Weekend away

We have just returned from a weekend away - Willow's first 'holiday'. It was a gift from work and it made a lovely end to my time there. We were in a shepherd's hut in the Ribble Valley and despite the dire weather warnings for the weekend, it turned out to be mild and almost spring like.

The hut was oh so cosy and warm and comfortable.  We landed quite late on the Friday so could only see the interior but on the Saturday when the sun came up - wow.

We scoffed our breakfast, jumped into our wellies and grabbed a rather excited dog and set out for a walk. As soon as we stepped through the gate and into what felt like a holloway (sunken track) forgotten by time. 

Willow snuffled and sniffed and explored - we felt as if she was trying to inhale the entire track just in case she never walked up one again. As the lane rose up to the moors, we spotted buzzards, kestrels, a kite, deer, hare and squirrels.

The view at the top - if a little cool and blustery - was glorious.

Later we were joined by Youngest and his lovely girl then, after lunch in the shepherds hut, we set off for another walk - Willow was delighted. This time we went down into the valley, following farm tracks and river banks. It was certainly muddy.

Then after a couple of hours, we returned to the hut, put the kettle on, filled a plate with biscuits, cake and mini apple pies and sat and chatted whilst a happy dog fell asleep at our feet. In the evening, when it was just us - Willow suddenly sat up, gave a tiny little half wuff and the smallest and silliest little hamster sized growl which made us laugh. Thinking she'd had a dream we placated her, but no, she insisted that she needed to look outside. So to humour her, I took a torch opened the door and shone it on a fox just on the other side of the fence!

What a weekend!

And one last photo - taken whilst wandering around the village Sunday night - Willow is a nervous little girl and for some reason decided she just.could.NOT walk to the bottom of the garden because there.was.a.SCARY.thing down there (no idea...) we we went for a wander to take her mind off things. And the moon over some of the cottages looked magical.