Around town...

What a great name for a street... who knows how it came to be? :)

(Always) Excited to be home...

Thursday recap - Chagford Show

Thursday seems so long ago...
I am only now feeling like I am actually inhabiting the land of the living... I still have not ventured far from the couch.
A nasty cold tackled me with full force on Saturday, out of nowhere it came:
I was having a nice swim, (no, don't tell me it was the swim!), and then I was having sneezing fits reading in the grass... which turned into perpetual runny nose, sore throat, watery eyes, headachey kind of thing by the next morning.

But Thursday? Yes Thursday was lovely!
One of the nicest days we've had in a long while... So Steve, after turning a field while Bilbo and I watched:


took the day off. Not before first, letting me drive, (steer) the tractor to the appropriate field, through other fields, and down proper roads... he took over when we came face to face with the mail van, on a narrow, (they're all narrow) road lined with hedges. Fun, fun :)

Here's the beautiful farm... it's not dry, it's very green under all that cut grass. It's just biding it's time before being made into silage, or was it hay?

And my buddy, the mighty Bilbo, after doing such a great job seeking out the ball, taking a well earned rest... The other day, he chose my rain jacket as his bed in the back of Steve's car... we are firm friends :)

Steve and I went to Chagford Show... a little town, (where he went to school), with a BIG annual agricultural show. There were many impressive looking rams and ewes...

And a village crazy, covered in badges, who ranted at Steve and Bilbo as I took this photo...



Bilbo was very excited to have a day out. There were SO many dogs to sniff! Pure doggie heaven. For the most part he was very well behaved, and a happy trio were we :)



The agricultural tent, with one of the winning scarecrows... There were some beautiful Dahlias again!:



And great kids contributions. This time our favourites, were the vegetable dinosaurs. Here is my personal favourite:



There were many donkeys on display, and I petted them all. This little guy, (he was teeny tiny!), was my favourite. He was softer than a puppy, and so lovely. I really wanted to take him home.



Of course we couldn't go home without getting a dip in. Steve had seen this place on the map, another weir, and we decided to check it out. It was a little work along a public footpath, which actually traversed through someones farm. Along the river Teign, and to this weir. It was very pretty, surrounded by paddocks on one side, and big trees on the other.
There was a rope swing, and yes paretals, after deducing it was deep enough, Steve and I tried it out. It was a first for both of us, but we had so much fun!!!

Colour me Sally...

Bringing a wave of colour to Totnes...

Going to the exhibition opening at Dartington:

My favourite new outfit, (dress £1)...

I feel like I belong in a "Miffy" book in this outfit:

Here I am at the "Sex and the City" screening... Arrrrrr that's a lot of yellow!

Steve and I inside the cinema... There was actually lots of men there- about 1 in 5! haha

Hair cuts...

Yesterday I was reminded why I only get a hair cut once a year or so...

I wonder why I always think this time the hairdresser will actually cut my hair like I ask...

When I got home and looked in the mirror, I almost cried...

I don't know how she managed to cut so much of my hair off without me even realising it.

Steve was very unsure to begin with, but he says it, (unlike my hair), is growing on him...
He says it's a cool kids hair cut.

Do I look convinced!?

Ashprington Walk...

Yesterday Steve got home early, (6pm). As it was raining so heavily yesterday, there was no chance of making silage, so it was a boring day at the office...

Because of this, we decided to do something... go for a walk...


Steve had seen this track on a map, and we decided we'd like to check it out. It looked to be a few kms each way. On went the wellies and rain jackets- although it seemed to have cleared up!


It is really beautiful there, it's about 3 miles away from Totnes, and a lot of the land belongs to Sharpham trust- a Buddhist study centre/retreat/vineyard...The beautiful Dart, looking downstream

We walked on a muddy road, lined with hedgerows...

Unsurprisingly the sky opened up again, and the rain grew torrential... It was so beautiful though, (I really am growing to appreciate this rain stuff- today I went for a 6km bike ride in the driving rain)...

We walked right to the banks of the Dart, passing a beautiful old barn, (still in use). It had a partially collapsed old, old wall surrounding it...

