Walking in Lynton

Sus and I decided we would go off in the Pickwell motorhome 'Henrietta' and explore some of the beautiful coastline of North Devon and Somerset, walking for a couple of days. As the parents-in-law had our children, we couldn't pass up the chance for a mini-break of our own.

First stop was Lynton and a walk out to the Valley of the Rocks.

We stayed overnight parked up next to the River Lyn at Sunny Lyn campsite, which was a beautiful place to stay, in the valley less than half a mile from Lynton.

Once we had parked up the van and hooked up the electricity - essential when camping out in April to get the heater working - we headed off on a long walk in the afternoon sunshine.

Our walk took us along a sweet little track called Lynway which runs along the side of the valley parallel to the river. We passed some beautiful houses and gardens, picking up some ideas for the doors at Pickwell, as we went.

There was a fantastic view as we went along Lynway,

and some great viewing spots to stop and take it in.

When we arrived in Lynton we started to recognise a few sites we'd seen before when we've visited with the children. The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway ferries people from Lynton at the top of the hill to Lynmouth down below. Our walk out on the path to the Valley of the Rocks passed over the railway on a small bridge.

The path then took us past some lovely looking hotels and guest houses with stunning views across the valley and the Bristol Channel.

One which we really liked the look of was Hewitts Villa Spaldi (only because we have good friends with the same name, could be awful inside?!).

The walk then became a lot more remote, although the footpath is excellent and very smooth,

it has some sections where there are steep slopes falling to the sea and dramatic rocks both above and below.

When we reached Castle Rock, which is at the end of the Valley of the Rocks,

we decided to stop for a cup of tea at Mother Meldrum's cafe. The place was adorned with witch paraphernalia (see the black thing hanging from the tree on top left of pic) which started to slightly unnerve us (the only people there and otherwise completely deserted) as we sipped on our coffee!

There are many footpaths you can take in this area but Sus and I decided to loop back past the cricket pitch and then climb over one of the hills before dropping back down through a wooded area to Lynton.

The view from the top of the hill was truly stunning.

Lynton is a very pretty town and retains an old English charm,

we loved the colours of some of the buildings.

The cinema looked like it was in a converted church building, with windows like ours at home, full of character.

Finally we stopped to pick up some fish and chips before heading back to 'Henrietta' for a nice chilled evening.

On to Porlock next...

The Easter 'Eggstravaganza'

Easter Saturday was our third 'Easter Eggstravaganza' at Pickwell. We had a completely wonderful time and together raised £1010 for Georgeham school and George Palmer. George is lovely 4 year old from Braunton who has Cerebral Palsy. His parents are trying to raise £55,000 for an operation in America to enable George to walk.

Take a look at the website 'George's first steps' to find out more.

So many people and local businesses were really generous with the raffle prizes. A particular thank you to 'The Rock Inn' and the 'King's Arms' for their dinner for 2 donations. Lucky winners!

The Maskell families tirelessly served the extremely popular tea and home made cakes.

The sun shone (amazingly despite the forecast) and it was completely delightful sitting on the terrace chatting.

The Italian Garden was full of stalls. Zac and his friend have spent the last couple of weeks making lovely things and clearing out their rooms of unwanted items to sell. They did rather well I hear.

I regretted giving Millie-grace her own purse as I think she spent all her money on the sweet stall.

Easter Art and craft was a winner. There were many delighted children running around the garden with  a fluffy sheep or butterfly on a string.

To help the children run off the energy they gained from the sweet stall we have devised an Easter egg hunt around the garden. A bit like orienteering they take a map and find their way to 8 stations marked with giant eggs around the garden and punch their card.

If they manage to find all 8 stations they win a chocolate egg.

It was also a wonderful opportunity for the adults accompanying the children to enjoy the bluebell woods. They really are magical at this time of year, the smells and sight of the daffodils, blossom, bluebells and primroses are heavenly.

Angela was on the plant and homemade produce stall. Nice blooms!

Oh yes and then there was the face painting....grrrrr!

There is so much creative talent amongst the local parents. These are some of Julie's driftwood trees from her stall of handmade driftwood delights. Kerry also had her handmade glass beads on sale. She has now started doing bead making lessons, I have to say I am tempted to have a go.

Richard, Nigel and I making a fool of ourselves on the human fruit machine. Nigel seems to be having a little trouble getting the fruit out of his bag.

