Failure is the Key to Success

My Tweets for the week 2010-08-29

Ian — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Brent Weeks' new book The Black Prism arrived today. Got to return for replacement, damaged before packing. Have to wait to read it. #
Duck flew in our neighbour's window a while ago. We now have a duck in a cat carrier, rang the RSPCA for advice as it has an injured leg. #
We know a vet down the road; he checked over the duck this morning and said that it was in good condition, so we let it go and it flew off. #
The duck story continues. It had flown over next door, where her dog disturbed it. In the end it flew off across the gardens gaining height. #

My Tweets for the week 2010-08-22

Ian — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:30:00 +0000

National Archives make Victorian workhouse records available online http://bit.ly/ds44s6. I'll have to explore the lists some time soon. #

My Tweets for the week 2010-08-01

Ian — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Got my music theory exam results just before holiday. My son got a distinction for grade 2, and I got a distinction for grade 1 (100%) #

North Devon holiday 2010 part 7

Ian — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:27:24 +0000

Last full day here today. Jo’s thumb is getting better, she was able to take the strapping off and leave it off this morning. We headed off to Ilfracombe this morning about 10. It was a late start this morning; everyone except me slept in. We got parked at about 11:15, but the ticket machine was eating money and not giving tickets, so I had to ring the number on the machine to pay for parking using my credit card. You had to give the registration and make and colour of the car and then your credit card details, all to an automated system, so that was painful, then it took payment and sent you a text confirming you had paid.
We walked a few hundred yards to Tunnel Beaches. In the 1820′s tunnels were hand carved through the
cliff to access the beach and rock pools. The cliff is slate and so is the grey ‘sand’ which is quite strange under foot, not like any normal pebble beach. Also, it sticks really well to your legs and feet as the flat little pieces don’t easily brush off like sand. By the time we arrived on the beach it was about 3 hours after high tide and the tidal pool was just becoming visible. I went scrambling round the rock pools with the kids, with my jeans rolled up to my knees as I hadn’t thought to wear shorts. Many pebbles and shells were collected. As we were getting ready to go for lunch, I sent the kids to wash the sand off their hands in a rock pool by us. This was when P slid into the pool and was soaked to the chest. If it was going to happen to anyone it would be him. I went back to the car to collect the spare clothes and then once he was changed we went for lunch. We looked at the cafe at the entrance to the tunnels, but ended up walking along the front and eating in the Dedes Hotel & Wheel Room. I had the all day breakfast, Jo had the cumberland sausage, P had the Cornish Pasty and A had the burger in bun. All the food was delicious and worth walking a little further for.
After we had eaten we carried on walking along the front until we got to the aquarium. We had a look around in there and the kids did the quizzes and got all the questions right. We stopped off in one of the many fudge shops and treated ourselves. After a few more shops we were out of cash, so it was time to head back to the car. Jo did find a couple of nice leather bags in a leather shop, but they went on plastic.
We stopped off at Sainsbury’s on the way back to grab some food for tonight. We needed something to go with the abundance of cream we bought earlier in the week.

North Devon holiday 2010 part 6

Ian — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:24:27 +0000

We went to Exmoor Zoo today. It’s about 12 acres, so a lot smaller than Whipsnade. That said, its well laid out with a wide variety of animals, some of which we hadn’t seen before. The meerkats were cute as meerkats always are. When we got round to the guinea pigs there was a peacock that was determined to be noticed and very noisy. The guinea pigs were separated into a male and female enclosure (hmm, I wonder why) and the kids spent a lot of time stroking the female guinea pigs, the males were a lot more shy. They had a black leopard which wasn’t difficult to find; it was lying asleep next to the fence, not very photogenic thou’. We caught one of their organised sessions at 2:30 when they brought a selection of animals into the encounter area for children (and adults to touch). A stayed clear of the skunk, but stroked the guinea pigs, polecat, barnacle goose and hairy armadillo. P did the lot.
The kids were playing outside in the garden when we got back and one of the neighbours asked if they wanted to see the piglets, so we went up past High Hallsanney to see the piglets. The sow (Princess of Pork) is a Gloucester Old Spot and the boar (the young Duke of Pork) is a Tamworth, so the piglets are a mix of orange and spots. Their other boar, (the old Duke of Pork,) hadn’t been performing, so he was in the freezer. That said the other sow was pregnant, so maybe he had been up to the job after all. After we had met and fed the piglets and the boar, and A scratched his head, which was very bristly, we met one of the cows and then the ducks. At this point we were overflown by either a swallow or house martin. I hadn’t been able to make up my mind what I’d been seeing and so I asked. Evidently there are both, the swallows have a nest at the back of the main house and the martins have a nest on the front. We were taken to see the swallows’ nest, where they were raising their second brood of the year. We could just see the three heads peeping out over the brim of the nest.
We ate this evening in the Old Barn Inn in Bickington. We were going to go to The Quay Cafe in Fremington again this evening, but after driving down the single track road to it, found that it closed at 5pm. The staff at the Old Barn were really friendly and the food was great, so that worked out well.

