Well this is my last night in England for a while. This of course in thanks to the British Visa Department in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. However, that aside and water under the bridge, I am off back to Australia tomorrow night.

For a last day in England it has been such fantastic weather that we all went off to Snowdrop Valley, near Wheddon Cross in Somerset. Katharine recommended it when we went to Porlock (see earlier blog), but with the cold and snow it was not worth it. But we headed there today and it was worth every minute.

Snowdrop Valley is a narrow valley just behind Mindhead in Exmoor. It is very cold and the snowdrops are wide spread. This is fairly unique as apparently snowdrops require fairly specific conditions so having a valley full is quite something.

The walk down starts in the village of Wheddon Cross. You make your way along the road following the green arrows, not the Green Fairy (unless you have been drinking Absinthe), until you turn down below the village towards Raleigh Manor. Then through the sheep paddocks with a quick break for lunch under the only tree in the paddock. At the end of the field you veer off and drop quickly, and muddily, down the wall of the valley. A bit of back and forth at the steep bits and to the bottom through the still frozen soil and frost finds you on the valley floor.

At the bottom of the valley there is a disabled car park and bus turning circle. In the peak of the season there is a courtesy bus down the hill. However this was after the last day of the season so no bus, but also no crowd. We made our way along the well trodden dirt path slowly walking up stream to a wooden bridge that allows you to cross. The first half is next to the creek, while the second half, after the bridge, goes higher on the valley wall to look down. I am not really used to the idea of going to look at flowers. But they really are spectacular in such numbers.

After circling around the valley we had to walk back up the steep sides of the valley to the car. This we did in a slow manner with a couple of stops for chocolate, 'Green & Blacks 70% dark', to be precise. Back in the car and down to the village of Dunster (see earlier blog) for a cream tea shouted by Katharine. It was the nicest cream tea so far and 'Tessa's Tea House' should be complimented. We made a brief attempt to sit in the outside summer house so we could have Anouk with us, however no dog is worth that kind of cold and Anouk was put in the car and we skulked inside.

A really lovely day spent. Thank you so much Katharine for the Cream Tea and the idea of going to Snowdrop Valley.

To everyone in England, see you all in a few months, hopefully before the end of summer as I would like to experience England in at least one other season apart from winter. Sorry to Nenna and Sam that I was not able to catch up this time but Pippa has pressies here for you and yes you can open them before I come back.

To everyone in Australia, see you all soon. This depends how close you actually live to Sydney and Canberra, but I hope to get to Victoria and Alice Springs before I return to England.