Autumn in Devon.

Oct 5th we headed back to Modbury for a 7 night break. The reason we chose Modbury CC site was simply the dog walk. We had originally booked Broadway in the Cotswolds but decided that with the proximity of the main road it wasn't a good choice to take a still skitty rescue dog. The dog walk in Modbury is HUGE and secure and a brilliant area to teach recall. Bella is proving to be very easy to train as far as basic commands are concerned .. I will add a video later.
The site also gave us a good base to take Bella to some busy areas for socialising.

Torquay

Kingsbridge

Modbury CC site.

This is the same site we stayed at when we took Barney to meet and greet Bella at her foster home. This photo was taken the day we collected her to take her home ... a very frightened and shell shocked little dog.

And this is her doing the same journey 4 1/2 months later a confident and sociable member of our family.

Catch up posts

Sorry to any followers but I haven't been keeping my blog up to date ...I know I'll regret it if I don't update, it will be nice to look back on one day. Anyway we have had 3 trips since my last post, the first 2 were to Dan yr Ogof which I'll give a very brief report on and then last week week we went back to Modbury for the week.

The first of the 3 trips was a 6 night break on 3rd Aug which was meant to be a chill time in between looking after the grandkids for the school holidays. Unfortunately it was anything but relaxing as Bella, our little rescue dog, became very ill the first night with sickness and diarrhoea. It was so bad that we had to take her to the vets for treatment. We also had to go to Swansea on another day to visit my daughter on her Birthday which meant taking the dogs home as it was too warm to leave them in the caravan. We did manage a couple of days at the end of the week to just relax.

The second break was 3 nights on 11th sept, Steve had to go to work on the Saturday so my daughter came up for the day with 2 of my granddaughters. They spent the day picking cob nuts ..3 carrier bags full ..whilst my daughter and I caught up, we don't see much of each other even though I see a lot of my granddaughters.

The two short trips were good for the dogs and gave us the confidence to travel to Devon for a weeks holiday with Bella.

As you can see from the photo we have changed our chairs .. the old ones had served us well but I really liked the idea of lafuma zero gravity chairs, my back problem means that sitting for long periods becomes very painful and I'd been told that this type of chair would alleviate that and, I have to say they were right, I can now relax for longer periods.

First trip with two dogs.

Only a short trip for 3 nights to our favourite Dan yr Ogof site to let our new rescue dog Bella experience the joys of caravanning.
We were a little nervous in case she wouldn't settle but any doubts we had were quickly expelled ....she loved it.

First job once we got the stays down and electric on was to introduce her to her roaming lead.. she was brilliant, wandering off to the end of her lead and then back to us. I remember the first time we put Barney on a roaming lead ..he thought he'd been given freedom and shot off at full speed only to bend the metal stake and frighten himself half to death. Bella was far more sensible, and considering that a couple of months ago she hadn't been outside her breeding cage at the puppy farm she was rescued from, she felt her way to the end and realised that was as far as she could go.
Perhaps Barney had had a quiet word with her before hand.

He certainly had a good chat to her whilst we put the awning up.

Once the awning was up we took her in to see her new holiday home ..she was a little bit worried but Barney looked after her.

and showed her how to chill on holidays

She didn't master the steps very well so we're going to have to have a think how we can make them better for her .. we have changed them 4 times to find ones that Barney was happy with and now have the Milenco rubber tread non tip ones so can't get better ..scratch head time!!! Anyway I did manage to encourage her to climb them once with a bit of ham but she resorted to whining for a lift the next time. She did manage to get down them without any problems so I'm sure she'll learn.

She thoroughly enjoyed the great outdoors and soon found that if she went into the shade it was cooler. The weekend was glorious and this was probably the first time she had ever experienced hot sunshine so just stood there panting till I took her under the trees where Barney was.


My very own King and Queen of the jungle!

Their favourite spot behind the caravan.

We were lucky to have llamas in the field beside us.

Some pics of the site .. Dan yr Ogof is a very quiet site right by the national showcaves and shire horse centre and a great place for exploring the national park.

There is also a farm for the kids ... Bella wasn't impressed with the Emus ..they were big birds!!

It's going to be quite a few weeks before Steve can get any more time off so it's TTFN.

Modbury CC site Devon.

What a wonderful week we had. Not the best weather but good enough to get out and about and ..dry and sunny to put the new awning up and dry and sunny to take it down again .. what more could you ask.

Modbury Caravan Club site is a real gem of a site. There were a few bad reviews about the last couple of miles to the site but honestly the road is fine. I think any road seems narrow after hours and hours of driving on motorways and dual carriageway, it just takes a while to adjust. We found that after a week of driving around Devon the homeward journey along the same road was a piece of cake. Our advice ..after leaving the A38 slow right down and give your brain time to adjust to the road width and it is fine.
The site itself is very underused because of the bad press, a real shame as it really is a beautiful site. There are 2 really good sized fields which are kept mowed .. one for the kids and one for the dogs, a large playground that looks like it's got new equipment and acres of well spaced out pitches. The facilities are what you would expect from a CC site, if I could make one small criticism it would be that the tiling is rather outdated .. pretty flowers are a bit 70ish .. but the wardens do a good job of keeping the block clean. The whole site was beatifully manicured and a credit to the wonderfully friendly wardens. Can't wait to go back.

