Mega bus, Caravan and cars

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CORNWALL - THE HOMECOMING

The journey down was surprisingly easy and trouble free, it was quite nice for Charlotte to be watching the countryside go by rather than driving! Caroline met us on the Royal Parade in Plymouth just after 10pm and whizzed us home to her house. A couple of glasses of wine and a quick catch up, along with present giving, then Caroline and Murray were off to bed. And we had a couple of hours to unwind and watch Cranberry (their cat) bring in a mouse play with it then chase it up the curtains before we too were off up the stairs.

Caroline and Murray went off to work and left us with the run of the house, and the dead mouse in the middle of the living room carpet (Cranberry 1 Mouse 0), we had a nice lunch and before we knew where we were Charlotte’s Mum had arrived and was swooping us off down to Cornwall and our new home for the next three months.

We arrive on the farm and drop our bag’s in the Caravan, it is a static caravan that used to have three bedrooms but has been remodelled a few years ago when my sister stayed here after her big trip overseas! Thanks Caroline. It now has one very nice big bedroom, a kitchen/diner and a huge lounge with a couple of sofas, a TV and gas fire, our little slice of heaven. The best thing however must be the view, miles and miles of rolling countryside.

We had a lovely dinner with Charlotte’s Mum Lorna and her step dad Digory and gave out presents and regaled them with our stories of travel and caught up on the news of what had been happening with the house build. Before long we had talked the evening away and were soon ensconced back in the Caravan for our first night.

We spent the coming week settling in, setting up the Wii and rearranging furniture. Friday morning Charlotte got up early and went over to see her Nan with her Mum to help her do her shopping. It was an ideal time for her to pick up some supplies for us for the duration of our stay. They stayed for a cup of coffee and a catch up after being apart since Nan’s 90th Birthday on 31st July 2009.

A couple of the things that we have started here is to eat a little more carefully, Charlotte has got a book on the GI Diet, so that sorted the food side of things, and to do more exercise, so we start a mixture of Wii fit, walking and gardening.

We realise after a couple of days here that we needed a car to get around as the farm is so remote! And Charlotte’s Nan Sue offered to loan her the money for a car that we can pay back when we get a job or sell the car. So the hunt was on! We saw an advert for a white Ford Fiesta which coincidently was being sold by the same man who sold Caroline her Ford Fiesta.

After helping Mum pack and repack her suitcase for her upcoming trip to Bergarac (she is off Sunday for 10 days with her best friends Jo & Neil and there family), we realised that the suitcase had got so small as she was measuring it in pounds not kg’s. My goodness did we laugh and thankfully Mum managed to fit in all that she wanted to take with her into a bigger suitcase the one we were using earlier!

Anyway as I was saying after we sorted that, Charlotte went off with Digory and Lorna to look at the car. She had a choice of a tidy basic little white Ford Fiesta with a Darma sticker on the rear or a bit more beat up blue Astra which has all of the central locking and a really good air conditioning system. After a bit of test driving by both Charlotte and Digory we decided on the little White Ford Fiesta as it was cheaper to run, it was a Diesel and there was more chance of selling it on in a couple of months. We go home and arrange some insurance after popping into see Nan .

Mum was off and away on holiday before we saw the light of day on Sunday, then Digory dropped Charlotte off to get the car and filled her up with a tank of fuel as a little treat, thanks Dig’s. He also helped her get all of the setting’s such as air pressure in the tyres just right. Charlotte picked up Liam and whizzed him around the Cornish Countryside, then picked up some shopping before heading home and cooking a roast Lamb supper for Liam and Digory, with Muffins for pudding. Whilst we are waiting for the meat to cook we helped Digory paint a load of boards with blackboard paint for the new Shearing shed to be based at the Royal Cornwall showground for the forth coming annual show.

Bank Holiday Monday we head over to Charlotte’s Dad and Denise’s house in Polperro where Denise has cooked up a storm of a roast dinner. We had a bit of time to catch up with them before Caroline, Murray and Murray’s mum Julie arrived. The weather was beautiful, so for the first time this year we loaded up our plates and went down to the garden table to eat our dinner. The weather got a bit cooler, so we went back up after dinner and ’The Coventry Girls’ had a giggle in the kitchen. Denise sent us all home with leftovers, which we eagerly tucked into for supper that evening.

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