Last day of the dark nights (we hope)!

Derek took the photos of the first Exmoor foals of the year over at Ley Hill this week – they are so beautiful! The landscape photo is from Ley Hill looking right across to the Quantock hills

We have just got back from a stunning walk over by Hawkridge following the river down to where the Barle and Danesbrook meet. The dogs loved it as it was the first real walk of the year where they could enjoy river swimming – sunny and warm. On the way back we passed a young lad who had tripped and broken a bone in his leg. Luckily the Devon Air Ambulance was able to land in a field nearby and take him to hospital – we are very lucky to have such a wonderful service.

We had a great group of 10 cousins staying for bed and breakfast this week. They really enjoyed themselves and after dinner spent a happy couple of hours watching slides and catching up with one another’s news. Long walks up to Dunkery Beacon and visits to Dunster gave them plenty to do!

Other b&b guests have been staying to go house hunting, walking and generally enjoying the beauty of the area. We have our guests/friends Julie and Helen coming tomorrow for a few days. It will be great to catch up but I have no doubt that there will be great competition between Julie and Derek as to who can take the best photograph of wildlife. Helen and I will judge the winners and put them on the blog.

Spring sunshine

We had lots of bed and breakfast guests staying with us last weekend and the weather was absolutely fantastic. Looking out from the sitting room window on Sunday
morning, the sun really picked out the 2 large herds of about 50 red deer grazing on the slopes of Robin How. We have a pair of binoculars for such sightings and breakfasts are often interrupted by our guests

I had a lovely surprise as 2 huge bouquets were delivered from Tim and Lucy for Mothers Day. The hall and sitting room are now full of the scent of roses and lilies and look wonderful.

This morning I was awake early and I couldn’t understand what was different (no Derek hadn’t stopped snoring)! I suddenly realised it was the dawn chorus. Winter has been so long that I had forgotten what a beautiful sound it is.

On Thursday I spent the morning scrubbing the paintwork down on the veranda. After a while, the view towards Dunkery Beacon and the warm sun were so inciting that I couldn’t resist taking the dogs on a long walk up over to Span Gate and then home via the fields. The first walk of 2010 without a coat, hat, scarf or gloves – it was beautiful.

Shire folk travel to the city smoke!

It has been a roller coaster of a weekend. We went up to London to see Tim and Bex’s and to do lots of the tourist trips – Greenwich, St Pauls, Tower of London, boat trip etc, etc (good job we are used to walking as we must have covered about 20 miles on foot)! They gave us a wonderful time and the fantastic weather really made it. We went to Bough Market where Derek couldn’t resist the doughnuts!

We came back on the Saturday and on Sunday the car was loaded to the gunnels with all of Lucy’s gear (how many pairs of shoes can a girl have)? Lucy has just started a new job in Exeter as a Nursery Nurse and from her telephone calls she is very happy, enjoying life and doesn’t seem in the slightest bit homesick! The house does seem very empty without her and we feel a little lost now all our brood has flown the nest.

One of the great positives of this B&B business is meeting so many interesting and lovely people that soon become friends. Although it is still quite early in the year, we have had quite a few guests come to stay and to enjoy Exmoor already this year. The moor is beginning to shed its winter outer layer and the signs of Spring are becoming stronger.

It was a wonderful weather yesterday – dry and sunny with a ‘refreshing breeze’ so I took the dogs over to Nutscale for a walk. We were out most of the afternoon and we only met one other person but loads of deer. A herd of hinds ran in front of us and down an almost sheer drop – they are so agile for such large creatures. There was plenty of frogspawn in all the pools, primroses are starting to bud, crocuses are out and at the farm in our neighbouring village of Luccombe, lambing is in full swing. The best is yet to come!

A hetic weekend!

We had a lovely weekend as four of our friends came to stay and watch the murder mystery being performed in the village hall. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time. They are all great characters and we spent a long time catching up with all the news beautifully embellished by Peters unique story telling!

The play was a great success and everyone really enjoyed themselves (including the cast) and entered into the spirit of the evening. Most of the audience dressed up in 1940’s fashion, the hall was decorated with posters and blackout curtaining and the food was fantastic (no Spam in sight)! (I shall put some photos on the blog next week). The most surprising thing of all was that Derek remembered all of his lines (plus a little adlibbing)!

I had a close encounter with a deer this week. As I came around the bend on Cloutsham Ball, a large hind came hurtling towards me on the path. I don’t know who was more startled but luckily she veered off down across the hill. If she had run into me she could have done some serious damage!

Last week Ron was up and we walked over to Webbers Post. On the way we saw 4 huge stags appearing the mist and they were only 50 yards away from us. The following evening Derek went on the same track on Paddy with the camera and managed to get some great shots but not of the stags (they must of heard him coming)!