Day One
We are on holiday in Devon with our friends! We went last year too. They have a grandma who has a holiday home here, so we are staying in it. It’s really nice. We had to drive for about five hours to get here. When we got here we were overjoyed – we’d been in the car for so long and really needed fresh air!
When we got to the holiday home, we delivered our suitcases and bags into the hall and then carried them upstairs. Mummy and Tilly and I shared a room; Mummy and I shared a bed and Tilly had her own single bed. We’ve got a lovely double bed!
Tomorrow I think that we’re going to the seaside! It’s a bit cold so we probably won’t go in our swimsuits in the sea, but I really, really, really want to, whether I freeze like an ice cube or not!
Day Two
We didn’t get here until about nine o’clock at night, so we had a quick, snack-y dinner and got to sleep at about eleven! In the morning we had quoissants and Nutella, and also toast and spiced plum and strawberry jam! It was delicious.
Today we went to a couple of beaches. We started at Hope Cove and walked to Thurlstone Beach.
On the walk we could see the beautiful blue sea with the sun twinkling on it. It’s one of my favourite sights, the sun on the ocean. Grace occasionally went off to collect sea-drifts, which are pretty purple flowers that grow near the sea. There was some funny, spongey, springy ground, too, that we went on. We called it ‘Ground of the Marshmallow’ and it really did feel like grassy, slightly-melting-in-the-hot-sun marshmallows! Grace and I thought up our theories of why Ground of the Marshmallow was so springy. I thought that (Ground of the Marshmallow was basically huge, huge heaps of completely springy grass) there was just so much grass that it was like a grass trampoline!
At Thurlstone, we played in the cold sea and I had to roll up my leggings to get in, since we left our swimsuits in the car! There were also some really spikey rocks that we were climbing over and under, and there were some funny sea-growths in the rockpools. There were a couple of doggies and their inconsiderate owners, who let them loose while they rampaged on our sandcastles!
Then we walked back to ‘Hope Cove’ and we were going to play in the sea but it was getting a bit late, so instead we went back and finished our ‘Paddington’ film, and we had a bit more of an early dinner. We went to bed at about ten to nine and fell asleep pretty soon; we’d had a long, long day!
Day Three
For the third day of our holiday, we went for a walk from Tolcross- to Beesands Beach. On our walk, we saw some flowers and Tilly and Grace picked some to make a posy and took them to Beesands. The walk wasn’t too long, about twenty minutes. There were two Geo-cashes that we found. In one we exchanged Annie’s wristband for a little card-sized map of South Devon.
In the beach we rolled up our leggings and jumped over all the waves, which came crashing over us. It was really F-for-fantastic!
While we were playing on the beach, I saw Ruth and a weird man we didn’t know talking and pondering over a slab of stone. When we had finished playing, Ruth said the man had given her a lovely… CRAB! It was a spider crab, and it had one of its legs missing, which actually appeared to be next to it on the stone. Apparently, the man had said you can eat its legs, but the body is poisonous, and don’t put it back in the sea please because it would break his fishing line. The ‘missing leg’ on the stone had apparently been pulled off by the man, and the alive spider crab was in agonizing pain. Eventually, when we left, we decided we couldn’t take it to the holiday home, so we left it outside the beach to slowly dry out with one leg.
After Beesands, we walked back to Tolcross, and had lunch (bread, one slice of cheese, and some crisps) and we thought we were going to Dartmouth but in the end didn’t. We didn’t because we were so absorbed in playing in Tolcross Beach! We played a play-acting game called Businesses, where we each had a shop. Grace had a massage spa, I had a spa-beauty-product-a-bit-like-Boots-massage-clinic, Tilly had the same, Eve had a pet rescue centre and pet shop, Grace also had a bakery, and Annie had a shop that cuts stones (Tolcross is a stone-y beach).
We quickly went and looked in a gift shop after Tolcross. Mummy bought some funny flour stuff I’ve never seen before, something else that I can’t remember, and some stem ginger in syrup for cakes! I love stem ginger! I love any ginger! Now we’re back and doing – well, you know, I’m writing this! Ta-ta for now!
Day Four
For our fourth and last day of our holiday, we decided to go somewhere on the five-hour journey home, to break up the distance a little. We drove for about two and a half hours, and then the car stopped at… a wonderful, sandy beach! We got outside, and, to our dismay, it was actually quite chilly. We got our fleeces on and stepped into the sand. Suddenly the sun came out all in one ‘blar-iob’ and everything was lovely and warm again! We ran down to the sea and guess what? It was warm! Warm as metal is cold! Warmer! Tilly and I asked if we could put on our swimsuits and we did! Only, Grace, Eve and Annie didn’t bring theirs back from the Devon House, so they were allowed to wade in neck-high in their clothes and get them drenched! Tilly and I pleaded that we could have our swimsuits on because we didn’t want to get our new clothes wet.
But then – tragedy took its toll! The tired old sun decided to go and have a rest and a bath behind the clouds, and it disappeared, leaving us all sh-shi-shivering, and teeth ch-chattering like they were trying to talk but they were clenched shut! All was woe when we got back to the blanket; a poor, shivering Annie was huddled in the only towel, a poor, shivering Gracie was desperately struggling to get on the second of her jumpers, a poor, shivering Eve was pulling her coat round herself, a poor, shivering Tilly was frantically burying herself in sand to keep warm like her life depended on it, and a poor, shivering me was crouched next to her and everyone, trying to get warmth from a troupe of huddling penguins as we were. It was just so cold!
Ruth was running round with blankets and rugs and coats and draping them over everybody in a hurry to keep her guests and her children warm, and Mummy was grabbing jumpers and cardigans out of the car and throwing them to everyone. We then got out of the windy beach and hid by a bench that was covered by a wall, which kicked out all the unwelcome wind. We huddled and shivered and trembled and bewildered little Annie started crying she was so cold! Ruth started draping Grace’s coats over me while Tilly got dressed and warm, and then we tried desperately to brush the wet sand off our feet. However, it stuck on and inconsiderately would not come off, so we had to get in the car with sandy feet in our gritty shoes. It was horrid but a bit adventurous and fun too 😉
It took us another three and a half hours to get home. On the first day, Mummy, Tilly and I had driven our car to Gracie’s house, and then we got into theirs and drove to Devon. Yesterday, when we were driving back, Ruth drove to her house and then my family all went in our car and drove home. It was ten past nine when we got back and I was nodding off in my seat! We went straight to bed and I fell asleep just five minutes after the door was shut – same going with Tilly.