No Irish holiday this year

Angie's Farmhouse

This year sees our 50th wedding anniversary.  On approaching such a milestone, many couples would plan an exotic holiday in some far-away sun-bleached resort, but not us.  We are a couple with simple pleasures; most especially rambling in remote hill country and relaxing in some equally remote country cottage. Consequently, last January we chose southwest Ireland and paid our deposits on two cottages and a pair of ferry crossings.  Would you believe that the first place was called "Angie's Farmhouse"?  How appropriate was that?

Three month later COVID-19 had arrived and we were in lockdown. "Surely, by August it'll all have blown over," we reasoned, but of course it didn't. The final nail in the coffin for our Irish holiday came last week, when the Irish government confirmed that all people arriving from England (and most other countries) would have to self-isolate for a fortnight. We had little option but to cancel.

Stena Line Ferries and Sykes Cottages were brilliant, and freely transferred our bookings to 2021. Cottages.com, with whom we were to spend our first week, didn't know whether our cottage would be available in 2021, so said they'd return our deposit.  Three days later they emailed to say they were keeping it as a cancellation charge.  Today I wrote to them, pointing out how poorly they compared with their competitors, and questioning whether they really wanted our custom ever again. Perhaps it was just a clerical error.  We shall see.

So where to go instead? It didn't take us long to settle on North Devon – an area in which we have holidayed several times, and loved every one of them. We shall begin with a week in Cheriton Bishop, on the edge of Dartmoor, just as the Dartmoor Walking Festival gets underway.  Even if COVID regulations lead to the group walks being cancelled, it will be fun to find the routes for ourselves.

Then it's on to Barbrook, just outside Lynton.  When, back in 2013, we were looking for somewhere to retire to, the foothills of Exmoor were high on the list, only eclipsed as a place to live (rather than holiday) by the Forest of Dean. We shall, I know, never tire of the scenery along the North Devon coast, and especially around the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth.

We may even manage a spot of voluntary work on our beloved Lynton & Barnstaple Railway.  Perfect.