pensnest | (no subject)

The best part of five days without my LJ! *shudders*

But, it was nice to see my sister, her husband, and the Adorable Niece and Nephew. Their house is very splendid, an ancient farmhouse of great size with not a right angle in sight - I get quite seasick walking along the landing to the bathroom - and the living room has a fireplace a person could probably live in if there wasn't a big black wood-burning stove in there.

It is Very Pretty in Devon. And should anyone fancy a stay in the area, the converted barns make very pretty holiday cottages. We went to the beach at Westward Ho! on New Year's Day. It's a good beach. It was... bracing. There were crazy people surfing. Next time we visit, I am determined that we shall see the sheep racing at The Big Sheep, because after all, who could miss that?

Yesterday we bought trout from the local trout farm, an experience which included seeing them being smacked on the head, which made me feel somewhat guilty. But they were very tasty.

And, we took Twister and Pictionary with us, and ~~forced them to play~~ introduced them to the pleasure of playing games. Adorable Niece was particularly taken with Twister, and made noble efforts, but when you are Only Six, there are some stretches you just can't make. Adorable Nephew was more excited by Pictionary, at which he was surprisingly good, although naturally the Girls Team was victorious. It's nice to do proper, old-fashioned things instead of being glued to the telly all the time - particularly when part of the telly-watching included the arrival of celebrities at the Big Brother house. Really, I could sense brain cells dying off, all over the country.

Also watched 'Prince Caspian' on DVD. It's so aggravating to see the film 'of' a beloved book and discover that yet again the film-makers have failed to notice what is actually appealing about the story, and have bunged in a lot of nonsense instead.

Anyway, we're back, all four of us instantly gravitating to our separate computers. My cat seems pleased by this, and has twice clawed her way up the back of my computer chair to purr against my shoulders. Oh, and I should mention that for Christmas I received a handbag that looks like a Yorkie dog. I can't decide whether to call it Poochie or Paris.

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Sheep racing??

I'm glad you had a good holiday! And I quite agree, playing board games is much more exciting than watching tv.

They have little knitted jockeys, and everything!

The Big Sheep is a must! My family are all from North Devon and whenever we visit the two things we do are Westward Ho! and the Big Sheep :-) The Big Sheep visit is under the pretence that my nieces will love it but secretly the adults all want to feed lambs and cheer on the sheep when they race!

My sister Failed To Tell Me about the sheep until rather too late - although I dare say they weren't open midweek in the winter anyway. But, next time! It is very beautiful down there. My sister's place is near Burrington and Chumleigh, not far from South Molton.

Failing to tell you about the sheep is not good. It's hilarious! In the spring time you can also bottle feed the new lambs (they are so cute!) which is something else I would recommend.

I know South Moulton quite well. My family are from not too far away from there - Bideford, Westward Ho! and Barnstaple and we shall be enjoying our next visit in early March. I can't wait. There is nothing better than getting up early and going for a walk along the windy beach.

That sounds like a wonderful way to spend new year, and those cottages look lovely.

Wonky corridors will forever remind me of the first Camp Sparkle :)

It's that kind of thing, though sadly without the hot tub in the back garden. Perhaps I should suggest it, when they've finished converting the barns.

We've played so many board games in the past two weeks! My sister and I even made a game board for our parents.

Now, that too reminds me of Camp Sparkle, hee!

No GSF or aliens in this one, sadly. ;)

Well, apart from the no-LJ thing (*shudder*) it sounds like you'd a marvelous New Year!

I'm going to forward that link to my sister in London, it sounds like the kind of place they might enjoy staying at.

The countryside is so pretty, even at the tail end of December, it's a really nice part of the world.