Ersatz Vacation

Arya is developing expensive tastes.

It's been too long since I updated here, and I've neglected to write up our November vacation, so here goes.

Towards the end of November, we took a family holiday; the first since Alton Towers a ways back (August 2015.) Hanna booked a holiday house near Weston-super-Mare(1), and we drove down on Thursday to return on the following Monday. We had planned to visit Cheddar Gorge on the way down, but traffic and the need to stop for food and toilet breaks meant that we opted to go straight on the to the house, which was gorgeous. We fell head over heels with the kitchen and the book nook on the landing, while Arya was instantly taken with the bunk beds (although she ultimately couldn't sleep in the top bunk) and the piano.

Pillar!

On Friday, we made the arduous, ninety second walk to the beach - did I mention, the house backed onto a beach? - where we drew in the sand and Arya collected shells. Then we drove over to Glastonbury, where in keeping with my personal traditions, it proved way too much of a faff to go up the Tor, so we contented ourselves with visiting the Abbey and some of the shops. At the Abbey we had a picnic lunch, and then walked around the grounds. Mummy and Arya developed a new game called 'be a pillar,' in which we stood in the site of the former nave, where the supporting pillars used to be, and held our arms up to support an imaginary roof. Now we have to fling our arms up every time someone calls 'be a pillar!'

Following a rash promise I'd made, we then trawled the shops looking for a box in which Arya could keep her treasures, including but not limited to those squashed penny souvenirs you can get where you turn a wheel and press an image into a coin of the realm, a handful of shells, and the necklace off a Moana magazine we'd bought her for the journey. This proved much more difficult than I'd expected, but we were able to find a suitable musical box and, despite the day getting long and Arya getting tired and fractious, to persuade her not to wind it constantly in the car on the way back to the house.

It may seem a bit of a cop out for a family holiday activity, but on Saturday we went into Weston-super-Mare to see Olaf's Frozen Adventure at the cinema. It lacked the musical excellence of Frozen, or even of Frozen Fever, but was more substantial than the latter and we enjoyed the story and the humour. Arya was particularly impressed by Sven's attempts to communicate Olaf's plight to the uncharacteristically clueless Kristoff.

By the way(2).

After that we watched Frozen, had some lunch, headed back to the House. We had an evening walk on the beach before bedtime and played some My Little Pony Monopoly. While dinner was being prepared, she worked out a new dance, which involved something rather like the twist, and a lot of leaping onto sofas.

After a couple of rocky evenings in various beds - and a tense bath as I tried to get her hair washed and she resisted - Arya opted to make a little nest in the window seat looking out from the master bedroom into the conservatory. Here, she went off surprisingly quickly, and I'm not going to downplay this, she looked totes adorbs(3).

So worth it.

I took a risk and used the flash to get a picture of her in her curtained enclosure. I think it was worth it.

On Sunday, we headed into Wales across the Severn Bridge - our first visit to another country, albeit part of the same state, at least for now - since Scotland in June 2014. Arya was unimpressed by the hills, despite being a Flatlander girl by birth, so we swung on towards Caerphilly(4), home of the cheese and of Tommy Cooper(5). Our plan was to meet up with some friends of Hanna's and then stroll around Caerphilly Castle. There was a treasure hunt for children, which Arya got very into, which involved locating sites shown on a map of the castle and identifying which of two 'treasures' had been hidden there by wicked Hugh le Dispenser. That gave a series of numbers which, added up, gave a grid reference for a final treasure.

Also, there were dragons. That was pretty cool.

We toured the castle, admiring the leaning (read, collapsing) tower and the big, wooden dude trying to hold it up, as well as the views from walls and towers. We learned a bit about the history of the castle, and a lot about what a toerag Hugh le Despenser was. Seriously, Caerphilly is not a fan of Edward II's favourite. There was a lot to see, and Arya was pretty worn out by the end of it, so she stayed in the relative warmth of the Great Hall - it was a bitterly cold day - while I took her scarf as a sign of favour and quested for the final treasure on her behalf.

Here there be dragons. Also an Arya.

This won for her a fridge magnet, with which she was thoroughly unimpressed, and since I kind of agreed that it was a little underwhelming (although free, so can't really complain,) I got her a little dragon in a cage to be her souvenir for the day.

Once we got back to the house with the inevitable haul of cheese - and a handmade, local, fairy Christmas tree ornament - the dragon went into the treasure box. Once again, Arya went to sleep wonderfully in her curtained alcove. We're thinking about getting her one for the flat.

Hanna had promised to take Arya for a walk on the beach in the morning, so it was a bit disappointing that we woke up to the heavy rain that had come on each night showing little sign of stopping.

What else is a map for?

But then it did. The sun came out, and we had one more walk on the beach. Arya drew a map in the sand. Hanna asked what it was a map of and Arya replied 'it's to find treasure. I hid a 5p piece in the sand. Arya found it and was chuffed beyond all good sense. Then it was time to go home.

This time, we did stop at Cheddar Gorge, where we bought some Cheddar and a stuffed rabbit in a ballet dress for Arya. She almost didn't get that, due to a dispute about the virtues, or lack thereof, of mass-produced tat, and the soul-consuming quality of Ty toys with their terrible, terrible eyes. We also marveled at cliffs, and got another squashy penny for the collection.

Wells, wells, wells.

Our last port of call was Wells Cathedral, a building remarkable for the plainness of its interior, a trait I personally ascribe to the fact that some genius put all of the statues - and I do mean all of the statues - on the outside. It also has the oldest working clock with its original face, complete with moving figures every quarter hour. It also had a quiz for children which we helped Arya to complete, and again I bought her a little something when the prize proved underwhelming. I understand that Cathedrals cost a lot to run and that the quiz is free, but Arya just knows she put in time and had to listen to things.

We left Wells after the three o'clock chimes and hit the road, poorer by a pound and richer by another squashy penny, stopping only for a Macdonald's and to change Arya into her pajamas. After she - and I - were asleep, we hit a snag as the roads from Cambridge to Littleport all seemed to be diverting to each other, but in the end we made it home and fell into bed.

It was an exhausting long weekend, but something that we all needed. We'd definitely be up for a return trip to the same house, maybe even in a more hospitable month and perhaps with another couple of people to defray costs. It would also be nice to take a bit longer, get into Wales a little more, and take an extra chill day in the middle somewhere.

I'll leave you with a few more photos that I didn't have room for in the main body of the post.

Piano

Doors!

Gotcha!

Gorge.

(1) Direct descendant of Champion the Wonder Horse.
(2) Maybe two of my readers will get that.
(3) Like, unironically use the phrase 'totes adorbs' levels of adorableness.
(4) I was very good and only made two or four plays on Caerphilly/carefully, all of them marvellously subtle.
(5) As we learned thanks to the plaque on his GIANT GOLDEN STATUE.