The reason last week was quiet was because I was wrapping up the world ready for a two week break. Now that our move to North Devon is getting ever closer. (I can't believe how close it is. I've been waiting for it for so many years) we decided to have a bit of an experiment htis year.
As you know we always go to Appledore, which is where we hope to move, but like most places if you move just a few miles out of the place you ideally want to be things are a bit cheaper. So we decided to stay about 1.5 miles outside of Appledore in the countryside.
The house we stayed in was teeny tiny. It was attached to a Manor House. Now this pissed me off because husband and I never book holiday places attached to the owners house. You sort of feel like you have to be on your best behaviour for a week. Not that we do anything wild, but it means the place you're staying in feels even more 'somebody elses'. We didn't know it was attached to the main house until we turned up.
As it turns out it wasn't much of a problem at all. Any window that overlooked the garden outside the cottage had the curtains drawn throughout our stay. We decided not to explore the broader gardens, with a view that if we kept away from their areas they would keep away from ours and this seemed to be the case.
The weather was glorious throughout our stay. On the first night I went for a wander to see how far we were from my favourite walk. This is when the tide is out on the river Torridge, meaning you can walk along the river bed from Appledore to the Burrows. This time we were near the Burrows (which we call mumbles) end rather than the Appledore end.
I was thrilled to discover that we were a 10 minute walk. So this is how I started my day everyday with the dog. If the tide was out we walked the river bed, if the tide was in we went along the coastal path.
Dog even managed to get some swims in, though I discovered to my cost that rockpools on a river bed just mean that the dog stinks of poo (was it poo or was it stagnant river water - I hope not poo). So having made this mistake the first time, dog then needed to have her first bath of the holiday!!! Or rather, first hose down of the holiday. For the rest of the week I took her to the slipway by the lifeboat station. This way she was swimming in river water and the stank didn't happen!
We spent most of the week on the beach at Westward Ho!. Here husband and son could go surfing and dog could chunter around on the beach and in the shallows. I say surfing. There wasn't a great deal this week. The sun was out and there was barely any breeze. Though as the week went on the breeze did pick up - so there were at least 3 days of surfing to be had. Nothing that would be the conversation for years, but at least enough to be able to stand on a board.
Earlier in the week before the wind picked up I did buy a boogie board hoping the boys could at least get a bit of fun. Though we saw many children having an amazing time doing this, the skill didn't seem to sit with husband and son, the board just sank. In the end we just gave it away to another family who had kids. Couldn't even be bothered to bring it back.
On the Wednesday we visited Ilfracome. We haven't been there for ages. Many years ago husband and I booked a cottage called Mizpa and caused a huge stir in the family by spending Christmas there instead of with family (oh the drama). The thing was it was the year we got married. We were due to go for River Boat cruise on the Nile. Then 9/11 happened. Plans changed rapidly. So we had the first of 2 temporary honeymoons. The first bieng Ilfracome and then a few years later we went to Lapland. I'm sure I've talked aobut all of this before so I'll leave it here. Next year we hope to do Egypt. Watch this space.
It was nice to visit Ilfracome though it was very different from what we remembered, we have been there about 3 times, but every time it's been in the winter. So everything was shut and nobody was around. It was absolutely heaving. In the end we stayed for a few hours, saw what we wanted to see (mainly the cottage) and then headed home so boys could go surfing. But the visit scratched an itch.
Most evenings we ate in because there were no local restaurants, but on one night we went over to Instow and had a lovely meal at the Boat House on the shoreline. We'll definitely go back. I say it was a lovely meal, but 17 year old son turned on me half way through the meal (as only 17 year olds can do). It's a difficult age to navigate. Somehow you need to balance giving them the skills to be an adult with not patronising them. I have to say I have no idea where that line is. All I now is that on occassion I cross it and son turns on me like a pitbull. I probably never will get that right.
Though he has to be careful as he may be thinking I'm nicer than I am and if he continues to turn on me at some point I'll stop giving any advice and start to treat him like any other adult. To be clear if any other adult turned on me like he did I'd rip them to shreds!!!!!
I spent the week trialling things. Could I walk to the nearest shop - yes, but it was a LONG walk. There may have been a nearer one, but I couldn't find it anywhere. This dind't bother me too much because in reality if we're living there we would both have our cars and could even invest in electric bikes or similar.
So did our experiment work. Well I think so. I loved having a nice flat garden for a week. We recognised that the house was way way too small for us, which gave us a feel for what the minimum house size would be. Husbands hay fever really kicked off out in the country - though we've managed to sort that out at current house by identifying particular pollen types that cause problems and addressing those directly - so in the long run this may not be a problem.
However, there were a few sticking points. Having to get into a car to get to anywhere practical is a challenge. It did stop us going out in the evenings more. And whilst we wouldn't eat out all the time, it is nice to be able to walk to places where there is something going on. Even if that's the local knitting club (I don't knit - it's just an example). The biggest challenge was wifi, phone signal was poor (though perhaps changing provider would sort this).
So as you can see, it was an inconclusive experiment, but I think on balance we at least need to be on the edge of where stuff is happening. A 10/15 minute walk would be acceptable. Though as we intend to stay at next house into old age that 10/15 minute walk also needs to be a practical one. No point haaving that walk up a steep hill or across fields. I'm really glad we did the experiment though.
Last year we went into Bideford to see what we thought of that as a place to live. Although it's on the River Torridge, you can't actually get to the river at all and that walk along the river bed is very important to me. Then there is Westward Ho! on the actual sea, there is just too much going on here and to be honest it's not our kinda place. So once again we're back to Appledore being our perfect location. It is what it is!
And that's it really, a week of sunbathing, surfing and SO MUCH food!
Now I'm back home again. About 3/4 of the way through washing. Dog's been for it's first walk back on the home beach. Along with a bit of a swim. Today I'm going to jam in lots of different chores so that I can spend the next week being very lazy. I have another week off work. I think this may be my first fortnight holiday for as long as I can remember. Lovely.
So chores on list are - write blog (done), weed the garden, go through my emails - a few knotty things I ignored before holiday, book dentist, visit Halfords for more spray paint for car. We'll see what the weather is like today to see how much of that gets done. Currently it's quite cool. So it may be a good day to cross at least most of those off the list.
The difficult ones are going to be the emails and the dentist. I don't want to get into knotty problems and who wants a dentist appointment! Let's see how long I leave those things.
Just about to fly into work emails. I told my team if there were any significant problems to send me a mail with URGENT in the title. Fingers crossed there's nothing there.......
Oh I can't believe I forgot the excitement of the last night. As a family we were all in different locations of house. Husband in sitting room, son in bedroom and I was in garden. It had just got dark. Suddenly there was a popping noise in the near distance. I was surprised as it didn't strike me as an area that would have summer fireworks (like home). Then there was this hugely loud electrical groan. The only noise I can liken it to is the noise of the alien machines in war on the world's. So so loud.
Then darkness. Total darkness. No light anywhere. And.... gaghhh... no electricity and no WiFi. THE HORROR!
I was freaked out and went in locking the door. Son came down thinking a bomb must have gone off. Husband hadn't even raised his eyes from kindle (where's his drama). Again without looking up he said. That'll be the electricity sub station going pop then.
Of course he was right. The only thing to do was go to bed. But I couldn't sleep. Without radio or podcasts I lay there with my brain churning. In end I went to sofa and got kondle out. At 01.30 all the lights came on again. I immediately turned them off,put on the radio and curled up for much needed sleep. I hate my brain sometimes.
Comments
Post a Comment