Happy Birthday Pippa!!!!!

And what a wonderful day we have had. We woke up to snow everywhere as it had been snowing through the night and everything was white. It was however cold and this made it hard getting out of a warm bed. But I got up earlier than Pippa and Katharine to warm the croissants for breakfast.

Pippa came down and we had a lovely breakfast and she was able to open all her cards and presents. Books, thermals, and a special stay in a B & B in Porlock...see our travel plans.

After breakfast Mary Ashwin arrived for the day. She spoilt us with a large box of chocolates. After looking through old wedding photos Katharine acquired after a day spent with her sisters, we decided that given the sun had come out we would head to the beach. It was warming up to a balmy 3 degrees and the snow had cleared enough to avoid getting our feet wet.

There was some debate over the best way to get to the Dorset coast. The plan was to buy fish & chips at Seaton then take them to Beer and eat them on the beach. We piled off in the two cars (Mary would leave for home in a different direction) and set off through the lanes of Devon, Somerset & Dorset to the coast.

Seaton is a really pretty seaside town with a long esplanade and a huge variety of chippies and holiday lettings. Quiet, given it is winter, but at least no crowd. Anouk had to return to guard the car as the cafe did not allow dogs and the coolness of the day put us off the idea of sitting on the beach. I also discovered that if Anouk is in the car when the alarm is set from locking it, she sets off the alarm; hence Anouk is a real guard dog as the car can not be locked if she is in it.

After a lunch of fish, chips, pineapple fritters, vegeburgers, onion rings and a chocolate caterpillar cake with a musical candle, we returned to the car and drove to Beer as per Pippa's request to spend her birthday in Beer. It is actually a town in Dorset. It is steep sided picture book town with a fantastic, all be it, stony beach and fishing boats ashore at low tide. Beautiful steep streets with Victorian and Georgian houses, thatching, parks and huge chalk cliffs make up the town.

We walked along the beach watching poor Anouk sink into the stones. The beach has large pebbles that feel a bit like and adult version of the plastic ball bins in children's play grounds. Each step risks us sinking into the stones. But you do not need to brush the sand off.

After collecting shells and 'fossils' on the beach we walked through the town and up over the headland and chalk cliffs. Dodging cow pats and sheep poo we followed the cliff edge with occasional views of the nesting seagulls. As the sun set we made our way back to the cars and headed for home.

At home to finish of a wonderful day we had a drink with a neighbour and a delicious spinach roulade. (We drank with the neighbour and ate the roulade) A few more phone calls for Pippa from family and a relatively early night.