Medieval Bridge builder 2013 style. South Devon Village by-pass.

Our little medieval bridge is being repaired AGAIN.. the last time it was repaired was sometime in 1600.
 I couldn't resist sharing this guy who seems so happy in his work. Lovely guy, I have never seen him without a smile on his face. Mind you, he hasn't been around working on this side of the bridge very long. We have had the pleasure of his smiling face for a few short weeks.

A snag hit our new water relief channel at the beginning of last week. After a huge downpour of rain, we thought all was well, the water was channeled down the new DITCH water relief channel, all seemed great until we noticed the water level in the natural course of the stream had dropped drastically the next day.

The normal flow of the stream was down to hardly a trickle of water.

This is where the new water relief channel meets the stream. the edge of the water relief channel is too low.
All the water is being directed straight down the water relief channel.
Er... water relief channel ?
Isn't a water relief channel supposed to take water to relieve the natural stream when it rains heavily, to help with possible flooding and not take all the water, so that the natural stream dries up and gets over grown with weeds natural plants.

After a day away yesterday we came back to find the answer to all our problems of flooding.
Devon County Council in their wisdom have come up with an answer. A bit of wood across the opening of the water relief channel.

 
That bit of wood makes the whole year seem worthwhile...before I say more and really get myself into hot water, thought it best if I show a calm scene, and other snaps the camera took yesterday.

Our two eldest granddaughters on their way home from school.

The hairy caterpillar Mr Chops.

Miss Stella.

Karina and her mum. 

Freya can be found over at catflap cavalier.

One more smile. Two of the rag dolls that were on here a few weeks ago found their way over the little bridge (dodging the holes), to their new home in the U.S. With the desired effect, just love that smile.

It's always good to near home after a long day out. Seeing huge machines on the road remind us one day, the village will have a new by pass, all the holiday traffic in the Summer months can get from one place to another a whole eight minutes quicker and then be stuck in another traffic jam further along the road. A spokesman from Devon County Council, earlier today told us that the stream will eventually level it's self out.. He hasn't actually seen this stream in full flow. We really hope he is right !
No one move that bit of wood........ Have a great weekend guys as always see you soon X

Original Soggibottom, Soggibottom Original

Dartmoor hares have been more popular than I imagined.
One of the hares above is for Wendy.
Wendy asked for a Dartmoor Hare for her pay it forward. Although the hare has been a while in coming, little paws will be making their way over our little bridge early next week.

We said goodbye to the cheeky stonemason's yesterday that have been around for what seems like months during the Summer.
For the time being, their job is done, the water relief channel (ditch) has been built.
We're still expecting them back to repair our little medieval bridge. 
We won't however miss what must be the loudest concrete mixer in Devon, right outside our window every morning.

 At least we know the water channel works. This morning we woke up to thunder storms and the sound of running water. Soggibottom Cottage is now officially on a small island, at the bottom of the hill. At least the downpour helped to clean some of the road outside.

Sandbags and flood gates haven't been mothballed, not yet anyway.

There's still work to do on the surrounding area. In case your wondering where all the red water has come from, it's not just from building the new water channel, most of the water has run off from the new road being built at the back of the village.

This is quite a stretch of mud, in fact this is the middle of the new road that is going to by pass our village. Not finished obviously.

A water culvert along the route. They are also building bat runs that will allow bats to fly safely from one side of the road to the other.

The weather is changing, our normal wet Autumn weather is here, I don't envy anyone having to work on the new road, in all that mud.
We are however so pleased the new water channel that sits beside us has been finished, in the nick of time maybe. 

You can find Freya and her high Visibility coat over at the Catflap Cavalier. 

Have a very dry weekend. :-) x x x

Marley Wynn's first birthday.

A very happy first birthday to Marley Wynn our youngest granddaughter. x x x

The Magnificent Mouse Maze

There was a birthday in the cottage yesterday. We headed over to Cornwall to one of our favorite beaches for a birthday day out.

Birthday cake and candles on the beach.

Freya only had a very small piece after making the usual feeble effort of lifting up her paw and looking as sad as she possibly could.

