Birthday girl!

The sun kindly decided to shine for my birthday this year. There has to be some compensation for being 42....... ;)

Birthday sun shining over our cottage

I fancied a nice walk with my boys followed by a pub lunch to include red wine. So we spent a few hours walking around the moors, woods and fields surrounding South Zeal, a bit of climbing resulted in some stunning views over Dartmoor.

Lunch was at the Kings Arms, which is one of our Ale Trail pubs so had to be done. The locals were friendly and chatty and we were well looked after by the welcoming girls behind the bar. Believe it or not, the picture shows my starter - an original take on the classic Italian caprese salad. It was huge and delicious! Steak followed, all washed down with a couple of large glasses of Shiraz. Yes, I did fall asleep on the sofa when we got home :)

I was truly blessed with birthday messages, cards and gifts and I'd like to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to those family and friends who took the trouble to remember me now that we're so far away! It really was so appreciated and I felt very loved. I'm excited to try out some of the new cookbooks and cookware that I received when we get to our new home and I take on the challenge of our Aga!

Thank you lovely Leah!

Special thanks to my Andy for making my birthday magic and for making me absolutely gorgeous chocolate brownies - you are the best xxx