Working from home while in the depths of Summer holidays can be really tricky, so when by Mr D mentioned his Crane Lorry needed to make a day trip to Devizes for her annual Crane Test, I decided to pack up the kids and follow him for a day of exploring this Wiltshire town.
Once the lorry (Dolly) had been delivered, we headed into the town centre, where we made a pit stop to Costa for a large Latte and a large Soya Chai Latte with a few rounds of jam and toast for the ducklings. I love the glass frounts of the Costa coffee shops. It was still relatively early 8.15am, so we ended up staying nearly an hour, watching locals start their days, heading off to work and buying their morning papers, we do love a spot of people watching.
The Devizes market was on, so we wandered around the stalls for a spot of window shopping (and more toilet breaks), once I had had my shopping fix we hopped into the car and drove slightly out of town, where we parked the car and joined the Kennet and Avon Canal.
The children loved walking up the Canal, and once we reached the top, we found a lovely little garden centre where we stopped off for more coffee and a slice of cake.
As we headed back down the Canal, the children started talking to a couple on a canal boat, and wanted to help them out on a few of the locks. It was really lovely of the couple to include the children, though they were propably thankful for the help, Devizes (Caen Hill Locks) has a flight of 29 locks which is a rise of 237 feet in 2 miles and takes on average 4-5 hours to travel from one end to the other!
After their spot of manual labour we decided to treat them to an afternoon activity of their choice, which without a second for thought they announced was soft play. Almost, as if they had planned it, the heavens opened and it started to rain, so we ran back to the car and drove back into Devizes in search for a soft play.
As we pulled into the car park of Coral Cove, the children squealed in delight, . . . . anyone would think we never took them to soft play centres! So easily pleased ;-)
We spent the afternoon in the dry and warm, the children played and ran around like headless chickens (or ducks) while Mr D and I sat and drank coffee and dined on Jacket potatoes.
Soon it was time to collect Dolly and head back home. Devizes was a lovely day out but it did mean the bath had to be filled with boats for a spot of 'Lock Work' reenactment for the next few days!
Until next time.
Gemma
xxx