Some super highlights of yesterdays gorgeous wedding

All set up and ready to go, the tables were sprinkled with real petals and gave the room a gorgeous aroma.

The ushers brought the flowers back from the church and they looked amazing in the hallway.

On to the food, I was gutted as I forgot to photograph the other courses but thankfully managed to catch the pudding, Iced mango parfait, I know it looks like ice cream but when you put it in your mouth it is an amazing explosion of fresh tangy mango, delicious (one of my favourites!)

Then speeches in the Italian garden gave a wondrefully relaxed feel with coffee and Lee's home made fudge afterwards on the terrace, everyone was superly relaxed.

They had a brillant idea of doing a message tree instead of a guest book, each guest had a little tag at the table and then hung their messages on the tree.

Flip flops anyone! Everyone hopped into flip flops, comfy and ready to hit the dance floor.

And boy did they hit the dance floor.... What a wonderful day!

Lovely holiday guests go home and the excited hubub of a wedding begins

We have had such lovely guests at Pickwell this week. It has been so wonderful to see 3 families who have been a number of times before, hear their news and see how much the kids have grown. We have also met some great new families too... It was a blissful scene to see one family BBQ'ing last night on the terrace, glass of wine in hand, amazing aromas, fantastic view, hot evening sunshine whilst the children pottered around the Italian garden playing croquet.

This is the view from my kitchen window, I love watching the children (and grown ups) playing in the holidays, you can't quite make it out in the photo but there are 2 guys playing a very competative game of tennis, a group of boys playing football and 2 little ones scooting up and down the path. It is so wonderful to see the gardens so full of life and fun....

A good sign that everyone has had a good day at the beach, wetsuits galore. One dad said that their kids had spent 5 hours in the sea... they must have proper raisin toes.

We were sorry to say goodbye.... but then our wonderful couple getting married this weekend arrived with parents and bridesmaids and the fun of making and creating began. It has been such a fun atmosphere as everyone worked together, chatting, giggling, hanging alot of bunting whilst Geoff made his amazing goulash for tonights dinner.

As they are a local couple and lovers of the beach and sea a wonderful relaxed beach theme has come through in all their designs.

I'm loving the starfish... the room is looking gorgeous already, can't wait to see what it looks like with the flowers tomorrow, I will keep you posted.

The sun is shining, the terrace is gorgeous and hot and the scene is set for a wonderful wedding weekend and a Devon cream tea to welcome them, yum, yum!!

Tracey's first post and a visit to the zoo

I am so nervous and at the same time quite excited about making my first post. Not known for my technical abilities I have found the world of blogging (and if I'm honest facebook too) a bit tricky, well here goes.....

Well we have just had a brilliant family day out at Exmoor Zoo thanks to Molly. We set the Elliott girls the challenge at Christmas of filling a jam jar each with marbles. Each marble is a reward for spontaneous acts of kindness (especially towards sisters), doing helpful jobs, trying new food and all host of brilliant things. Molly has filled her jar at a grand total of 60 marbles and in return got to choose a family treat. Molly is a true animal lover in stark comparison to Rich, who in Millie-grace's words is a 'scardy cat' especially where snakes are concerned.

Although not the most exotic animals 2 of our favourites were 'ickle' the penguin and 'Nigel' the duck savaging pelican.

It did leave us wondering whether Pickwell needs a Peacock???

True to form the Pickwell Girls have been creating and our entire house is covered in blue paint, glitter and PVA. Creating is usually closely followed by a show containing the said created items (penguins are a popular theme). I think they are all having a wonderful half term!

Bank Holiday Weekend

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There is an annual duck race in Croyde to raise money for nippers (see previous posting)and it takes place on this bank holiday each year. We decided to go down and help not only because Zac is a 'nipper' but also it is Nigel (of breakfast fame) who runs this event. So people pay £1 a duck and choose a number.

There are 400 plastic ducks that take part in each race and this year we raised enough interest to do 14 races! The winner of each race gets £100. Zac loves it because he gets into the stream and helps and Steve loves it because he gets to go round the pubs 'helping' to sell tickets!

I love Croyde at this time of year. It comes alive with people. There was a campervan gathering on Baggy point which was brilliant to watch when they drove past. Every colour and style imaginable was on display.

Today we met up with some friends from sussex. I've known Mandy since we were born and she is here in Devon on holiday with her family. They have a dog and as i am not great with dogs in general, it took a lot of thinking about where we could meet up.

Westwood ho! (the exclaimation mark is actually official, its on the sign and everything) was the solution and when the rain finally stopped, we had a lovely walk there along the miles of sand.

I am going to hand over to Richard and Tracey now for the next week or so but before i go i just have to leave you with this image that we came home to after being out for the night on saturday...my dad in pants,socks and slippers showing off his muscles...enough said. I have a feeling things may get a bit more high brow in the coming days.

its.....FRIDAY!

I (Sus) am in bed recovering from being in hospital yesterday. Everything is fine and i should be back to normal very soon. As it is Friday i have felt pretty guilty watching the others tearing around doing all the jobs. We are expecting our house to be burgeoning by this evening with guests down for half term. Tracey has also completed 2 viewings back to back bless her so she will deserve an extra glass of wine tonight!

Our latest news is that we got Serenity finished in time for half term. We have changed the carpet as well as lots of exciting new things. Here are our first amateur pics:

This shows the bookcase/divider where parents can read at night without disturbing the children and vice versa.

We have built in a sleeping space especially for children. Hidden inside the cupboard doors is a wonderful cabin style, built in bed, and beneath that another bed that can be pulled out at night and tucked away inside the cupboard during the day. We have cut a couple of portholes in so if it is one child they can close the doors and peak out!

The other side from the beds there is a very spacious wardrobe and drawer space, great for putting holiday clothes/luggage/shoes and general beach paraphanalia.

While we were in there we made the decision to re-paint the lounge too! Following the advice of Sarita and Jude (Interior stylist and friends) we went for our trademark blue on a couple of walls and we love it!

Steve turns 40

Our lovely friends who own a beautiful b&b in Croyde cooked all the Bakers an AMAZING breakfast this morning before school as a birthday present for Steve. We took the kids in their pyjamas and had a fantastic hour together.

Deb is an interior designer and Nigel is a great cook so from the surroundings to the food we felt very content by the time we rolled into school.

I have to mention the banana muffins which were delicious and Nigel had got up VERY early to make fresh. We love you for that Nige.

When we came home Rich made us coffee and we all ate more pastry! What a great day. Think Steve is off for a surf later then planning on watching some basketball...a perfect birthday.

Molly, our 7 year old Pickwellian, has lost a tooth, (her third)pulled out by Rich. She is pleased with her loss and keen to share it with her nanny, papa, granny and grandad. So this one is for you!