After the excitement of yesterday there was not a peep in the tent until 730 this morning. Outside the tent however you could occasionally hear the bleating of the sheep as they strode on past and the thump of the occasional rock that the sheep seemed quite adept at loosening to roll into the side of the tent – I am sure they were doing it on purpose and the bleating was them laughing at the crazy glamour campers!
Breakfast was greeted with great excitement by all the children for two reasons, the most pertinent being the existence of a coffee grinder on the wall of the tent. Our obviously deprived children thought this was the best thing since sliced bread and fought for turns at grinding the beans for our morning coffee – no instant for us thank you very much! Vania had also purchased a medley of cereals never seen in the home outside of special occasions. She and I then played United Nations negotiating the divvying up of such favourites as cocoa pops and cheerios and, with the world at peace once more, sent them out to play with strict instructions of ‘no more mud!’. We then had time to pop down for quite a decent shower as it turns out and to prepare for the day whilst the children returned to play in the cupboard
The day was a tad overcast so we decided not to go too far from home driving to the nearby coastal town of Aberaeron (from Welsh: Aberaeron meaning "mouth of the river Aeron", Aeron being a Welsh god of war). Aberaeron was planned and built in 1805 around the estuary of the River Aeron, which has been enlarged to provide a small half-tide harbour for recreational craft. The architecture is unusual in this part of rural Wales, being constructed around a principal square of elegant Regency style buildings grouped around the harbour. It was a lovely spot for a stroll along the harbour and we then followed a river path leading to a small playground, a popular choice with the children. They spent some time there working up an appetite so when we stopped at the Harbourmaster pub for lunch it was fish n’ chips all round for some very hungry children. Lunch was followed with Honey Ice cream, a noted taste of the area, before it was time to head back to the farm.
Now the day was really in full swing as the kids headed back to the bog. Please note that we allowed this as long as they only got mud halfway up the sides of their Wellies. You can just imagine how this turned out. Zac and Isy ended up in the showers (not together!), Abbey was completely stripped (again!) whilst only Maddy seemed able to keep some sense of cleanliness about her (only just!). Donning new clothes we set off to collect firewood and to check for eggs, a trip which ended in disaster as the one egg we found was ‘accidently’ broken by being over loved before we got back to the tent. Thank goodness Farmer Martin turned up with his tractor at this point to prevent World War Three. The children piled into his cart for a trip up to feed the pigs – who were somewhat cleaner than our children by this point!
After spending time with Lou Lou and co. we walked cross country back to the tent with the kids taking off ahead of us. All would have been fine had Abbey not been wearing a skirt and the path had not been covered in nettles. She was very brave as were Zac and Isy who were also mildly inflicted. To distract everyone out came the Frisbee. With the game in full swing our tribe were joined by young Oliver (6 years) who was holidaying with his parents. Poor Oliver was the unfortunate one who managed to throw the Frisbee up a tree so it was poor Oliver’s dad who had to climb up and retrieve it! We then switched to football until it was time for feet washing before dinner. Once again not all went as planned as, with three sets of feet washed and one to go, the bowl of washing water got spilled in the tent. Good job we were on floorboards so the floor got a good wash as we swept the torrent out the front door.
It was now time for me to try my hand at making fire, a feat I accomplished brilliantly, then we all settled down to a glamour camp dinner of cold meats and dips – and a bottle of red. After a round of bed swapping (Zac and Isy only managing about half an hour on their first night together in the cupboard!) we ended up sleeping in the same order as last night and all was soon quiet. Vania and I took time out to enjoy another glass of red (purely for medicinal purposes) and a sneaky piece of chocolate as we settled in for the evening watching the sunset over the surrounding hills.
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