My Little Bit of Heaven in Devon!

We are on holiday in our caravan in deepest darkest Devon and it's glorious! We are back at Wrenwell Meadows in Denbury, this time for a fortnight. We also managed to get the awning up we bought with the caravan (which we bought on eBay!) OK so we had to have help from a neighbour, who was very sweet and really mucked in with getting it up for us, but it is the first time we've used it and we're delighted with it. It's in great condition and came with not only a skirt for the caravan, but a ground sheet and a support bar so we can let one of the front panels down during the day. It's an NR Pullman model and has 4 zip out panels which is really useful, as we don't have to get the roof up with the full weight of the canvas.

Having the awning up also means we can leave the beds made up all the time in the caravan and not have the hassle of making them up at night (whch tends to be a real pain!).

Wrenwell Meadows is very peaceful as it's right out in the country and being a CL only has 5 vans max on it, and it's such a large area we're not too close to the neighbours, which is nice. Although there is only one toilet and shower, plus 2 sinks for washing we've never had a problem and Mr Partridge, the owner, keeps it all scrupulously clean. And the great thing is dogs are allowed, and our 2 are having a great time, they love being on holiday in the caravan. We like our creature comforts and have a microwave in the 'van, a flat screen TV and our laptops in the awning, in which we have a couple of tables, 2 loungers and a couple of folding bucket chairs for the boys or visitors. We also have a standard lamp. a desk type fan for when it gets too hot and a little fan heater for when it gets a bit chilly in the evening. So we are quite comfy cosy!
The view from our awning, peaceful isn't it?

So Who's been using my Photo's?

It's amazing what you find when you Google yourself! I do it periodically as I have been on line for over ten years and have a reasonably large footprint on the web, and it's always fascinating to see what Google turns up.  But I got a surprise today when I Googled for images connected to my username.

I found that TowSure, a large Caravan and Camping supplier with 3 stores and a big website was using one of my Flickr photos on their caravanning page (that's it with the blue car, taken while we were on holiday on the Isle of Wight). I do allow a lot of my photos to be used freely with a Creative Commons License, and occasionally get requests in my Flickr inbox. I have had requests from a Danish University, a Californian nature reserve and a Tourist Guide website to name a few. But very often I just find them by doing a Google images search, as most people give me accreditation..

Todays discovery is the most exciting so far though and I thought it would be fun to add a page to my new website with a list of the sites that use my photos. Who's using my Photo's?

New funny Swine Flu T-Shirts now available on Zazzle!

Sold my first product on Zazzle yesterday, which really made my day.It's a Crazy Pink tie. Now I've just posted a range of funny Swine Flu T-shirts (all in the best possible taste - naturally) Check them out on my Zazzle Store. Have also posted more great tie designs.

My New Zazzle Shop

I've been so busy lately that I'm afraid I've been neglecting the blogs, and this one in particular. I've actually had my hands full doing a course for a Psychology Degree with the Open University PLUS I've been creating lots of gorgeous designs to start up my own ZAZZLE Shop - Kaleidoscope Kreations.

Our Easter Holiday in Devon

I've just got back from a great week in the caravan in Devon. We stayed in a CL (Certified Location, these are small sites certified by the Caravan Club and take a maximum of 5 vans only) called Wrenwell Meadows, in the pretty little village of Denbury, just outside Newton Abbot. This was our first CL, as we normally stay on the larger more commercial sites. There is a 5 star site called Dornafield about a mile away from our little CL, which is where we normally stay, and although a fabulous site it has just got too expensive. Our CL cost a quarter of what we would usually pay, and we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.

We had a field with horses on the front side and the adjoining field had sheep in. We saw foxes, pheasants, owls, buzzards, greenfinch, blue tits, robins and other birds just while we sat in the 'van. The weather was lovely virtually all week, and when it did rain it tended to be late evening or at night when it didn't bother us. We got the dog drying routine down to a fine art and just protected the seat cushions with towels for any remaining dampness.

On our first night we decided to eat out as it was quite late by the time we had set up the 'van and Ian was just too tired to cook dinner. So we went over to Broadhempston to our favourite eating place called the Coppa Dolla, a lovely olde worlde restaurant in a pretty Devon village. We had a super 3 course meal, finishing off with a crunchy brandy basket with hot cherries in kirsch sauce and the nicest cornish cream ice cream I've ever had.

The next day we went down through Torquay and Paignton to Dartmouth and crossed the river on the car ferry. Dartmouth is a very pretty town at the mouth of the River Dart and incredibly picturesque. We wandered around looking at all the lovely old buildings and browsing the shops and then bought lunch to eat in the car before returning home via Totnes.

Another of our trips was onto Dartmoor which is only a few miles away from Denbury and drove over to Widecombe (home of Uncle Tom Cobley and all), passing the beautiful scenery of the moors and the great rugged granite peaks of the Tors.

Thursday we went out again for a meal at the local pub, the Union Inn which was having a Folk Night, and I had crab cakes, followed by duck with cherry sauce - lovely! Afterwards we went through to where the folk singing was going on and had fun joining in with all the songs with great merriment.

On our last day, Friday, the weather was glorious, so we drove down to the South Hams and Salcombe, one of our favourite places, but a nightmare trying to find anywhere to park! We returned via Kingsbridge, Slapton and Blackpool Sands, back to Dartmouth and crossed the river on the ferry again before driving up through Paignton and Torquay. It's lovely to see the sea and coast again, as we are about as far from it as you can get where we live now.

On Saturday we drove home back up the M5, which took us about three and a half hours with no delays or hold ups and the weather was again kind to us. Unpacked the 'van and left it on the drive, rather than take it back into storage. We'd like to go away somewhere more local for the later May bank holiday and have already booked a couple of weeks back on our pretty CL in Devon for August - and I can't wait!

Kaleidescope Fun 2!

These are my latest efforts at kaleidescope art, both based on photographs of my aquarium. The first is of a shoal of green barbs and the second, one of our red clawed crabs called Buster.

Monthly Weight Loss Report: March

I hit my 2 stone target this morning, so thats 28lbs lost in total, which is great. I am really noticing the difference in the way I feel and look, not to mention the clothes I can fit now. I'm down two sizes so can fit into clothes I haven't been able to wear for a couple of years!

My next stage is a 3 month timescale to lose the next stone (14lbs), deadline for which is May 31st. Which works out at an average 4 & 1/2 pounds per month. Easy Peasy Japaneasy! (She says optimistically :-). Will post an update again at the end of the month, so come back and see how I do.