North Devon holiday 2010 part 5

Ian — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:49:18 +0000

We had been keeping an eye on the weather for today, with the intention of heading to Dartmoor. When we got up today we checked again and it was looking good, so we took a chance, packed up and headed south. We had checked our route on the RAC website and written down the route, so it should have been fairly straightforward. The instructions were not 100% accurate, so we had a couple of interesting diversions. Still we got to Dartmoor without too much difficulty, even if the route had been given up on up by then. We had to resort to a very general map I had in the glove-box for guidance at one point.
We stopped off a few times for the kids to see and photograph the Dartmoor ponies or the free roaming sheep. The first time we stopped by a stream we saw a golden-ringed dragonfly. I did try to get some photos, but none came out particularly well. At one point we passed a car park which had been invaded by a herd of cows, which were licking the cars, nice! We did get to Badger’s Holt at Dartmeet, which is where we were aiming for, so that was good. We ate at the restaurant first and then after visiting the shop, headed off along the bank of the east Dart. All was going well until while climbing up a rock, Jo’s right thumb dislocated and then popped back. She nearly passed out, but after a while was able to move. This is the same thumb that she dislocated about 20 years ago while doing aikido, so she knew what she’d done. After a while we headed back to the car and had a cream tea before leaving for home. The sheep were just wandering out in front of the car on the way home which the kids found hilarious. There was one sheep that was licking a patch on the road and wasn’t getting out the way for us or the other oncoming car, we each took in in turns to go round the sheep while it moved it’s body into the other lane. We were going to have a meal at the Puffing Billy in Torrington, but it didn’t appear to be open, so we headed up the hill to the Clinton Arms in Frithelstock. We had a excellent meal here and would eat here again. After picking up some strapping tape at Sainsbury’s we headed back to the cottage where Jo strapped her thumb up.
Kids watched out for bats again and saw a few.

North Devon holiday 2010 part 4

Ian — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:18:32 +0000

It was a slow start this morning. Couple of spots of rain while we were having breakfast. We headed into Barnstaple this morning as we needed to get a memory card reader for Jo’s camera. Mine and the kids all take SD cards, but Jo’s uses xD cards. I had grabbed my SD card reader, but forgot to pick up Jo’s before we left, oops. A quick trip to Jessops in Barnstaple got a multi card reader and so Jo would be able to download her photos to her laptop. While we were in town we had a look around the shops and ended up getting some books in the Oxfam shop, a 1867 copy of volume 2 of The Waverley Novels by Sir Walter Scott and a copy of A Child’s Garden of Verses by R.L. Stevenson.
After this we headed down to Great Torrington to Dartington Crystal. We got there just after 12, so would be able to go on the factory tour, which restarted at 12. We looked around the visitors centre at the history blown glass making and the history of Dartington Crystal. Some of the engraved pieces were very impressive. While we were looking round it started raining and continued on while we ate at the restaurant and then visited the shop.
When we got back to the cottage I taught everyone a card game called Switch, I know this isn’t the name that I knew it as, but cannot remember it. The idea is to get rid of your cards by placing the same name or suit card as is on the pile. 8 causes the next player to miss a turn, Ace allow you to name the suit, Jack changes direction, 2 – you have to place another 2 or pick up two cards or 4 if two consecutive 2s are played etc. This went down really well and many hands were played before we went out for the evening meal.
Our plan was to head to the pub in Littleham, which is only a couple of miles away, but somehow I missed the turning, don’t ask! We headed across to the next village with a pub using the ‘yellow’ roads on the OS map. These are apparently roads generally less than 4m wide. Yep, they were, they were so narrow that there was grass growing down the middle. I met a car coming the opposite way on the first bend and had to back up a bit to the nearest passing place. I didn’t meet anything else, which was just as well. When we reached the A39 in Horns Cross, the Coach and Horses pub was directly across the road. We had a very pleasant meal there tonight and then headed back along the A39 instead of the country roads.
Kids wanted to see the bats tonight, and weren’t disappointed.

