The Speedboats

So for one of Steve's 40th presents, he was given a speed boat driving lesson. We booked it in a couple of times but as each day came, the weather was not on our side. However we have, at last, made it.

Wow. We went to a place called 'Crow Point'. The place is stunning, beautiful. We had never been before and it took us by surprise. It is literally a 10 minute drive from our house but has somehow escaped us.

There has been a lot of excitement locally about a new wind farm. Several times we have been stopped in the car as we wait for the lorries carrying the structure of the turbines to pass us. Here you can see them in the distance.

We took a picnic and waited for Ben (husband of Pickwell Holly) to drive round in the boat.

Steve went off for his lesson while we waited on the beach. Then we got in and he drove us around.

He seemed to pick it up quite quickly..at least he drove very fast and persuaded us he knew what he was doing.

Liza was hilarious. Where Zac looked terrified for most of the time, Liza just seemed to love it. I suddenly saw her at 18 years old, hanging out with boys on boats.

Ben brought a 'Ringo' with him and Steve went on first. Testosterone surged as Ben went as fast as he could and Steve was just egging him on with hand signals that clearly stated "is that all you've got?" at which point, Ben suddenly turned and we all watched in horror as Steve twirled off the ringo and bounced like a skimming stone for about 30 feet. Boys.

Needless to say that Liza and I had a lovely, gentle bob about and there was no need for speed or fear. Nice.

Despite making Steve jump in, off the dock, three times so I could get a photo, this was the closest i got to capturing it...see the splash? Well its Steve.

Zac, Liza and I went back to the beach so Steve could have a last half hour drive. So, we were busy getting changed when we heard a noise, looked up and saw Steve gliding past the beach on WATER SKIS!! It was like a proper National Lampoons Vacation moment. He even waved with one hand..so funny and so unexpected. He was clearly loving it.

As we were leaving we saw this plant covered in caterpillars of such vivid yellow and black stripes we had to get a picture.

When we went to France just a couple of weeks back, we stayed with some gorgeous friends for a few days. They told us they had got us a gift. It was the hire of this amazing boat, complete with a skipper.

So, we went out for the day and had the most incredible experience. We kept reminding the kids to make the most of it because this is a one-off, very special treat!

We moored up near a private beach and spent the day eating, drinking, swimming and bobbing around like we owned the joint.

It was quite an experience going round all the HUGE boats moored up in St Tropez. They were three times the size of Pickwell. What I would have given for a tour round one of those.

The skipper lady, Claudine, asked us if we wanted an ice-cream. On hearing positive noises from all the kids, she leaps up to the front of the boat and starts waving frantically and we start to hear the 'chug, chug' of a boat coming towards ours. The first thing we saw was the topless lady sitting right at the front and before we knew it they were right next to us and we were ordering coffee and ice-creams and reaching over the wobbly side to bring them into our boat. Surreal.

Living the good life... thank you Zoe and Jonah so much x

Tents!

Tents have seemed to characterise our summer. All of us Pickweller's visited various French campsites in our wonderful camper (aka motorhome with beige swirly seats) and..

We had a celebration service for Florie's life up in North Yorkshire. Beth (my sister)and Sam (my brother-in-law) moved there to start a new business (www.thebivouac.co.uk).

A company they will be partnering with (www.tentipi.com) gave them the free hire of their two biggest tents, along with two enormous fires, tables and benches and candle lanterns. The guys who came to set it up came on their day off.

I am still coming to terms with theirs, and many others, generosity around the whole experience. It made the afternoon really special.

Then we went to 'Greenbelt' festival. There is only one time in the year that all of us Pickweller's make a priority to go away together and that is for Greenbelt. Steve's brother Dave (headmaster of a Bristol secondary school) and his wonderful wife Lou (of Bliss textile fame) came and ran the business for us. It was great to know we could relax as it was in very capable hands!

Greenbelt (www.greenbelt.org.uk) is described as 'where arts, faith and justice collide'. We meet up with about a million friends and attempt to camp together every year. This year Steve and I got there first so it was our job to ward off any potential 'other campers'!

This seemed to be the 'Greenbelt 2011' fashion item of choice with many of our young (and not so young, Abi, ahem!) and cool members of the group. Zac was right at home as this summer in the space of a day he turned from small boy with trousers slightly flapping round the ankles, to proper fashion conscious teenage dude complete with flicky hair. HE IS 8!!!

Every year there are various thought provoking installations that pop up around the festival site. This year there were a series of doors. Each door proclaimed a different UN Resolution regarding the rights of the Palestinian people. The theme of the whole festival was 'welcome home' which obviously related to this.

Slight embarrassment regarding my finger in this shot, but you get the reason i took the picture. Another installation this time showing the size of the separation wall around Gaza to keep the Palestinians out. Different perspectives exist about this wall. Personally i can't understand it.

20,000 people attend Greenbelt every year. It is a mixture of music, the arts, and thought-provoking talks. Our sister-in-law has been the festival director for the last 2 years or so and she has done an amazing job.

Then this weekend we celebrated our neighbours joint 40th birthday. They put on a great party. On Friday all the tepees arrived and were installed in their garden as extra accommodation to our house.

There were 'woodland crafts' laid on in a giant tepee run by our friend's Matt and Lou who themselves live in a yurt (see summer solstice blog post). The kids (and I) loved it and left with a dream catcher made of willow, a woven reed fish and a hat decorated with charcoal, blackberry juice and clay. I have been trying to keep it at a safe distance from my lovely white walls!

