A peek into the new abode...

Fireplace in the lounge room

Our lovely window and (out of control!) geraniums, with our little dining table

It's a bed, it's a lounge...

Stove top with recycled (from the lolly shop) canisters, and smiley magnet from Dad (from eons ago)
The bathroom with a rainy view

The most amazing granny blanket, made my Steve's Granny

Bedroom mantle

Some of the pebbles and feathers I've collected (see the little sharks head pebble bottom left!?)

Some of the Slapton pebbles, and also a big clear quartz crystal terminator (top right), found by Steve on the farm

Peace baby postcard from the 1920s (From Steves Granny) and some of our heart shaped pebbles

To Dartington

I have been walking this track most days for the past couple of weeks...

It runs along the river, and two miles, (3kms) away is Dartington a little village, but specifically the site of the magnificent estate/arts centre, (where we've picnicked before)... plus the cider mill, a 'shopping complex'/artists centre.

Two days this week, Steve has dropped me off there on his way to work, and I have run, (some) of the way home.

Weekend recap...

Our home internet has been temperamental for the past two days, so I haven't had the chance to blog until now.

To be honest I don't mind all that much... It's a little like the weather here, (specifically sunshine), the sporadic nature of these things, forces you to make the most of them while you can...

The weekend, from what I can remember of it, contained:

Friday night was a, (recently), rare treat with Steve coming home before 7pm...

It was a lovely night, so we headed to the park that runs alongside the river Dart, just over the bridge... Homemade babaganoush, hummus, and a baby spinach salad with organic loaf.

Oh, and organic strawberries bought at the market earlier in the day, (£1.50 wohoo!), with soy yoghurt. We tried scrabble, except I was having a most unscrabulous time,(poor Stevie was playing superbly!), so we switched to frisbee.
(Dad you were right) Steve trying to stab me with his fork

Saturday was a lovely and warm day with lots of sunshine spent at the farm.

Steve and I took a picnic to the farm. We picked up a terribly excited Bilbo enroute, and set up camp in a flat area by the little river that runs through the farm. Cute and unusual little berry I found

Fast part of the river

Bilbo was so happy, racing around, exploring every stem of grass and pebble. Often you would hear the far off tink, tink of his tags, and then see the swaying trajectory of some tall ferns, before finally he'd emerged- I could swear, grinning from ear to ear :)
Every time you'd throw a stick, no matter how treacherous it's resting position, Bilbo would race after it with single visioned determination. He charged in to the river, without a second thought.

It was actually very hot, so I decided to join Bilbo in the river for a swim. It was, as predicted, really cold, (too cold for Steve hah!), but it was lovely none the less. So lovely that I infact had another swim just before we left for home.

After my second swim

After lunch we followed the river to the far corner of the property, before trekking up an incline to a field of hay, (to be)...

We walked to a high point of the property, and had a great view of some of the farm, and the land around it.

If you look really hard to the far right, (centre frame) you can see the hay bales, which Stevie has been working so hard to make lately!

Bilbo and I then had to herd some sheep towards Steve... Later while Bilbo and Steve were herding some cows, I had to drive the, (manual) car, (arrhahaha) around the paddock and through the gate, to pick them up. No cows, sheep, dogs or humans were harmed in the process.

Bilbo was very happy but thoroughly tuckered out by the end of the day!

Once home Steve and I somehow ended up taking it in turns, surprising each other with old school (1980s) video clips, on u-tube. Me, with my 'special' new sports glasses, (so I could see the videos), had myself my very own dork dance party!
Embarrassing, but too funny not to include... I believe this was me dancing to 'You spin me round' :)

Sunday was ridiculously hot, (by English/Sally standards), so Steve and I, (and hordes of others), headed to the beach.

Steve somehow managed to garner some great wind breaks, (which are popular here), so we had a cosy little camp site on the beach. I had TWO swims again, (Steve ahem one short one). One swim was so long, even I considered the possibility that I may have lost my mind!
We ended up leaving at 6pm, after a picnic and apple cider icy poles, with red shoulders and salty skin... are blissfulness indeed.

Walking to get the icy poles

One of the local 'bums' who has seemingly taken a liking to me, (although I don't think she's too particular), saw me walking to the shops to get something for dinner and said :

"Arrr sweet-art, luk at you lukin so summ-ary n gorge-us"

Yes, it seems I am inadvertently developing a sun tan! hah

More house guests...

Last night Steves' Mum V, and his great Aunty M came over for dinner.
They also bought our most enthusiastic house guest yet- Bilbo, V's dog.
He was SO excited to have a new place to explore, and was very surprised to find Stevie here!
We have quickly become friends :)

I cooked eggplant and butterbean spaghetti, and Steve cooked apple and gooseberry crumble- YUM!

It was a really nice evening.

Summer begins to feel real...

Today was a beautiful summers day, replete with sunshine and warmth.

Steve, D and I had breakfast together, before showing her around town on foot, and finally going to the lovely Dartington for a picnic.

The most enormous and delicious salad, with tahini dressing, and an organic loaf of bread.

