After a bustling present-giving and receiving on Christmas morning, the four of us bundled into our hire car (along with our luggage it was a tight squeeze) and headed to Dorset to spend Christmas with Aunty J’s extended family. This means they’re cousins of mine of some description, but none of us can work it out properly. Nevertheless, they were amazingly warm and welcoming, giving up their bedrooms to us and sleeping in their lounge room for the night!
As we were leaving Plymouth, we stopped at what we think was called The Block House, a ruined building on top of a hill where we had a great view of the town and port.
Then it was the drive to Charlton Horethorne (I keep wanting to say Charlton Heston, but no…) We’d heard the story of last Christmas, when the family was shovelling ice off their driveway (it’s incredibly mild this year – no snow!) and they saw Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz coming out of the village pub. We were quite interested to see who the visiting celebrities were this year, bt they had to make do with us!
The Christmas lunch was unbelievable – a huge turkey and ham, potatoes, tiny baby carrots, leeks in white sauce, Brussels sprouts with bacon bits and chestnuts, parsnips, sausages wrapped in bacon, gravy, bread sauce, free-flowing champagne, wine, cider and beer. I think I’m still digesting, a day and a half later! Everyone loved the Australian teatowels and Moroccan Babouche keyrings we’d brought them, and we received some thoughtful and lovely gifts in return. We even watched the Queen’s Christmas speech together!
S set a fire up in their summer house out the back, and we sat around that for a while, drinking champagne (from New Zealand, would you believe) and watching the kids set off a Chinese lantern/hot air balloon thing, before heading back inside for more food! Dinner was slightly smaller but not by much, consisting of tapas-style dishes. Yum.
H had given her room up to us: the attic room, with a snuggly soft bed built into the A-frame of the house. It was difficult to get our cases up the ladder-style steps, but it was so worth it! 
Boxing Day started with panetone for breakfast (I had marmalade on GF muffins) and then we set off on the traditional family Boxing Day Walk. They wanted to show us the remains of the Hill Fort, believed by many to be the remains of King Arthur’s Camelot. We walked up a very muddy, steep track (everyone else had wellies, but we were wearing our walking boots, which suffered from mud somewhat) and came out on a huge mound overlooking the Somerset Flats. Fantastic views.
We trooped back to have yet another meal, this time of leftovers and salad, before saying a sad farewell, amidst many promises on both sides to visit. Then we headed off to drop Robbie in Bristol to catch a flight to see his friends elsewhere, then drive to Bath to spend a couple of days.
Although we’ve had a wonderful few days with family, we’ve missed our family at home, too. It’s good to get back in internet contact to hear that everyone seems to have had a wonderful Christmas.
Two Weeks Away 