five days in Salcombe

We just arrived home after five days in Salcombe. We left London under a sky of blue and beautiful sunshine and as we headed into the West Country the sky grew dark, the cows were all lying down and along came the rain.

With wellies packed and our bags a mix of woolly jumpers, rain coats, and the forever hopeful dresses, we were not going to be down hearted. Besides we went for the adventure and the sea, not the sun and sky….and what’s the use of an English adventure if you don’t get (just a little) wet.

We drove down a single track road, between high hedgerows and rolling hills each of us wanting to be the first to see the sea. It was me I might add.

Salcombe is such a beautiful place even in the rain. I can only imagine what its like in the sunshine with all the boats bobbing on the water.

off to get some bread and milk

The hotel was just the right amount of old 70’s glam mixed with a more recent takeover and the view from our room was breathtaking.
 
 

 

the girls enjoying watching the boats

The whole front to the room was one huge floor to ceiling window overlooking the water with all its quiet little traffic of boats in every colour and size, from dinghy’s to one that Sophia insisted really was a pirate ship, and we must tell granny as “she wants to marry a pirate doesn’t she”.
 
 

our pirate ship

We spent our days with lazy walks from cove to cove, on the return home, taking the little ferry boat back. This meant hopping on a tractor into the sea to board, which of course the girls loved.

We had days on the beach in wellies, raincoats and knickers searching rock pools for crabs, fish and of course mermaids. Building sand castles and collecting shells. Eating ice cream every time we got the chance. The honeycomb was definitely all our favourite except for Sophia who only ever wanted strawberry.

wellies on the beach

We spent a short while crabbing…dangling a little net full of fish bait over the wall in the harbour and waiting for a crab to grab hold. We caught five very impressive sized pinchers. An older boy with a netted basket and professional looking large bucket and accessories did not look very happy with just his one shrimp. I think he was grateful to us leaving them behind when Sophia wasn’t so sure about the whole thing and insisted that we put them back quite quickly as they missed their friends.

It didn’t take long for the intensity of London to leave me and how fast the city pace seemed now we were away from it. It had been such a long time since our pace was slow and our time wasn’t filled with things we ‘have to do’ and places ‘we have to be’ and ‘we have to get the girls their shoes this weekend, and then we haven’t any food in the house….’ We were all just being.

late night snacks on cold pizza

We hadn’t been near our car during our stay and now we were about to embark on our journey home across the breadth of the country. Armed with jam sandwiches and flapjacks we set off back on the road.
Thankfully we had a stop at Granny's house. Grannys' is the best place in the west country, with her geraniums and garden. It’s amazing how much this particular Granny can do with a piece of string and a flip flop…..a whole other story.

Arrived home with sand coming out of every bag, shoes and pockets.

Excited to have been away and just as excited to be back home.
Carla