North Devon holiday 2010 part 3

Ian — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:54:29 +0000

Today was a more energetic day. As it was expected to be a dry day, we took the bikes out for the day. We left the cottage at about 9:45 and cycled (or rather coasted) down the driveway to the main road. In relays, I then got the kids and their bikes across the road onto the footpath. We then began the half mile walk to the entrance to the Tarka Trail at Longcross. The road is the A386 which is fairly narrow and extremely busy, so riding wasn’t an option. In places the path was about 2 feet wide and easy to walk, in others if we had six inches we were lucky. It was a walk that I think we were all glad to finish.
Once we got on the Tarka Trail, I guessed the going would be easier. Well, generally it was, although there were some steeper bits of the path that made the going a bit harder. The journey to Bideford was quite easy and then we pushed on up to Inslow. There were a lot of signs as we approached Inslow for The Bar, so we locked the bikes up to have a quick break, after all it was time for elevenses. The Bar had cream teas on the menu, a pot of tea and 2 scones, so our plan was to ask for 4 scones and a pot of tea. When I first asked, the woman had to check in the kitchen to see if they could do cream teas, they had been busy yesterday, she came back and said they could, so I asked if we could have 4 scones and just the one pot of tea. This was greeted with a blank look and then the reply that it would cost the same if we had the tea or not, oh well it was worth trying. It took so long for the scones to arrive after my cappuccino, that A asked us if they were baking our scones. They were all right, but probably shop bought with pre-packaged jam. While we were there another woman had to take her hot chocolate back as it was barely warm, hmm maybe try somewhere else another time.
At just after 12, now refreshed, we could tackle the next 4 miles to Fremington. The Quay Cafe in Fremington was one recommended on the Hallsanney website, so after looking at the menu on their website, we had decided to give it a try. We made fairly good time, getting there after 35 minutes at about 12:40. P and I had the local cheese platter, which was delicious and included a cider chutney that Jo helped P out with when he had had enough. A had the chicken goujons and Jo had the sea bass. Very enjoyable and somewhere I would thoroughly recommend. There is a bit of a local story with the cafe as well. At the end of this year, their 10 year lease with Fremington Parish Council comes to an end. Their opportunity to renew the lease is in no way guaranteed. In spite of many promises over the years to the contrary, the Council now intends to offer the lease to all comers. If they are not able to renew the lease they will not only lose their business, but also their home. This doesn’t seen particularly fair, especially as they have build the business and its reputation from nothing. I signed their petition while I was there and hope that the council sees sense.
Fully refuelled, we turned for home. The overcast morning had turned into a hot afternoon and combined with the exercise in the morning, the return was much more tiring. I know Jo and P would say that that was an understatement.
When we got back to Hallsannery, we freshened up and took some drinks out into the cottage garden. Yes, I forgot to mention that earlier. There is a private garden that goes with the cottage; it has a patio table and chairs that seats six, a barbecue and is enclosed with trees and shrubs. There was a nice breeze there this afternoon and it was great to just sit and relax. The kids were playing on the rope swing for a while after we came in.
We went out to eat at another Hallsannery recommendation, The Coach and Horses Inn at Buckland Brewer, which is about 4 miles south of the cottage up some pretty winding roads. Again, worth the visit. They didn’t start serving evening meals until 6:30, so we were a bit early, but we just had some drinks while we waited. They took our orders anyway and when the food started we would be first. A had a pizza, P had the caramelised onion and cheddar quiche and Jo and I had the roasted duck stuffed with bacon stuffing and covered in port sauce. Delicious! I’m starting to like recommendations left for visitors to Hallsannery.
Saw the bats again tonight.