We had a gorgeous meal of Marinated rack of lamb with lemon and thyme cous cous and a red pepper coulis, followed by a vanilla pannacotta with honey roasted figs. All cooked by our chef and his team who cater for our weddings. It was properly amazing. It was also the first time I have sat at a table and eaten their food in a function like that. It won't be the last. It was great to be reminded yet again of how talented they are.

So we danced for a little while in the ballroom, but aware of our licence and out of respect for our neighbours we switched off the music, went next door to the giant tepee and had a...SILENT DISCO!!! Well. It was extraordinary. Everyone was given a pair of headphones which transmitted the music from the DJ through them. You could go quite far and still pick it up. At one point I was debating going for a dance on the beach..but realised that might be pushing it.

It was surreal when you walked in as everyone was dancing like mad but the garden was almost silent. I guess that's the point, it just felt weird. The minute the headphones were on, however, you get transported to this other world. Amazing! I think that was the highlight of the night actually. The only downside was that my ears kept getting a bit hot.

So then yesterday, i went to my friend Sarah's house. It is in a part of Sarah's garden where Matt and Lou's yurt resides. Both Sarah's girls had birthdays just recently and Matt and Lou have once again come up trumps in terms of a gift. So, for Milly's birthday she was given a lovely home-made bag with some home-made pegs and a mallet. She had a great time banging them into the ground and thought that was the end of it.

Then for Daisy's birthday, she was given a bigger home-made bag with a few big posts and some hand-sewn tarpaulin. Put them together and...

voila! A home-made tent and ground sheet. Inspired. Apparently the girls have played with it non-stop. One afternoon it was moved 3 times!

The girls all enjoyed playing in it while I was there and i thought i owed it to the world to share this fantastic gift idea. x

all together again

So the Baker's are back. Its been a tough old second half of the summer but with some beautiful moments which we'll treasure.

While we were away we got a text inviting us to Barracane beach. This is a gorgeous little secluded beach situated between Woolacombe and Morthoe. There is a beach hut there owned by a couple Stacey and Sumith. Sumith is Sri Lankan and so on inheriting the hut from Stacey's parents they decided to try selling true Sri Lankan curry dishes, alongside the ciabatta sandwiches, home-made soup and salads. We had heard about this and so this was our first night to give it a go.

The beach was packed! We found out that this was the last of Sumith's curry nights (they only run from April-1st September when a crane comes and lifts the hut off the beach to a more sheltered location. Apparently it used to be a gorgeous wooden hut but that was washed away by the high tide one winter)

The curry on the beach proved to be so successful that it runs from wednesday - Saturday in season and they also cook 'spicy devil chicken and beef' on a Sunday night which I have heard is absolutely delicious.

The whole experience was just completely surreal. I was sitting on the rock eating food that took me straight back to my honeymoon (guess where we went?!) on a china plate and proper cutlery, drinking wine from a lovely big glass with good friends, watching the sun setting and the children having a great time swimming in the sea.

After this summer and all that it brought, it felt like it was a really special, magical moment in time which needed to be remembered.

As the sun was setting, the moon appeared. What a welcome home.

A Saunton Tea

Its my mum's birthday, the weather is gorgeous and we are off for afternoon tea at the Saunton Sands hotel.

We sat on the terrace in blazing hot sunshine. Saunton really is the most beautiful beach and from the hotel you have a wonderful view.

We were full to the brim after eating our way through cucumber and smoked salmon sandwiches, scones with lashings of strawberry jam and clotted cream and then little cakes, my favourite being chocolate torte, delicious.

A perfect afternoon, happy birthday mum!

Summer update

It has been a devastating summer with the death of baby Florie. Susie and Steve after the funeral have flown out to France and have taken the Pickwell Camper around France. We very much hope that they are finding rest, recouperation and comfort as a little family unit at this difficult time. All of our thoughts are with Beth, Sam and the girls too.
At Pickwell we are having a wonderful summer now we are back from France and have met some really gorgeous guests. We arrived back to find the house alive and buzzing with laughter and the sounds of family fun. The tennis court, croquet lawn, terrace and games room have been a hive of activity. Cream teas over the last 2 weeks have been a delight and given us the opportunity to hear peoples holiday stories, where they are from and a little of their love of Devon.

Molly and millie have been wonderful helpers, setting out the tea cups and picking flowers from the garden to make everything look beautiful and welcoming. Well done girls!

Our favourite family activity on a warm summer evening is to pack up our supper and head down to putsborough beach. Vegetable stir fry on the beach with the most amazing view in the world, there is nothing like it.

wow!

It has been great being back and reconnecting with our lovely friends and hearing their holiday stories so far. I made everyone try my new found love of French apperitifes; cassis and Rose wine (introduced to us by a lovely french family camping next to us in Vendee). I'm not sure everyone liked it as much as me, Paul said it reminded him of communion wine!

The kids all tucking into sunday roast, yum!

It is lovely being back.

Precious Florie

Let me introduce you to beautiful Florence Briah Hardwick.

She is my neice, my sister's baby. She is 1 week old today. Yesterday she developed breathing problems, became lethargic and couldn't feed properly. When she stopped breathing, on her way to hospital, she was airlifted to a specialist unit where she was worked on for 9 hours. She was diagnosed with a genetic metabolic blood problem.

At 3am this morning Florie passed away.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Beth, Sam, Martha (aged 3) and Elsie (aged 22 months). We are thanking God for the week that this precious family had to spend with this beautiful little girl.