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| am I shrinking? |
Carry on with the holiday washing (9 loads...HOW!?) or write a holiday blog post?
Hmmmmm, tough choice!
So, we spent the first week of the Easter hols down in our favourite part of the UK, South Devon.
We stayed Batson Creek which is just outside Salcombe.
The little cottage was just right - and had wonderful views, which changed dramatically with the tides and the bizzare weather.
Cleggy and I sat on the bench at the top of the creek with a pint of pimms in our hand and a blanket on our knees,
like two (very happy) old people!
We filled every day to the brim - here are the highlights:
A long walk to Snapes Point - worth it for the views of Salcombe
Dam making at Hope cove...
followed by a good game of cards in the pub (with much needed roaring fire!)
Rock pooling at Milton Sands...
Spending time with Cuckoo and her gorgeous family
The boys decided Cuckoo was well worth impressing so spent many an hour perfecting their card tricks!
The second bit of the holiday was a surprise for Cleggy and the boys. I've long wanted to stay at a Featherdown Farm, and decided Easter weekend was the perfect time. So, instead of visiting our friends in Market Drayton for tea on the way home (the ruse) we arrived at a farm....no one had guessed!The lovely friends from Market Drayton DID make our tea...but they brought it to the tent in a pan!
(much appreciated S and S - and wonderful to see you all. Hope you are now enjoying Salcombe!)
If you haven't come across the idea it's well worth a look. Like camping, but with some luxuries thrown in, such as a bed!
We stayed on a dairy farm called Lipley in Shropshire.
The owners Tracey and Stephen were brilliant hosts and we learnt loads about the life of a farmer, even in a short stay. We'll never take milk for granted again!
The boys were able to bottle feed lambs and help Stephen milk the cows.
As with any good camping holiday, the boys met loads of new friends and played outside until it was dark and cold - when they moaned loudly about coming in!
It brought back so many memories of camping holidays Cleggy and I had as children - although I imagine the Grandparents are now scoffing that we call this camping!There are only five tents at Lipley - with great views
The equipment was a wonderful mixture of wood, metal, and vintage coloured enamel - just begging for photo opportunities!
We toasted anything we could get our hands on on the stove
And the Easter Bunny still found us!
The thing the boys were most excited about was the cupboard bed - so we had to have a bed rota. On the last night it was mine and Cleggys turn!
All in all a great Easter holiday was had by all.
I've got loads more lovely giveaway/swap news....but think that's enough for one post!
The post Easter diet starts
Hey, I saw lots of Dutch stuff zipping by! :-) (the coffee machine and the crates) Looks like you an awfully amazing time over there: so lovely! :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, what gorgoeus photos!
ReplyDeleteLooks and sounds like you had a wonderful time. :)
Vivienne x
Brilliant photos Fee, enough to both give a girl a taste of your week and to turn her green with envy! So happy for you that you all had such a lovely time x
ReplyDeleteWow! What an adventure for you and your family! Your boys seemed to enjoy every single minute!! The weather seemed perfect and the environments even prettier!
ReplyDeleteSo glad I found your blog. I enjoyed looking at all of your lovely images!
Wow - what a great holiday! Lovely photos. Your children look so happy xx
ReplyDeleteThank you for your gorgeous post,Ive wanted to visit this area for ages,so after looking at your beautiful photo's the hubby said why don't we visit when I'm next off work ....Yipee camping here we come.... Take Care Fee
ReplyDeleteXX Manda XX
Another WOW is on its way! Fabulous post and what a great place Featherdown Farm looks, and all those vintage things to play with, no im not jealous (a big fat lie!). This is exactly what children should be doing with their time, having fun and being outside catching the sun and fresh air. BLISS xxx
ReplyDeleteWow looks like you've had a wonderful time away - even with buried crocs!
ReplyDeleteSeeing the pic with you and your boys makes me glad that I'm not the only one who is shrinking - another 1/2 an inch and I'll be the shortest in the household :(
What an adventure and I loved taken it [albeit vicariously] with you sparkling fee.
