Defender day

Dart was officially allowed out and about on Saturday!

So far he has only known farms, Dartmoor, our house, the car and the vets. Saturday we planned to pop along to the South Zeal classic car and bike show. Only a very small local event, and it was grey and drizzly, but we enjoyed a nose around the cars and a cheeky pint in the pub. Dart enjoyed lots of fuss from everyone :)

Lunch at the dog friendly Hog & Hedge which was super busy and then it brightened up, so we drove up to the neighbouring village of Belstone for a walk towards the moor and another drink in the Tors Inn. A fun first day out for a little pup!

Sunday was the Pentillie Defender Day down in Saltash, Cornwall, which we've been looking forward to for ages. There aren't quite as many Land Rover events in the South West - we went to a few different festivals last year but all north of Hertfordshire so not as accessible to us now. So we wanted to get to this one for sure.

What a super day we all had. It was an absolutely stunning day, Pentillie Castle and it's grounds, which we were free to wander around, are beautiful. Well worth going along to one of their events.

Really impressed with the atmosphere, facilities, activities, food, bar (the eco cups were brilliant, we kept ours rather than get the pound deposit back!) and everyone so friendly.

Lots of dogs on leads for Dart to meet and again he received a huge amount of fuss and attention - so great for him. It's amazing how chatty people are when you have a puppy!

Had the privilege to meet the talented Veronica Lamond who had a stand at Pentillie. She lives in Cornwall and writes a series of books for children - Landybooks - based on cartoon Land Rovers. I've been buying them for our nephew Alfie for a while, and can highly recommend them, so it was great to meet Veronica and she kindly signed a new book especially for Alfie!

The evening was spent catching up on the first BTCC of the season - we usually go along to a few touring car weekends each year, but motor sport is not dog friendly so for now we're happy to watch on tv :)