Birthday, plants and other things.
I had a birthday on Friday, so we took the day off and went to the beach.
Specifically, Perranporth beach which is a bit of a drive, but worth it. It looked as if it was going to be foggy and horrible all day when we set off, and things were not enhanced by an enfuriating traffic jam on the A30, but then the rain stopped and the sun started to peep though...
We walked along the beach, which is absolutely huge, and very sandy and dog-friendly, back over the dunes. It was beautiful, despite the generous quantities of flotsam and jetsam thrown up by the spring tides - and we saw a skylark singing in the dunes.
We had lunch at a sort of pub perched in a rather ramshackle manner on the sand. It was very dog-friendly, almost everyone there had at least one dog with them. For some mysterious reason, Az, though perfectly happy when we were wandering round the beach, decided that sitting at a table in the open air on the same beach waiting for food to arrive was scary, and hid under the table shivering. I really don't understand what scares him sometimes. I wondered if he was cold, but it really was very warm and his ears certainly felt warm enough.
After the beach, we went to Burncoose Nurseries so
philmophlegm could buy me some plants as presents. It's an amazing nursery, silver-gilt and gold awards papered all over the shop, and a huge range of things you wouldnt' find in a normal garden centre. We went round the attached garden with the hounds, and gathered ideas - I wanted some dwarf rhododendrons and Azaleas, so it was very handy to see the mature plants actually growing. We bought two rhododendron valentinianum on the strength of seeing some rather lovely examples in the gardens, plus an Azalea Klondyke, Rhododendron Bo Peep, Rhodo JC Williams, and Rhodo Patty Bee. The Klondyke will be the largest plant, the rest are relatively small varieties.
It was rather an odd experience: they really don't seem to be set up to handle direct sales, and took ages to work out how much our trolley came to. I was rather worried they might then demand to be paid in cash, but no, they did at least have a credit card machine, so all was well.
That evening we went out to Hotel Endsleigh for dinner. I am not sure why we didn't know about this place before as it's just a few miles upriver of us, but it was really lovely: all wood panelling and candles and really lovely food too (I don't want to know how much it cost, but still, it was my birthday...). I really want to go back to do the walk through the grounds now - apparently there are 108 acres of grounds, and dogs are welcome. We didn't take the hounds out to dinner with us, in case you were wondering. There are Limits.
On Saturday it really did mizzle all day, but fortunately the dogs were more or less exhausted from the excitement of the previous day. We went to Tavistock to buy cheese and attempted to do a complete non-supermarket shop, but were defeated by the need to buy washing liquid and had to go to Somerfield.
The butcher gave us a cows leg sawn in two, which kept the hounds busy for the rest of the day. Az was mysterious again. For some reason, when you give him and Mollydog a Giant Bone, Az guards his half from the cats until Mollydog comes and takes it off him. Only once Mollydog has chewed both bones to her full satisfaction and given up in exhaustion will Az tackle them.
Then we Wii'd Endless Ocean for ages, and discovered a new whale. I do like that game.
Specifically, Perranporth beach which is a bit of a drive, but worth it. It looked as if it was going to be foggy and horrible all day when we set off, and things were not enhanced by an enfuriating traffic jam on the A30, but then the rain stopped and the sun started to peep though...
We walked along the beach, which is absolutely huge, and very sandy and dog-friendly, back over the dunes. It was beautiful, despite the generous quantities of flotsam and jetsam thrown up by the spring tides - and we saw a skylark singing in the dunes.
We had lunch at a sort of pub perched in a rather ramshackle manner on the sand. It was very dog-friendly, almost everyone there had at least one dog with them. For some mysterious reason, Az, though perfectly happy when we were wandering round the beach, decided that sitting at a table in the open air on the same beach waiting for food to arrive was scary, and hid under the table shivering. I really don't understand what scares him sometimes. I wondered if he was cold, but it really was very warm and his ears certainly felt warm enough.
After the beach, we went to Burncoose Nurseries so
philmophlegm could buy me some plants as presents. It's an amazing nursery, silver-gilt and gold awards papered all over the shop, and a huge range of things you wouldnt' find in a normal garden centre. We went round the attached garden with the hounds, and gathered ideas - I wanted some dwarf rhododendrons and Azaleas, so it was very handy to see the mature plants actually growing. We bought two rhododendron valentinianum on the strength of seeing some rather lovely examples in the gardens, plus an Azalea Klondyke, Rhododendron Bo Peep, Rhodo JC Williams, and Rhodo Patty Bee. The Klondyke will be the largest plant, the rest are relatively small varieties.
It was rather an odd experience: they really don't seem to be set up to handle direct sales, and took ages to work out how much our trolley came to. I was rather worried they might then demand to be paid in cash, but no, they did at least have a credit card machine, so all was well.
That evening we went out to Hotel Endsleigh for dinner. I am not sure why we didn't know about this place before as it's just a few miles upriver of us, but it was really lovely: all wood panelling and candles and really lovely food too (I don't want to know how much it cost, but still, it was my birthday...). I really want to go back to do the walk through the grounds now - apparently there are 108 acres of grounds, and dogs are welcome. We didn't take the hounds out to dinner with us, in case you were wondering. There are Limits.
On Saturday it really did mizzle all day, but fortunately the dogs were more or less exhausted from the excitement of the previous day. We went to Tavistock to buy cheese and attempted to do a complete non-supermarket shop, but were defeated by the need to buy washing liquid and had to go to Somerfield.
The butcher gave us a cows leg sawn in two, which kept the hounds busy for the rest of the day. Az was mysterious again. For some reason, when you give him and Mollydog a Giant Bone, Az guards his half from the cats until Mollydog comes and takes it off him. Only once Mollydog has chewed both bones to her full satisfaction and given up in exhaustion will Az tackle them.
Then we Wii'd Endless Ocean for ages, and discovered a new whale. I do like that game.