The final holiday pictures and Axmouth.

We don’t usually spend much time in Seaton but this holiday we discovered the charms of the other side of the Axmouth estuary which is down at the bottom end of Seaton beach.

This is view from Axmouth Yacht Club over to the other side and the Tea Caddy.

What with William’s new found passion for sea-fishing this little snack bar looks set to become a favourite haunt – it also has a fishing tackle shop.  William had just been in it and bought that tripod you see him playing with.

We were having a drink at The Tea Caddy with Caroline, Trev and Charlie one day when Trev spotted this giant jellyfish.  It was up close to the estuary wall where the fishing boats were moored and families were crabbing.  I’m telling you, it was huge!  None of us had ever seen anything like it before.  I mentioned it to the lady in The Tea Caddy and she said they get them occasionally and also seals have been known to venture up the estuary.  We’ll be on the lookout for them next time we visit.

I took so many photos on this holiday I’m beginning to go cross-eyed trying to get through them.  I think I’m just about done with blogging them.   I want to move on to digiscrapping some of them now so my next lot will be on My Digiscrapping World blog.  I wanted to post this collage here of mainly family pictures because each one sparks a memory.

The photo on the bottom row of Trev and Charlie is one Caroline took and I think it’s really sweet.  I actually pinched it from her blog – www.williamsctc.blogspot.com - but I know she won’t mind.

And finally, I just want to post two more photos.

This cute photo of Charlie taken on the campsite …

  … and this one of William taken on the beach.  Just because I like them!

I’m done.

TTFN.

Kathleen

I want to remember…

… these flowers, particularly the way they were given to me. 

George and Nicholas stayed overnight with us on Saturday night.  Victoria and Gary were going to a friend’s birthday party and staying overnight in the hotel where the party was being held. 

Staying overnight with us is something George has done a lot but Nicholas not so much.  So Saturday Nicholas was very excited.  I want to remember the sight of him running up to our front door, dragging his little suitcase on wheels behind him, carrying high in the air this bunch of very pretty flowers for me.  It was a fleeting moment but oh so sweet!

Here’s the little man himself.

TTFN.

I tried so hard today …

… to get a picture of my three little grandsons all together.  I would just love a picture of all three of them together.  I’m not asking for a great picture but just one of them all in one place, all looking at the camera, all at the same time. I don’t know if it will ever happen though.  They are all three just so…. active. 

Here are two of them.

Here are two of them.

Here are the three of them.  Photograph-wise it never seems to get any better than this!

Never mind.  At least they’re all in the same place, at the same time, a lot of the time and that alone makes me very happy!

TTFN.

Padstow

By happy coincidence, on the second week of our holiday my lovely cousin Sylvia and her husband Andy were down at their cottage in Padstow, Cornwall.  We arranged to go over and spend the day with them.  It was a good choice of day, the heavens opened and poured down in Sidmouth but by the time we got to Padstow, an hour and 45 minutes away, the sky was blue and the sun had got his hat and had come out to play.

We got there around lunchtime.   After a tour of their gorgeous, quaint little cottage, complete with wood-burning stove, (I’d love a house with one of those things), Sylvia made lunch for us then we headed for a walk down the Camel Trail.  Never having been to Padstow before William and I were in for a treat.

The Camel Trail was very busy the day we walked along it - school holidays of course - you had to be on your guard looking out for the bikes zooming along all the time.  Syl and Andy have bikes and have cycled down this trail a time or two as did Victoria, Gary and boys when they stayed in Syl’s cottage the week before, but more on that in a later post.  It was a lovely walk and before long the hedges broke up to reveal stunning views of the Camel River.

Chatting and admiring the view we walked on into Padstow and took the ferry over to Rock.

On the crossing I noticed the name of the boat on the right in the picture above, Grumpy B.  It could’ve been named after my beloved!

A Cornish Cream Tea was enjoyed overlooking the river.  I’m glad we enjoyed that cream tea too, at £7.95 it was the most expensive cream tea I’ve ever had!  Rock is a rather up-market kind of place.  Princes William and Harry have been known to holiday there.

Padstow is a picturesque place with lots of shops, pubs, restaurants and plenty of boats in the harbour to admire.

Here are Andy and Billy loitering down a side street. Do you think they might be asking each other “How would you like to tend all these hanging baskets on a daily basis?” or do you think it might’ve been “Do you fancy a quick pint?”.  

One of the things I most enjoy about our holidays in Devon is the vast array of blooms on show. 

So that was our day in Padstow, we had a great time and I’m hoping that we get to do it all over again the next time our holidays coincide with each other.