The wall had these enormous, (I think they were oaks), growing right on top of the wall, (those sections were remarkably intact!)the roots just reached down over the wall into the soil...

On the banks of the river there was a tyre swing... I went so high I screamed...

It was a hard walk back up the hill, as I was feeling a little queasy after the swing!

We got home at 9pm, and didn't eat dinner til 10pm... bed 11pm... hmmmn

Herding cows...

On Sunday it was dry, but overcast, and the clouds spat on us cheekily, threatening to continue their outpouring of Saturday...

So no silage making for Steve. There were however some cows to herd, and with the quad bike broken it was foot power.



We went to the farm, picking up my (now) buddy, Bilbo...
It always rains even more on the Moor, and thus things were very wet!


In our wellies we separated and ran, making strange primordial sounds as we neared the bullocks... I developed a strange "he-yuh, he-yuh", which was suprisingly effective...
We had them on the run...
In and out the first gate, first time... arrr it felt good, what a triumph! :) hah
The next gate wasn't quite so easy! But eventually we got them to where they were supposed to be.
Steve said it appeared I had been herding cows for some twenty years- hah, I'm not sure if that's a good thing!?



Then with shitty/muddy boots I jumped in the drivers seat, and did a few laps of the paddock...

Bringing some dork glamour to the farm! :) haha

There were two stalls when trying to start, but once we were off it was relatively smooth sailing, (once Steve had pointed out it wasn't a ute- ie slow down Sally!)...

Fun, fun...

Grand Totnes Carnival Parade...

As detailed in my earlier post with the pillow boxing video, Saturday was very wet.

All week the Totnes Carnival has been going on around town.

There has been: the cutest baby competition, running races between the local police and fire departments, teddy bears picnic, floral dance parade etc etc

Saturday night was the grand finale- the Totnes Carnival Parade, which ran all the way down high street, (right past our window)...

Fancy dress galore, local firies, vintage cars, festooned floats, local towns Miss's(pagent queens- shout out to Miss Crookwell showgirl!!)...

It was so wet, and continued to rain heavily as the parade was starting at 6pm...

It was pretty lame yes, but arrr it's great to have and support local things such as this :)

Place your bets...

How long will it take Steve and I to eat these oats, (25kg)?

You can respond in weeks, months or years :)

Rainy day frustration fun...

Today was wet... really, really wet...

Steve and I roamed the house like bored children... frustration mounted...

What are we going to doooooooooooooo!?

Somehow, (although I'm sure it was Steve's idea), we, or should I say, I, started doing this:

This was on the other side of the camera...

He said he needed every one of the pillows!

She's got wheels....

Except they're not exactly mine, they're Steve's... but seeing as he has 4 wheels already, these two are mine :)


I was so excited to go for my first ride today, and as if just for the occasion, it was a proper summers day...
It even had that pervading sense of possibility, like anything can happen... and lots of sunshine!

On the way, I stopped at the weir and had a swim...

Getting out, some local kids had stopped to use the rope swing...


"Do you actually swim!?... Gosh, I'll jump in, but there's no way I'd actually stay in there to swim!"

(Too cold apparently)
I'll admit, today it was a quick swim!- it did feel pretty cold.

I dried off, and rode on to Dartington.
Where I had lunch by the old kilns.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was slowly walking the lower ashprington track, container in hand, collecting blackberries, with the sun warming my back... I thought of Uncle Marks' recent comment:

That Steve and I aren't living a life like the rustic idyll, we are living the rustic idyll...

As the butterflies circled around my hands, (No poetic license, this actually happened! hah), I thought, yes, yes, yes!

Came home and made apple and blackberry crumble- delicious!

I'm excited about autumn and the chance to maybe find some wild mushrooms, and harvest chestnuts- wild food is the greatest! :)

Last night Steve came home with a bunch of beautiful and colourful flowers. His neighbour was selling them, (zinnias), with an honesty box system.

The rustic idyll continued this morning with a trip to the weekly market, where I bought the weekly vegetables: eggplant, red & yellow capsicums, zucchini and garlic...

A glimpse of the town...

Here is our lovely home, known by some as the 'Fudge Palace'... Can you see our geraniums?

