The Orchid Event followed by Cockington Forge!

We went to the information room last night to start planning the trips for the rest of the week, and found a beautiful leaflet about Orchid Paradise. It's dog friendly and has a coffee shop, and gives you all the hints and tips of how to grow the perfect orchid, as well as showing off some of the varieties in bloom.

Great, we said. We can do that on the morning, followed by the obligatory trip to Trago for a mooch around, and then onto Cockington Forge in the afternoon for coffee and cake. Sorted!

When we arrived, we were quite disappointed. We expected a large sprawling building, much like the large garden centre chains that you see on the outskirts of most towns, instead we got an old, small, dilapidated building. Not quite in keeping with the image that pops into your mind when you think of an orchid!

We decided on the car park, not to go into the paid side of the building, but kept the visit to the plant sales building. All the time, very disappointed with what we were seeing - certainly not a paradise!

As we walked back to the car, Mike spotted a large banner against the wall, stating there was an Orchid Event that weekend. What??? Will they be singing and dancing to make themselves more desirable? Needless to say, for the rest of the week 'The Event' was mentioned on numerous occasions, along with laughter that made us cry! Perhaps you had to be there to find it so funny, but trust me, it was!

We escaped The Event, and headed a few minutes up the road to Trago, for a wander around, and a pasty lunch, then it was Cockington Forge. We loved our trip there in the Summer and really wanted to return once more.

The weather was blue skies and tiny showers of mizzle, but this did not deter us. We wandered through the grounds of Cockington House, and then got seats inside, where we had some lovely big slices of cake with tea and coffee.

Both of the dogs got treated like royalty by everyone. After all who can resist a pair of handsome westies, when they look so cute together!

After our afternoon tea, we continued our walk through the grounds and headed back down the hill towards the village once more.

It was another lovely visit to this beautiful village.

It had been a lovely day, and we soon wandered our way back up to the campsite for a relaxing evening. We have to save some energy for tomorrow!

Falling for Canonteign

It's holiday time, and on Saturday the 16th we wound our merry way up the A30 towards Dartmoor and our favourite little Caravan and Camping Club Site, not far from Crockernwell.

It was a pretty awful journey up, as what normally takes us about an hour and a half to drive, took nearly four hours, due to a terrible accident further ahead of us, at Okehampton. The road was closed and traffic was stationary whilst the emergency services took charge of the situation.

Despite this, we arrived finally, and set up the caravan and put up the awning on our pitch, and then collapsed and relaxed for the evening.

On Sunday we were expecting Sally-Ann and Mike to join us on site with their RV for the rest of the week. We were very excited as we had not seen them for about 3 and a half weeks. They had been up to Norfolk for a holiday, and coupled that with a trip to the Moorfields Eye Hospital for Mikes latest check up, so there would be plenty to catch up on and talk about. They got to site at about 3pm and got hooked up and settled, and we then decided on a relaxing afternoon before we hit the roads for the sight seeing during the week.

Monday was the first planned outing, and as the forecast was good we decided to go off to Canonteign Falls, somewhere we all fancied going.

We arrived by mid morning and, having paid our entrance fee made our way up the path towards the woodlands and the tempting sounds of water crashing from the falls.

we started to climb the gently sloping pathway, and soon found it becoming a more strenuous walk

we kept coming across glimpses of small water falls and beautiful scenes through the autumnal leaves on the trees

always climbing higher and higher

at some points the sounds of the rushing water were quite loud

at some points the walk up was quite hard going, but there were some well placed benches and we soon arrived at the top of the falls, and were able to see where it all began

The drop from this water is 220 feet down to the lake, and was built by Lady Exmouth, she employed redundant miners to lay the pipework for the water and to cut through the rocks to create the leat needed to bring the water to the drop.

The view from up there was totally incredible - we could see for miles

If you click on the picture below you will be able to see the full story of the falls and Lady Exmouth's involvement in creating this Victorian Folly

It was then time for a slow meander down the hillside, back through the woodlands on the other side of the waterfall

At the bottom, as we stood by the lake, we looked back up the hillside at the top of the falls

what a lovely outing! We finished our visit here by having a rather lovely lunch of jacket potatoes with chilli and salad - that certainly filled a very big hole that all that walking had created.

