Last Days in Somerset

Monday : 7^th Sept.  Our last day in Somerset…tomorrow we will ‘train’ from Taunton to London for the final four days of our ‘big trip’.

On Thursday 3^rd, Mike M drove us the 13 miles through the misty though still gorgeous Quantock Hills to Taunton where we collected a hire car.  We then went into the city for a wander, but it was a very wet wander as the rain which started as a mere drizzle, became heavier and heavier and we got a bit damp before ducking into a shop to buy a couple of umbrellas…we’d neglected to take our rain jackets with us which wasn’t very bright!  As it really wasn’t a great deal of fun walking about in the rain, we cancelled our little jaunt and headed back ‘home’ through the hills again.

Friday 4^th saw the two Mikes take up the offer from a friend of Mike M’s to take part in a cider press, an offer which they felt they couldn’t possibly refuse, so accepted and participated with great enthusiasm.

For the last few days here we have enjoyed glorious blue skies, sunshine and warm temperatures and we took advantage of the excellent weather on Sat.5^th to go for a drive through this lovely county…or at least part of it.  Our first stop was at Cleeve Abbey in nearby Washford, a Cistercian abbey boasting the most impressively complete set of monastic cloister buildings in England as well as the floor of a refectory decked from end to end with 13^th century heraldic tiles. 

Then it was on to Minehead, though we didn’t stop there as the population had grown to an enormous level (all taking advantage of the wonderful weather) and we don’t ‘do’ crowds so it was back then through Dunster to Luxborough, where we stopped at the Royal Oak Inn for a light lunch.  We’d been there before on a couple of occasions but were a little disappointed on this visit to find that the inn is now a bit run-down.  Still, the soup and sandwich were enjoyable, the sunshine was welcome and it was a lovely drive. 

A stop for a stroll around Watchett harbour completed our day out.

I must mention here that Mike and Marion are both excellent cooks and we’ve been treated to some lovely, lovely meals in the last week.  Mike’s fish pie, beef stew with dumplings, moussaka, spicy chicken/pasta dish and salmon with dill sauce were all winners and Marion’s Sunday roast yesterday, eaten outdoors in the sunshine, was delicious. 

I have a lot to live up to when we return home!  We are taking them out to lunch today, to a place we haven’t been before so all will be revealed in a few hours’ time.  As they say in the ‘classics’…you never, never know if you never, never go!

Footnote :  Boris entered his winter home in a storage facility on a farm/caravan park on Friday afternoon, a sad occasion as he treated us well for 21 weeks of travel through Europe, England and Scotland.  We did tell him we will be back in 2014 so he now feels a little better.