A Week in Woolacombe

 Last week was the first week of the school holidays, Joanne was taking the kids to Woolacombe and asked if I wanted to go too.  We stayed at a holiday park where there was kids entertainment and lots of things for them to do, they enjoyed the children's games and disco, swimming and pottery painting, bowling and of course the arcade where countless 2p coins were put through slots in the hope of winning a keyring.

It's been quite a few years since I've been to Woolacombe, the best thing about it is the lovely long sandy beach.  We spent some time there twice during the week, the first time it was quite chilly, the second time the weather was perfect, warm but not too hot, the kids had a great time building sand castles and playing in the sea, Jacob especially enjoyed playing in the waves.  We bought a kite to take with us, only a cheap one from the site shop, and I was impressed with myself when I actually managed to get it up in the air and keep it there, first time I've ever managed to do that!

We got out and about and did something different every day, visiting the aquarium in Ilfracombe one day.

 it's always fascinating to see what lives in the water, but we all agreed the rays were our favourite, and they are just as cute on the underside too.

We had a day at Clovelly, a privately owned harbour village on a very steep incline, no cars are allowed, it would be impossible with the steep cobbled street.  Years ago donkeys were used to transport any shopping or goods to the houses, now they use a type of sled, we saw quite a few locals transporting their Amazon parcels or shopping down the hill while we were there.

All those cobbles are quite a workout for the feet!

A few of the pretty cottages at Clovelly

We spent a lovely few hours there, the kids enjoyed a paddle in the harbour but then or course we had to walk back up that very steep hill, but we fortified ourselves with a cream tea for the climb, and it wasn't too bad if you took it slowly.

Another day was spent at Watermouth Castle, another place which is a workout for the legs!  But we did have a lovely day.

Then on our last day we visited Lynton & Lynmouth.  

Lynton is at the top, Lynmouth is 500 feet below, the two towns are connected by a water powered funicular railway.  Lynton is a lovely little town with shops, restaurants and cafe's while Lynmouth is a harbour town.  We opted to save our legs this time and take the cliff railway both ways.

Pretty street in Lynton

Lynmouth, the harbour town

We packed a lot into the week, did a lot of walking, mostly up and down hills! Visited some beautiful places and made some lovey memories.

If you reached the end of this long post, thank you, I know it was a long one 😁

-X-

Four Days in Prague

What a wonderful place! if you have never been to Prague let me urge you to book a trip as soon as possible, you won't be disappointed :-) Here's a taster of what we saw starting with our hotel. We could not have chosen a better place, it was a great place and we were very well looked after. It was central to everything being just around the
corner from the Old Town Square.

This is the reception area, it's like a conservatory the lift is to left, you could only gain access to your room with a card which operated the lift and the door to the stairs so it was very secure.

The hotel has a great history and dates from the 13th century, the story of the building, which at one time used to be an ironmongers is told in the walk way from the entrance to the reception. The front is decorated by the 19th century artist Mikulas Ales and looks fantastic.

Our hotel room & the view from the window to the Square

As we rounded the corner from our hotel to Old Town Square on our first night this is what met us

The Church of Our Lady before Tyn What a sight all lit up at night, it look magical
One of the other great sights in the Old Town Square is the famous Astronomical Clock

Crowds gather to watch the clock strike on the hour. First the skeleton (figure of death) pulls on the rope he holds in his right hand and then raises and inverts the hourglass he holds in his left hand. Two windows at the top then open and the Apostles move slowly around, at the end of this display a cock crows and the clock strikes the hour. The other animated figures are Tuck who shakes his head from side to side, Vanity who looks at himself in a mirror and Greed adapted from a stereotypical Jewish moneylender.

The Astronomical Clock was not supposed to tell the exact time but to imitate the orbits of the Sun & Moon about the Earth. Legend has it that when a master clockmaker rebuilt the clock in 1490 the town did not want him to recreate another one anywhere else so they blinded him! poor man, what a thank you!

You can go to the top of the clock tower, the views are great, and i did brave it to get some photos, although i am not very good with heights, the last time i climbed a ladder OH had to come up and fetch me back down again

Wenceslas Square - New Town

Looking down Wenceslas Square, which as you can see is not a square! The monument is St Wenceslas and the large building is the National Gallery in which we spent a lovely couple of hours browsing around.
Charles Bridge

As bridges go this is one of the lovely ones :-) it is pedestrianised so is pleasant to walk across, although at the time of our visit there was a restoration programme going on and some of the one side is being worked on, still, it doesn't spoil this view which i took when we climbed to the top of the Observation Tower (another scary climb!). The Observation Tower is on Petrin Park which we reached via the Funicular Railway, which is well worth a visit even if it's just for the view at the top. For those of you still with me at this point, (thanks, you all deserve a medal, lol,) you will have got the general idea that i loved this City, it has such history and the most amazing buildings. We visited many more places, and i would be here forever showing you and i have the dinner to get ready!! so, i have many more photos in my webshots album to share if you want to take a look the link is in the sidebar. I will leave you with one more photo of a really funky building.
"Ginger & Fred" building, or "The Dancing Building" Whichever one you choose to call it it's a cool looking building! We didn't go in there but apparently there is a restaurant in there somewhere! Thanks for taking time out to visit me see you soon, Tara-a-bit x

Holiday Stress

We are off on our travels again on Wednesday, our Annual trip to Cyprus, staying with the in-laws this time as we managed to cheap(er) flights, i'm looking forward to seeing the sun, goodness knows we have seen very little of it in the UK this year! But why do i make it so hard on myself? this week i feel as though everything is backing up behind me and i can't get away from it, lol. I start to get stressed the week before a holiday, don't ask me why, i know i should be relaxed, no-one else gets stressed (i.e husband, lol) but i do, i have the money to sort (done that), daughter No.3 wants new clothes (she really needs some!) spent 5 hours at the shopping centre last night OMG (done that). Then there are things that i just HAVE to do before we go, beds have to be changed, windows have to be cleaned, all washing & ironing has to be done, the cooker has to be cleaned (I know) and of course i simply could not go away without taking all the summer plants out of the window baskets and tubs and re-filling with winter pansies & sweeping the yard (front & back). Does anyone else do strange things before they go away, or am i the only one? please don't let me be the only one lol. It's just "my thing" i'm happy if i can go knowing that my house is clean & tidy, of course when we come home i won't feel happy until i have gone through the house top to bottom again...mad or what lol, i'm never totally relaxed and ready for it until i sit on that plane!
Right, got that off my chest, now where is my 'to do list' just thought, i must add clean the car, get hair cut.
Till next time...Tara-a-bit x