The girls really enjoyed giving it a go and......

Paul really enjoyed wearing the hat...'woof!'

The Easter hat parade was too cute!

Adele compared the day wonderfully making each participant feel really special.

Then there was baby bunny cuddling. We have had yet another 'accidental' litter of baby bunnies! They were very much enjoyed by all the cuddlers.

Even the adult cuddlers. Nice Easter hats girls!

The croquet was popular, but nothing in comparison to the......

'EGGLYMPICS'. This kicked off with the children's races and then the raw egg throwing competition. Needless to say it got quite messy!

Then onto the cut throat 'mum's egg and spoon' race. And they are off!

Angela looked like she was clearly in the lead but in the last step dropped the egg leaving Mrs Baker the victorious winner. We won't hear the last of that!! Thank you everyone who worked so hard to make this fabulous day the huge success that it was. What a fantastic community we have!

Easter and a new start

Things are looking a little different around here!

Remember this is how the west wing of the house looked? The window on the right was our office

and the window on the far left was a tiny anti-room of the office which was used to house lots of our stuff we hadn't quite managed to unpack from the move 4 years ago!

When we first moved we had to set up an office quickly, so we literally set up chairs and tables and started to work. No thought went into decor or practicalities, no time for that! This is how it looked as we were packing up.

Then Winter came, and so did the builders.

We started to knock through to make a door opening

Lucky there were no guests in as it was a bit chilly for a while.

After the door hole was made we concentrated on our lovely 60's conservatory.

It was built when Pickwell Manor was a hotel and they wanted to expand their dining space. We have always used it as a games room for guests.

It took a big digger and lots of mess to get this baby down. Now it feels like it was never there!

We are absolutely loving our new look west wing!

Our Baker lounge and spare room and Jubilee lounge above, now has wonderful light pouring in the windows!

Our new office (which was our original entrance hall with a terracota quarry tile floor) has such luscious white walls I am sure it helps us to think a lot more clearly?

My only real sadness is that our stationary supplier doesn't do folders in grey...

We have all new paths, new stone edging, a lavender-lined walk way and a gorgeous bespoke oak front door.

I just love the fishing lights (here and in the entrance hall) and the post box (both from 'Grace and Glory' in Barnstaple).

Millie-Grace (aged nearly 6!) wrote a beautiful sign for me to welcome our Easter guests,

and Liza (6), Molly (8) and Millie-Grace helped decorate these pebbles to sit by the front door too. Zac (9) appears to be completely uninterested in ANYTHING the girls are doing at the moment, thus no contribution from him!

The 'office anti-room' is now this lovely boots/coats/practical space.

Is this how you spell welly's?! A few people have laughed at me for this. Anyway, this area is basically for guest use - leaving dirty boots and shoes, and storing beach equipment, if they don't want to take it all up to the apartment. We also have things people can borrow and these too will be left in the cupboards.

The anti-room then leads into the entrance lounge.

and here you have it! Inspired by the beach and all the colours you find there, from the neutral grey tones of the rocks, to the frothy white water through to the odd bit of bold green coloured string.

We are blessed with the natural features our house has given us, from the stone mullion windows and here in this case,

the gorgeous inglenook fire-place.

A gift for any designer.

I love these little bird door knobs. They are fair trade (v important) and sold through Grace and Glory again. The old sideboard was found in a shed in the garden with chain saws in it. A crime.

These lamp-posts continue the beach theme down the new paths and into our extended car-park. (The games room has been laid to rest under the car-park extension). We tested the lights last night and they light the area perfectly - phew!

The eggs hanging on our Easter tree are from our friends at Sandleigh. I heard their chicken was laying gorgeous sage coloured eggs and Sarah v kindly let me have some!

It is really important to us that our house brings rest to all those who come.

I bought this lovely piece of art in Georgeham village. There was an auction to raise money for Paul's Place, a local B&B which can also provide respite for young people with a terminal condition and their carers.

It was a friend of Paul's who painted this picture and i think it perfectly encapsulates holidays and rest and rolling hills and sea. oh, that reminds me of somewhere...

I need to thank the wonderful team that made this happen. Our builders - Steve (my magic fairy), Joel and Simon. Our plumber - Mike, the painters - Adam and Dave. Our plasterer 'gift of the gab' Dubsy and our electrician Andy. Thank you for working really hard and against the clock as usual..you've done an amazing job x