BIRTHDAY TREAT
Aside

Yes I know my birthday is well and truly over but the girls have been busy so it was time for our GDO (girl’s day out) as my birthday treat ie they treat me to lunch and I buy the wine - but in that I was forestalled.

Margaret had planned it, which usually bodes well. We had been warned that the weather would be poor but although there was a September like mist there were patches of blue and we were in high spirits. Our coffee stop was Webber’s Post which overlooks mysterious combes. We had chocolate ginger with the coffee Margaret had packed and she reminded us there was a half an hour's walk past wooden sculptures if we fancied it. To my delight Joy and Jackie, who are presently having slight mobility problems, agreed to have a go. It is on the flat and has plenty of resting places. The walk was so lovely with all the bird song, and the sculptures were fascinating.

Then we had a drive through Dunster down the very windy road towards Dulverton. Margaret is used to the top road and felt sure we must have overshot the Dulverton turning as it took so long, but we kept reassuring her we hadn’t passed it and it would soon appear. Then, in spite of our warnings she overshot and turned rather violently left to our screams of protest. But the minx had been having us on and we were actually going north of the road to Dulverton to Pulhams Mill on the road to Wimbleball Lake. PM is one of the oldest sites on Exmoor (1086). A thousand years ago the mill was standing on the banks of the Pulham River and grinding locally grown wheat.

An English couple now run it as a show case for high quality local and British arts and crafts. The husband told us in 1979, just back from living in Australia, they were inspired to renovate the ruin of the mill. He showed us photographs of the gradual renovation which still continues. There is now a shop and café. The husband Ian Mawby makes superb quality furniture and Pauline Clements is an illustrator for the National Trust and places such as Chatsworth House and York Minster. She also paints bone china mugs and tea sets for the shop.

We could have had lunch in the garden by the stream but the slight chill kept us indoors. We were allowed to bring our own wine which Margaret provided in spite of my protests and I wasn’t allowed to contribute at all. I’m a little hazy about what we did after lunch. We certainly wandered round the shop and the garden, sat briefly in the sunshine and drove home.