A Weekend in Dorset-shire. Part I

Hubby was given tickets to the River Cottage 'Spring into Summer' Fair for his birthday, so we used them as an excuse to have a long weekend in Dorset.

Thursday we set off bright and early to wend our way to the coast, via several house viewings in Somerset. We arrived an hour and a half early for the first viewing in Tintinhull, but as luck would have it, there is a small National Trust house/garden in the village which had a little tea room, so we took advantage of the fabulous weather to sit out in the cobbled courtyard of the house with a cup of tea and a slice of yummy chocolate cake. Great timing for DC too as he was able to have his lunch.

Then it was time for the house viewing and, wow, what a house! Dating back to the 17thC, and with an attached, unconverted barn, this was the higgledy-piggledy cottage of Miss Marple delights. Along with the very good sized garden, this place has 'potential' written all over it.

The second house was in Martock; almost the complete opposite of the first cottage, in that it was a semi-detached house from the Georgian era and had been fully renovated to a very high standard. We 'oohed, 'ahhed' and 'wowed' our way round the house, the garden and the two-room studio at the bottom of the garden, but decided that it wasn't the house for us, mainly on account of the garden not being child-friendly (and it would be a real pity to "un-landscape" what has already been done so that DC can kick a football about) and the unfortunate ugly houses slightly overlooking the side of the garden.

The third house we didn't even bother to go in (we did tell the vendor, we didn't just drive off!) - it was situated on a busy crossroads and as we currently live on a four-lane road, that's just not what we're looking to move to.

The fourth house was in the small hamlet of Watergore; it was nice enough, but not for us and, again, was on a busy road.

So, with the viewings done, we drove on to West Bay, with a small detour in Bridport to pick up a present for hubby which I'd won on eBay - an Omet Bee Haus. Now he just needs the garden (and the bees) to go with it...

Finally, about 5pm we arrived at our hotel/pub in West Bay; we had a couple of hours to unpack, relax, etc before meeting our friends R & G for dinner at the Riverside restaurant.I'd never heard of the place before but it appears to be well-known amongst those in the know, and we had a very good meal there, although DC decided he wanted to stay awake for the entire thing which meant either myself or hubby constantly having to attend to his every whim, rather than being able to completely relax. Not to worry, we had a pleasant evening anyway, and DC's late night meant he also slept in til 8.15am the following day, which gave us a very much appreciated lie in!