We're delighted with new Dorema all season awning. Lovely and cool inside when the sun was blazing down. The feel of a full awning with the ease of putting up of a porch. Perfect for us.

Relaxing.

Burgh Island.

Kingsbridge.

Plymouth Hoe

Barney having a cuddle with teddy after a long day out.

People watching ...or being nosey lol

Coombe Martin.

Kingsbridge. There was a food festival on all week so went back a couple of times.

Just managed to BBQ dinner when the rains came.

Dartmouth.

Barney loves his new hammock .. brilliant for keeping the dogs contained and comfortable in the back of the car.

You will notice that I said dogs as in plural .. Yes we brought our new rescue schnauzer home with us so we now have Bella to keep Barney company on our adventures. She is a very scared little girlie, but hopefully with lots of love and TLC she will soon be in good health and enjoying life.

She doesn't look much like a Schnauzer but that's not suprising after the way she was kept on a puppy farm and she has had to be shaved underneath as she has been spayed and has had to have a hernia repaired, but I'm sure she will soon blossom into a stunning dog. My sincere gratitude goes to Many Tears Animal Rescue in Llanelli who work tiredlessly to rescue these poor dogs from a life of hell, and in particular for saving Bella. xx

Off to Devon for a very special week.

Yes Sunday we're off to devon for a week and whilst we are there we are going to meet a very special little girlie. Her name is Bella ..she is a 2 year old Miniature Schnauzer who was rescued from a puppy farm. She has been poorly with a hernia and was sent from Many Tears rescue to Devon to have it repaired and is now recouperating with her lovely foster mum. We are taking Barney to meet her on Tuesday and if that goes well we will pick her up on our way home. She is a very frightened little soul and is going to need an awful lot of TLC which we will give her in abundance. So excited!!!! Think I will start a new blog dedicated to her.

We have a new awning to try out too. We are so impressed with the Dorema mistral that we have bought the all season version ..hence the reason why I said we took the mistral ripstop down for the last time in Tenby. So lots to write about when we get back.

Easter 2014 and our first 2 stop break.

Our commitment to look after 2 of our Grandchildren made it difficult to get away for the full week over Easter so we decided to spend 4 nights at Dan yr Ogof and 4 Nights at Woodstock CL in Cold Inn near Tenby. We were then able to have our our Granddaughters for the day on Wednesday whilst we packed up then dropped them off to their Daddy on the way to Tenby.

Stop 1

The first 4 days at Dan yr Ogof revolved around a walk to try and find the wellington Bomber crash site. We arrived at the site on Saturday evening and were all set up by 6.30pm. Easter Sunday was showery so we took it easy and had a nice lunch and a quiet day. The weather was just right on Easter Monday so we packed up our ruck sacks and set off up the mountain. It was a long climb up and we made an error on our bearings and went about a mile in the wrong direction. By the time we were back on track and heading in the vicinity of the wreck we were hungry and Barney was showing signs that he'd had enough so we stopped for lunch.

Just after lunch we were lucky enough to meet up with another walker who new exactly where the Bomber wreck was. It was another 20 minute walk to get there ..which doesn't sound much, but over really rough ground it was a walk too far so decided to turn back and try again another day. I think Steve and I were still fresh enough to have gone on but we were concerned not to over work Barney who is still recovering from his health problems.

The walk was worth it for the views alone.

Tuesday 22nd April was my Birthday so we were visited by my Daughter and grandaughters. I made lunch and then we chilled for the rest of the day.

Wednesday we were up early to fetch the Grandchildren and do a bit of shopping to take on the second half of our break. We were lucky that the weather forecast was wrong and the forecasted rain didn't materialise so it was dry to pack up the awning .. the girls were able to play outside and it made packing up a whole lot easier than we'd expected.

Stop 2.

By 6 o'clock on Wednesday we had arrived in Cold Inn near Tenby at Woodstock CL. What a gem of a site!!! Beautifully landscaped to provide each of the hard standing pitches with a little privacy. The site also has a small ammenity block which has 2 rooms ..one with a toilet and hand basin and one with a toilet,hand basin and a shower .. all as immaculately kept as the rest of the site. The site is only 5 miles from Tenby but was in a wonderfully peaceful location.

It was a pleasure doing the washing up with this little garden to look at.

The view from the awning..

A lovely place to sit in the middle of the site

Our pitch.

We had 2 trips out, the first to Lawrenny Quayside for lunch. The restaurant serves the most wonderful sea food and has lots of outside seating so great for dog owners. This is the second time we have visited and both times we have shared our table with a little robin.

It was our wedding anniversary on the Friday so we went into Tenby for lunch at The Buccanneer. As we walked through Tenby we met another Miniature Schnauzer .. his name was Barney too.

More lovely seafood at The Buccanner

We had the best week and ended it by taking down our Mistral Ripstop awning for the last time .. the reason? I'll save that for my next post.