I’m sitting at my sister Deborah’s dining room table, in their cozy 17th century-thatched-roofed home in South Tawton, Devon, UK. We’ve been here since Thursday, and have been having the most wonderfully relaxed time. Lovely big cups of tea at all hours of the day, porridge & crumpets for breakfast, hours spent reading (or working on the blog 😁), walks down the narrow country lanes and up onto the moor (they actually live within Dartmoor National Park) and fabulous dinners whipped up by Deborah; life here is absolutely idyllic. Deb & Peter are the most accommodating hosts you can imagine, and Mallory & I have been trying to earn our keep by gardening and working on computers and misc. handyman stuff (you can guess who’s doing what on that list). It’s been more foggy and rainy than any day in Scotland, but the sun has also broken through a fair bit as well.
There’s been a couple of local events of interest as well. The church ‘féte’ was yesterday, with a bric-a-brac table (manned largely by Peter), burgers and sausages, a dessert table and lots of games. This afternoon, in nearby South Zeal, they’re having one of probably hundreds of regional celebrations of the Queen’s 90th birthday. (We saw signs for one in Duns, Scotland, and lamented missing it, so are glad we get to experience it here!) In preparation of that, Mallory & I helped Deb hang the Union Jack from the flagpole atop the tower of the 15th-century church next to their house. Here’s a photo of my sister and me after the we raised it:
This panorama, taken from the tower, shows the even older church house on the far left, and Blackhall Cottage (their home) on the far right:
Yesterday, we Mallory & I had a nice walk up onto the edge of the moor, and on the way back, I snapped this shot of an impressive giant oak tree:
Then this morning we walked to the neighboring village of South Zeal to restock provisions, and I found lots of things to photograph:
I’ll wrap up for now, as the three Yanks are about to head off to the Queen’s celebration. We fly back to Iceland at noon tomorrow, and though I’m very excited for the extended time there, it will certainly be bittersweet to say goodbye to Deborah & Peter. One more sweet afternoon/evening to enjoy until then!
