If you’re a regular to my blog you will know already that the little ford, on the way to Smallacombe Farm in the countryside only a mile or so from the centre of Dawlish, is one of my favourite haunts; Chris and I love to cycle there on summer evenings and dangle our feet into the water. Today we thought we’d go for a lovely walk to the ford with Roland, our friend visiting from Australia. The sun was out, the sky was blue and cloudless – it was the perfect day for walking and showing off the pretty ford. It was also a perfect day for taking photo’s but, unfortunately, my SD card was still in my laptop; hence, I borrowed Roland’s fancy iphone and snapped away to my heart’s content.

Apparently we are not the only people to have fond associations with this part of Dawlish for, as we reached the top of the road looking down to the ford, we saw the beautiful sight of three young children, all in their swimming costumes, playing in the water; they were accompanied by a pretty young blonde, a young man and three dogs of different varieties and sizes – very large to tiny; the wonderful thing was that were all so natural and happy. A bicycle was parked on the bridge so I took off my sandals and walked through the shallow water.

“Watch out for the slippery green patches,” said the young woman.

“Did you slip over?” I bent down to ask the two tots.

The little boy promptly walked on a slippery area and fell down on his bottom. I laughed and he did it two more times. His name is Rudy and he is three years old. The little girl, Maia, wearing a sweet little sun hat, was similarly interested in the passers-by who had stopped to chat and share in the joy of being at the ford on a hot day, but she was less extroverted than her boy-cousin of the same age; and the older girl, Tegan, at the grand age of eight was old enough to be slightly reserved but polite enough to join in conversation and tell me that Rudy is her brother. The adults – brother and sister – had brought their offspring to the ford for the same simple pleasures they had enjoyed when they were children themselves.

Much to the amusement of all, one car and a tractor passed through the water whilst we were there. I took many photographs and I think they are good ones (Roland’s phone camera is probably better than mine), the only trouble is that his phone is so fancy that he doesn’t have an SD photo’ card and I’ve no idea how to transfer shots from phone to laptop. And he can’t send them to me individually for some reason. Tomorrow we are off to the Lake District for a few days, therefore, we shall have to work out how to download those photographs when we get back. Apologies to all, especially the lovely family who didn’t mind me snapping, and who were told that they would be in today’s blog post. Watch this space towards the end of next week for shots of the rural idyll…