We’ve just spent 5 days in a hotel in Torquay. It was so much more brilliant than we had expected, so much so that we stayed an extra night as we couldn’t bear leaving so quickly! The hotel was wonderful. We had rooms which opened with French windows onto a sun terrace which overlooked the sea, a 10 minute walk away. We had delicious food for breakfast and supper in the hotel every night, and ate at harbour side cafes at lunchtime each day. When we arrived on Monday the weather was grey and cloudy and we weren’t too sure about Torquay as it all looked a bit dull. But by lunchtime on Tuesday the sun had burst through and the dullness turned into a technicoloured hive of activity. From our hotel we walked 2 miles along the beach and marinas every day and visited a penguin zoo called Living Coasts where one of the little penguins waddled out of the enclosure to peck some mud off my wheel! We also did a bit of shopping at various gift shops along the way!

On the first day Daddy lost his car keys so spent the next 24 hours making calls and trips to the local police station as well as retracing his steps without any luck. When we got home to Applefield there was a message on our phone from a man who’d picked them up, probably 5 minutes after Daddy lost them, and had handed them in to the tourist information office – the one place none of us thought to go to ask!

Once our spare keys arrived in the post on Thursday, we went to Thurlestone to see Auntie Jobox and Wuzzy at Coolbawn. When we got there we found that Naomi and Barney were still there as they’d been staying for a couple of days. We also saw Sarah and Caroline and her 3 girls. We visited Caroline’s house too which was a short walk up the road. The weather was really sunny and the views from both houses were just stunning; apparently it was the best weather they’d had all summer! Mummy enjoyed swimming in the pool at Coolbawn and Daddy had his first sea swim this year! It was really lovely to spend a day with our family and to see our little cousins again.

We hope to go back to the Toorak hotel again, as the rooms on the terrace were brilliant, we loved the food, and all the staff were so friendly.