A few days in Bude

Caravan and awning all pitched and I was ready for a few nights chilling out

I decided to make use of me new National Trust membership and took a drive up to Barnstaple to Arlington Court

Arlington Court

They had a peacock

He was a flash little git and kept me entertained for a while

I started off in the grounds with a short walk with the mutts

Due to the fact it was also the childrens easter egg hunt in the grounds, I cut it pretty short.  Homer is no easter bunny

Arlington House was proper period drama stuff

Liking the personal touch, every visitor has to ring the bell and the door is answered personally (probably a ruse to filter out undesirables from getting in but they let me in anyway)

Once inside it was the usual tapestry, faded velvet and ornaments.

Cabinet full of car boot stuff

And the mandatory haunted childs bedroom...







A visit to the batcave....evidently the cellar is full of them (although it could be a total wind up and it is just a video)





Finally a visit to the carriage museum

All a bit creepy as its very Jack the Ripper.  There is a also a gold royal coach you arent allowed to take pictures of (yes I was going to but there is cctv cameras everywhere)

Tom Thumb looked a bit of a perve

And whoever decided to put a bell with 'press me' on this model, obviously had a warped sense of humour

Me again!

Finished the walled gardens, the conservatory garden, the open garden and was gardenned out, so went back to the van



Steve my OH, joined us that evening. So the next few days involved walking on the beaches with the mutts.

this little mutt was particularly amusing.  He walked off after digging his hole and getting his pebble.  Then 2 women started taking pictures of Homer swimming in the rock pools.  And she reversed to take the pic....and went arse over tit in the hole, into a heap on the ground...

...mooching round the shops, making Steve try on every sad cardigan going...

Then it was a drive back to Plymouth as we had booked the nice little Italian Restaurant we went to over the New Year.  I did ask the restaurant owner for recommendations of places to visit in Rome.  We got the rather strange answer, he didn't really know Italy....as he was from Poland...?!  So why the Italian accent?...'An Italian taught me english....'



And onto another National Trust visit (yes yes I have got to get my moneys worth. We even used the NT carpark at Sandymouth just to get another £3 saving)

Finch Foundry

So the group of us (me, Steve, my daughter Christie and her fella Matt) took a drive to Sticklepath for the next educational extravaganza

Quick walk round the grounds...

This is a new one on me...?! Poor Billy Green must be covered in the stuff...

Unless the dogs in the area have their own football team

Dogs safely tucked into the car and me and Christie went ahead to the museum.  And locked the door and hid...amused us for 10 minutes watching them trying to get in...

And then we found the 'Dress yourself as a Foundry worker box'...!

Shoes and hoodies flying off, we grabbed everything and were soon kitted out



Christie lost it totally....

at Steves various stages of dress...

cmon Steve we've got to go now....

5 mins late but we got to the foundry demo

Next was a quick visit to check out the 'secret campsite' for a fellow camper....lovely solo pitch...but no dogs allowed :(

Pretty much everything we did, except eat and drink a lot.

Although I did drive home via the Wye Valley and Gruffalo Trail...

Easter get away

Weather forecast was snow and blizzards, so quite happy to be driving down to Bude for a 5 nights in the caravan, instead of camping

Homer was impeccably behaved for the 230 mile journey. I didn't hear a murmur. In fact he was worryingly quiet. Too quiet.  I knew it was a stupid idea packing the dog provisions in the back with him....

 

First night I stayed at my daughters in Plymouth. Looking out of the bedroom window I decided to keep a low profile from the neighbours. Having looked at their washing line I can only surmise that the BFG lives in the neighbourhood

 

 

Next day we took a trip out to Paignton & Torquay. Quick walk on the beach then we drove to Cockington Village.  I saw a picture and it looked quaint, so was a good enough reason to take a visit.

 

Cockington Village

There are probably about 6 houses in the entire village but it was pretty. And they sold cream teas, which was good enough for us

We managed to convince Matt that it wasn't freezing and sitting outside was a nice idea (he wasn't convinced)

 

 

 

So stuffed up with cream teas (even this was a debate as to whether devon or cornwall cream teas tasted better. The difference being devon is cream then jam and cornwall is jam first), we took a walk up to the craft centre

 

(Just to point out Devon and Cornwall cream teas actually tasted remarkably similar regardless of jam order)

 

At the top we found the horses who trot round with a carriage in the village.

 

 

I decided it was a good idea to offer the dark brown horse (cue for horsey people to tut and say the chesnut blah blah blah) some blackcurrant clotted cream ice cream cone. So after several attempts where I was convinced he really wanted my fingers, he finally ate it

But there was a problem then cos his ginger mate was most put out he never had any ice cream

So we robbed Matts ice cream and they were both happy horses (Matt wasn't so happy losing his mint choc chip)

Had a quick look round the gallerys and crafty places (dont ask me i dont know what it is either)

Quick nose at the glass centre...

and the forge (dont get too excited about the forge, you have loads of these to come....)

Then a drive into Torquay

We did the famous sights of Torquay (a chip shop and Debenhams), then travelled back to Plymouth

Homer after doing a bit of groundwork established who bought the sausages in the house. So tested his charming wiles on Matt...I'm not sure Matt will be rushing out to buy a labrador anytime soon...

Easily bored Homer was full of subtle bright ideas...

And so the next day, I drove up to Bude to the caravan for a few nights...