Dartmoor - Arrival & Newton Abbot

We had a really nice, comfortable drive down, with no real traffic, and the CX5 doing us proud. We arrived relaxed and more than ready for our 10 days stay in Moorbrook Cottage, just on the edge of Dartmoor. 

We spent the evening having a really good look round, which you can read about here, unpacking and settling in with pizza in front of the TV. Our first impressions of the cottage were very favourable and we both thought we'd be really comfortable here for the next 10 days. 

Wednesday was our first full day and Martin was up early to get the curry started in the slow cooker. He really is a cracker. 

I was just stirring by the time he came back to bed and we lay in bed watching and listening to the rain whilst we decided what our plans for the day were. In the time we lay there, the weather turned from light drizzle, to pouring rain, to bright sunshine and back again. I think we could definitely describe it as changeable. 

With the weather looking a bit mixed and us wanting to see places at their best, we decided to have a slow get up and breakfast, followed by a drive into Newton Abbot to check out the local Asda and get stocked up on lots of goodies for our week ahead. 

Before hitting Asda we had a really good walk round Newton Abbot town centre, there was a market on so we had a good old mooch in the sunshine which was now out in full force. Unusually for us we made quite a few purchases, with Martin stocking up on wine making kits and a new knife and sharpener, he has a thing about knives, and me buying a new necklace and handbag, how girlie does that sound? 

Then it was into Asda for a trolley full of nice things to see us through the next week or so before heading back to Moorbrook Cottage. 

For some reason the sat nav took us back by a completely different route and the moors looked beautiful in the Autumn sunshine. We couldn't wait to get out and about and have a real good explore, as this area is somewhere that neither of us have ever visited before. 

Back to our home for the next 10 days and a quick sit in the garden before showers, which were very nice and powerful by the way, and looking forward to slow cooked curry, quarter final of the Bake Off and Our Zoo to look forward to. What more could we want? 

Oh yeah, a log fire would be fab. Simple pleasures.

Moorbrook Cottage - Ponsworthy - Dartmoor

How long did we stay?

10 nights

When did we visit?

23 Sep 2014 - 3 Oct 2014

How much was it?

£1335.00

Who did we book with?

Sweeton Manor

What were our initial impressions?

The cottage is just inside the Dartmoor National Park.  From the A38, the drive to the cottage was lovely.  We drove past the River Dart Country Park and across some tiny narrow stone bridges and got our first glimpse of the open countryside of Dartmoor.

The final approach was across a small ford and past some really pretty thatched cottages, also owned by Sweeton Manor.  Our first view of the cottage was a bit disappointing.  It didn't look that pretty, compared to the thatched cottages nearby. In fact, I would go so far, as to say, it looked a little tired.

It was with trepidation that we opened the front door into a very utilitarian porch, which, though felt really chilly, would be good for wet boots and coats. With even more trepidation we opened the main door to the cottage. 

Our hearts instantly picked up. The lounge was charming, with a comfy looking three piece suite set out around a log burning stove, with a nice big basket of logs and kindling to get us started. The cottage felt nice and warm and cosy.

There was a door from the lounge leading into the kitchen, which again was quite charming, and nice and clean. The cooker looked like it had never been used. Having a root through the drawers and cupboards the kitchen looked like it was going to be well equipped. 

There was another door from the lounge which let out to a back porch, with a tiny downstairs loo, leading out into the garden. 

When we arrived it was early evening and with the warm sunshine, the garden looked just lovely, with a BBQ and table and chairs set on a patio close to the house and a really nice natural garden stretching along the back. The views of the cottage from the garden were clearly the ones we had seen on the website and it looked just lovely from here. 

We went back inside to have a look upstairs. Up the original stone staircase to two bedrooms, both en suite and both with the biggest beds you have ever seen. Little windows gave lovely views over the back and let in lots of light. 

Both bedrooms were, again well equipped. With plenty of storage, a dressing table with mirror for hair drying and big fluffy quilts and pillows and lots of towels, even beach towels. It was really comfy. 

Throughout the cottage were lots of nice touches, fresh flowers, a fruit bowl, bread, butter, milk and orange juice in the kitchen, boxes of tissues in every, and I do mean every, room, nice soap and hand cream dispensers at every sink and a good supply of toiletries in both bathrooms. 

For an old cottage the whole place is really nice and light. The overall feel so far was very 'cottagey', with lots of original features and sloping floors and uneven doorways. We both felt like we would be very comfortable here. 

Our likes over the course of our stay

• The beds really were the comfiest ever.  We both slept really well all week!
• The kitchen was really 'well equipped'.  It didn't just say it was.  There was nothing that we needed that we didn't find.
• The whole cottage was really nice and clean and bright.
• The cottage was lovely to come back to at the end of the day, for a nice powerful and hot shower, to wrap up in huge fluffy white towels, before chilling out in front of the TV and the log burner for the evening.
• The garden was lovely and backed on to open countryside.  We didn't really get to use it much as it got quite cool in the evenings, but we can imagine that in Summer it would be lovely to sit and eat on the patio.
• There is excellent wifi connectivity and a land line available if you need to make calls to other landlines (as there is no mobile signal available at all).

Anything that could have made it better?

• The washing machine and dryer are situated in a wooden building in the back garden. There is no outside light at the back, though the building is lit inside.  This made doing laundry after dark quite difficult.

