Arp

A *much* better day today 🙂

This morning we were back to the big house for gardening but the kids and I had a wander along to the village to the post office as Ady had managed to bring a key from Jill’s along with us in his jeans pocket so we posted that back. It was really nice to have that half an hour with Davies and Scarlett and we chatted about all sorts of things including which host has been their favourite so far. They are both still missing Steward Wood and would go back there (and live!) in a flash. I’m really chuffed about that for all sorts of reasons, not least because they have so not been seduced by the delights of the holiday cottages and were able to tell me all sorts of reasons why they loved SWC (all of which were very in line with Ady and I and our chats).

Back at the house I tackled a pampass grass and some cutting back of roses and brambles – all the prickliest jobs! I’ve never really believed when people say pampass grass is sharp but it bloody is, it was like sandpaper on my arms and drew blood in a couple of places. Still preferable to weeding mind you ;). We had a cup of tea / coffee / slice of cake with June who is a fascinating woman – farmers wife, mother of 3, ran a B&B, foster mother, now carer to her husband and worked since she was 14 at all sorts of manner of jobs. She’s well into her 80s now but very sprightly, still busy all the time and was telling us today how she can ‘do the email’ :).

At 1pm we headed up the hill for lunch with Denise and Glynn, home made (every single bit from scratch) pizza which was delicious. This afternoon we’d said we were up for a change of task and were given making up some sheds to do. They had got them second hand and dismantled from someone previously using them as kennels although they are going to use them as chicken coops. They were in about 8 pieces each, excellent quality and really heavy so we dragged them all out and worked out how they went together then Denise went off in her pick up, taking Davies and Scarlett with her along for the ride to get some nuts and bolts as the fixings were missing.

When they got back Ady and I put them together and then Glynn took one of them round on the tractor to put in the camping field. It’s to be used as an information shed with eggs and other stuff for sale with an honesty box, leaflets about the local area and information about the site. The second will be the chicken shed. The kids learnt how to hammer nails straight again to re-use.

With time built in for a tea break sitting in the garden chatting about how Denise and Glynn met – he was 18, she was 13, she said she knew she’d marry him the day she first met him 🙂 that was the afternoon gone.

They have various little sayings here, both of them say ‘arp’ lots, just like one of the characters on Hot Fuzz, they also say ‘ideal’ a bit like Ness on Gavin & Stacey says ‘tidy’ and they both call objects ‘he’ or ‘him’ – things like plates, spoons, sheds etc. Ady and I are enjoying joining in with that ;).

Dinner was roast beef and all the trimmings – we’ve never been so well fed! Every lunch is proper sit down fayre and every single dinner has been beef from their cattle; stew, bolognaise or roast. Home made desserts and cake twice a day. I am being very sensible with portions and not drinking wine as I really don’t want to undo all the healthy eating although I am still keeping my salad, fruit and veg portions up too :).

After dinner the kids went back to play outside til it got dark – about 9pm and we sat chatting. We have clicked with them now and get on well, I came clean about not really loving the gardening and it was agreed I would do some mowing in the morning while Ady goes and just finishes off the gardening. We are supposed to be ‘off’ tomorrow afternoon and were thinking of going into Plymouth but the offer came up to go along with Glynn who does milking for the neighbouring farmer tomorrow afternoon so we’ve jumped at that instead. Hopefully we can also do something livestock-wise on Sunday too before moving on on Monday.

D & G love Davies and Scarlett, they think they are fab. They seem to really like the Home Ed idea and both coming from farming families where kids were always missing market day and haymaking times off school to help out at the farm and learnt far more there they are very supportive of what we’re doing this year. They have 2 children my age; one lives here part time but does HGV driving for Riverford, the other lives in Australia and have foster parented for years. Denise said today she loves spending time with children like Davies and Scarlett after so many years dealing with damaged children and they are both endlessly tolerant and indulgent of their noise, muddy feet, grubby hands and huge appetite for the meat at the dinner table!

It’s taken a bit of warming up here, the start wasn’t great with Denise being away and there has been excessive amounts of gardening but once again the people make up for it and we’re getting in plenty of the sort of stuff I am interested in in these last couple of days. I think one week is probably too short for here and I would consider coming back for 2 weeks with a clearly set out ‘project’ to while here as I think they value people who come with an aim – previous WWOOFers have done stuff like dry stone walling, building kennels from scratch, helping install stuff in the campsite etc. But the food is supreme, the conversation interesting and the support and interest in us and our lives and plans is really lovely :).