Christmas shopping

Last weekend up here on Exmoor we were full up with bed and breakfast guests, family and friends – hectic but good fun. Most guests stayed to enjoy Dunster by Candlelight and everyone had a lovely time – all the shops were beautifully decorated and full of novel ideas for Christmas presents.

Exmoor is an ideal place to do any form of gift shopping. There are no crowds, easy parking and most of the shops are privately owned and have a wide range of different goods to choose from at very reasonable prices. Each year, I buy all of our presents from shops in Porlock, Dunster, Minehead and Wiviliscombe.

Paul, our neighbour down the road sells Christmas trees and we are off to choose ours today. I am leaving Derek in charge to put them up and decorate them this year (not sure whether this is such a good idea as he hasn’t quite cottoned on to the idea of ‘less is more’)!

I’ve managed to get out and have a couple of really good walks lately with the dogs. We went up to Dunkery Hill Gate and walked down through the woods towards Snowdrop Valley. Walking along, I had distinct impression that I was being watched and looked up to see a lovely herd of 6 red deer hinds and a stag quietly looking down on me. Three woodcock flew up along with lots of pheasants and several rabbits ran out from the gorse bushes in front of us. Soda was going mad chasing sticks while the spaniels did their own thing involving a lot of water and mud! Down in the valley, the herd of single suckler cows carried on eating as we walked past, more intent on their silage than what we were up to. All in all it was a very peaceful but busy walk!