ReplyDeleteThe pint of Pimm's looked fabulous in all it's fruity glory and the treasures found along the way were plentiful indeedy.
Wishing you and all in the Chipper Nelly household a wonderful week ahead with sweet dreams of grand adventures.
xx
Ooooooh ahhhhhh!! That looks like a fantastic holiday spent with your lovely family :) sod the washing, it'll only need doing again!! Fab post :)
ReplyDeleteJo x x x
Great post, lovely vivid pictures! We stayed at a Featherdowne farm in Devon last September It was lovely! We will hav to book another stay next Easter! My boys also loved the cupboard bed. I'm a new blogger and follower really lovely stumble across your blog!
ReplyDeleteSafia
Fantastic. We are lucky to get one family vacation a year...this year we are going to the lake. However, comparing it to your fantastic holidays is going to be difficult. Your boys must be in heaven with all that fresh air. Lovely pics as ever...smiles...Renee
ReplyDeleteOh what fabulous holidays you've had. Your photos a fabulous, a wonderful diary of the fun things you did. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAnne xx
Oh how lovely......I just love Salcombe, we stayed at Hope Cove last time we were down there ....you have just brightened my day with lovely memories ... I can nearly smell the sea air!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Washing!
Fleur xx
Ah, such a lovely post Fee...this is my perfect kind of holiday...your boys look so happy (love the pic of the 3 of them together)...I do love that area of the country and the pasties can't be beaten!
ReplyDeleteSusan x
You take stunning pics Fee, you capture every moment gorgeously. I could eat one of those pasties right here, right now!
ReplyDeleteMy friend used to run a Featherdown Farm place in Somerset, not sure if she still does it. They are lush though and I bet you loved.
Nice to see your boys with Big and Little Cuckoo boys, it's been a mighty long time since I last saw them. October....actually not that long, although it seems it!
Just packed up a tremendous picnic and it's started POURING!!! Me thinks a picnic on the rug in the living room instead.
x
x x
My comments never live up to the posts you produce, so here's another mediocre comment about how wonderful I think your blog is and hope it suffices. I won't say 'hope you had an amazing time' because I can plainly see that you did and yes, you are shrinking! x
ReplyDeleteWow! I feel like I just took a vacation myself! Thank you for your beautiful photos and for sharing your lovely holiday and family. I just started following you from the U.S. and I am enamored with English blogs! I feel like I've come home and maybe in a way I have! LOL!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you were lucky with the weather - all the rain must have been in North Wales with us ;) The glamping looks fab, such a brilliant way to camp.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't the stripey pink shop look cheerful and inviting!
What a fantastic holiday and your photos do it justice. I particularly loved the textures in the rock pool photos - makes me itch to be by the sea!!
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Fee...what a great time you all had on your two different holidays! I love Devon too, and staying in a cottage there is bliss to me....and the camping bit...with beds?? Yes, that might well be my kind of camping!
ReplyDeleteHope the washing is all done now!
Have a happy weekend.
Helen x
What an absolute fantastic post - your pictures and the way you've grouped them are just stunning.
ReplyDeleteI live about as far away from the coastline as you can get in this country and am really yearning for the sea at the moment. Love, love all your beachy pics particularly.
So glad you had such a brilliant time. Green with envy I tell you!
Hx
PS. Yes, you probably are shrinking. If your boys are anything like mine and affectionately tap you on top of the head regularly, it's bound to have an effect!!!!!!
You and Cuckoo together in Salcombe, it will never be the same again hehe. Seriously though, gorgeous photos, gorgeous boys, gorgeous you!!!!Such a fun family holiday. I shrunk years ago, however I am still taller than the cat. What a lush 'tent' oh, oh and the wood stove, I used to cook on one myself.
ReplyDeletexx Sandi
It looks like it was a really fantastic trip! Salcombe is beautiful, isn't it? We used to live in Devon - in Exmouth - before we moved to Germany. And Salcombe was one of my favourite places to visit.
