JK Rowling's inspiration

Absolutely loving this adventure...so much to write about. I can so see where JK Rowling got her inspiration for the Harry Potter series. Everywhere you look there is something interesting, quaint, fascinating or just down right strange. Like the phone box behind an ancient hedge tucked under about 20 years of plant growth in Exmoor ... and it still worked! The older, rotund woman shopping in Waitrose in a lovely long summer skirt and white blouse with a very long, nasty looking dread lock hanging below her bottom and a beard to rival my brothers! Or the man who works in our local hardware store. He looks exactly like this guy and it has become my favourite shop to explore.

There is so much to see and do my list of 'must dos' gets longer each day. Did a nice hike along the beach in Branscombe today, Wednesday we plan to walk from Seaton to Beer and stop for a ... well, a beer and then walk back along the SWC Path. The National Trust membership has been amazing and we have used it so much already. Yesterday we managed to take in the Axe Festival in Axminister (home of River Cottage fame). Fantastic booths of traditional and modern crafts, market place items for sale, falconry and dog displays and an amazing food tent highlighting local fare. Tried my first scrumpy (cider). Had a half a pint and after 3 sips J turned to me and said "better get some food... these are STRONG!" Tonight I am watching the Kaiser Chiefs on BBC3 from Glastonbury.... could only get better if I could actually be there.... that will have to be for next year :)

One thing I am having major issues with is the showers in our house.... the main bathroom has the most intense pressure ... like hang onto the shower for dear life as you get blown back pressure. And our ensuite...well, picture this, it's a corner unit, convex shaped, so narrow if you bend down your bum hits the glass door. I turned it on tonight not realising it was angled towards the door. In my panic I slammed the door shut while it was still on. There I was standing outside thinking "Sh%*!! now what do I do?? How am I gonna turn that off without getting soaked?" The only way to turn it off was to open the door and turn it off as fast as possible while being sprayed in the face and the wall and carpet behind me getting soaked (yes, I said carpet... who puts carpet in a bathroom!??). Funny yes, not so much fun sopping up the mess.

Tomorrow the moving truck arrives with our goods from Canada and I am excited to see what I actually packed... seems so long ago I can't really remember. We are about half way through setting up the house and have bought a few pieces of furniture I am really pleased about. This week J concentrates on securing some work and I motivate myself to seriously find some UK clients.

Devon Life

Life has been exciting, busy and really fun :) We have been doing lots of traveling around England in the last month (it has been exactly a month since we left Canada...we have done so much since then it feels like ages ago). See our Flickr site for lots of photos!

We looked around the north of Devon at first and it is really beautiful. Gorgeous beaches and cute villages but zero rental properties (of anything good and on the coast) and lack of work opportunities. So we decided it made more sense to head south and see what was on offer there and I am really glad we did!

We secured a rental property on the south coast of Devon in a beautiful seaside town called Seaton. It is about an half hr drive from the city of Exeter which is a really vibrant university city. Beautiful Cathedral, unbelievable shopping, quaint quay area with cobbled roads and fantastic restaurants. Just an all around cool place. We are not too far away from Dartmoor National park which is full of cross country mtn biking and hiking and the South West Coast Path runs along the cliffs of our town. It is a 630 mile coastal path which runs from Minehead, Somerset to Poole Harbour Dorset. There is also an airport on the outskirts of Exeter so easy access to those Europe trips we want to take!

The house is about 3 blocks from the seafront and 2 blocks from the centre of town on a quiet lane. It is a detached home with fenced garden which we feel really lucky to have gotten. Email me for contact details...we move in on June 15th.

We have arrived in North Devon!!! We are staying at a friend of a friends place for a couple weeks while they are visiting Canada. It is in a small village about 7 minutes drive from Barnstaple. The Tarka path goes right down the back of the lane and we can walk all the way to Barnstaple on it (it would take about 45 minutes). En route apparently is a great park called Rock park which we will check out in the next few days. The house is an end of terrace, 3 level, 3 bed with loft, 2 bathroom home, and the kids are very happy with all the toys that are here. Tyko has his own 'fort' upstairs that he has claimed as his room. I thought he would want to sleep in with us as the 3rd bedroom has a crib in it but he wants to sleep in the loft in the double bed. He said he loved having his own room.... I think Lucie's snoring was getting to him ;) There are also guinea pigs, chickens (penned), tadpoles and fish in the back garden which they love feeding and playing with. There is a playing field and park with a zip line RIGHT next to the house, I can see it from the kitchen and dining room.

Before arriving here we were up in Lincolnshire visiting family. We went to a birds of prey conservation centre and watched some amazing displays on falconry. The peregrine falcon was ridiculous! She flew so fast around us in a field while the handler described how she hunts. There was also a vulture there that flies up to 37,000 feet!!!! Amazing. We also did a little bit of pig racing while there..... while in Rome... Tyko's pig came first and he spent his winnings on an ice cream. You gotta get your priorities right!

There was also a butterfly area where you could learn about the life cycle as well as walk through their habitat. They land right on you! Can you imagine my Mom going in there??? Nope, she wouldn't go near it.

Taking advantage of our National Trust membership we toured Tattershall castle (rebuilt in the mid 1400s) in Tattershall, Lincs. The kids had their own kids version of the audio tour and learned a lot about this place. There were members of staff dressed up in period style costumes showing/teaching the kids how to do traditional crafts and skills. The woman who showed Tyko & Miss Lu the carding and wool spinning said children as young as 3 would have done this! Tyko was not too impressed with the thought of that! She also taught us all the difference between the Union Flag and the Union Jack. A good history lesson for all.

Tyko went in a soccer camp on Tues while in Lincolnshire with some of the local boys (the kids are on half term break this week) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Made some new friends and learned some new moves. Pete G. we need to email you about it... you would have loved the skill building... it was very good.

We drove down to Devon on Wed (took about 6 hrs including stops). Yesterday we spent a couple hours in Braunton and the afternoon at Croyde. We registered with all the estate agents in town and will be going to Barnstaple tomorrow to register with 2 others we were recommended to. We all really liked the village of Braunton and several of the surrounding smaller villages. It has everything we need and a really nice feel to it. Cool little restaurants, community centre, library, pool, lots of surfing and outdoor shops and very nice people on first impressions. The church had a sign in the front saying it has been doing services there since 550AD! The whole area is connected by footpaths and the Tarka trail.

Recycling and conserving energy is huge here. We have seen lots of signs of alternative energy sources ie. wind and solar. In the next couple weeks we will be checking out the Eden project in Cornwall...have a look online, it looks fascinating!

Weather is gorgeous..... summer seems to have arrived!