The Perfect day off.

Although my husband and I usually get the pleasure of having Sundays off work we always crave an extra day off but always end up working Saturdays. I was amazed to find out that yesterday both Sid & I were able to take the whole day of work. Thanks to Jo for holding the fort in my absence!

Obviously the perfect day off started with a luxurious lie-in followed by an equally luxurious breakfast of smoked salmon drizzled in lemon juice, mushrooms, granary toast and poached eggs sprinkled with ground black pepper. After the sumptuous breakfast we drove to Woodside Animal Sanctuary to try to find an animal for us to sponsor through the art of dance. Rather than finding one animal to sponsor I really wanted to sponsor everything and bring them all home with me but luckily Sid was there to keep my sanity in check and stop me making any stupid decisions! I battled with my desire to adopt Harvey the Staffordshire bull terrier, I know that my work hours are too demanding for me to take on the responsibility of a dog so I had to settle with several cuddles and the option to sign up and volunteer as a Woodside dog walker, I will keep you posted on dog walking progress as soon as I have checked that my tetanus injections are up to date.

After much indecisiveness I found three resident cats who I hope to sponsor. One of them is pictured at the top of this blog. I will be chatting to Dawn from Woodside to confirm the sponsorship and will then let you know details of exactly what we have sponsored.



After our visit to Woodside we couldn't resist the opportunity to go to the gogreous Royal Oak pub at Meavy. On arrival we were greeted by landlord Stephen Earp (see picture above) who served us a beautiful pint of Sharp's Doom bar. The Doom bar has particular significance for Sid & I as it is the ale we hired in for our wedding. The Royal Oak has many local supliers one of whom is the Dartmoor farmers group, the farmers produce high quality meat with a focus on looking after their animals and keeping their conditions natural so you can be assured that the meat does not contain artificial chemicals, hormones or antibiotics. Sid purchased a beautiful looking piece of sirloin steak courtesy of the Dartmoor farmers. We spent nearly an hour relaxing in the pleasant surroundings of the 15th Century pub before venturing to Yelverton for spot of shopping.

Our first stop was Bidders the butchers (see picture right) where we stocked up on eggs, meats, butter and some lovely pasta sauce, we then went to the Yelverton stores to buy fresh bread, broccoli and a copy of the Herald! It was then time to venture home for tea where I did something very unusual- I ate a piece of sirloin steak! : I gave up eating meat when I was 11 due to the fact that I hated the idea of factory farming, About 5 years ago I reintroduced fish and shellfish into my diet but have not eaten any red or white meat. As my husband prepared his steak I decided that I would have a small piece of meat, it was so tasty and although I do not plan to eat red meat on a regular basis I might have the odd piece if I know where it has come from and how it has been farmed!

Anyway before I sign off I wanted to mention the fantastic performance on Saturday night by Robert Webb on the new BBC programme let's dance. To be honest I didn't really rate the programme and was just about to turn over when Robert came onto stage to do his rendition of Flashdance, I have not laughed so much in years and have watched the clip several times since. If you have not seen the dance yet just click here - it is amazing!

I will blog again and post videos after Saturdays performance at the Vestival in Plymouth City Centre Piazza.

Stay Healthy,

Sam x