A Week in Devon

I've got a love hate meh relationship with Devon. Devon itself is pretty great. Its a place I've visited year after year for family holidays while I've been growing up. These holidays have adapted and changed with us as we've grown older, and they have a special place in my heart. We started off with some short walks and a lot of crabbing, dabbled with a bit of sailing in the middle, and now I've gone back to cliff top walking, with a few extra miles thrown in.

Devon is also the place where I go to Uni. While I'll always be thankful for the amazing opportunity and education that I'm lucky enough to be experiencing, it's not my favorite place in the world. This is okay. But its not okay for me to blacklist Devon. Most of the time the places are kept pretty far apart in my mind, but all journeys to Devon down the A303 follow a similar path, and things can get a little mixed up.

This year's family holiday rolled around, and I found myself packing, and bundling myself into the car, just like I've done countless times before. This time the dogs were in the back, and not suitcases full of coat hangers, sauce pans and bedding - always a good sign. I slotted back into a familiar routine, one that's preceded Uni years, and I had a lovely week away with my family. I spend it in a beautiful location, and reminded myself just how fab Devon can be (even with a few rainy days).

For the last few years my family have decided that its probably a bit boring to always go to the same place, and we should really explore somewhere new. We all love doing this, but we also love this one little cove in Devon. Its pretty rare to find something that we all agree on and to find a place that we all really really love, and we couldn't quite leave it behind. So we've been splitting our holiday time between two-ish locations. This summer we're venturing to Wales, and that's a whole new country ;) But we also spent a week in Devon.

There's something really relaxing about going back to a place that you know and love. Over the years we've checked out all the local 'attractions', and seen the land marks. We know what's out there, and we've sussed out our favorites. We still manage to stumble across new places, but there's also no pressure to run around and cram everything in because 'Guys we're in Devon and we've really really got to see Woolacombe, and Burgh Island, and Plymouth Hoe...' instead you're instantly able to settle in. Its almost a home from home. But not quite, and that's the key. You haven't got all your home commitments, you can switch off, and really, truly relax. (While climbing up a MASSIVE cliff path though, obvs.)

This is the point where I should probably talk to you about all the attractions and cafe's and places that I went to, and ones that you just have to visit for yourself. I really would if I could. But well, we had packed lunches everyday (I can recommend hummus and salad sandwiches), and spent most of out time in the middle of nowhere - the nearest roads were ones the Satnav labeled 'off road', oh how we laughed.

Our little cove was also covered in seaweed this year, and you probably wouldn't find it that special. I'm also sworn to secrecy, or I risk being disowned by my family, so that's got to stay pretty hush.

I'm sure this isn't everyone's dream holiday, and I definitely haven't made it sound like the most exciting thing, but I had a great time. This probably isn't the way that everyone would like to relax, but getting outside, reading for fun, and stepping out of the hustle and bustle did me wonders.

Well done for getting through this ramble if you've made it this far! It's not really the sort of thing that you'll normally find on my blog. I set out to write a holiday/travel post, and, well this happened. I hope its made some sort of sense, and if not, I enjoyed writing it, so I guess that's something! I'd love to hear about you holidays or favorite ways to relax. :)