As it was still early enough to do more, we headed on towards Castle Drogo. Sally-Ann and Mike had not been here before, so, as we had our National Trust passes, we thought we would visit there whilst we were in the vicinity.

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures, as I had been around last time we came up to Dartmoor, but Sally-Ann took plenty so please check out her blog for the low down on Castle life.

Whilst there we had a few laughs and a few strange moments..... we aren't sure, but did we hear a ghost talking to her mommy???? We did ask one of the room stewards who confirmed a presence but not if it was a child..... We are still wondering on the at one!

A very fun filled day.... now to rest up for tomorrows adventures.

Woo Hoo Birthday Time!

It's 7th October and I'm another year older!

I've been treated like royalty at work, and received such wonderful gifts from my friends and family.

I've received so many cards they don't all fit on the fire place, and are trickling around the living room, on every spare surface that I could find, and my flowers are taking pride of place on the hearth.

Another wonderful day with people I love and chatting to people I love on the phone.

Thanks to everyone who made my day so special. xx

Museum Musings

Righto then..... Today the plan was to spend some birthday money that I was getting from Paul, and the best place for that in our neck of the woods is Truro, or Plymouth. With Plym being an hour and a half on the train to get to, we decided on Truro.

After an hour or more of aimless wandering and not actually achieving even a purchase of a chocolate bar let alone an item of clothing, we gave up and went into the Museum to grab a bite to eat and rethink the situation.

We have now lived in Cornwall for over 3 and a half years and never yet been into Truro Museum, and so after a very scrummy lunch in their bistro, we decided to have a little wander around.

Now it was not until we were leaving that we realised that camera's were not allowed, but as these were taken on a Blackberry, we decided they were legal on a technicality only..... Sorry Mr Museum person, we won't do it again....

in the meantime we obliviously took little snaps of the inside and our little historical half hour

The place itself is really large and has some great interactive gadgets for the kids to play with, and a small Egyptian section which had our full attention

and so, despite not spending a single penny on my birthday bits, the day itself was well worthwhile, and the coffee shop at the museum will be a definite favourite for our next trip to Truro

Now it's time to get back and collapse after all that walking!

Crafty Savings.....

I've been really looking forward to this weekend, not only is it all that bit nearer to the 7th and my birthday, but it is also a weekend away in our Varacan, stopping once again at Barley Meadow, on Dartmoor.

The reason for the trip? There is a huge craft show on at Westpoint Arena in Exeter, and I need to buy lots and lots of card stock, brads, vellum, glitter card and much, much more!

No! I'm not going mad! I'm very excited to tell you all that I have been asked to do the wedding stationary for some friends of ours - my first ever bulk card order for one single event. My only guidelines were that it had to include a particular colour - No I can't tell you, you'll have to wait until November next year LOL. They had seen the samples, and decided on the design and now it was time to buy the stock to make them all.

Anyway, getting back to the story....

We arrived on the camp site at 3.30pm on Friday afternoon, after an uneventful drive up the A30, and settled in for the evening, relaxing in readiness for the events of today.

The show opened at 09.30, and Paul pulled up outside the arena to drop me off at 10.00am - I don't think I even said goodbye to him - I was off like a shot!

There were coffee bars, doughnut stands and crepes for sale outside, but I had come prepared with a ham salad wrap in my handbag for my lunch.

Inside it was heaving with people already, and my first task of the day was to wander up and down each aisle to establish what was on offer and which Companies were in attendance.

I'm glad to say that within 10 minutes of arriving I had found the item I had thought I was least likely to be able to get.

My searches continued to bring me luck, and I was able to call Paul to come and collect me for the 1.30pm time slot we had originally estimated.

Paul, in the meantime, was spending some quality time with his favourite canine chap, Fred. After dropping me off at Exeter, they then headed back down to Fingle Bridge, and a lovely walk that they had both been looking forward to.

