WoodWalkAbout

Wood WalkAbout

June– Horses, Cars, Planes & more Horses...

UK (Devon & Oxford) - June Blog below
France – Paris Euro Disney - June Blog below



Devon – 3rd June – 19th June
Temps. 12 deg. C – 25 deg. C. Dusk at 10pm










Stonehenge
Kids on a cliff trail
Trail to Lee

We set off from Paris and headed for the Channel Tunnel at Calais. Despite a bad turn right at the pivotal moment we managed to board the train for the half hour crossing to the UK. After a brief stop off at Guildford to collect some mail, and to catch up with Melanie & David, who had recently celebrated his 18th Birthday, we continued our drive westwards. Whilst on route to Devon, we crossed the Salisbury plains, literally driving past Stonehenge. We hadn’t expected to see it, being more focused on our end destination, so it was a real bonus. Unable to resist the lure of this famous landmark, we pulled off to investigate and take the obligatory photos. We couldn’t believe that these enormous rocks were positioned on a small rise between the apex of two roads. Driving on further, we passed countless motor homes and caravans, finally arriving into our little village of Morthoe about 9pm. We were greeted by a friendly, local pub and a most perfect sunset. Perched on the top of a cliff, opposite Wales, on the northern coast of Devon we would spend the next two and a half weeks in a lighthouse keepers cottage , catching up on the school work, (including the completion of the kid’s NAPLAN tests, ) and seek some solace after the exhaustive pace of Paris.





Mitch above our light house
Kids during a walk towards Lee at an inlet from the sea
View to the East from the second gate



Our lighthouse (Bull Point Lighthouse) at sunset
Lighthouse with our cottage below to the right

The silence of the splendid isolation was deafening in the first few days. It was like coming home from a nightclub- the buzz of nothing, apart from the seagulls that is. Tucked away in our cottage, we seldom saw anyone, beside the intrepid coastal walkers who inquisitively passed by occasionally or the people from the three other neighbouring cottages attached to ours. Occasionally we’d see the SS. Oldenburg, an old fashioned ship, on route to Lundy Island with a bunch of tourists, pass by in the sea below, or catch a parting glimpse of a British Air force fighter plane on a routine fly by. One day we even got to see an army helicopter undertake a rescue exercise off shore, using flares which Mitchell was delighted with. Unfortunately there was no internet or mobile signal, but there was Welsh TV!



Sheri trying to get a signal and email friends back home
Kids infront of one of the many stone walls that bordered properties
Cassi at our favourite picnic spot

Despite the beautiful sunset and balmy late twenties temperatures upon our arrival, the weather was not kind during our stay. Temperatures plummeted, sometimes down as far as 12 degrees, with strong winds, and a misty kind of fine rain regularly for much of our stay. Whilst it didn’t stop “the mad Englishmen” from their rambles, it did stop us, so school work won out like never before. In our breaks, we’d head to the cliffs with a picnic, (weather permitting,) exploring the dramatic coastlines, towards Lee in the East and Woolacombe in the West, where we discovered Rockleigh Beach which truely lived up to its name. When all else failed, we got out into the local village of Morthoe for a “DEVONshire tea” and a stroll. When in Devon, as it were...
During our stay we enjoyed a number of activities, mainly: horse riding for the girls, and quad-biking and fishing for the boys. Sheri and Cassi found themselves at Mullacott Riding School, near Illfracombe, for a few lessons each and a couple of trail rides. They thoroughly enjoyed their time there, despite Cassidy falling off her horse, Commet, during our last visit, as he bolted for home once the rain came down. Wet weather jackets were all the rage, given the changeable conditions, as Steve and Mitch also discovered there quad-biking, while the girls did their lessons. We also discovered Blakely’s Fisheries, a trout farm with a very picturesque and tranquil setting. Just outside Barnstaple, (our nearest town centre) the boys caught no less than four unsuspecting fish between them.




Mitch quad-biking
Steve and Mitch Fishing at Blakewell's
Cassi on Comet and Sheri on Thomas at Mullacott's

Other visits to the nearby towns of Illfracombe, during its Annual Victorian Festival ,and Barnstaple to get supplies, take a side trip into the town’s museum, and to catch the movie, “Night at the Museum 2,” were also enjoyable. Also a lovely, slow-cooked, organic lunch at the Broomhill Sculptural Gardens was a real treat. At the advice of a lovely English couple we met at the Monaco Grand Prix, we also visited the two most popular swimming and surf beaches in the neighbourhood, (Woolacombe and Croyde.) These were both characterised by extremely wide expanses of sand due to the huge and often dangerous, tidal changes, (sometimes 15 metres in places. Like many fashionable, English, seaside spots, colourful huts were available for hire on the edge of the sand where you could store your belongings and get changed at a price of 15 pounds per day. The beach was so far away you have needed a packed lunch before you reached the water’s edge. Alternatively, if you were up to braving the cold, windy conditions, (this was summer mind you,) you could take shelter behind one of the special wind shields put in place explicitly for this purpose. Surfing lessons were also on offer and very popular. To our delight, we found Byron Bay Cookie Company Cookies in the Red Barn Cafe at Woolacombe, only to find out that as a month prior, they were no longer imported from Australia, now being made locally in England. Sadly, they didn’t taste the same.







Beach huts at Woolacombe
Kids at Wooolacombe Beach on a not so warmsummer's day
Cottages between Morthoe and Woolacombe
Thatched cottage at Croyde


Whilst we were there, we became members of the National Trust, after a visit to Arlington Court, a wonderfully maintained house and garden estate, previously owned by one of the wealthiest families in the district back in the 1800’s. The “Living History Experience” where characters dressed up and re-enacted the daily lives of people from the estate, so visitors could get a taste of life from the period, really fuelled the children’s imaginations. Once again, the “doing” rather than the “looking” would prove to be more memorable for them.





