A special treat!

We are spending the night at The Pig at Combe near Honiton in East Devon. It is a gift from daughter Grace and son in law  John for looking after Eda last September. Yes, it has taken me nearly a year to use it but that doesn’t matter, and they really didn’t need to thank me of course as I loved it.
As you can see the place is lovely and is surrounded by an Arabian Stud farm, the lovely scenery of the Otter Valley and lots of pheasants!
This is a relatively new chain of hotels predominantly in the SW of England but is growing. I chose this one as I thought we might visit my friend in Budleigh Salterton but she is in the middle of chemotherapy and we both have bugs! Still we had a nice chat and laugh on the phone this morning.
Instead we went to (NT) Killerton House and gardens this afternoon. The weather has been kind both days, today warm, sunny and windy and ideal for walking around lovely parkland. The house is Georgian, not too big and painted a salmony pink. There was a small formal garden around the house but acres of parkland and trees to wander around.  What I loved most were the lovely patches of tiny autumn cyclamen. We saw them on the banking as we entered the estate but they were everywhere. We had a cuppa and snack in the stables courtyard but one of the volunteer guides who has been here warned us not to eat much!
We’ve just been up to the ‘Folly’ bar and cafe for a pre dinner drink. I had a Tarquin Blackberry gin. We had an entertaining time as they were trying to encourage a little Robin called Douglas to leave via the open windows!
Looking forward to dinner now.
More from Devon here