We sat, (or lay), here

Then Steve and I dropped D at the local train station, grabbed some chocolate soy ice-cream :) and headed for the beach.

I had a quick swim, while Steve opted for the warmth of the pebbles instead.

The sunshine was delicious. We stayed until 7pm, talking, laughing and looking for 'lord of the pebbles', (we didn't find him, but we did find some great ones to add to our collection).

Me in my usual state

We then raced back home to get changed, before heading back to Dartington to watch the "Sex and the City" movie. There was such an assortment of ages, and at least one man for every ten women! haha

Stone circles and round-a-bouts...

This afternoon Steve and I drove to Wiltshire, to visit his globe-trotting friend from his university days.
She was in England for the weekend, to attend a wedding, and it had been some years since they had seen each other.

We arrived in Wiltshire, some four, (arr!) hours after we set off. Enroute, we saw a chalk horse in a field.

Together, we all went to Avebury, (dated around 5,000 years ago!!), which is similar to Stonehenge, but much bigger. It is also not as well known, so you can actually touch the enormous stones. Some of them are 6 metres long and weigh 20 tonnes- imagine them being rolled to their current positions thousands of years ago! Sheep too, are able to graze amongst the great stones.

Sheeps favourite scratching post

We then had dinner at an authentic English pub, (my first!), and then drove the four hours home together, arriving around 1am!

Authentic Devon day...

Today Stevie worked half a day, and we went to the local, (closest town to the farm) fair.

There was bric-a-brac sales, how-fast-can-he-shear-a-sheep-betting, pony rides, dog showing and ferret racing!

It wasn't particularly warm, but when the sun came out it was lovely!

We bought two books 50p each :), had a tour of the churchs'(built in 1300) bell tower, (which offered great views), and lay in the grass to watch the dog showing.

My favourite showing category was "most pleading eyes" :)

View from the bell tower

[Note to Dad: Many people were stopping Steve to have a chat, and I saw some of his relatives graves in the lovely little churchyard]

In the late afternoon we went for drive through the Dartmoor national park.

English national parks are quite incredible, as farmers can have grazing rights, and graze their livestock on the land. Dartmoor is full of sheep, cows and horses, that all roam unhindered by fences.

We did a little walk up to Grimspound, and lay in one of the ancient ruins of a stone hut for a while, watching the sun descend to the horizon.

We then made our way home, passing through the Widecombe-in-the-moor, (of the famous Widecombe fair).

And stopping to take the view in from a tor.

And how could I resist such a great jumping opportunity!?

The pleasures of lifes details

Today was one of those days when you feel grateful to be alive.

It was a beautiful summers day, and not a pseudo "English Summers day", but a good and proper summers day. It felt balmy and delicious, and the sun never stopped shinning.

I joined a bunch of other Totnesians in the local graveyard which overlooks Totnes, laying in the lush grass, reading my book and enjoying the sunshine.

In the afternoon I went for a walk on the the low Totnes to Ashprington path. I only saw one other person the whole time. There were so many butterflies, and swallows. The blackberries are starting to ripen, I ate one.
Hot and contemplating braving it, and having a swim in the Dart, I tried to make my way closer to the river, and inadvertantly found some stining nettle instead. Arr not a good feeling, but much better than the American poison ivy, which can be transferred by touching an affected area. Straight back home.

Delicious dinner of chips, sausages and baby spinach salad with Steve’s famous tahini dressing. Then serenaded Steve with some impromptu piano music.

Meet the parents

Steve’s Dad, (Tom) & his partner came for dinner tonight.
It was a bit like Murphy’s law 101. With the oven not cooking the pizzas evenly, and it all taking much longer than it should have. Then me losing half of Steve’s topping upon serving it. Oh and the pizza sticking to the baking paper too! But overall the food was really good, with the crumble king, again making apple & raspberry crumble for dessert. Yum!

There was a little bit of the parental interrogation, which was pleasing to Steve, hah!

I got to see Toms' sentimental side as he spoke of child Stevie.
He grew a little misty eyed as he spoke of little Steve creeping in to his bedroom at night, only to find his little brother, already tucked up in the parental bed, which would lead him to sleepily crawl into his Dads work jeans on the floor, and go to sleep.
[Come on Dad, you tough nut!- you can't fake this! hah]

It was also nice seeing the little bits of Steve's face that may have come from Tom.

Perfect summers day

I drew back the curtains in our bedroom with a flourish, and amidst jumping up and down, proceeded to give my (now common) weather forecast. There was not a cloud to be seen, and the weather forecast noted that it was to be a perfect summers day.

We started with a car boot sale [ceramic owls for Nonna £0.30, hand knitted jumper for Gareths son £1, new wellies for me £3].

The owl mans’ stall consisted entirely of ceramic owls, I asked if it was his collection- "Yes… well, part of it!… I just ran out of room in my house, so I need to get rid of some of them".
I commented to the knitting lady, how cheap her items were- £1!!! She said, all the yarn is recycled, so her materials are cheap… meaning, she gets old jumpers, unravels them (!!), and knits them into new childrens items… I asked her about labour and she laughed and said she never worries about that.