Would we recommend this cottage to our friends and family?

Absolutely

Would we stay in this cottage again?

Definitely. Overall we loved this cottage and we loved Dartmoor.  It was a near as perfect as we could have hoped for.  We could easily imagine ourselves living here.  Snuggling up in the Winter and chilling in the garden in Summer.

Good Bye September - Hello October

As predicted at the beginning of the month, September was very, very busy in the pottering world.

I had a great day out in Gloucester, meeting up with some old work friends. Martin and I have managed to fit in two big caching trips, first with Jo & Steve and their girls, and secondly with mum, which was a bit of an adventure.

I can certainly tell that the school holidays are over, with having been to two Governor training sessions already and a calendar full of dates for the coming months.

I've been quite busy in the kitchen and I've made tomato and chilli jam and had a go at an apple strudel!

We've been pretty busy in the garden, but have not yet got round to fixing that front gate - I know I said this last month, but we will definitely have that as our top priority for October.

The end of the month found us on our fortnights holiday in a cottage on Dartmoor.  We were really lucky with the weather and got out and about every day, which I will tell you more about in my coming posts.

I've come back from Dartmoor feeling very motivated and inspired. There are loads of things I want to do. 

• I want to have a really good and thorough clutter clear right through the house.  If I don't love it or don't use it then it needs to go. 
• I want that flippin' gate finishing.
• I've a radiator that needs replacing.
• I want the autumn garden tidying done, including picking up all the dead leaves and 
• I want to have a go at mosaics. 

My first day back was very productive, but with none of the above. We went and did the post holiday shop, I make a fabulous chicken, leek and tarragon pie, with two extra small ones for the freezer and I made a batch of Rocky Road, and all by 2.00pm. I was on fire and hope it keeps up through the Autumn.

October is a big birthday month for us, with mum's birthday early on, followed by my old schoolfriend Lesley, who is also 50 this year, then Jackie, then Jo, so no doubt we will be doing lots of visiting.

There isn't much else planned for October so hopefully there will be time for another big garden tidy up before the winter months are upon us and who knows, we might actually achieve our goal of fitting the dratted gate.

Oh yeah, the guest bedroom is still a work in progress, so we've still got plenty going on, which gives me plenty to blog about, so please, please, please ......... keep reading.

In the Garden - September

September has really seen the start of the signs of Autumn in the garden, with the leaves starting to turn those gorgeous warm Autumn colours and plenty of bright red berries on the Rowan. They've also started to fall, so it won't be long before the leaf sucker has to be dug out of the shed.

In the vegetable garden we've had the last of the harvests of tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and beetroot, the french beans have died back and I don't think we're going to see any more courgettes.  

We didn't get to spend that much time in the garden during September, but we did manage to get two big 'bursts' in.

The first involved mum and I spreading round the excess of dirt left over from the brick edge project. This was real hard work but we've now managed to level out the borders around the bottom half of the garden.  It was a job that definitely needed doing.

We also moved the urn, from the depths of the border, out onto the patio, and shifted the Acer to give it a bit more room.

We then moved some border plants in readiness for next year. We moved the very tall Anemones to the back of the border as they were blocking the view of the Camellia, which will now have room to shine.

Whilst mum and I were doing this, dad and Martin were starting on repairs to the arbour roof, which had pretty much collapsed in on it's supports.  They also felted it, as some of the roofing boards had rotted and split.  We hope we should now get a good few more years out of it.

Mum and dad's efforts were rewarded with a slow cooked Abruzzi Lamb and Martin's first attempt at home made Focaccia, which was pretty darn amazing.

Our other big burst involved an afternoon visit from our good friends Jackie and Phil.  Phil, with a little bit of help from Martin, fit us a new back door panel, so the cat flap has now gone.  Sad, I know, but it was broken and letting in water.

They also managed to clad the tatty and rotten weatherboarding above the back door, which was another one of those jobs that has been on the agenda for a long old time.  We now need to find ourselves a nice new outside light to just finish it off.

Jackie and Phil's efforts were rewarded with a slow cooked chilli, followed by a Key Lime Pie (which I have to confess was bought from Asda).

In between our two big 'bursts', mum and I managed another couple of small ones and started on the big Autumn tidy up.  We pruned the Roses and Clematis on and above the old shed.  We also cleared the small border in front of the shed.  

We also had a good pre-holiday tidy up of the pots around the garden. It was time to say good bye to the Sweet Peas for good, for the Hostas to be completely cut back, along with the majority of the tomato plants and the cucumbers. We also had a good tidy up of the potted daisies, which are still going strong. 

We cut back the beans, but left the roots in the soil as they will add nutrients back over the Winter. We also collected dried bean pods to save the seeds for planting next Spring.

We cleaned and bundled up the canes that have been in use over the summer, had a really good sweep up and cleared away the empty plastic pots and trays. 

There's not much in flower in the garden at the moment.  The white climbing rose has had another spurt and the potted daisies and rudbeckia are still going strong. The Sedum, or ice plant, is about the last thing that we have to flower and that is starting to make a good show.

There's still lots to do, borders to be finished, ivy to be given it's Winter trim, the arbour to be finished and the front to be tidied, including another shear for the privet and the annual trimming of the conifers.

I started off this post thinking we hadn't done much in the garden in September, but when it actually comes down to it, we did a lot more than I thought!