Monday morning.....

We went to the Farm Shop ....

We went to the beach this morning. Our nearest is Lannacombe. It can only be reached by a rutted track which passes between deep Devon hedgerows - a nightmare in the summer when the visitors, unused to our narrow lanes, return. But this morning it was deserted and we bumped our way down to the beach with no need to squeeze onto the verges or reverse back to the nearest passing space. The beach was wonderful - at first the sun was shining, though there was a cold wind, and Amy lay down and rolled and rolled for the sheer joy of it while Ben bounced and ran and twirled chasing his favourite yellow ball across the flat expanse of sand.

But then, with a gust of wind, everything changed and our world was made of water. The sky seemed to darken in less than a minute and the heavens opened. Between the crashing of the surf, the swollen stream and the torrent of rain it was hard to tell whether I was on land or somewhere beneath the sea. I felt gills would have been better than lungs! The dogs thought it was wonderful, for Newfies are water dogs and Amy has been known to sit out in the rain just for the pleasure of feeling the water run down her furry body.

We ran for the car and made our soggy way to the Farm Shop where I purchased some leeks and a lump of their wonderful stilton cheese. I'll use up the last of the Christmas gammon tonight, cut into cubes and heated in a Stilton, leek and creme fraiche sauce to pour over my jacket potato. Light the fire and snuggle down - my hero Hugh's on Channel 4 - just need to add a glass of Sharpham's and two dozy Newfs. How relaxing is that?