Walk Around the Countryside

Well, today we went for a little walk 'round the countryside. It was a nice cloudy day so the sun didn't burn us but it wasn't too cold so when we went through water we didn't get numb toes.
First of all we went along the road looking for a public footbath sign. We then followed the first one we saw, across and over a fence using a stile (steps used to get over fences) and into a paddock. We then went along the fenceline until we came to a gate with some barb wire across it. We figured we shouldn't go there so we went right along the next fence line. I saw some cows and pointed them out to everyone. No sooner had I done that than they came charging over to us, presumably expecting to be fed. They didn't get fed. 

Dawww, look at the cowie wowies.

We then continued our way around the country and headed along back to our hotel, sneaking through a farm at one stage to get through *shhh*. I found it really fun going around looking at the country side and streatching our legs. I hope we do it again at one stage :)

The Four Ps.

First of all, before everyone gets the wrong idea about the title, I'm going to say what these Ps stand for.
P - Pool
P - Pool
P - Pizza
P - Poker
And now I'm going to say why I am putting up these words. Today started with us all just lounging around doing general stuff like eating chocolate and using our computers. Just being plain old lazy. But then we (well mum and dad) decided to be all energetic and go and see the facilities that the Country Club had. So then we all went over with some swimmers just in case and we went to the pool table. We then played three games of pool (I won once with my dad and lost twice with mum and my brother). And that was the first P. So then after that we went over to the heated pool, the version you swim in. We played around in there for a while, doing some laps, that sort of thing until we got a bit tired. When we went back to our room, we had supper which was - you guessed it - pizza. So we ate some pizza and did some general sittin' around until someone came up with the idea of playing a game. So you can probably guess what that game was. Yes, it was poker. Mum emptied her handbag of coins and dad emptied his wallet and we managed a total amount of 9 pounds and 79 pence each. We managed to finish the game before midnight and my brother won.
So that was the day of the four Ps.
Which part was your favorite?

The Country Club Near Bude

So, now that I'm settled in somewhere again, we are now at the Country Club! It's really a lovely place with a variety of animals such as peacocks, squirrels, ducks and more peacocks. The atmosphere is just lovely, meaning we have enough space in our little cottage without being completely deserted. There isn't great storage and I have to share a room again, but it still is really lovely.

Some ducks that wander around.

 This duck is... stupid. The reason I say that is because she started out with 10 ducklings. Now she has 1. How can you do that? Losing that many little ducklings within a week? I don't even know how that is possible.

A magnificent peacock.

 This is the first time I have caught a peocock on camera doing this. I've missed it twice.

One of the squirrels that comes.

Seeing all the animals here is really nice. I like to be able to look out the window and see an animal down there just walking around. And getting so close to a peacock that I can touch it is really cool.
We are here at the Country Club for 2 weeks and 2 days and I think I'm getting pretty good at these multi-hour journeys!

St. Michaels Mount - A Successful Attempt

Well as the title suggests, we went to St. Michaels Mount today. But the difference between today and a few days ago is the fact we could actually get across today. That would help to actually see the castle, I think.

Water laps at our feet, but we press on, determined to reach the island.

A decorated wall inside.

Samuri soldier suit.

A dead fish we found on the way out.

The castle.

Some cannons for defence.

A symbol in the hall.

The gardens from above.

A square window in the church.

I think this is a painting of one of his dogs.

After looking at all of the castle, we went down to the gardens. Unfortunately I forgot to get out my camera when we were in there because they were so cool. Well actually I had been given this treasure hunt thing where you have to find all these creatures. I thought, that will be cool, why don't I do that? So I got it and the first thing I had to find was a snail. It said 'Find Sammy the snail' or something crazy. I was then left to think "How could they name a snail?" When I found 'Sammy the Snail' it turned out to be 5 times as big as a normal snail and made of plastic. So much for finding creatures. The rest of the treasure hunt was pretty much that except for one thing which was we had to find a 'Spikey plant' called something like the Dragon Blood Tree. Ok, now how am I supposed to know what that is? Luckily all the plants had little signs saying what they were so it was quite an easy find.
After the amazing treasure hunt, I got a prize because I had found all of the things on it. Mum thought it was going to be some sort of sticker or something, but it was actually alright. I mean, bubble blowers are pretty good, right?
Anyway, I really enjoyed going to St. Michaels Mount. Do you want to go there now?

A Car Trip Day

Today I endured possibly my longest car trip. Before I say how long it was, I'll just say that it wasn't that fun.
Now the car trip was 10 HOURS. You heard me, 10 hours. And my dad had to do ALL of that in the front seat doing the driving. It's not fun, let me tell you.
What was YOUR longest car trip?

St. Michaels Mount - A Failed Attempt

Well, today we were going to go to St. Michaels Mount, but we had mistimed it. The tide had covered our pathway to it.

Aw dang.

A zoom in shot of the Castle.

Me walking to a little island.

It's a shame we couldn't go to St. Michaels Mount. My brother, however, thought he could get there anyway so he decided to walk along the path and try. He only got about halfway.
Would you have tried to get there?

