Sidmouth - bloody brilliant

It's been a Bolly kinda  few days.

I don't mean the Ab Fab crazy, pissed as newts, frenzied madness of the tellie fame, but I do mean the sort of days that need to be savoured and sipped and repeated as often as you can when 2 households are on opposite sides of the planet.

Amid the boysiness of beer and the RWC, in the middle of one of the biggest loudest crowdiest - yeh I made that up,  I escaped for a few days to the country seaside, and to say that I feel a little in love with it is an understatement.

My friend Ally lives in Sidmouth. It's a tiny spec on the Devon Coast. I have been there before. It's just bloody beautiful.

There is no train into Sidmouth, so if you want to go there and you are not driving, you catch a train to Honiton, about 3 hours of checking out the English country side or sitting comfortably reading your book,  and then a bus or a cab into the village. There are more B and Bs than you can poke a stick at, but Ally was putting me up - lucky girl that I am.

There was the expected natter of catching up after 3 years and then the kids tumbled home. I really need to put a brick on their heads cos they are growing so fast. The school uniforms are so flash! Blazers and ties and the kids are happy to wear it all. It's not like the tracky - dack crap of the city. yeh the kids are still delightfully cheeky in the country but not perhaps as downright bloody rude as the city slickers who are trying to make a name for themselves and stand out from the many thousands of other rude little sods.

The big one is charming and the middle one drew me a picture in school - not sure what he missed but it made me smile and the little on let me plait her hair to take me back to when Belly was a girl. We all sat around and ate a yummo dinner made by Mum and then got a bit of a Katherine Tate after dinner mint of 'Am I bovered?'

All up and sorted for school the next day. Ally is so calm about getting 3 little people ready, but ready they were. The big one trooped off on his own, he's 12 after all and at upper school and then the middle one bolted to meet up with a mate on the way and the little one luckily still allows Mum to walk with her.

Then as it was 'weekend at dads' it was girlie time for us girls.

We phaffed a little and then wandered into town.

Coffee and toast at the Chatterly and then a wander through the shops.

Now there are chain stores that just cannot entice me in cos I know what crap they sell or I know that they are a 'skinny person' shop or a place to buy tapwear and hammers. But here in Sidmouth, every shop is worth a look see and if you want a Master Thatcher for your new roof then the village is good place to start.

 

We wandered the cobblestone streets and peeked in and finally I have a couple of bits to take home for Belly and Zig.

Lunch was a languid process right on the water's edge, and it wasn't until I got home and was throwing myself through the shower that I realised had made a rookie mistake of thinking there is no way you can sunburnt in England in October! Arms and chest are Sidmouth sunny!

The cliffs come right down to the water and it seems that some parts are tumbling into the sea. That's a frightening thought, if as some were, you are bonkers enough to be going walking right along the edge of it poking it with a stick, but looking on it is quite majestic.

And then we wandered some more.

We did the girlie trip to the hairdressers for a bit of jujz up and then took our hair-dos back into town.

We met up with friends and then wandered back home in the bright sort of twilight. Well actually we didn't wander, after all day on the cobbles, my legs were buggered so we grabbed a bus up that bloody hill. No way was I gonna be able to carry my little prizes home up the cliff face.

Unlike the big smoke people look you right in the eye in Sidmouth. The bus driver spoke to us and when one of our party decided to catch a different bus, even though the driver was part way through printing her ticket, She just smiled and cancelled it and was chatty and replied when we thanked her for the ride.

People on the narrow footpaths are happy to wait for you to pass and smile and say hello. It is just so bloody friendly! I reckon Londoners on the tube would do well to tellieported to Sidmouth for a bit of a 'look up and smile ' lesson, but that would take a little while, cos at first they would be completely out of their comfort zone.

If you have time in your England visit then I can highly recommend Sidmouth as a little getaway, but please don't tell everyone cos I want to be able to go back everytime I am here and I don't want to find the Gold Coast Glitz next time cos the Oldie Worldie suits me just fine.