After a wonderful week, we plunged down from our mountain top experience with a bit of a bump. The next day we drove down the M5 towards Iron Bridge – in Shropshire, to stay with yet another cousin Charles and his wife Vicki who run a bed and breakfast place there. Vicki has a nasty type of cancer, so we were plunged into seeing the havoc this is wreaking upon their lives. They have two gorgeous children aged one and almost five. Poor Vicki had been given a month off chemo but had spent the previous few days in hospital and had to return the next day.

It is hard to talk about wonderful walks when this is the reality of your life. We are glad we visited – again, I had not seen Charles for over ten years, so it was wonderful to catch up very briefly. We stayed overnight and then drove to North Somerset to stay with Charles’ Mum, Ursula – this time on my mother’s side of the family. We arrived on her granddaughter Sophia’s ninth birthday, so we joined in with the birthday celebrations with my cousin Susannah and husband Alex and other daughter Florence. We felt so welcomed and enjoyed the cake and birthday dinner.

We are here for a week of exploring this gorgeous part of England and to spend time with this side of the family.