Bumble and the family holiday to North Devon

Day Five

So the realisation that this is our last day hits home. We decide to do a mini farewell tour starting with Combe Martin, through Ilfracombe and finishing at the place we got married ten years ago, Lee Bay.

Combe Martin first. The weather was being kind to us again with blue skies with wispy cloud and a cooling breeze to take a little of the heat away. Beautiful.

The Memsahib and the Daughter

The Daughter and the Memsahib

This was busier than our first visit at the start of the week. In fairness it was mid morning and not early morning. The town had woken up this time around. We partook of the local shops and hunted souvenirs to take back to the folks at home including the obligatory tea towel which is a family standard present. The memsahib got what was probably the closest thing to driving Bumble as is evident from the picture below.

Hot Wheels.

We carried on through Ilfracombe looking back at the past week and the harbour and beach...

The daughter and Poppy.

We arrived at our final destination. Lee Bay.

This was where we got married ten years ago at the Lee Bay hotel. That is now, unfortunately, closed and is in a rundown state. Something that, we were told, was attributed to the locals who had complained of the noise from the hotel during wedding season. They won and the hotel lost. What they now want is for it to be turned into luxury holiday apartments. High payers at the front with the view and lower classes at the back. I managed to"find' a way in and take a pic or two.

You can check out any time you like etc etc...

Even though it was warm and sunny, when I took this picture of the front entrance that is as close as I got. It felt a little cooler standing there. I don't know what I was expecting to see or appear!

The gardens were some of the prettiest I have seen in a hotel setting. We had our wedding photos taken in them. There was a small stream running through the middle of it and it is probably still there, hiding under the overgrown bush.









We walked further round the bay to a little cafe where we had what was one of the best cream teas ever. Mainly because the memsahib bought it but also because it was the only we had all week. The local wasp community invited themselves which at any other time would have been nice but not when I was gums deep in a clotted cream and strawberry jam smeared scone. A quick swipe with my trusty fedora and they were dispatched to bother some other poor unsuspecting fool. No wasps were killed though.

We finished up on the beach where, once again, the dogs managed a little paddle and I took some shots of the surrounding rock formations. Fascinating patterns and shapes thousands of years old. There before me and will be there years after I've gone the way of the Dodo.

Oi!

Who me?

A reflection of its former self.

I can only describe this as one of the best family holidays we have had in a long time. Me and the daughter didn't argue, the memsahib didn't moan and above all, Bumble was faultless in all that I asked of her. She carried luggage, two dogs and three hefty lumps there, around and back home. What more could you want. So I shall finish how this started, with a picture of her!

Thanks old girl!