Tuesday 13 September Bideford, Clovelly, Milton Damerel

Once again we awoke to rain and at times it was quite heavy, but we braved the elements and headed for Bideford which was a port town that looked interesting as we went through on our way here. We were a bit disappointed with the town so we didn't stay long. We had already decided to visit Clovelly so thats where we headed, going through a very heavy shower on the way, luckily for us that was the last one for the day. Clovelly is a privately owned, cliff top, listed village that can only be navigated by foot or donkey (now only used for tourist photos). It was a hard walk on shiney pebbles but well worth the effort and thank God it didn't rain. We had our first Devon cream tea which was delightful overlooking the Atlantic. We managed the walk back up the cobble stones to the car park without expiring and headed back home. On the way we planned to get some shopping - water, bananas and milk and passed a farm with a sign out "Lizzie's Larder" so we called in and bought cornish pasties, apple pie, bananas, clotted cream, milk, beer and apple cider. There were lots of people having devonshire teas there so we will go back some time. John and Judith are coming down tomorrow so we might take them there. The roads are very very narrow with hedges on both sides just like in Wales. We are not far from Wales so I suppose it is just part of the local area. I was a bit late for my massage so she only did 45 minutes and charged me 35 pounds. It was one of the best I have ever had so booked in again on Saturday. We are going to eat in the Restaurant here again tonight - the food was very nice. Forgot to say we watched the first episode of the new series of Doc Martin last night and we had our photos of Port Isaac up on the IPad. We felt like we were in the show - everything was so familiar to us - having just been there.

Monday 12 September Padstow and Port Isaac

There had been rain overnight and it was still drizzling this morning but after a late breakfast we decided to drive to Padstow to check out where our cooking class with Rick Styne is going to be and how long it will take us to get there. It took us one hour and twenty minutes. We couldn't believe the number of people in the town, it reminded us of St Ives and Dingle - wall to wall tourists. We found out where the school is and where to park on Friday morning. We bought some genuine Cornish pasties for lunch and ate them on the harbour front. After some more wandering around Padstow we headed for Port Isaac (Port Wen in Doc Martin). I think Doc Martin is so popular world wide that the BBC have bought a lot of the houses there - so many were empty. It is sooo beautiful there just like the TV show and so many people gigging like us. We sat outside Doc Martin's surgery and did the photo thing just like everyone else. Had a very nice dinner in the restaurant at the resort. I have booked in for a massage tomorrow at 4pm - 45 pounds so once again very reasonable.

Sunday 11 September Taunton, Woodford Bridge

We checked out of Barnsdale Hall at 10am and headed to Taunton to meet our new friends Judith and John Bentley (from the cruise). I felt that Ken was sending us in the wrong direction again but he was right and I was wrong, I didn't account for the new M6 motorway, I must be due for a new road atlas as the one I'm using is 15 years old. We arrived at our meeting place five minutes late which was pretty good after a three hour twenty minute drive. We followed the Bentleys to the Taunton Rugby Club where they put on a great Sunday roast. After lunch we went to their new house in the tiny village of Ash Priors six miles out of Taunton. The house is a new build but done in a style to fit in with the existing period homes with beautiful views over green fields and hills. We left at 5.20pm for an hour and a half drive to Woodford Bridge. We think we took a wrong turn and got ourselves lost but somehow we were on the right road and arrived about 7pm. This is really a great timeshare (Diamond - so should be good) with restaurant, spa and lots of activities organized for each day (if you want them).

Saturday 10 September Oakham, Melton Mowbray & Whitwell

Our last day in Rutland took us back to Oakham for a real market which was small but adequate, we also explored a bit more of the town and found it very interesting. We then drove 20 miles through some rolling pastureland to the town of Melton Mowbray. We expected a large village or a small town but found a small city. The market here was very big covering most of the large pedestrian mall. We still haven't found the type of market we
really want to find which is an antique one, but we have another week. It was getting late so we rushed back to Whitwell to have a last lunch at our favourite "local" pub, once again we weren't disappointed. After lunch we went and watched the yacht racing at the yacht club before coming home to a pork pie, some tomatoes from Sandringham and some Rutland Brie and to pack.

Such a shame about St Kilda being beaten by Sydney.

