Christmas

Winter craft sessions in Kathryn's Garage have switched from woodwork to glass mosaics. Lots to learn, and great to play with colours and patterns.

Had a wonderfully social weekend in Anchorage before leaving for England, great to celebrate and share time with good friends before Christmas. The best thing was seeing Katie... you look fabulous Katie!


Dustin and I flew to England on the 21st Dec. It was soo cold, we couldn't understand why Londoners didn't seem to dress for it, but they didn't appear to be cold. Maybe we were just exhausted from jetlag? Had a wonderfully rich day in London... lots of walking, enjoying street artists, visiting the Borough Market, and going to the Globe theatre. Ever been in an open air theatre with wool thermals and snow falling? The show had incredible costumes, music and action.... even tightrope walkers high above us... we felt we had stepped back into Medieval time.

The London Eye and the River Thames.

We really enjoyed the Borough Market, lots of fresh produce and artisinal foods. The market is said to date back to Roman times. We encountered a strong movement for buying local in London and especially in Devon.

The next day we met Sharon and Bob at Heathrow, and took a snowy 7hr trip down to Devon. Great to be back in a small sleepy village after all the travel and city-time.

Stokenham Village

Single-track roads... Clear winter days. We walked to church on Christmas morning over the fields

Christmas lunch together! Wonderful to have Liz home and for Dustin's mum and Bob to meet my parents. Very Special. As Dad will retire this year, this was our last Christmas together in Stokenham vicarage.

We had lots of wonderful walks on the cliffs. Here's mum and dad in the wind.

Old stone walls

Sharon got used to walking in mud!

The Herbert family (minus Charles) came for the day

Dartmouth. The Mayflower sailed from this Harbour

Dustin enjoyed seeing Alaska salmon for sale in the shop An early morning walk with Liz on her birthday!

The hunt gathered at the village pub on New Years Day. Quite a scene with the hounds, regal horses with fresh razor haircuts. Whisky and mince pies for the team were handed out before the hunt set off.

Dustin and I then headed to Dartmoor for 2 nights. Stayed in Princetown, the town where Sir Conan Doyle stayed before writing Hound of the Baskevilles was written... We had a wonderful 18 mile walk the first day... bleak moors, pubs and villages.

Lots of Dartmoor ponies... related to the horses of the hunt?

Nun's Cross Farm

After our first day of perfect sun, the next day was classic Dartmoor in winter... thick fog and frost

Home again, after sad goodbyes to mum and dad