Devall Travels

I have merged the Cruising merge into this blog. I've not deleted it just leaving it to die a natural death. https://pandc-cruising.blogspot.com/

I have been looking for somewhere to go for Claire's birthday next year and then eh voila, a cottages.com email arrived. Black Friday! Initially I looked at the south coast, Hampshire or maybe Dorset.  It's outside school half term holidays when prices rocket, but even so for a short break prices were silly money. I think that many owners are trying to get back what they lost during the lockdowns. I won't play that game. So I expanded the search and thought about the Peak District and had a look. Even here there are Black Friday discounts.  With the filters set for "dog friendly" and "enclosed garden/patio" there were very few options.  Individually there were quite a few but once both were entered, the choices became fewer and fewer. I bookmarked a few places but in the end decided on The Stables near Matlock in Derbyshire ! It's dog friendly so Reggie can come too.  I need to plan  how to get there. We can't check in until 3pm in any case.  Go...

I've not added any posts to this blog since 6th April 2021.  Many of the UK population had had their second jab by then and we were looking forward to being "safe" from the pandemic. Here we are in late November.  Many of us older people have had a THIRD jab and still there is no light at the end of the tunnel. People are still getting Covid-19. People are still dying. We can hope for a better 2022 but only a fool would bet any money on that being true.

We set off about 1030 and decided to take the route that the Nissan Navigator chose for us via the motorways and the A22. A pee stop at Clacket Lane for Reggie and so we arrived about 1215.  It was sunny.  Remember that! Once out of the car we headed in to visit the loo ourselves before a coffee and a sit down before setting off around the gardens. All areas are dog friendly and they even have indoor seating in one of the tea rooms where dogs are allowed.  Something that other NT places maybe need to think about? Once we had drunk up we set off to find the autumn colours.  There are plenty.  I took a few photos with the Nikon D50 today. They seem to have come out pretty well. Then the clouds came over and it started to rain!  A drizzle turned into a deluge!  As can be seen on the surface of the lake in the picture below! The rain battering down on the lake! There was even a rainbow at one point! Doubt there's a pot of gold to be found! Once we were sui...

It's school half-term and I am on holiday.  So we are looking for places to go. Sheffield Park Gardens is a National Trust Estate and is dog friendly. Their busiest period is in the autumn (fall) when the trees are turning and so they have a pre-booking scheme in place.  I have booked for Monday 25th at 1230-1300. This gives us time to decide which route to take to get there and of course, make the 1h40m drive over there. More to follow. Waterproofs and dog towels?

Today Claire and I along with my brother Neill and his wife, Catherine, went to a guided tour and talk from an expert to Shornecliffe Military Cemetery. Steve the Guide gave us some history and the backgrounds to many of the servicemen buried there since it opened in 1856.

Today we decided to have the last day of my holiday and go to Sissinghurst Castle Garden with my Aunt Yvonne.  It meant we had to be up early and off from about 9.45am. The traffic wasn't too bad and we were there about 10.30am.  The drive to Sissinghurst was maybe another 40 minutes. As we had Reggie with us he wasn't allowed in the garden and so after a coffee and a cake they set off for the gardens and I set off to walk around the outside of the moat and down to the lakes walk.  Altogether its about a mile and half or so. I forgot to set the app on my phone so haven't got the actual distance. Who could live here? Delos Garden https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle-garden/features/recreating-delos-at-sissinghurst- We walked around the lower lake and of course, met some other dogs. Reggie on his best behaviour.  By the time we got back to the restaurant and shop area Claire and Yvonne were in the shop. We decided to call it a day an...