ReplyDeleteThe 'tent' looks amazing!!! It would resolve our 'I only do hotels - with proper beds!' 'But I LIKE camping' argument! The best of both worlds!!! ;-)
Carly
x
A stone just like Thurleston Rock! Well I never! That's almost as impressive as the boys tricks (oh I do love your boys). My two bigguns are still asking for The Mates. And Mr C came out with another complimentary statement about you today. Seriously, I am floored!! And delighted of course.
ReplyDeleteThat second part of your holiday is fantastic, though I thought you went spur of the minute like, didn't know you'd pre booked, I was well impressed witht he thought that you just decided to holiday a bit more....actually if I think about it, organising a secret surprise holiday is very clever and gives me a few ideas for Mr C's birthday. What were the other suggestions you made? I was too bladdered on Pimms to remember what you said now.
My liberty scarf still smells of you from where I squirted myself with your perfume. Is it weird that I find the smell very comforting?
xxx
ps I didn't like to say but you are visibly shrinking, like reverse bamboo.
pps. Am peeved I can't comment from my phone here.
Someone asked me if I had new shoes on the other day and, all flattered that they'd noticed, I gave them a bit of a twirl - to which they replied 'it's just that you look even shorter than normal'. Be short and proud and remember that you can buy cheap kids' shoes, and johnnieb clothes...
ReplyDeleteThe hols look amazing - so glad you had a great time. Have looked into those Featherdown Farms hols before - they look right up my street.
Let's do our swine club soon...
Emily x
Wow! That all looks like such fun. I wish I could take all of your vacations!
ReplyDeleteAbout the shrinking.... As long as you don't do like I do and spread sideways as your stature decreases, I think you will be okay. ;)
oH WOW! Feather and Down holibobs, lucky lucky you ~ dying to try it too! Loved all the snaps, we have family in Thurlestone and so it all looked beautifully familiar but lovely to see it through your eyes...hmm, I'm back to yearning for the cupboard bed...
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday evening Fee,
Sarah -x-
No, not shrinking I think you were standing in a dip!
What a super pretty, jam-packed-with-fun holiday post!! You have got me all excited about our family holiday to Devon this June...(and reminded me that I must stock up on crocks for our brood of boys!!)
ReplyDeleteThank you for popping by and leaving the lovely comment on my blog... you are absolutely right I am definitely 'pinker' for living in a house full of males... they put up with my girly-ness very well actually, poor loves... but then I do a good job putting up with the toilet seat always being up!! Ha ha
Good luck with that washing pile... actually I'd better go and tackle mine...!
Louise xx
Hi Fee,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a delightful holiday! South Devon looks like a beautiful part of England to go too. So much fun meeting Cuckoo and her boys!!
Good luck with the housework!
Madelief x
I just came back to say,
ReplyDeleteI nominated your blog for a Leibster award. Just a bit of reader building fun.
http://honeybumblecustomdyed.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/soup-on-wet-wednesday.html
Really enjoyed scrolling through this post again. Please go away rain so I can go to the beach.
What a magical holiday..pure joy is all that I see. Your photos are the best. Thank you so much for sharing...your boys are adorable {and so are YOU}
ReplyDeleteHappy day to you....we are eating up the last of the Easter treats too...thank goodness! xoxoox Hugs
It all looks so fabulous... and having just had salad for lunch, I quite fancy eating a pasty the size of my head...
ReplyDeleteAs for the shrinking - I daren't wear a red cardigan in the school yard for fear of being ushered inside with year 6!
Have a great weekend and Happy Birthday to GB!
x
Fabulous photos! Love the hole-y stone one - and your comments on the first one. It's just how I feel with 2 growing girls.
ReplyDeleteA fabulous addition in this month's POTM Club fee - I enjoyed it just as much the second time around....this time the three cheeky lambs poking through the fence tickled my fancy most.
ReplyDeleteHappy day to all in the Chipper household.
xx
Lovely photos! Plus I had a great time reading your post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing such precious memories
That was a great holiday with the family. Hope my parents will surprise us even a cheap family holidays it will be a great time for us.
ReplyDeleteHi fee, Amazing pictures. For the moment I was totally in your pictures.
ReplyDelete