Land's End - The End of The World

Land's End is a place at the very end of England. Maybe it isn't the end of the world as such, but it sure looks like it when you can just see the sea in front of you. After we had succesfully parked we got out and walked over to the cliff. A sign said: DANGEROUS CLIFFS. So of course we went over to inspect the cliff. Then we wandered around and did just general stuff like walking along and buying ice cream and looking in gift shops. For some reason they didn't let us buy any gifts, though, because they were 'shutting'. Yeah, right. Here's some pictures of Land's End for you:

They are VERY Dangerous.

A Giant!

The First and Last Refreshment House in England.

Well, what do you think of Land's End?

Mousehole... What a Name for a Town!

Yes, you heard me, Mousehole is a name of a town in England.

Look out, Mousehole! Here comes a cat!

A little beach in Mousehole.

A cat we saw there.

'The Mousehole' is a shop in Mousehole.

We only went to Mousehole for the day and for a walk but it was still fun.
What do you think of Mousehole?

General Update

I am so sorry I haven't been able to post on my blog for so long. I just haven't had the internet to do it. So I'll just do a general update on what's been happening the past week or so.
First of all we are now in England again. We firstly went to see our cousins for the weekend who had a cat called Gurty. A cross breed but definately had some Maine Coon in her. An extremely playful cat but really was just such a poser.

Gurty.

After seeing the cousins, we went to see my great auntie who is 95. Then we went to see my dad's cousin and he showed us his boat and walked his dogs.  After that we went to Worthing and saw grandparents, aunties and uncles at a family curry dinner. We then went to one of the aunties' house and saw their dog Pip.

Pip. What a happy dog!

Pip was rescued from the pound and is now alot better than when they got her. We don't know what sort of dog she is but she is definately a mix breed.
The next day from the curry we went to see some relatives who had two cats (Chester and Google) and a squirrel. They have requested for their cats to be on my blog so here they are:

Chester

Google

This isn't a picture of Cyril from the day we went, but from a previous visit to them. We couldn't get any pictures of him from the latest visit because he didn't turn up.


Cyril the squirrel.

We drove to Didmarton in Gloucestershire and stayed in a little two bedroom cottage that slept about six if needed. As you walked in, There was a living room with a small TV and squishy sofas. Off to the left a bit further up there was a small kitchen with all essential needs included. In the middle of the living room there was a staircase going halfway up and the rest of the way it separated going either side. To the right was mine and my brothers' room and to the left was mum and dads' room. Also to the left was a bathroom with again all essential needs included.When we were staying there we had another family get-together at a pub and I had a massive burger. It was so big I just couldn't finish it as much as I wanted to.
The day after that we went to Stroud to get my brother some cricket gear and I got a gigantic weighted hula-hoop while we were at it. It even had little waves in it to help it stay on (not that I need them).
And then the day after that we went to see my mum's friend in Churchdown who she hadn't seen for... quite a while. They just chatted while everyone else sat there and read or sometimes joined in.
Then there was the three hour drive down to Cornwall, near Penzance Newlyn. A journey in the metal beast over the hard black wasteland... Luckily at the end of the car trip we get to where we are staying and are now currently in a bigger cottage with sea views and window seats. Everyone also gets their OWN ROOM!!! Such a luxury these days in the world of travel where siblings are always there right next to you. Literally, they are always there. Always in the same room as you. But anyway, enough of that, I get my own room now and I am the only one with a window seat in their room. I also have nearly the most storage and the third best room (or the second worst, in other words).

Front room.

Ivy covered front wall.

A bedroom.

The courtyard.

Well then, would you have liked to have done what I've been doing during the past week or so? And which part is your favorite? I sure enjoyed it!

Rainbow Cafe and Border Terriers

The Rainbow Cafe is a vegetarian restaurant in Cambridge that has delicious food. It is hidden away underground with lovely smells always coming from the kitchen.
Today we went to the Rainbow Cafe and we each enjoyed a vegetarian or vegan meal together. I had some pasta with cheese and salad and everyone else had... something. I felt satisfied with the meal and we sat and chatted for a while. When we walked out we were heading off to look at something when I saw two dogs. But they werent just any dogs, they were BORDER TERRIERS. As you may have guessed, they are my favourite type of dog. They are just the cutest, friendliest and smartest dogs. Maybe not the smartest, but they are still pretty smart. And to top it off, I was allowed to pat them by their nice owner. I was even allowed to take a picture of them both:

What cuties!

Anyway, I had a good pat of the dogs and asked a few questions about them and then we continued our way to look at something. The 'something' we were going to look at was a really cool clock with a giant metal locust on top spinning it:

TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK, SQUEAK, TOCK...

I then got a video of it:

Then finally we headed off back to our Arundel House hotel for a rest.
So, what is your favourite type of dog?