TTFN

I’m linking to Outdoor Wednesday over at http://www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/  If you have a few minutes to spare click over there and enjoy a little bit of armchair travelling.

Exeter

On the Thursday of our second week after Caroline, Tee and Charlie had gone home William and I took a trip into Exeter.

 

The main reason for our visit was to hire a canoe and paddle it up the canal.  It was my idea and I had been really looking forward to it all the holiday.  So, we made our way to the Historic Quayside, spotted the canoes, saw a few empty ones and thought, yeah, that looks like fun let’s do it.  ‘Twas not to be, the flipping things were booked solid all day!  However, we’re going back to Devon in a few weeks so we’ll have another bash at it then.  Perhaps next time we’ll get it right and book ahead of time like they advise in the brochure.  The hire shop is called Saddles and Paddles, here’s a link to their website.

Of course, we had planned to have a look around the place too and there’s plenty to look at.  For one thing the place is steeped in history and there are cafes, bars and an antique centre or two.  We mooched around the antiques shop in the picture above left and then sat outside it with a cappuccino and watched swans and ducks “heads down, tails up, dabbling free”  on the river before us.

There’s a good visitor information centre and free guided walking tours are available too.  We intend to take the Historic Quayside tour on our next visit.

From here we walked into the city centre and took a quick look at the cathedral, it was only a quick look too.  There’s a £5 entry charge and I don’t really like the idea of being charged to go in God’s house.  A donation would be quite in order but a charge doesn’t seem right to me.

This row of fine old Tudor buildings stands opposite the cathedral.  The little red brick building on the left is St. Martin’s Church and was consecrated in 1065.  There’s a plaque inside the doorway stating this fact and the shiniest place on it is where goodness knows how many fingers have pointed in awe to the date just like we did.

 

We drove into Exeter with the kayak on the roof rack.  William didn’t want to go the hassle of taking it off and putting it back on again with only me to help him.  We never gave the parking a thought but I certainly did when we drove into a low ceilinged multi-storey car park.  I couldn’t look.  I was sure we were going to come unstuck and that the kayak was going to come off with or without my help!  Miraculously we made it in and out without mishap but I’ll bet there was only an inch or two clearance.  Oh well, all’s well that ends well.

More of the holiday to follow tomorrow.

TTFN.

I’m linking to Outdoor Wednesday over at http://www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/  If you have a few minutes to spare click over there and enjoy a little bit of armchair travelling.

Well, it’s been a while…

…but we’re back from two weeks in Devon.  We got back Saturday night, it was a long drive home stopping and starting in traffic jams on the motorway but we made it home safe and sound and for that I’m very grateful.  We had a good holiday just relaxing and doing just what took our fancy, just when it took our fancy. 

There was a fair bit of this going on.

And a fair bit of this too.  We drank an awful lot of coffee and tea sitting on various beaches and I consumed my fair share of cream teas and enjoyed every one of them!

This year Billy tried his hand at sea-fishing.  He has done plenty of freshwater fishing in the past but never sea-fishing.

 

  

Trev had a go too.  All went well until their lines got tangled!

It was fun though, even Charlie had a little rod to play with.

I’ve got loads more photos to post but I’ll do a few at a time or else I’ll be here all night!

TTFN.

The weather is …

…still a bit iffy round here but Victoria, Nicholas and I made it outdoors for a walk and some more of that good old fresh air this morning. The new play area down at the nature reserve end  of the lake is finally finished and we really like it.  Nicholas loved it.  There’s not a swing or roundabout in sight and that’s fine.  This obstacle course is different and more challenging for little kids.  I can see we’ll be spending a lot of time here over the school summer holidays. 

Nicholas is so much like his daddy in looks and build, it’s scary.  I’m sure this is exactly what Gary would’ve looked like at three. 

This beautiful old cottage overlooks the lake and it’s yet another one of those houses I could live in.

Talking about holidays we’ll be spending two weeks in Devon very soon with the Williams’ and the Goodall’s will be off to Cornwall.   I’m looking forward to sitting on the beach reading and having the odd dip in the freezing cold sea.  Oh, and also eating the odd cream tea.  Billy is looking forward to trying his hand at sea-fishing for the first time this year, he recently bought some kit for a bargain price so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes on.  I know all three of my little treasures will be wanting to spend lots of time on the beach with their buckets and spades and if they’re all happy then all the adults will be happy.  So I hope this weather of ours sorts itself out and we’ll all be happy!

TTFN,

Kathleen.