My youngest with his family on a rock in Beer.
If you live in the South of France, why would you want to come on holiday to Devon, UK in early May. Must be totally mad!! But not if you are my youngest son Nat and his family. They make an annual trip here each spring to visit me and my mum. I also go over and see them over there at least once a year but my mum can’t travel even down the shops so if they don’t come she doesn’t get to see them. Because I’ve down-sized to a single man’s bungalow I can’t have them stay anymore so they rented a lovely 3-storey house on the sea front just across from where the sea destroyed a load of beach huts and made the national news just the week before.
Even at eleven some plants can dwarf you as young Kali found out.
The week before the weather had been diabolical so I was worried about their stay. Luckily the South of France had been suffering from similarly inclement weather so they weren’t expecting the sort of glorious sunshine they’d had at Easter last year. Coming from a rural,mountainous area they are quite used to physical activities and were quite happy to undertake long cliff top walks like to Beer and to Lyme Regis as well as enjoying the shops and cathedral of Exeter and the amusement arcades and charity shops both of which they don’t see in France. And wave dodging and climbing and jumping around the edges of the sea front kept them busy too.
At family meals they enjoyed some English-style meals they don’t eat at home from pie and chips to roast with roast potatoes and all the trimmings to stir-fries and home made hamburgers. And of course then there were a few meals eaten out from crab sandwiches to all day breakfasts and cream teas. And they livened up my quiet, childless street playing ball and climbing fences to retrieve it when it got kicked out of play. My mum smiled widely as she tried to speak to them – they only speak French – and really enjoyed seeing them again and noticing how they had changed since last year.
My son’s partner wasn’t really on holiday and had to spend quite a lot of the time glued to her laptop but she got out a bit. And of course, Nat and I had to have a couple of nights out including Saturday with the Limehouse Lizzy band followed by an hour or three in a seafront pub.
All in all, a great week. And all agreed, it wasn’t long enough.So a fortnight next year I think.
The Bowd Inn, just outside Sidmouth, a brilliant place to eat.