Punting with Family

One of the things in Cambridge that is pretty cool is the punting. If you don't know what punting is, it is nothing like putting. Completely different. Punting is where you have a really long pole and you stand on the end of a boat. You then get the pole and put it down in the water and push off the ground, propelling yourself and the boat forward. But it is no easy task (I can't tell you from experience because I wasn't the punter) for you can easily fall off without anything holding you on. You don't have the sides of the boat to catch you for it is a flat area where you stand. Or another way to make the punting experience not so pleasant is to drop the pole when it gets stuck in the ground.
Anyway, we all had a lovely time in the boat and it took a few knocks but we all survived. I lived to tell the tale, luckily, and the camera lived to show you the story.


Hmmm... I think... that is... a fail.

What a little quacker.

I found it extremely fun punting and enjoyed every most moments.
Have you ever been punting?

Cambridge

After coming from Bristol we went off to Cambridge. It is a city nearly completely pedestrianised. Well, either that or there were a lot of pedestrians (and bikes). There were also bikes. Did I mention there were bikes as well? The reason I keep saying that is there were a lot of bikes. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Bikes were everywhere. Wherever we looked, there was sure to be a bike sitting there (except in shops, of course). It was a city for young people and bikes for there was an awesome university there. And when I say awesome, I mean the best in the world. Yes, in the WORLD.
So, there we were in Cambridge, sure for a nice time and lots of fun staying in the Arundel House Hotel.
Would you like to go to Cambridge University?

Longleat Safari Park

Yesterday we planned to go to Longleat today. So we did go to Longleat.
It was beautiful weather with hardly a cloud to be seen. But, you may be thinking, why Longleat? What is Longleat?
I will tell you. Longleat is a Safari park for people to drive around seeing all the animals or get lost in a maze. For people to wander through Lord Longleats' house or go buy a massive piece of chocolate cake.
So today we were off to Longleat. And boy, did we have fun. It was a great day for it, too. Very little wind and a nice bright sun.
Well, I had better put some pictures up then!

A pretty zebra.

What a looong  tongue.

Anne the elephant.

You may have heard of Anne. If you haven't, here is a bit of background information on her.
Anne used to be kept in a circus. She was abused by her keeper by being hit constantly, her feet being chained together, made to do things that she didn't want to do and many more disturbing things. She used to be miserable and unhappy.
But now Longleat Safari Park has saved her from this terror. Anne is now in a safe spot where she will never be abused again and will live for the rest of her days. An old elephant deserves happiness.
Here is a video of her enjoying herself in her new home:

A sleepy tiger.

Feeding the deer.

What a Funky Monkey!

\

A Bongo.

You wouldn't want to get in the bad books of that rhino!

Some lions.

And to finish, some wolves!

Longleat was so fun today. I do hope we go there again and do all the things we missed out on!

Shopping Spree!

Well, today mum wanted to get a few things and a little bit of food, so we went to the big shopping centre in Bristol (well, one of them anyway). I didn't bring my camera with me so I got no pictures of it but it was very big. About three times the size of my local shopping centre and everyone there in my local town thinks it is pretty big and daunting. Well I think they do, anyway.
So, to the shopping centre we walked and lucky for us it was just a beautiful day. Blue sky with the occasional cloud with the temperature of around 25 degrees or so.  In the shopping centre it was really nice. It had a glass roof in the middle as high as all three stories and the three floors on either side. The occasional bridge sort of thing went over from floors connecting them.
Anyway, first we went down to the sport shop for my brother to look at some cricket bats and wot not. I just watched and got bored...
Then we went and had some lunch or whatever it was (it might have been tea, but I really have no idea). I had a croissant, some sparkling orange juice or something and a chocolate cookie. It was very tasty, actually. You would think so with that amount of yummy stuff, but anyway, after we had something to eat we went down to the clothes shop for my brother to look at some jeans. We stood there for about an hour before he finally said there was nothing there that he wanted. So we went down to the Quicksilver and Billabong shop to see what they had there. Immediately he saw something that he liked and tried it on. He liked them so we got them.
Then we went around for a bit looking at technical stuff for dad. I like looking at things like that but we had to go soon so we went back to our flat and rested. It was a nice shopping spree today, but I am NOT doing another one for a while.
Do you like shopping sprees at all?

From Mercure to Flat

Today we moved from our hotel to a flat just down the road. It is a nice flat, a bit like a tiny house with a small kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a lounge room. All of them very small but lovely. We are staying in this flat for three nights, so it's time to get settled in!

Going to Bristol

After leaving London, we had to go to Bristol seeings it is such a lovely place. We went there in the morning from the flat and went for a couple of hours in the car to Bristol, stopping on the way for a toilet stop and a snack. As we arrived at our hotel, the Mercure, we were all pretty tired and worn out for some reason. So we all had a nice relax in our room for a bit and then went down to the indoor heated pool downstairs. It wasn't too cold, and it wasn't too warm. Just right for me.
After the swim we were refreshed and feeling a bit less tired so we went out to a lovely restaurant for supper. It had the option of doing a buffet of all the meals that you choose. Gosh, it was nice, let me tell you. It was called Shanghai Nights and the food was sensational.

An example of the delicious food.

Lovely food + Hunger = Satisfaction. A bit of easy maths there that I think most people could work out. So we went to bed that night with a nice full tummy and soft bed to sleep on...