Notice all the people making a beeline for the fudge shop!? It seems people are mad for it.

I had to buy some for a present the other day-

"What kind of fudge would you like?"

"Just fudge, fudge"

It turns out there are many types of fudge- vanilla, mocha, chocolate, English etc etc...

Here is our home and its immediate surrounds...

It's a vegans paradise, with a fudge shop, butcher, deli, and cafe specialising in Devon cream teas, all next door...

(And don't adjust your TV sets... the fuzz in the image is actually a glare flare... from sunshine!)

Here is the River Dart, just in town...

Weekend recap - August 10

Sunday

The weather forecast said it was to be sunny and 18 today for south-east Devon... no such luck! Driving back in to Totnes at the end of the day however, it was clear it had not rained there at all!

We started our day, by stopping in the moor to collect some more wortleberries, (wild blueberries). We collected a little tub full, and will have them on our oats for breakfast.

The heather was wild and blooming...

We then went to a town called 'South Zeal', to see some of the Dartmoor folk festival. There were morris dancers- apparently this is a traditional style of dance, hundreds of years old. There were the more tame versions from oxfordshire...

And then the manly, man Dartmoor ones...

You can't tell, but they were hitting each others sticks so hard, huge splinters kept flying off! Their sticks were whittled down to almost nothing by the end of it! Also they had all manner of animals tales on their hats "Urr Urr Urr!" -very manly haha

Pretty South Zeal

On we went to another part of the moor. Steve had come to this old disused quarry as a teenager, and was sure we would be able to swim there. Arrr what paradise we discovered- we can't believe this hasn't been featured in any of the wild swimming books!

It was very deep, and very large... so the water was quite cool, but not as cold as the Dart. The colour of the water, and the surrounding trees was really something else. A really magical swimming experience!
It may be hard to see... but my face is just popping up out of the water as I float on my back... I also have a huge grin on my face...

Afterwards, on the banks, back in our warm clothes, we ate a late lunch, and drank hot water from our new thermos...

Here I am terribly excited on discovering the water is the perfect drinking temperature, (a good few hours after we put it in there) This isn't rehearsed, or me being ironically melodramatic... I really am this much of a dork naturally!

We walked out...It was really muddy! Yay for wellies!

And then drove home through the moor. Stopping on our way to see the big reservoir nearby, and the spinsters stones which were erected some 5,000 years ago! They are now in someones paddock, used as shelter and again it seems, a good scratching post.

I suppose 5,000 years is too large an expanse of time for me to really get my head around... so I probably wasn't as awed as was deserving... instead what really thrilled me was the baby sheep and goats in the paddock, which ran over to us... and got so close, we could pet them :)

Weekend recap - August 8 & 9

Friday

Saturday

Steve and I woke up to more rain...

I was excited at the prospect of another froggy swim, so insisted we start our day with a swim in the Dart. It was pretty miserable on the banks of the dart, and as I shivered out of my tracksuit... I wondered what on earth I was doing...

But in I went, and an at first reluctant Steve too! It wasn't as good a frog experience as the other day- the water seemed a lot cooler... but I stayed in for a little while, and both Steve and I felt incredible when we were out...

Our spirits lifted we came home for an impromptu dance party, and an early lunch...

On to a dartmoor village, (where his Dad was born, and grandparents lived), show...

It was bucketing down, yet still, out the villagers came :)

There was a wellie tossing competition...

Agri/cultural competition tent...

With beautiful dahlias

And amazing vegetable people made by kids, (I thought Dad would like these!)

The ticketed highlight of the show was the performing pigs. The weather was so bad one pig refused to take part, (there was rumoured to be a pork roast for dinner that night). However Rupert, was a good sport, and humoured the humans in between vigorously eating grass.

He kicked, (snouted) a soccer ball into a goal, twice! He played a keyboard. He opened a door latch... And he put wooden shapes into their specific holes! arr brilliant!

We bought 4 books for £1, including the fantastic "Husband Don'ts" written in 1913...

And also a terrific 1950's thermos- 20p

On the way home, we passed this, (and something like it, many times)... Oh, dear ol' Dartmoor!