A wonderful week in Devonshire

We have just got back from a marvellous week Glamping in Devon, where we stayed at Dornafield's, a stunning quiet family campsite. The staff are so friendly and they certainly do deserve their Loo Of The Year 2010 award, the facilities are brilliant.

Its a small campsite with 16 pitches and only half of them with electric hook up, so you need to get in quick with your bookings, the rest of the site is dedicated to caravans.

If you fancy knowing more about Dornafield's, check out my Beautiful Places To Stay, for more information.

We arrived on the bank holiday weekend, with the traffic being really unkind and taking 7 hours to travel what should have been a 4 hour journey. Once we finally arrived, the heavens cruely opened and the wind then decided it was the right time to pick up, so it wasn't the best conditions to put up the tent to say the least. But that certainly didn't dampen our glamping spirits and once the tent was all set up, we were as snug as a bug in a rug.

With so many things to see and do in South Devon, you really do need longer than a week to enjoy its treasures. Fortunately for us and contarary to the forcast, the weather changed for the better, which meant we managed to spend some glorious days taking advantage of Devon's beautiful beaches.

Blackpool Sands, Dartmouth

We spent one afternoon on Blackpool Sands in Dartmouth. If you ever go, make sure you wear a pair of shoes as its a shingle beach and those small pebbles can be quite hard on your tootsies! Also NO DOGS ALLOWED, not even in the car park! Costs £4 to park your car and there is a lovely little cafe and shop on site too. Here's their website for more information, www.blackpoolsands.co.uk.

We also spent a simply perfect day at Bigbury/Bantham Beach. A long stretch of sandy beach that curves round a bay. What makes this place special is that you can escape the hoards and find your own little cove to set up camp. The kids spent hours in and out of the deap clear rockpools and we weren't disturbed by anyone, really felt like we had our own private beach.

If you like hopping on a surf board then you are also in luck, as there where lots of waves on Bantham Beach, and it is completely safe with lifeguards patrolling up and down.

We parked at Bigbury Beach end in the overflow car park (in field) which cost us £3. The car park at Bantham costs £5. I saw a couple of places to eat, but they are away from the beach. I would advise taking a picnic and having a loo stop before you hit the beach.

This was the view from our little cove.

On Bank Holiday Monday, I was fortunate enough to be 2 minutes from a car boot sale, where I got my mitts on a few rather lovely bits and bobs that I thought I would share with you!

My favourite find was this fantastic King George V and Queen Mary

Coronation mug dated 22nd June 1911 and a steal for just 50p.

I haggled this Alfred Meakin, 'Harmony Rose' serving dish

from £4.50 to £ 2.50..

I love vintage cornish blue kitchenware and I think this maybe an original mixing bowl, although there aren't any markings anywhere.

The woman I bought it from seemed to think it was and original...anyone know if it is or isn't??

I haggled her down from £2.00 to £1.50.

Lloyd Loom Original?

And I ummmed and arrrhhed about this little gem, purely because of the space issue in the car. But I haggled the woman down from £10 to £8 and so couldn't resist, although the Hubster wasn't too impressed. It nearly didn't make it back to London, however a very determined young lady (thats me) did not want to leave it behind and so I squeezed it onto my lap and there it stayed for the 7 hours back!

I am really hoping it is a original vintage Lloyd Loom, but as again there is no logo anywhere i am unsure! Can anyone help?? I plan to tidy it up a bit and maybe recover it.

So I had a very successful boot sale shopping trip and managed to spend under £20! RESULT!

We had a wonderful week in Devon and were very sad to leave such a lovely part of Blighty. I truly recommend it to anyone, and next year I shall hopefully have more great Devonshire Camping sites to add to the list.