May 12, 2018 — Driving to our next cottage

Cleaned, packed and checked out of Lambriggan Court. It was hard to say goodbye to Gary and Fiona. They were so nice and very helpful, and the cottage was perfect. Put everything in the car and trusted ourselves to our Garmin GPS. Most of the trip was on the A30, a beautiful drive involving lakes, windmills, the sere Bodmin Moor and stunning scenery. As soon as we got off the A30, Garmin, as usual, went crazy so we stopped for gas and programmed my phone on to Canal Cottage. Narrow country roads but we found the place. It was way too early to check in so we continued on into Tiverton to search for parking and ended up in the Marks & Spencer Food Hall pay and display lot where we left the car to look for tourist information. It was inside the museum and we got a town map, lunch recommendation and directions to long-term parking.

We moved the car and went in search of Frou Frou, a lovely French bistro downtown. We both got the sea bass special that came with a fantastic marinated red pepper and red onion side. I loved it. I got Frou Frou Noir Chocolate Indulgence for dessert and Ed got an ice cream, berry and meringue that was equally good. The young man beside us started chatting and he is here from New Zealand working for two years. His fiancée was our cheery French waitress. Altogether, we had a delightful lunch. Frou Frou Bistro, 43 Gold Street, Tiverton, EX16 6QB; tel: +44 (0)1884 250544; [email protected]; Click here for the Frou Frou Bistro web site

Walked back toward the car and stopped for a new shampoo for me since the top broke off the one I brought from home. Then we went to Marks & Spencer for groceries for the week. Strange store . . . nearly everything is prepared food. We got bread, wine, milk, orange juice and ginger cookies; headed for the car and drove back out to the cottage. We are checked in, moved in and are ready to drive to town for Mass. The cottage is lovely but lots of flies and unfortunately many are inside. Expect we’ll keep windows closed most of the time.

We had no trouble finding the very friendly church in Tiverton and finding our way back to our cottage. In addition to the flies, we found a rather large bee that I managed to encourage back out the door. There is a farm just across the canal and the cows seem to attract flies who enjoy our lounge area. It's getting warm so we can't leave the windows closed all day. I can see a problem. There are already dead flies on the floor, presumably from the heat. At least we can close off the living area from the rest of the house so the flies can't get in there. I'll deal with it tomorrow when I'm awake. I can't find a broom but with luck there's a vacuum hidden somewhere in here.