A Week in Bude #5 :: Port Isaac, Crazy Golf and a Very High Tide

Hi there everyone 😀

It seems like an absolute age ago that we were in Bude with the family for a week of sunshine. 

This post finishes off my series and covers our last full day, which saw us heading a little further down the coast for a visit to the beautiful fishing village of Port Isaac.

It’s another favourite spot, with its winding streets, pretty cottages and picturesque harbour. We’ve been regular visitors when staying in Bude for many years … long before the arrival of Doc Martin 😜 

It was quite a busy day but we were lucky enough to find the very last parking spot in the bottom car park, which always makes for a lovely walk into the village along the coastal path …

First stop was one of our favourite shops for mooching. Whilst we don’t normally buy anything we always have to have a bit of a look. This cafe also looked very inviting but it was too early for a pit stop …

We also always have to stop and take in the view across the harbour to that, now, very famous doctor’s surgery …

We carried on down into the heart of the village, across the harbour and up the other side …

… where we decided it was now time for a pit stop. We ended up in somewhere we’d not tried before … The Chapel cafe and we were both very impressed with the interior. It was just lovely …

Fortified … it was time to start to head back … but there plenty of time for a wander on the beach, a bit of beach combing and a sit in the sunshine first …

From Port Isaac we made our way back to Bude for some more family fun. Crazy golf was on the agenda …

… before hitting The Brendon Arms for a family meal. 

After we’d eaten we all had a wander down the canal to the sea lock to watch a very high tide … which was pretty impressive …

The following morning it was time to pack up, say our goodbyes, and head for home. Saying good bye to Bude is always a little bit sad as we never really know when we will back. It never disappoints and we’d had a lovely week in one of our favourite places, with plenty of sunshine and family time ☀️☀️☀️

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A Big Job Out of the Way

Hi there everyone 😀

Today saw the arrival of the ‘tree men’. If they’d been Irish I may have made some kind of joke about ‘tree fellas’ as there were three of them 😜 … or would that be considered very politically incorrect these days?

Anyway … for me … any visit by anyone doing anything in the garden is always met with a bit of trepidation as there’s always a bit of worry about how the job will go. You know the kind of thing … will they cut too much off? Will they clear up properly? Will there be any traumatic incidents? 

Well I’m pleased to report that all went well. My wedding present magnolia and my self set rowan had their first formal haircuts and are looking very tidy …

The maples and prunus along the back wall had a far more pronounced trim … with the height being brought down by a good four to five metres …

In the above photo the climber is in the tree and you can just see how far he brought the maple down in the middle 😲. The rest was all brought down to that level. 

As you can probably imagine there were a lot of branches to be disposed of …

And this is where they all ended up …

It was most definitely a very good job done and out of the way ready for winter. 

The only problem is … it opens the way now for a long list of other jobs that we need to get cracking on with 😀

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Easing into Autumn

Hi there everyone 😀

I have one more final post to come from our week in Bude but thought I’d get this post in first, whilst it still feels current. 

There has been a serious shift into Autumn over here … in more ways than one. There has still been plenty of sunshine but the temperatures have definitely taken a big dip …

The shorts and cut offs have been packed away and the cosy fleeces and long trousers have been brought back into play. So far we have managed to avoid putting the heating on but I don’t think it will be long … though I must confess we have had a bit of a test run … just to check it’s all working as it should 😜

We came back from Bude with a big bag of cooking apples from Mark and Sarah’s tree … and it’s safe to say there are plenty more where these came from …

So far we’ve had crumbles and apple cake and there is a strudel on the cards next …

In the garden things aren’t looking too bad and the ‘tree man’ is booked in for some serious tree and conifer pruning ready for Winter.

The quince is heavy with fruit … the most laden it’s been for years. We shall make some quince jelly but, as our friends that always used to have a huge bagful have moved away, I think a lot will go to waste. I will try a Facebook post for local friends to see if I can shift any … but they aren’t an easy fruit to deal with …

The rowan is laden with berries too, which look beautiful but are pretty annoying. The birds only eat them as a very last resort and generally not until January. By then the majority have dropped and been trodden into the grass …

Whilst there has been plenty of cutting back it is good to see there is still a fair bit of colour in the garden …

We are trying to get a few more garden jobs done before the weather gets more wintry and Martin is in the process of painting a new front gate. The old one is dropping to bits and now held together with tie wraps … and is looking very tatty.

We are trying to ensure we give the new one as long as possible life as we can and it’s had three coats of wood preserver and two coats of paint on both sides so far. Just one more top coat and then we can start on the posts and hopefully get it hung before too long.

We have managed to repaint the front canopy and brackets and that is looking very smart …

In much more relaxing news we managed a day out with Jackie and Phil, which involved a garden centre visit, a bit of a garden and an Autumn afternoon tea …

And, as you can see, the boots have come out of hibernation.

Autumn is always busy for us … this year especially … as mum is due to have a replacement hip operation very soon. Hopefully all will go well and she will be up and about and back to normal soon. 

We are then hoping for a sneaky week or two back at the lodge as it feels like ages since we last visited. 

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A Week in Bude #4 :: A proper Beach Day ⛱️☀️⛱️

Hi there everyone 😀

Day four of our week in Bude really was all about the beach … a proper seaside day from start to finish.

The weather was absolutely perfect for it, so we packed up all the essentials … picnic, chairs, beach towels, sun cream … all the usual paraphernalia.

We all met up at the Crooklets Beach Cafe …

… before setting ourselves up in a good spot for the day …

The usual beach activities were undertaken … chilling out in the beach chairs, a bit of a paddle and a few beach games for the more energetic …

We had our picnic lunch on the beach …

It was one of those wonderfully lazy days where the hours slipped by without really noticing, and before we knew it the tide was on its way back in and it was time to pack up and head back to Mark and Sarah’s where we finished the day with a garden BBQ ⛱️☀️⛱️☀️

It’s not very often that Martin and I spend much time actually sitting on the beach and it really was the loveliest of days 💜

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Next up … Exploring Port Isaac for our last full day 😀

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