Cream Tea, Sea, and Family, in Devon

At the end of September, Daniel's parents arrived for a two week stay with us. It was so great to see them after 3 years!

Time flies in some ways but, at other times, it feels like forever. We spent a week together in London where Daniel was able to take a couple of half days to be the tour guide, before we all travelled together to South Devon, Kingswear, to be precise. We had hired a house there for the week so it made a BIG change from all sharing our wee studio and the house was lovely and spacious and right on the ferry slipway where cars can drive across to Dartmouth. It is a lovely part of the country and we all enjoyed taking walks around the village and along the coast to see Dartmouth castle and to just enjoy the scenery of lapping waters, boats and yachts. The weather was quite changeable while we were there and on one evening was the high tides - some of the highest they had seen in years - us foot passengers had to take a leap of faith on to the ferry and then hitch a ride in one of the cars to get off the other side! We really enjoyed spending a day driving south along the coast, Slapton Ley, and some beautiful spots, picnic on the beach etc.

Later on, in the week, we also spent a fun day in the historic village of Cockington. That said, probably the highlight of the trip was the "round robin" excursion that went from Kingswear to Paignton on an old steam railway, then by bus on to Totnes, before catching the boat back up the Dart river to Dartmouth. Paignton has an amazing 99p store but otherwise is very much a typical seaside town with entertainment arcades and a packed pier. Totnes, on the other hand, is the original Transition town, with a huge number of independent shops, eco stores, quaint old streets and lovely cafes where we enjoyed a traditional afternoon team - devonshire cream and all. The boat ride back to Dartmouth was quite breezy but so beautiful. The driver had great knowledge of the area and kept up a commentary. Graceful birds and athletic oarsmen were just a few of the sights we saw as well as a wee glimpse of Agatha Christie's home on the bank of he river.

Sadly, the holiday ended all too soon and we were back in London taking John and Wendy back to the airport for their flight back to NZ via Raro. Enjoy just a few of the pictorial highlights.