20th - 27th August 2010

After a team effort house clean on Friday morning we were ready to head off for our long awaited summer holiday at Devon Cliffs in Exmouth (Devon). Finally a long 5.5 hour drive (yup traffic) later we arrived at the park, collected our keys and made our way down to our "home" for the next 7 days. I opened the door, stopped and stared - MAJOR sense of humour failure!

I could feel Simon and the kiddies tense behind me and although they made an effort to be excited at our "van" there was simply NO WAY I intended sleeping there for one night, let alone 7. Although it was generally very clean I felt I would need to put towels down on the couches before I sat on them they were so filthy and stained and mildew marked....this was DEFINITELY not the standard we have come to expect from Haven and I was horrified to put it mildly. Needless to say in my very "sweet" and Steve says "steely" manner, I soon advised management that for over £800 for the week this was so far beyond unacceptable it wasn't funny and we were moved to a much newer and frankly delightful van. Shew, the family breathed a sigh of relief and we were able to go about enjoying our time together.

Unfortunately the weather was dreadful and there was just one heavy weather warning after another hitting the South West Coast but once we changed our perspective from "SUMMER" to "ANNUAL" holiday it really wasn't bad and we grabbed the breaks in the weather whenever we could to enjoy the beach. In fact on the days we did get to the beach the lighting was so beautiful I had a BALL playing with my camera, so I definitely wasn't complaining.

Sandcastles were built and long family walks taken, we talked, we laughed, we fought and we spent times in silence - we made memories and that really is the most important thing. Nick Nick thought he had died and gone to heaven, he has never had his family like this before and he was honestly the happiest little boy in the world.

As my parents had sent the kiddies some "fun" money they were able to enjoy all the park had on offer and even took part in a fencing lesson which they both loved inspite of the fact that Megs managed to stab Phil in the hand despite all the protective gear ;0)

Exmouth is known as the Gateway to the Jurassic Coast and as Si has been dying to go fossil hunting since we arrived we took the opportunity on Thursday to head an hour East to Dorset and the GORGEOUS town of Lyme Regis to try our hand as fossil hunters.

A wonderful day and another FIRST for England. I instantly fell in love with this quaint village, which despite it's HUGE commercial and tourist pull has managed to remain quintessentially English and I can honestly say I would move there tomorrow.

The Robertson Family were VERY successful at fossil hunting and Megan was literally able to spot them lying in the sand, much to the frustration of both her father and brother. After a big haul of more than 10 fossils we decided that maybe we should head back and leave some for others....some families had been down the same length of time as us and not found one.

We ended our day with scones in probably the most wonderful coffee shop I have ever been into. On arrival you walk up to a huge washed wooden counter and simply help yourself to scones, danishes or croissants and then sit at long wooden benches with other families and share the gorgeous homemade butter and apricot jam with mugs of steaming hot tea. Such fun and such a unique idea - apparently in the evenings the counters are filled with fresh pizza between 5.30 and 8pm and you can all sit together and chat and listen to live music - I was totally enchanted and would LOVE to return one day.

Friday was check out day and we decided to get out early and stop at the famous Monkey World on our way home. The children were beside themselves to be at a place which has been featured on Discovery for so many years and got a real kick out of being able to identify the various monkeys and actually see them in "person".

Although I am not a big fan of animals in cages having read the stories of these poor tragic creatures I really commend what they are doing at Monkey World and it was lovely to see animals who hadn't seen daylight for the first years of their lives climbing around and enjoying the enormous enclosures.

A wonderful holiday away together despite the rain and I am once again so glad that we make an effort every year to spend at least 7 days away as a family.....precious times indeed.