up liquid had created a foam crisis that you normally only see in films. Literally the entire room was filled with foam. I went outside and got a bin lid and then spent an hour scooping the foam out of the room and taking it outside.

The worst was there was nothing I could do, I had to wait until the wash finished. Once it was done I continued with my tidyup of the foam and ran a rinse on the machine to make sure it was ok. Fortunately there was no major harm done, though the foam looked somewhat odd outside until the bubbles went down.

Another thing that caused chaos was that outside the front of the house there was a baby seagull that was obviously fresh out of the nest and wasn't yet flying. Dog was fascinated by this, I kept it safely away on a lead, but this wasn't good enough for the seagulls mum who was literally swooping at our heads. This carried on for 2 days. On the third day either the baby had been eaten by a fox or it had learnt out to fly. Thank goodness. I have to say if that mum had swooped at my head one more time I was going to take her out.

On the Tuesday I'd booked us into a pub for supper about 30 mins drive away in Hartland. A beautiful place, where they filmed treasure island. From my memory Hartland  wasn't big so I assumed the pub I'd booked was on the headlands. We turned up at the village and the first thing we saw was the pub I'd booked. It was a real sh*thole. We went in and it looked no better inside. 

I apologised to husband and son and suggested we left, but before we had made a decision our drinks order had been taken so we stayed. I have to say looks can be deceiving. The food was absolutely gorgeous. I mean so good we'll probably go back another time! That was a lesson learnt for me.

By mid week I'd sorted out my timings with the local tides and had some amazing walks along the river bed to the Burrows. It's definitely where my soul is. I never feel more at one with the world than when I'm doing that walk. 

Rest of the week was largely surfing, cooking at home, playing games in the evening and having a lovely time all in all. 

On the final night we went to the Yard for supper another favourite place and not at all far from the cottage. I love the food there and the owner is a true character. I can't pretend we are like minded, but we had a jovial debate about politics - with completely differing views and I really enjoyed it. The mere fact that I enjoyed somebody interrupting our meal to talk to us says a lot about him actually. Normally I'd have killed anybody that did that!

Then before you know it we were out of the house and on our way home again. Arriving back about 14:00. I can't believe how quickly that week went. Thank goodness I booked the second week off to recharge my batteries. Otherwise I think I'd be struggling. Husband is back to work on Monday and in a foul mood, but he's done his usual and booked every other week off over the summer. So I've reminded him that in just 5 days he'll be on holiday again.

I think it's a great idea booking every other week of, but I just can't keep my holiday to one side like that. Very jealous.

Anyway, that's the summer holiday for another year. I'm not sure I can go another full year without more Appledore. Perhaps we'll visit again in the winter.....