Dave is playing bridge. The bulk of the guests have headed out for their daily walk. I seem to have the hotel to myself …bliss! Outside The Dunkery Lounge is the swimming pool. The water is heated! Heaven to swim in. How lovely to float surrounded by that view! West Somerset is wonderful! Last night at dinner a red deer doe came out of the … Continue reading Drowsing in the summer sun!

The first half of the journey should have taken about three hours. It was more than double that. For most of our journey this was the view. I didn’t take this but I could have! I found it online! I was shattered when I got there . This was not helped by the SatNav taking us past where we were staying for seven miles then … Continue reading At the end of an exhausting drive!

Yesterday we headed for the capital of Nothern Ireland. Just 16 miles away. Ben drove to the park and ride. Once there we were surprised by Derek who’d taken the bus in from Ballynahinch. Once in the city we got tickets for the hop on, hop off tour bus. The guides were excellent ant the bus took us to places we’re never have got to … Continue reading Tiring, but worth it. Our day in Belfast. Crumlin Road Gaol and The Titanic!

The sun was shining and the wind was light as we set off for Strangford to take the ferry across to Portaferry. We had planned to go to Mount Stewart and then to an open far,. Following a chat with my brother-in-law our plans changed! We decided to head south on a science route around the end of the peninsula. This is the view from … Continue reading The Ards Peninsula

  Today started out quite misty so we decided to go to Belfast Zoo before visiting mum. I made the mistake of sending Ben to Belfast via Carryduff! It would have been better to go to Lisburn and get the M1 there! The zoo was at Cave Hill and when we got there we realized that it had some very steep inclines so Ben suggested … Continue reading Animal Mad

  We had planned to spend the day in Belfast at The TitanicMuseum and on a hop on and off tour of the city. Unfortunately one of my grandsons slept in so it was too late. We decided to go to the Celtic fort at Navan  instead. I thought it was in Antrim so off we set. I was glad Ben would have a much … Continue reading From America, back in time to the Celts!

  Here are two of my grandsons at the Ulster Folk Museum. Initially Erran did not want to have his photo taken, hence the hood! it was quite a long drive for Ben as we drove from County Down to County Tyrone. We left late so stopped for lunch on the way west. Initially we walked through the woods to the first exhibit. This was … Continue reading Home in Ulster en route to America

The first part of the journey back from Cornwall to Essex was lovely. We stopped at Taunton and had a lovely meal with an old school friend. The next day was not so good – we left about 1/4 to 10 in pouring rain. The M5 was quite close and we looked set for an easy journey home. How wrong we were! I should have … Continue reading Down Time

Our last day in Cornwall and as the sun was shining we decided to go to Golitha Falls and from there go the Hurlers at Minions. The weather was glorious and we perused the map carefully before setting out. In case we got lost we put the SatNav on for Doublebois but ignored it as it tried to send us along minor roads. We’ve learned … Continue reading Waterfalls and Minions!

It’s  been lovely staying with my sister and brother in law in Cornwall. They came here 17 years ago when they bought a farm house in a field. It’s amazing what they’ve done. The garden is truly lovely. When we come we stay in the annexe. The view out of the kitchen area is the first garden they made. When you look at the photographs, … Continue reading Why go anywhere else?