North Devon holiday 2010 part 2

Ian — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:30:27 +0000

I went out for a walk with my camera about 9:30 this morning. I walked down the drive and through the woods to the side, then walked along the footpath to Longcross to find the entrance that we would use to the Tarka Trail. This is alongside the A386, which is a busy road, so we won’t be riding along it. I timed it when I walked back to the cottage and it was about 25 minute walk back to cottage. The walk up the driveway was hard work; Devon hills are serious.
The view of Hallsannery is impressive as you approach the house. It was build in the 1840s, so it is Victorian, although to a Georgian style. The cottage that we are staying in is just around the back of the main house in part of the coach house. I’m guessing the garage in the middle of the coach house is where the coach would have been stored.
It was a much slower day today, with us taking it easy following the long journey. We went out to Bideford just before lunch and had a bit of a wander around some of the shops. I guess Bideford isn’t one of those places that opens much on Sundays. We found a few restaurants, but they weren’t open. We found one that was open, but didn’t take credit or debit cards, I can’t see that business model working. Then we found the White Hart Inn, where we all had the roast beef lunch. This was a really good meal; the meat was excellent flavour and really tender, fresh horseradish sauce topped it off for me. Before we ate we watched a herring gull catching a small crab and later while crossing the Bideford Long Bridge, (a 13th century bridge spanning the River Torridge,) we saw a curlew feeding. Another first for me.
Tonight, while standing at the back door, we saw bats flying around the trees and over the courtyard. Strange how silent they are.

North Devon holiday 2010 part 1

Ian — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:16:17 +0000

Unlike the last couple of years, we weren’t going to Centre Parcs this year. Much as we enjoyed it, it was time for a change. We decided the look for somewhere in Devon that we could take the bike to.
After some internet searching, Jo found a place called Hallsanney Cottages. It seemed just right. It is about half a mile from the Tarka Trail, which is an old railway line, now cycle path and had a king size bed for us. It ticked a lot of other boxes as well including free Wi-Fi; I know we’re on holiday, but it’s useful for weather checks and checking out places to go.
We did a lot of the packing last night, so the plan was to get up early, load the car and get away at about 7am. We didn’t do too bad, getting away at 7:45. The car seems to get more full every time we go, but it all fitted.
We were going to stop off at Stonehenge on the way, so I packed my 18-70 zoom as well as the Bigma (50-500). The RAC travel planner estimated 1 hour 50 minutes to Stonehenge, which would be about 9am when it opened. Allowing for a bit of traffic delay, that would work out fine. We were looking out for services for a break after we came off of the M3 and pulled into the first one. It only had a small carpark and that was full to overflowing with people trying to reverse back out. We eventually got out of there and stopped at the next one for a quick break; much better. We made good progress until almost at Stonehenge, then the last 2 miles took a hour of crawling. That said we got there about 11am, so not bad time after all.
It is surprising when you first see Stonehenge, just how close the road is to it. The Heel stone is only about 6 foot from the road. The car park was busy, both being full and with people milling about everywhere. The entrance to Stonehenge is very small and could really do with a makeover. You queue down a slope and then it opens out into a small area where there are tables for the cafe on the left. The cafe is on the far right, so if you get a drink, you would have to get across the queue to get to the tables. There is one entrance kiosk for paying visitors and another that was in use for the coach trips and English Heritage members. In the same area are the exit turnstiles, so it is pretty busy in that area. Once you have paid, you are straight onto the audio tour kiosk, where you can collect a free audio tour device, again this area is fairly narrow and rammed with people from both entrance kiosks trying to get the audio device. The exit from the gift shop is here as well, you can certainly say everything is compact. Past the audio tour kiosk, you turn the corner to your right and are then met by groups of people trying to make their mind up if they are going in the gift shop entrance. Past that you only have to follow the tide avoiding the people returning from Stonehenge. Once under the road, you come up a slope and finally it is less constricting. We left the path and went up onto the grass on the right to start with, mainly to get out of the crowd for a few moments. At this point, you can actually stop to look at the stones themselves. We worked our way up the outside until we were nearly at the back and then came back to join the path that went closer to the stones. I had to smile when I heard an American lady saying “I thought it would be larger than this”, and had to resist answering her with “would you want to be moving these stones let alone larger stones.”

