Saturday 5 May 2012

Seeing off

My lovely Newcastle visitors have been and gone. During their visit, they were rained on, almost blown out to sea, rained on some more, and eventually granted one fine day in which to see Somerset without accompanying wateriness in the air, underfoot, or raging in torrents via rivers and brooks.


They watched badgers; they walked up to Dunkery Beacon; they had tea and cake in Periwinkle Cottage; they had their photographs taken many more times than they had expected; they were swiped splashily by the wet tail of the Hobby Horse, and they had (so they tell me) a very nice time.









I had fretted slightly beforehand about what fussy eater Dave would eat (answer: everything, with gusto) and if up-and-down-all-night Sandra would sleep (answer: like a log) but they didn't fret at all, about anything, even with the appalling weather and local flooding that made us change most of our plans.

We were sorry to see them go home, and hope that they will come again soon. The dogs had been in heaven; two favourite people coming to stay in their house!

After seeing them onto their train, the companion and I went off to strange and wonderful Wells reclamation and salvage yard, where we found the right size and colour of stone slabs for my soon-to-be-rerouted garden path. Cost: next to nothing.


We did not buy this.


Or this.

We braved the flooded road across the Somerset Levels and stopped at the RSPB site at Greylake, in misty light rain; few birds were visible, but the surround-sound of birdsong rising from the reeds and willows was magical.



The birds disregarded this notice.


And then we came home to a strangely quiet house, where cats told us to stop moping and to just get that dinner served, please.


14 comments:

John said...

Gazelles in Somerset?

Noelle the dreamer said...

Love it all Rachel! Is the lovely thatched roof the Periwinkle Cottage?
Beautiful!
Ah kitties! Stomach rules!
Hugs to Flossie and Tosca and the rest of the gang!
Time to relax and put your feet up Rachel!

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Somerset , scones , your cottage and all in it have woven their spell again ....
Perhaps it's fortunate that you didn't visit the salvage yard on the drive to their train . A totally different holiday souvenir might have found its way into their luggage !

judy in ky said...

What a lovely visit. We have friends staying this weekend, also with much rain. I love the "quiet please" sign.

BumbleVee said...

that's twice I've read..."the companion" ..... hnnnmmm...must go back and see if I missed something....

Anonymous said...

I agree with Bumblevee, I detect a 'we'. Do tell, hopefully soon.
Kit USA

Anonymous said...

What BumbleVee said...

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

Glad your visitors had at least one sunny day to see the countryside. I love those badgers! Wish we had them here.

Karen said...

You can throw bread out and get badgers??!

If I did that here in North Carolina I'd get at the most . . . squirrels. Or maybe possums.

the veg artist said...

And here I've been, too polite to ask! Enough! Tell! (at least a little more - dribs and drabs will do!)

Rattling On said...

Oh yes! I read something into the 'companion' bit as well. Come on, put us out of our misery...

Anonymous said...

And a fourth - I picked up on the tiny, whispered reference to 'companion' in the London post. An introduction, please! :)

love those cupcakes said...

There's a rear view of the companion in your previous post, isn't there? Details, please. Lots of them.

hasenschneck said...

Wells Reclamation is wonderful isn't it? I love going there although you have to be clever not to buy something cleverly faked, as there are some repro things in amongst.

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