Happiness is..

.. being with my family, in my favourite place in the world, in my lovely tent, in great weather… with wifi 😉

How much of a result is a Dartmoor campsite with free unlimited wifi, exactly???? 😆

So here we are, i don’t have to fret about business because Mummy Flower has moved in to deal with it, i can check up on it whenever i like, i can upload my photos – and i’ve got time to blog!

We arrived last night, put up the tent (i love this tent, it is just so great) and got settle in. The kids are all so used to camping now that it was easy to get sorted, the big 2 were a real help and Fran made cups of tea. The journey down was easy, with a stop off at Claire’s and made so much nicer by now having a top box (there is a back story there!) so the car wasn’t horribly full. Kids were fab. We’ve come away with no travel cot or pushchair, which feels REALLY odd!

Today we headed off to Okehampton Castle on a whim, which was just lovely.

Everyone but Josie listened to the whole (really good) commentary and we all got a kick out o chanting “Courteney to Okehampton” in Kingmaker style! It’s a fab castle, with a particularly interesting story and i loved it. I always find myself imagining the women frantically trying to conceive sons after being married off at 12 or younger, the fear of plague, the bustle and energy of an armed fortress, the mix of gentry, royalty and commoners coming and going. Just great.

The keep is built on an artificial mound. The Courteneys fought on both sides in the Wars of the Roses and were both hated and adored by the Tudors but came to an end with Henry VIII (“off with his head!”)

Lunch by the river. Also remembered to get the letterbox stamp at the castle gate.
After lunch we headed of to Dartmoor, to a tor we like above Widdicombe.

I tried not to fret.

Maddy posed while i wondered whether the greater peril as the heights or my daughter’s bare middle.

The Dinosaur.

The climber.

Amelie’s hook.

Sisters.

A very odd game on…

…Haytor.

Loved watching people skateboard (on the sort of skateboard equivalent of offroad buggies!) down here and everyone got very excited when helicopter flew past (right past, really close) and was lower than us.

Finished off the evening celebrating Max’s birthday at his brothers house. Lovely.