After about an hour or so we had worked our way round taking photos as we went. We then braved the gift shop experience. Too small, too many people, too hot; got the tee-shirt. Eventually we got back to the car and navigated our way through aimlessly wandering people to get back on the road. When we got back on the A303, we started looking out for a local pub for lunch. Jo spotted a side that said next left turn for The Black Dog Inn in Chilmark, so we took it. It was a lot further from the main road than we thought, probably a couple of miles, but well worth it. Jo had the whitebait, I had liver and bacon, A had chicken nuggets and P had a cheese baguette and chips. When we left they gave us directions back to the main road without us having to return the same way we came.

We arrived at Hallsanney about 16:45 and found the place really easily. The instructions were to park the car under the canopy at the back of the main building outside the cottage, but we had to take the bikes off the roof first as the front edge of the roof was too low for most of the bikes. We were met shortly after arrival and told that we could store our bikes in the sheds around the back of the cottage if we wanted. In the kitchen was a tray with home made scones and a vase of sweet peas. There was a handwritten note welcoming us and inviting us to enjoy a cream tea, the scones on the table and clotted cream and home made jam in the fridge.
First impressions of the Coachman’s Cottage were very good. The rooms are a good size and well equipped. There is a large entrance hall which has a work surface over a washing machine and freezer on the left as you come in. Just behind the door on the right is a large safe, just decorative I guess. Next to the safe is a large three door wooden wardrobe, one of the doors contains spare bedding and the double section contains such wonders as shrimping nets, tennis rackets and balls and even buckets for the beach. A couple of chairs are next to the wardrobe. In the other corner there is the stairs to upstairs and the door to the master bedroom. Under the stairs are storage bags for recycled plastic, glass and paper.
The master bedroom is huge, there is a two seater sofa inside the door on the right and a smallish wardrobe ahead as you come in. If you turn left towards the front of the cottage, the king size bed is ahead, against the right hand wall. At the end of the bed in the opposite wall is the door to the on-suite, which is actually a wet room containing a shower, toilet and basin. Past them is a chest of drawers on the bed side and in an alcove on the other side a rocking chair. Finishing off, the end wall contains a large window / french doors providing plenty of light to the room. This description hasn’t done the size justice, there has to be 5-6 feet between the wardrobe and bed and the same between the bed and the chest of drawers.
Up the fairly steep stairs, you come onto a small landing. Straight ahead is an airing cupboard and a good sized bedroom with bath/shower, toilet and basin. Turning left takes you into the kitchen diner which has a table that seats six, a wooden cupboard with three drawers and three door sections, an under worktop fridge, electric cooker and a double sink. On the wooden cupboard is a microwave. Wall cupboards in the corner and over the fridge contain a large selection of crockery and glasses, more than enough. I’ve probably missed some thing out here, oh yes, kettle, toaster, bread bin, shelf with saucepans. On top of the microwave was a folder containing information about operating the central heating, the TV, where to eat out, where the supermarkets are, things to do, history of Hallsannery and assorted other information.
Straight through the kitchen you come to the living room. This is another good sized room containing two double sofas and a chair. There is a wood burning stove in the corner and a telly with DVD player and Freeview box the other side of the window. To the other side of the telly is a door that leads to a set of stairs down to a courtyard area with a patio table and chairs. The other side of the courtyard is the sheds where we are keeping the bikes. Under the telly are a few games varying from Balderdash to chess. On some standing shelves behind the door are just about every leaflet from anything to do in the surrounding area as well as Ordnance Survey maps of the area.
Back across the landing are the two other bedrooms, there is a single and a double. The double has a false balcony with railing and french doors opening out onto a view across the valley.
Once we had moved all the baggage into the cottage we went out shopping for groceries that we would need for the week. We probably could have shopped more locally, but we headed out to Sainsbury’s anyway. On the way down the drive a green woodpecker flew across the road ahead of us.