Rained out of Devon

Last week was our much-looked-forward-to week in Devon. We'd postponed it from the start of June due to Paul's illness. So when holiday time finally rolled around we were very upbeat, seeing it as the end of our recent woes and the start of more carefree times.

We broke our journey in Bristol for the night and had a lovely walk and meal out. The next day as we travelled further SW the sky got darker, the clouds became heavier and by the time we arrived at our cottage the heavens had well and truly opened. Unpacked, then the boiler blew out - yup not only was it peeing down, it was cold enough for central heating too). The owner tried his best to fix it but couldn't so we had to repack and move cottage. We were wet through to the bone just walking across a courtyard. Paul was in pain again from the lifting and moving.

There followed a few days of cold, wind, heavy showers. We did have a lovely afternoon in Clovelly which is beautiful, and we did have some good walks, nice meals and some beach fun - albeit in wellies and rain coats. The rest of the time we were cold, tired and stressed. Phoebe and I got heavy colds. Phoebe was miserable and hardly slept. I was miserable and hardly slept. The very last thing I felt like doing was trudging round in damp, windy weather but we had to get out - nice as the cottage was it wasn't a lot of fun for the kids in there or relaxing for us. We gave up the hol on Wednesday, 3 days early. Left Devon in the pouring rain. Therein had the journey from hell. Accidents, traffic jams, screaming baby, bored kids, everyone bickering. The low point was me begging Paul to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 in heavy traffic near Wolverhampton....even regular stops to feed Phoebe and walk round with her didn't stop her crying a lot.

Got home and Lucy had a very high temp and the shakes, gave her aconite and belladonna and put her straight to bed. She was right as rain the next day, homeopathy is magic! I felt thoroughly spent - having a cold, Phoebe having a cold and general bickering of the older children and with Paul took it's toll. I thought that at least I had LLL the following day - being with other mamas would be good for me and allow Paul a quiet morning to himself on his birthday....but woke on the Thursday still full of cold with a fever on top. We did go out and have fun the remaining 2 days of the week thanks to me dosing myself up and Phoebe recovering greatly. Fun was had at Eureka! in Halifax. Family harmony is restored. Next time we go away it'll have to be abroad or a UK hol that is not dependant on sunshine.