A lovely start to the summer holidays

We spent the day on Dartmoor yesterday. Nice and sunny up on Hound Tor. We kind of had two picnics. First, a lunch and then an afternoon snack (I made courgette cake) after some walking.

I took this photo from behind some medieval ruins of an old Dartmoor Longhouse. There are a handful of ruins here.

It looks so small from a distance but Hound Tor is massive. Also, somewhat radioactive.

We walked up to Hound Tor, past the village and then went down into the valley to throw stones in the river. The boys loved every bit of it. Walking down the steep valley, carrying a two year old was a bit punishing on my knees but he kept falling over so… He also didn’t enjoy walking back up the hill. His legs are only little.

I also made some mini Quiche Lorraine. It was supposed to be a joint effort between me and the boys but they didn’t stay around long. This recipe came from Rachel Allen’s Bake. So did the courgette cake (which is called Zucchini Bread in the book). The recipe is for a big quiche but I thought small ones would be easier to transport for picnics. Just cook them for less time.

They worked quite well and we took them with us for our Dartmoor picnic and also for a picnic the day before, to Blackbury Camp in East Devon.

It’s an English Heritage site, known locally for its bluebells in spring. It’s an iron age hill fort and brilliant for kids to run around in.

My boy found a big lump of flint with quartz inside. He was very happy with it. His index finger just about shows the scar he gained from his exchange with a saw, on our recent camping trip.

Grass hoppers were everywhere. This one is sitting on the inside of my arm.

On Tuesday we went to a birthday party on Exmouth beach. It started out a bit cold and windy but soon after, the sun came out and the boys got slowly braver and a little less clothed. The seaweed did funny things as the tide came in.

There were a few of these Barrel Jellyfish dotted about the place. It wasn’t this blue in real life but it’s a picture taken on my phone, which does funny things without me asking. They looked like aliens. There was much stick poking from many six year olds. Fascinating.

So that kind of rounds up the first week. We did other fun stuff too. Hanging out with friends, trips to the park and such. I don’t think I’m going to do summer holiday updates every week, it’s just that I haven’t done much in the way of crafting. After my wasp sting at the beginning of the week, my hand swelled up and I thought it best not to do any crochet or sewing.