A damned fine weekend

I'll need to gloss over the last three weeks or so because I have been so bloody busy that I'll never have time to write about it all and you'd probably fall asleep half way through. However I will say that it has been full of the good stuff including:

• Visit from Chris, Kate, Dan and Sarah which was all good stuff, Chris and Kate got engaged which was rather cool to be part of and we visited some nice places including Totnes, Dartington, an open top bus ride through Torbay, Buckfast Abbey (where we were told off on behalf of some anal monks for having a dog) and our little village.
• Visit from my sister Linda, her boyfriend Paul and their two boys Gabriel and Jonah. We had homemade Tapas which they really enjoyed as they'd been camping in Cornwall for two weeks and we went to Paignton Zoo which the boys loved. Gabriel liked the elephants and said he loved me and Tom for bringing him there (which made me cry) and Jonah was comforted by a Giraffe.
  
• Another visit to the excellent Bridge Inn in Topsham
• An Italian meal overlooking Exeter Catherdral and a trip to the Arts Centre to see The Edukators

This weekend has been fantastic, we went over to West Dartmoor yesterday to walk through Lyford gorge. It was a beautiful place owned by the National Trust (of which we have recently become members - perhaps I should continue buying the Telegraph and become resigned to my future as an old lady trapped in a young woman's body) and you walk through the wooded gorge for 1.5 miles until you reach White Lady falls which is a breathtaking 90ft Waterfall as shown. You then walk along the other side of the gorge for another 1.5 miles on precarious granite and slate steps, passing tumbling rapids and tunnels of swirling water dropping into deep pools carved by the water, until you reach The Devils Cauldren which is a thrilling Whirlpool deep in the rocks, viewed from a platform above the roaring cavern. It was just incredible.

To top this off we had delicious pies and smoothies halfway along and were greeted by my favourite dog, the Samoyed, which I got to stroke. We then went to the Castle Inn for lunch, where I had Crab and Avocado salad in a beautiful old pub with proper alcoves and slate floors.

For the rest of the afternoon we went back to Okehampton which is a pretty market town on the edge of Dartmoor. We stayed here for dinner and went to a friendly, unpretentious restuarant and I had a really tastly beetroot, feta and Romescu salad and Mussels with homemade chips. We got the bus back to Exeter at dusk and watched the fat, low moon over the silhouette of Dartmoor.

Today we listened to 6 Music in bed with the papers, had a cooked breakfast in bed, played with our new cat friend and went blackberrying in the village. As I write I am having dinner of Shepherd's Pie and Blackberry and Apple Crumbe cooked for me (on the downside Tom is being very grumpy doing this but he swears it is all chef style bravado). All in all a brilliant weeked and I'm feeling very lucky and looking forward to my dinner and watching the Prime Suspect DVD we got free with the Telegraph (oh dear!).