Cotehele Release!

I set my alarm for 6.45 as it was supposed to be a clear sky and  I was determined to get out under it before the rain came in again and photograph dawn  at Halton Quay! However when I woke and looked out the attic window I could see a dark bank of cloud approaching - so thought I'd have another 10 minutes in bed - 10 minutes later the hailstones came! So another 2 hours in bed for me! When I did get up it was looking bright so decided I'd go to Cotehele.
I spent 2 hours happily on the quay there, and then noticed the tearoom opening, so phoned Friend to see if she wanted to join me for a hot chocolate! I was going to continue taking photographs until she arrived but suddenly felt very cold so went inside the tearoom. It felt like going into a pub in a small community where everyone turns and stares at you! I wasn't sure if it was because movement makes anyone instinctively look up, an ancient survival reflex, friend or foe? Maybe it was my bright raincoat - a cerise pink! Maybe they had seen me taking photos and thought I was a madwoman! Or maybe the sight of a lone female was disconcerting to the middle aged / elderly couples! 
Anyway - I treated myself to a toasted teacake and the deluxe Hot Chocolate - almost a pudding! Friend arrived as I was ordering and had a normal one! We then walked along to the weir - mighty full! The pavement outside my house was strewn with broken branches and detritus washed downhill by the copious rain we had yesterday, no major flooding anywhere but roads turned into trickling streams!
By the time I got home the rain started again, and by the time I went up to put the chickens to bed, the wind was back too. As Imogen is about to hit us, I decided to plan ahead and put both pellets and water in the coop, along with some apples and a cabbage, so that if it's bad in the morning neither me nor the chickens need go out in it! I will go up when the weather permits! I had slipped numerous times and fallen once and did not relish the thought of doing so again in gusts of 80mph!!! plus the poor chickens might be blown onto the electric fence, that and the wind would more than ruffle their feathers! 
I couldn't decide which photo of the quay to blip - so decided to blip the deluxe hot chocolate!