Characters from Arlington Court's Living History Day
"Cassi in the Kitchen" doing her Maths work on volume & capacity
The rural scene at Arlington

Up until this point, Madge’s reliability had been unwavering, covering just on 10,000 km without missing a beat. Then one day, whilst waiting for one of the kids to take their turn in opening one of the three gates of the long drive to the lighthouse, Madge completely conked out. The time had come for a trip to the mechanic. After a two day stay in to “The Top of The Hill Garage” we established that whilst the initial problem was now fine, Madge did have some issues, namely: the air conditioner had a gas leak, the parking radar wasn’t working and an incessant rattle under the rear right wheel, needed attention. Unfortunately, despite Steve’s efforts to have it all rectified, the timing of our upcoming move to Oxford, and probably the fact that we weren’t regulars, meant that none of these things were fixed before our departure.
Our stay in Devon however, was relaxing, possibly assisted by the fact that we could not get either an internet or phone signal. This was of course, unless we walked to the top of the cliff above our cottage and perched ourselves precariously on the wrong side of the safety fence surrounding the property. The risk of falling didn’t ever cross our minds until we learned from the long term gardener, that the original light house had given way beneath the cliff in 1992. Upon closer investigation we saw that to our amazement, pieces of the remains were still visible below the cliff line of our front yard. He said every time he comes to cut the grass, a little bit more of the cliff had fallen off which did make us wonder whether we’d slip off into the sea during the night.

We left Devon on the 19th June, having hung around Barnstaple for most of the day waiting for a camera lens Steve had ordered, with some forthcoming photos of aerial displays in mind. As we headed eastwards, we once again, observed vast numbers of caravans and campers that clogged the freeways, towards Devon. Jeremy Clarkson was right when he said, they were the biggest nuisance on the English roads. Thank goodness, we were heading in the opposite direction towards Oxford. We arrived in to our next location, in Oxfordshire, to Rowleaze Cottages which were a row of 5 workers cottages from the 1800’s, on the once grand, Buscot Estate. We only had time to dump our bags, take in a quick dinner at the local pub, (The Trout,) before turning in, in readiness for our next expedition. Back to Paris at 7am the following morning!



PARIS: (Euro Disney) – 20th June – 24th June
Temps. 16 – 25 deg. C. Dusk at 10 – 10.30pm





We had returned to Paris, despite our recent visit, to celebrate both Mitchell and Sheridan’s birthdays. This involved two days at Euro Disney and a surprise day at the Paris Air Show for Mitchell’s birthday, which we’d booked a few months prior. We arrived in to Euro Disney around 3pm having crossed the Channel Tunnel, (or The Chunnel, as it was supposedly known,) for a third time, after a relatively uneventful trip. Once again, we’d left no room for error, despite all our planning, arriving just ten minutes prior to our pre-booked time slot. We stayed at one of the Euro Disney Hotels, so as to maximise our time at the parks. The Newport Bay Club was extremely Disney-fied, complete with indoor/outdoor pool, and daily Disney character appearances in the lobby. We stayed for just 3 nights to celebrate the two birthdays so we were determined to make every minute count. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening checking out what Disney Land had to offer.




Mitch with Monsters Inc.
Julie and Cassi on Dumbo
Julie and Mitch in Tea Cups




Beauty and The Beast
Lion King
Little Mermaid all at the Disney Parade

The next morning was Mitchell’s birthday, so after opening a few pressies, we headed out to Le Bourget for The Paris Air Show. He was so surprised, and purely delighted given his love of planes, and his dad (who had kept the tickets a secret for the past couple of months,) was pretty pleased too I must say, especially given the new camera lens. It was an entertaining day, with a huge array of old and new planes on and off the ground. Whilst we saw World War Two bombers including the B17, and passenger planes from the 70’s, the real highlights were The French aerobatic team, (The Patriolles,) the taking off and landing of an A380, fighter planes such as the Raffel & the Tornado, and the FA18’s, not to mention the finale flight, of a canvas and wooden plane built back in 1915.




Mitch infron of the A380
Le Bourget - Host to the Paris Air Show
The French Aerobatic Team - The Patriolles



Landing of the A380
Canvas and Wooden plane made in 1915
Unique Capsule-shaped plane




FA18 Cockpit
Current day transport plane - A400


As you’d expect, Euro Disney for the remaining day and a half was a real hit. We made good use of the early entry times for hotel guests, fitting in as many rides as we could before the crowds. The children’s favourite rides were Peter Pan’s Flight, Buzz Light Year Laser Blast, Thunder Mountain River Flume, Crash’s Coaster and the Car’s Dodgems. Sheri got herself an autograph book and spent most of her time chasing down signatures. She was especially successful in the two evenings we ate dinner at Mickey’s Cafe where characters made regular appearances, often with cakes, (as in our case,) to the fanfare of Happy Birthday, to anyone celebrating a birthday.
The atmosphere was nothing short of electric as the whole restaurant was on their feet, singing and dancing with the Disney characters. We celebrated both Mitchell's actual birthday, and Sheri's early birthday here, two nights running. A couple of birthday celebrations that will be hard to forget!



Mickey and family on Mitchell's Birthday



"It's A Small World Ride "- yes it is a small world after all......

Another well timed arrival to The Chunnel (despite the nail biting experience,) and we were back on UK soil. UK immigration staff were interested in our travels on this particular trip given, the frequency of our most recent crossings - four within the past three weeks. Whilst we had planned around Continental tourist visa durations, we had not anticipated this level of interest from UK authorities. We would potentially have to demonstrate our independence, and show that we weren’t placing any burden on UK resources at future crossings.

Rowleaze Cottages in Oxfordshire upon our arrival at sunset