On the way home we passed pick-your-own farm, and pulled in for some raspberries. I was thinking of getting a modest pail, but Steve was feeling more ambitious, and wanted to fill the giant basket we were given for picking.

You get the most satisfying feeling as you pick raspberries. When the berry, comes clean off the vine, and there is the impercepitble plop of the core being removed.

All this raspberry joy was short lived, as we went to the ‘weigh station’. "£15 thank you" I thought Steve was taking it terribly well, as he handed over the money without so much as an imp. Back in the car, he just sat glazed over and staring blankly ahead. It seems he was still in shock, and as it wore off it became apparent he felt more like throwing the pail at the sweet-but-crafty-old-raspberry-lady than making crumble! I tried to counter with my usual- well we’ve picked raspberries now, we can cross that off our list!

On to Dartington hall gardens, organic loaf, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, baby spinach and salt & pepper in hand. We sat on the steps of the grand lawn amphitheatre, kicked off our shoes and ate our delicious lunch in the growing sunshine.
With full bellies we stepped down into the centre of the ampitheatre, treading on squishy clover and buttercups, to play frisbee. I kept taking off items of clothes, but still I was hot!
"A swim, a swim, I want a swim!"

Stevie kindly indulged my insanity and took me to a beautiful part of Ashburton, where the river dart, rapidous and gurgling, runs through some lush woods. The woods were cool and damp, and I was not quite so keen to get in… but I didn’t feel able to reneg. this late in the piece!

I stood on an immersed rock, and felt the chill- instant numbness, which quickly turned into pain. I hopped out to deliberate, then feet in again, then out, then in, then out, and finally, with Steve almost falling in from the banks through laughter, I glided in fully.

I emerged making primordial sounds, part scream, part laugh, shouting "It’s so cold, it’s so fast. Oh-my-god it’s so cold!" Then returning to the shore, promptly asked Steve if he was going to join me. Feet in he tried to protest "But I don’t even like swimming! Honestly, I really don’t!". Screaming, he bravely dove in, and quickly made his way out. By this time, I must have been near manic and certainly numb, I was, what only could be described as frolicking. Diving under to the bottom, and up again, swimming against the rapids, and finally emerging from the river, with a rock from the middle of the dart!

Evidently the cold affected my brain and voice!! :)

Home to make a salad and apple (and ahem raspberry) crumble, then on to Steve’s old home for a BBQ with his friends.
The BBQ was in an icredible dome of twisted willow, with a circular opening at the top, where the sky could be seen… below were pavers, with a pit fire in the centre, and cushions all around. Two other couples joined us, and we feasted on elderflower cordial, chile marinated kebabs with mango (unusual but delicious!), salads with divine tahini dressing, and the best apple raspberry crumble! (Made by Steve).

It seems the weather lady was right, a perfect summers day!!

English Riviera

Hooray, no rain!

After going to a(nother) car-boot sale [braun mix stick/food processor £1.50, 70's pitcher £1], Steve and I just kept a'goin on the road, and ended up at Paignton.
I had come to think, that outside of London, England must be all quaint villages, where passers by nod at each other on their way to picking up a loaf of freshly baked bread.
Paignton had flashing lights, ice-creameries and "Around a Pound"s... the people waddled between "real Devonshire teas" and "Devons finest fish and chips".
We had arrived in the English Riviera, Steve and I kept driving. Torbay and Brixham, where the hills trailing in to the sea, seem to be constructed of the tiny share-the-walls homes which come in every colour imaginable.
£3 saw us across the river on the car ferry, to Dartmouth.

The people suddenly looked quite different, and there were no flashing lights to be seen. Looked somewhat like Totnes, with Tudor buildings and such.

Home for lunch, then still with no rain, on to the beach at Slapton.
We came prepared with books, scrabble, swimmers (a little too cold for that!), jumpers, jackets, crisps and cake. When the clouds cleared it was beautiful to lay on the pebbles and absorb some of the suns warmth.
Slapton is a great place for collecting rocks. The find of the day, was a red (!!), palm sized, perfectly formed heart shape rock… Our mantel is becoming full of these beach finds.
We ate crisps and played scrabble, with me coming away with the game- unheard of!!!
Left the beach at 8pm :)

(This was taken from the beach, looking back into the countryside, just before we left)

Art opening

Steve and I had a quick dinner after he came home from work, before leaving for an exhibition openening.

His old housemate, T, had some pieces in an exhibition of Devon sculptors, which was being held at the lovely Dartington Estate. Friday was the special preview opening.

It was funny to note that gallery goers, the bona-fide, attend-openings-drink-the-wine-and-schmooze kind, are the same the world over. Or at least, I spotted many of the same characters at this opening, as I have seen at openings in Sydney.
The uniform is this strange mix of dignified class, with a twist of dishrevel and I-just-sort-of-rolled-into-these-clothes attitude. There are lots of hats, scarves, and for the ladies, chunky beaded necklaces.

T's works were certainly some of my favourites. But everything, especially in pounds was by far out of our price range! :)

Met some interesting, strange and lovely people, (I think Brett was right, about true eccentrics inhabiting England!), and finished our evening with a walk around the beautiful gardens.