Surfing the Spring

My last two weeks at Launceston rushed by as we battled to get the bungalow as finished as possible while still not being able to complete the bathroom, cloakroom and kitchen because of work that the plumber had to do. He couldn’t complete anything in the bathroom as the bath had not been sent with its handles (or they’d been accidentally thrown out with the packaging) and the suppliers did not seem to have the same sense of urgency as we did about supplying a new set. Without the handles, which are fixed on from the underside of the bath, the bath could not be plumbed in, the loo and wash basin could not be sited accurately and the tiling couldn’t be done. Jo and I busied ourselves with ironing and lining new curtains and then with revamping some old slub silk curtains to make new curtains for the dining room.

On one of my days off I took myself to Tavistock and had a look around – I met a lovely lady who ran the local crystals shop and obviously believes that everything happens for a reason. I was in there for ages and then only bought a card! She did say, however, that I should visit Brentor which is just outside Tavistock and is sited on the crossing point of two ancient and important ley lines – the Michael and Mary lines. I visited the Pannier Market which is very similar in function to the one in Barnstaple, in that it has a variety of markets on different days of the week – the day that I was there was a General Market and there was a mixture of craft stalls, ‘tat’ stalls, pet food stalls, etc. Again, I stopped for a chat with a lady who was demonstrating the art (craft?) of rag rug making. This is something I would quite like to try at some point – I can still remember the rag rugs in my Gran’s cottage next to the Bluebell Railway line in Kent. The lady says that she makes them out of old T-shirts and sweat shirts as well as other fabrics and some of them are almost like memory quilts in that she is reminded of some of her children’s outgrown clothes when she looks at them.

I eventually left Tavistock and drove the few miles to Brentor; the church of St Michael is the highest still-functioning church in England and has a service every Sunday evening from Easter to September. I clambered up the tor to the top and would have had far-reaching views across Dartmoor in one direction and towards Bodmin in the other if there had not been a heat haze (in March?). It has a similar feel to Glastonbury Tor but is a natural rock outcrop and quite craggy – I think Glastonbury is man-made as it is very symmetrical. When I told Jo and James about my visit they told me that the Michael line runs through their parish of Lezant and that, at one time, the church there was dedicated to St Michael too. Apparently it stretches for miles across southern England.

On my last Friday at Launceston we all went to the Wine and Wisdom quiz evening at the local school. It was teams of four but we had two extras, so Jo and I ended up partnering two poor, unsuspecting men who had come to spend a quiet weekend with their friends, who happened to be the quizmasters! We made a lucky choice though as these guys were pretty knowledgeable and we managed to win, much to Jo’s delight as we beat James and his team into a cocked hat! I had no idea she was so competitive – quite scary, really! Our prize was a bottle of Cava each and then, guess what? – I won a raffle prize – again! It’s beginning to get a bit embarrassing. They’ll ban me from the area soon.

The day before I left Jo and James treated me to lunch at a farm near Launceston. The wife diversified, during the Foot and Mouth outbreak, into patchwork craft workshops and now holds many courses in purpose-built work rooms, has a shop dedicated to patchwork fabrics and all manner of sewing items and also has a cafe which serves delicious lunches. It is called Cowslip Workshops and was recently featured in a magazine that my Mum had sent me just before I went to Launceston. One day it might be good to go back and do a course there.

Having spent quite a few days doing ‘inside’ jobs, it suddenly struck me that in the space of a week Spring had really taken off. When I arrived there were a few daffodils, and then a few grape hyacinths and camellias; by the time I left there were primroses everywhere, wood anemones, celandines, tulips, apple blossom, may blossom and leaves were breaking out of their dormant buds and filling my eyes with every shade of green you could imagine, and as I drove through Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and then into Gloucestershire I felt as if I was surfing on a rolling wave of green that was surging ever northwards, driving the winter before it.

I am now back in the Slad Valley near Stroud at a farm I visited back in October and it is lambing time. Most of the sheep have already lambed but there are still six to go. One lambed the other morning before I went out and had had just one lamb and Paul had put her in a pen on her own. I went out to do the feeding and, literally while my back was turned, she popped out another one! It is very tiny and is currently sporting a very snazzy woollen jumper to help keep it warm, but it is feeding well and should be OK. One of my jobs is to ‘top up’ the triplets i.e. offer them a bottle of powdered milk in case they are still hungry, and I have quite a following who mug me every time I climb in the pen, or go out to the orchard where the older lambs are. The weather has been fantastic but the lack of rain is beginning to be a worry for the farmers as it is time for all the stock that has been indoors during the winter to go back outside, but the grass is not growing fast enough to provide a continuous supply for hungry beasts so they can’t be turned out yet. Fodder prices are at an all time premium, because of the dry spring/early summer last year so it is a careful juggling act between putting the animals out too early and risk not having enough grass or keeping them in for a bit longer and risk running out of hay/silage.

Finally, I have to tell you that Jeni arrived back in the UK on April 4th (Dave’s birthday) and is currently staying at my Mum’s about twenty minutes away. Dave and I went over to welcome her home and completely overwhelmed her! I may have a WWOOFing partner for the next couple of months, if she feels like it, which will seem quite strange after being alone for nearly a year – I’m really looking forward to it.