That's it - our holiday for the year is over!

Well, that's it for another year.  Our do-it-in-a-day go away holiday.  We had sold a chest of drawers we won't be taking with us when we are able to downsize and needed to deliver it to a friend in deepest Dorset.  We set off Saturday morning, and had a lovely visit with her and her family, looking over their new house (much to do - reminds me of when we first came here, 28 years ago).  I will respect her privacy by not showing any photos, but believe me, it is a lovely spot, and I want her orchard!!

We spent Saturday night at a camp site in Cheddar.  Very convenient - you could walk up into the town, BUT boy was it noisy.  I had forgotten quite how noisy it is when you are in a tent and can hear the least thing.  Let alone passing traffic (the nearby road turned into Le Mans after dark), the barrage of Fireworks in a field close to the site, followed by the Disco with the most awful music (I could have enjoyed 60s or 70s stuff!), then drunken revellers with loud voices returning to their tents and talking outside for ages, then a late returning car passing our tent. Not to mention people snoring, yappy dogs barking etc.   This would have been just about bearable had there not been an extremely loud church clock striking EVERY quarter throughout day and night.  We were extremely bleary-eyed after that, I can tell you!

Of course, we couldn't leave the area without going down Cheddar Gorge (and we had to drive up it in order to come down again.)  We stopped several times for me to take photos.  They are a bit hit and miss because I was so tired, but you get the general idea.  It is hard to imagine that it was once the most immense cave which lost its roof . . .

This cave entrance (crawling in!) was close to the road and some work had been done on it recently to clear debris.  I'm not sure whether this was done by potholers or archaeologists.

There were feral goats, and some Soay sheep grazing the steep valley sides.  A perfect location for them.

As you can see, nature has made the most of what is available and slippered itself into every nook and cranny!

Well, we had stayed at Cheddar because we had heard there was a HUGE car boot sale there every Sunday (along with market stalls too).  Of course, that was a temptation too great to pass by (much as I wanted to spend the night down on the Moor and have my fill of Dartmoor for the year.)  Had we had a better night's sleep we could still have had the day down there, but it was not to be.

Anyway, the car boot sale WAS huge, and we spent three hours walking round, buying some nice pieces for the Unit, and just generally relaxing.  We found a little cafe that did a good cup of Earl Grey, which please my OH.  We had started the day (at 5 a.m.) on very basic rations!  Home-made Banana flapjacks, but no hot cuppa.

Then it was time for home.  We didn't linger because we were both so tired.  We got back indoors mid-afternoon, which hadn't been our original intention, but at least the cats were glad to see us early (not that they had starved as a neighbour had been down to feed them).  Now it's back to normal and a huge clean up before T and her boyfriend arrive at the weekend.