 Driving along beside the building of our new village relief road, the destination of a quiet Cornish beach seemed more and more appealing.

We hoped to leave all the heavy machinery behind yesterday.

Maybe we notice large digging machines more than we used to. We can't remember seeing that large yellow machine on the quay side the last time we were in Padstow.

There is one thing that doesn't change around Padstow, it's a working fishing port, it still has a shop where you can buy fresh fish.

If you were to ask Freya what she remembered most about yesterday it was probably her trip to the beach and best of all, ice cream. You can find her over at The Cat Flap Cavalier.

We came home to find an almost finished water relief channel (DITCH). It has yet to have a weir installed, but all in all, it's coming along. It's a shame the time scale was completely wrong for the time it was supposed to take. The second time line for it all to be finished has again passed. There are still on going issues around the cottage that need to be fixed.
Hopefully next week we might see the light at the end of the tunnel (or water relief DITCH).

It's seems to have been a very long year down at the Soggi end of the village.
Blogging about every hole that has been dug or suddenly appeared, or new load from a lorry that comes over our little bridge can be a bit boring but there are some camera shots more than others that stick in my mind.

Your never far from your local Jewson. (Jewson is a company that sell and deliver building supplies). Well they got that one right about your never far from a local Jewson. A few feet from our cottage window.
If your wondering what has happened to our little picket fence. We had to take it down, along with some of the stone wall. Too many lorries with heavy loads, too near the wall and the fence have taken a toll over the year. The good news is we are to have a new front wall eventually......

To my darling other half, hope you had a very happy birthday yesterday.
So much has happened during one year.
Singing at the top of our voices as we kept bucketing water to save Soggibottom Cottage from flooding last October. Three times out four we kept the water at bay. It wasn't a bad record.
Thanks for all the laughs we have had, even when the days seemed a bit grim this year with lorries, noise, dust and holes that have appeared that shouldn't be there, we have always found something to laugh about. I can't think of another who I would rather laugh and sing with. Happy Birthday Tony.

My husband puts up with so much, I forgot to say, my singing is worse than a screeching owl.

The magnificent mouse maze is for anyone who is tired of the beach scenes I put on here.
 See you all soon. :-)xxx

The days of long shadows are back

The days of long shadows are back. It's dark by 8.30 p.m.

The fire is back on in the cottage.

It's the time of year to find the warmest place by the fire and stay there. 

If you move, your going to have a hard job getting back in the same spot.

Isn't that right Frank ?

Freya Rose Blossom is over at Cat flap Cavalier. as usual.

That's us, right down the bottom at the Soggi end.

Today's blog update on A FLOOD RELIEF CHANNEL.

No prize for guessing who the little white cottage at the end belongs to, or what she is called . She stands very defiantly, like a blot on the landscape.......

It's been a very, very long, hot dusty Summer.

There are some beaches dogs can go to, others open soon.

Best to leave all the SNAGS that happen down this end of the village on Friday's, to those that know what they are doing.

We love the words, "Tomorrow is another day". 

It is. What ever happens today, tomorrow it is history. SMILE. :-)
Miss mutt is over at CAT FLAP CAVALIER.  She always makes us smile.
Have a great weekend guys. See you all soon.

Art from beach rubbish.

You can find art from all sorts of rubbish.
A wasp in an empty glass bottle.This was one unlucky wasp that found it's way into an empty bottle on our garden table.

The best beach art can be found in a little sea side town near to Soggibottom cottage.
Every Summer they have some sort of art along the sea front. Robots. All made out of plastic milk bottles that were found on the beach.

A large recycled prawn. Recycled plastic carrier bags

More recycled plastic carrier bags.

I'm not sure what material's were used in this one, but it stood out on the sea front.

Recycled dragon art.

 A plastic bag peacock with a tail of old C.D's.

Giant bee, all made from re cycled plastic.

Although Freya makes a good sand castle she isn't made from plastic and never took part in the exhibit along the sea front. Freya like us is making the most of sunny days.
Re cycled wasp any one ?
Freya is over at The Cat Flap Cavalier with Frankie de tabby.