Goren Farm, Part One

On Friday night we drove down to Devon after the Other Half had collected Our Daughter from a school sporting event.

Last week we had visited Forde Abbey and picked up a National Garden Scheme Brochure.

When we got to Devon on Friday night I flicked through the pages to see which gardens were open on Saturday and which was nearer to us and would be interesting.

We saw that Goren Farm - near to Stockland was open and so late on Saturday morning we made our way through the Devon countryside to our destination. Having arrived we were a bit peckish and so we had some sausage rolls and some tea, coffee and orange squash. Whilst waiting for these to arrive Our Daughter had fun on a rope swing, a trampoline and playing in the tree house.

Here she is on the rope swing.

On the trampoline.

And in the tree house - it reminded me of that popular song from the 1970's - "Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree." Although this one was not an oak tree but I'm sure you get the gist!

Goren Farm was open for the public to see the wild flower meadows.

The flowers were home to many little animals. Can you see the little green caterpillar all curled up on this wild flower.

There were wonderful fields full of yellows, pinks and purples! That song "Tie a yellow ribbon" hummed itself in my head throughout the day and no wonder with all the resplendent yellowness of the meadows. I do love days out like this - you're not expecting much and then you're pleasantly surprised.

A dandelion - it has always fascinated me how one minute they are bright yellow flowers and then they turn into a delicate and intricate work of art! 

The Other Half and Our Daughter in the wild flower meadows.

The fields were full of this flower.

And there were literally millions of these!

We also saw many of these - big daisies.

On a number of the flower heads were little caterpillars.

Our Daughter was fascinated.

Here she is with a caterpillar. She very carefully put it back where she'd found it after this photo was taken. It's important for children to learn to love and respect nature. It always makes me squirm when I see children running after and terrorizing animals such as pigeons and seagulls. I remember we once went on a day out and there were two little girls playing - their mother was ignoring them, too busy chatting away to see that these girls had picked up a baby duckling and that the mother duck was quite panicky. I could not believe my eyes when they then threw the duckling back at its mother. They did this two or three times in succession and were laughing. The Other Half went up to them and asked them politely not to as it was clearly distressing to the mother duck and they could kill the little ducklings. He then walked away and do you know what they did - they just carried on doing it!

Later as we were leaving the park we came across the two girls again - this time with their mother. I heard them say to their mum "There's the nasty man who told us off!" Her reaction "Yes sweetie, there are many nasty people!"

Another dandelion head.

The wild flower meadows in all their glory.

 I took quite a few photos and so later in the week I will do Part Two.

There were two routes to take through the meadows. We finished the first walk and started the second when the heavens opened and it rained. Although we would have liked to finish the second walk the rain made it difficult to carry on. We decided that the best thing to do was to abandon the trip and come back next month to do the whole of it.

We got back to the car and went to Honiton. We ended up in the second hand book-shop and I came away with three books - naughty me!

Today it has rained solidly for most of the day and we have remained indoors reading and watching T.V.

I had recently been pestered by Our Daughter to buy a box set of Dads Army DVD's.

Some of these old half hour shows are just fantastic. I used to watch them with my Grandma when I was seven or eight. I really liked Private Walker - the spiv, and Private Godfrey who always wanted to go to the toilet. Captain Mainwaring (Mannering) was a fantastic character. Who could forget Private Fraser "We're all doomed" and Corporal Jones "They don't like it up 'em" and always asking for permission - "Permission to whisper, Captain Mainwaring!" Priceless! I also liked Private Pike and Sergeant Wilson - the whole cast bascially! As a child I used to dislike the ARP warden, the Verger and the Vicar. Of course, I now realize how gloriously wonderful these characters were too!

A very nostalgic wet Sunday afternoon.

Until next time.

June.