Whilst there he managed to get these lovely picture on his Blackberry Curve Smart Phone - not bad for 2 mega pixels if you ask me.

From Exeter, we drove across to Newton Abbott for the obligatory trip around Trago Mills

We had an hours wander around, and then drove back to our varacan for some supper and a chill out in front of the TV.

A great pre-birthday break with loads of crafty savings on the stock I needed for the wedding stationary - Woo Hoo!

Satellite Solutions

Strictly Come Dancing is coming to our screens once more, however, Sally-Ann and Mike will be on a camp site up country, that does not have a great TV signal...... that's the reasoning behind buying a satellite dish - Yep! Strictly Come Dancing has a lot to answer for!

As we are away ourselves at the weekend, we all decided to pile down to the lock up, to try and set up the system and test it out, ensuring that it was working for their trip.

Talk about a black and white movie sketch! Have you seen those old Harold Lloyd or Laurel and Hardy movies where no-one has a clue what they are supposed to do, but they all have a go anyway, LOL!

Sally-Ann and I decided to make use of our special talents and sat in the RV chatting and calling out suggestions through the open door!

We all soon gave up, but luckily there is a TV repair bloke that lives in the same village as Sally-Ann and Mike, and he advised then that we had done it all correctly, we were just trying to link to the wrong satellite! We received the above picture after they had arrived on site and set up - just in time for Friday nights first show - Hooray!

Glamour Shots Party

Lori is holding a Glamour Shots Party and I found the courage to enter - Go on give it a go.

This embarrasing picture was taken when I was about 23 - that's a lotta years ago! I feel very old!

Restful Restormel

It's the AGM for the MX-5 Owners Club today. Everyone is going for a convoy drive and then stopping at the Jubilee Inn, Pelynt for Sunday Lunch, followed by the AGM in the garden at the rear of the Inn.

As Mike has not long had his eye surgery, and is still bothered by the sun, he did not want to risk doing the club run, but suggested a gentle drive up towards Lostwithiel, and a wander and picnic at Restormel Castle.

My dilemma? Paul had already arranged to go to watch a hill climb up at St Austell, and as this one has not taken place for the last two years, did not want to miss it.

For those of you that know me, you will be aware that I am not at all confident driving any distance, ever since a car side swiped us about 11 years ago. Travelling in a car is a very real fear for me, and I constantly send my poor husband do-lally with my screeches and cries whilst I am a passenger.

I declined the offer to join Mike and Sally-Ann, despite having wanted to go to Restormel for some time.

After a day of searching for craft stuff (for a secret project, that I can only tell you about once I have permission!) I decided that I really did not want to miss out on this opportunity, and in a moment of bravery, I texted Sally-Ann and said I would meet them the following morning at our usual spot, and follow them up country. OMG! Panic!

We got up early and when I came down from my shower, found that Paul had made me a lovely picnic to take with me. All I had to do now was to calm down and do the drive!

I met the others at North Country, and Sally-Ann reassured me by saying we would be driving all of the roads that I was very familiar with, if only as a passenger, so there should be no surprises for me.

And off we went....

... and as you can see from the piccies, I did it! I was so very proud of myself. I know that an hours drive up the road is nothing to any 'normal' person, but this was a huge, huge achievement for me, and I am so glad that I went.

The Castle is set up high, in beautiful Cornish countryside, and the whole place has a fantastic and calming atmosphere about it.

Sometime when you go to these sort of places, you can almost feel the fear of battle or tears of heartache that are held within the walls of the building, but this place is totally different.

The skies were a glorious blue, and the whole drive up was done with the lids down on our little sports cars, making the trip even more wonderful.

Having walked the upper walls and looked in on the rooms from above, we wandered back over the dry moat and sat at a picnic table to eat our lunch.

It was then time to look once more inside before a wander around the external walls of the Castle and some more pictures of this beautiful place.

From here we headed over to Pelynt for the AGM, and then back home.

I am so thrilled that I plucked up the courage to do this, and thoroughly enjoyed my day. I just hope that I can get the nerve up again soon to do something else, and keep the momentum going.

Thanks for inviting me to join you Sally-Ann and Mike.xx