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August hols - week 1, part 1


With Abi safely off to Angie's for the week Izzy and I headed off to North Devon for our getaway. We braved the A303 on a Sat morning in August (foolish people!) and after we'd sat at Stonehenge for the obligatory hour or so we motored smoothly down the rest of the way, stopping in Taunton for a break. We had lunch at Mum & Dad's before heading off to see the tail end of Laurie's riding lesson and to meet Amanda's new horse. Despite Amanda trying to persuade us to stay down for dinner we managed to extract ourselves and reached our destination at Northway on the coast just after 7pm. We settled in nicely making the most of the peace and quiet before Zsara and Aran tuned up the following day.

In the morning I left Izzy in bed and went for a stunning walk along the coastal path - something I repeated every day we were there and it was a fab way to wake up - amazing scenery on the doorstep. This was followed by Izzy heading out with the owner Bob to feed his various animals - too numerous to mention - she absolutely loved this part of the day and I can't blame her!

Unfortunately for us Aran and Izzy just didn't seem to want to make an effort with each other so in the end they only stayed 2 nights and then headed home. This didn't deter Izzy who was keen to get to the beach and try out her new body board. All the time we had been planning this trip she was adamant she wanted to get out into the waves and when we got to Westwood Ho! that's exactly what she did.

While I stood on the beach with my heart in my mouth she went in and out for near 2 hours until she finally admitted she was cold - she loved it and was quickly looking pretty proficient. I might have spent at least 5 minutes watching the wrong child... but who's to blame when they all look the same in a wetsuit?!?

On the Tuesday Amanda and the boys came down to meet us and we all went to the beach further along the coast with picnics and body board aplenty. We met them there and defineitly took the scenic route - I did wonder how all those caravans had made it down there when I was a bit scared we wouldn't make it through some of the lanes in the Range Rover. The kids had an absolutely brilliant time and the sun shone in spades for us. They spent most of the day just in their swimming costumes, even Ben who before arriving hadn't been planning on getting wet at all...







We ended up staying until the tide had come right into the shore - no beach left at all - not something I've done since I was a teenager (Amanda's influence again!).
It was very special and despite the ropey fish and chip supper we had as we left.  In the end they all came back to the cottage with us so that the kids could have a bit more time and we could swim together in the morning before heading back to Taunton for another catch up with Mum & Dad. Liz popped over as well which was great so I managed to catch up with lots of the family - all in all time very well spent.

We concluded that a week away with only part of the family is too much but the 4 nights we did was just perfect - we had such a lovely time. All of which made for one very sleepy Izzy on the way home....
 


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