As we can't get the photos onto the blog until we get home we have put them on Shutterfly - if you would like to look at them the link is,

http://didavidsholidayphotos.shutterfly.com/pictures/112

Friday 9 September Oakham & Uppingham

We went into Oakham this morning all excited about a village market, but it turned into a bit of a disappointment it was only a very small event in the village church hall. We spent about two minutes in there. We found a nice little cafe and had a coffee. Because we are used to Australian sizes we ordered large, A big mistake, we spent the rest of the morning drinking them. Di found a dress shop with 70% off which as usual she couldn't resist while David roamed the High Street watching the parking warden get closer and closer to the car. After a considerable length of time David was fed up and went to look for Di, she didn't appear to be in the shop which was not much bigger than a phone box nor could she be found in any of the adjoining shops. He tried to ring her but her phone was on charge in the apartment, by this stage the only answer was white slavers and as David couldn't afford a ransom he was about to leave when out popped Di as large as life looking for a credit card and she couldn't see why he was so upset. From Oakham we drove to Uppingham where there was a real market, it wasn't very big but it had some delicious food stuffs. We bought some Indian lamb and rice and two samosas for tonight and a pie for tomorrow night and if Di had had her way we would have bought some paella for a night that we won't be here for. We walked up to the Uppingham School which is quite famous and boasts among it's past students Stephen Fry and Rick Stein and Hugh Jackman was an assistant master once. It has some beautiful old buildings and heaps of history. We had lunch in Everads Crown Hotel - it was not one of the best meals we have had but the ale was nice. We checked out the Rutland Golf Club which was very busy for a Friday afternoon, then went in search of Burley House that we keep seeing in the distance. We found it on top of the hill overlooking Rutland Water, there were three big buildings that have now been divided into six separate residences. While we were playing tourist we held up two cars a Lotus and a Porsche so I don't think they were council flats. Boy there must be money down here.  We then saw this little building with people making jam - it turned out to be a jam making course not a shop but they sold us some anyway.  They were having such fun we wanted to join in. We bought a few more supplies in Oakham and came back the Barnsdale Hall and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine. David doing the blog and Di sketching.

Thursday 8 September Rutland Waters

We wanted to spend today locally with a thought that we may have reached Peterborough
where there was a market. We drove to Whitwell a stone's throw down the road which is a very pretty village with a cottage called Holly's Cottage. We had a beautiful lunch at the Noel hotel which was quite busy, amazingly because it is such a small village. It obviously has a good reputation and people come from far and near. We went to the sailing school and watched some school children have lessons with lots of laughs. We couldn't believe how many boats on Rutland Water (a huge manmade reservoir) fly fishing but then found out there was a competition on. We visited Epingham which was beautiful, Normanton and Edith Western (haven't found who she is yet) villages and wandered around them all. Got home in time for Di's Swedish massage - she got a 10% discount because we are staying here so it only cost 43 pounds - wow - much cheaper than the US$178 massage she on the cruise. We were told by an English lady on the plane coming over that she was shocked by how much everything in Australia was (we didn't say anything but secretly disagreed). We now agree with her - things ARE cheaper over here. We are having a light dinner at home.

Wednesday September 7 Sandringham House

Today we decided to visit Sandringham, the Queen's country house in Norfolk. It was one and a half hours away and thank god for Ken (GPS) all these new roundabouts are a nightmare. Some of them are that big they have a forrest growing on them. Sandringham Hall was purchased as a country home for Albert Edward Prince of Wales in 1862, he later became Edward VII and the house has been the Royals private country home ever since. It is set within Sandringham Park and surrounded by it's own magnificent garden with lakes and stream running through it. We had lunch in the restaurant on site before going into the house. We even got a four pound seniors discount without having to show any proof, now that's a worry. The rooms of the house are quite spectacular and to know that it is a house that is still used as a home makes it special. We felt like we were helping pay Lizzie's upkeep on the place. The staff were very friendly and informative, nothing like the KGB trained ones in Russia. St Mary Magdalene Church which is just off the estate is where the Royals worship when in residence and attend every Xmas morning is just a local parish church where the locals also worship. There is a farm shop there to help with the running costs where we bought a few tomatoes just to help out. We had dinner in the restaurant in the hotel again which was very nice.