Down to Dorset

I got back from my hols on Friday after a couple of horrendous but normal journeys. A bump here, roadworks there and there we go, ages to do a few miles. The journey down had a planned stop at Sainsbury's near Gloucester. The lunch and petrol part worked okay but the shopping bit didn't. A Bank Holiday Weekend and the seige mentality sets in so the shelves clear. We managed to get most things but the choice wasn't that great. PARK took Rowan out of school early but still didn't get there until after 10pm. The DVDs Phil had bought worked well and the kids were still awake when they got there.
The cottage we stayed at was excellent. There wasn't anything of any import that we could complain about. What we hadn't realised about the area of Dorset we were in was the high hedges and thatched roofs of the counties further west. We shall certainly be going back again as we didn't really see as much as we'd have liked.
The weather was very changeable but that didn't stop us getting about. We visited West Bay on Saturday, Dorchester on Sunday, Weymouth Monday, Portland Tuesday, Abbotsbury Wednesday and Thursday with a run on the beach at West Bay Thursday afternoon. The reason for the double bill at Abbotsbury was that we bought a discounted ticket for all three attractions there. Well worth the money. I was quite prepared to dislike the Swannery attraction but was really taken with it. The close proximity to the swans and their cygnets was amazing. Rowan and Kirsten got to feed the swans too.The sub-tropical gardens there were very good and the children's farm on Thursday was made better by the goat kid feeding and walking and the guinea pig feeding.
Most of the time we all stayed together. Just the odd detour to give each other a bit of breathing space. We all got pretty well together with the possible exception of Kirsten who just wanted Mummy!
Catering was a mixture of eating in, picnics and eating out. The definite stand out was the Spyway. We ate there twice. It would probably have been more if we'd gone earlier and could have afforded it. Phil was amazed that we'd been in such close proximity to such a good pub and didn't get there until the Tuesday evening. We'd avoided it because of the bank holiday weekend. It was still reasonably full on the Tuesday so we booked on the Thursday just in case. We walked it both times although the ladies went by car on Thursday and Barbara came back to pick us fellas up. I declined the lift for the extra exercise.
So that is the first "proper" holiday of my retirement. The first holiday I have ever been able to book about 9 months ahead. So far we haven't got any more sorted out except for the odd weekend trips but we are planning!