Early Tuesday morning we were all abruptly awakened by the farmer’s alarm clock at 5.30am! And almost every morning during our 2 wk stay!  It turned out the farmers bedroom, was joined to their newly converted paper thin walled, air B & B accommodation!

The people we spoke to at the consulate said we should hear back from them within 3 wks, so at least we now had a loose timeframe to work with. (Assuming our visas do get approved!)

Over the next 2 weeks, we enjoyed exploring the local area. There were so many areas of outstanding natural beauty, right on our door step, plus the weather was great. 

We walked on the moors, paddled in shallow streams, and wild ponies came to eat apples from our hands. We walked along high viaducts, ate at lovely national trust tea rooms. Every day was glorious so we mostly stayed out until dusk.

I managed to find a good launderette as we were getting desperately low on clean items by now. I handed them 2 giant bags of clothing, and 4 hours later I collected it, all clean and beautifully folded. Just wonderful! 

Once again we were coming to the end of our stay, so we started looking at where to book next. We found a pet friendly fisherman’s cottage in Appledore (on the North Devon coast)  We booked it for 1 week this time, hoping we would hear back from the consulate very soon.

During our time here, we had been driving past a very strange looking pub, between the farm and the town.  It looked like something from a Grim fairytale or Dickens novel, and part of the building dates back to the 11th century.  So on our last evening, we plucked up the courage to go inside and have a look.

We were greeted by an elderly couple, dressed in gothic style clothing from head to toe.  It was very dark inside, and the floor was uneven, ancient cobbles. There was some light coming from several candles, and a few well placed table lamps. On closer inspection, the place was crammed full of pagan ornaments, animal skeletons, five pointed stars, etc. 

It was all very creatively arranged but incredibly surreal. We sat in a little alcove and the man appeared from nowhere, making us both jump in our seats.

 He gave us two menus (no way were we going to eat here!)  We ordered some cider that he recommended, that they had made themselves! 

We drank them down pretty quick, walked about taking some photos, and sneaked out.  As we walked back to our car we noticed the sky was totally light up, with a beautiful full moon!

We left the farm, (and the farmers early morning alarm clock) the next morning. Then we drove just over an hour, to the coastal village of Appledore. 

We parked  in the main public car park on the harbour, then walked down a little alleyway and found our rental. 

It was called, Tillermans cottage. we got our key from a key code box outside the property, then went in to explore. It was a very thick walled, tiny terraced fishermen’s cottage. We entered into a  narrow hallway, filled with maritime objects and framed pictures. 

A tiny, but cosy, living room and small kitchen, led to the narrow steepest stairs we had ever seen. You had to virtually pull yourself up using the rail, even Watson couldn’t climb them. (This proved to be very tricky after a few wines carrying the dog up to bed!) Upstairs was a large bedroom and tiny shower room. All very cute.

It rained every day we were in Appledoor. We put on our raincoats and went for a walkabout.  There was one cafe that stayed open (out of season) and a couple of pubs, plus a fish and chip shop that opened for a couple of hrs, Fri and Sat.

 The village was quaint and charming, and you could tell when the sun was shining it would be nice. Although walking about, we noticed that almost every little cottage had key codes outside, and they were dark and empty inside. (Obviously seasonal lets and holiday homes)

It left me feeling sad for what once would have obviously been a busy community. One cottage was named the old bake house, I could just imagine it bustling with energy, as fishermen’s wives popped in for warm freshly baked bread, and a gossip .     

Thankfully the internet was good, so we mostly stayed home cosy, watching Netflix. We found a good sized supermarket in Barnstable (A 15 min drive away) so we stocked up on food, treats and wine! 

Towards the end of the week we still hadn’t heard from the consulate, so we started to plan, where to go next. We were starting to fill a bit in a limbo state now, the weather wasn’t helping. We booked a converted barn in Axbridge, just on the edge of Somerset. For one week, with the option to book another if needed.

It was almost Halloween, as we drove in more, heavy rain, to our new accommodation. We left the main road a while back and were now driving down a small country lane, which lead to a long private track. 

The barn was rustic and basic, but plenty big enough for our needs. You entered through a large locked, storeroom, which was filled with a cider press, and boxes of freshly picked apples. The scent of apple was glorious. 

There was a little door at the end, which led to our accommodation. A shower room and toilet lead to a spiral staircase, which took us up to an open plan barn. 

There was a kitchen/dinning area, with a small pine table and chairs. Then a TV, with 2 small lounge chairs. At the end was a king-size bed, next to a little bay window, which had lovely views of the stables, and hilly fields. 

There was a door next to the kitchen area that opened out to a covered decked balcony, overlooking the orchards. 

There was a tiny iron table and chair set, where I spent most mornings. Enjoying my tea and cereal, amongst the damp tree tops.  

The farmer was busy in the pouring rain, we could see him from our window, tending to his sheep on his quad bike, feeding his horses, and gathering more apples to press.

The neighbouring farm was selling pumpkins, and had a cute display at the end of the lane. Which we walked past during our many rainy dog walks.

When the weather finally cleared, after a few days, we went off exploring. Lyme Regis was only a short drive away and was beautiful. The sun was shining, so we sat and enjoyed a picnic, on the beach.  

We visited Chesil beach, which at first looked wild and deserted. Then we walked around a corner, and saw about 5,000 young families, all with tiny hammers searching for fossils. (Oct half term!)

There was a little market town nearby and on Saturday we went to its farmers and flee market. We bought some heavenly, fresh sourdough bread. Olives, local cheeses, and other tasty treats, to take back to the barn. 

We were making the most of our new surroundings, and walking at least 15,000 steps most days. (This was just as well considering all the treats!)

Then on Monday morning, after the school run, our Daughter returned home to the postman. He presented two letters, for her to sign for.

She rang us straight away, as they were addressed to us and had the Spanish consulate logo on the front.

We were all super excited, as she carefully opened the letters while on the phone. 

We waited silently as she quickly gathered up the first few lines to tell us.

It read..We are writing to you, asking for further details, needed to support your recent application for a Spanish visa.

They demanded to receive this information from us, within the next 5 days. Or our visa application would be rejected!! 

They required a full year of bank statements printed out, and each individual page must be signed by the bank manager, then stamped with his official stamp! This was for our joint building society account and both our personal bank accounts.

This was not the news we were expecting, and as you can well imagine at this stage of the process sent us into (another!) blind panic.

As both of our personal bank branches had closed down over the past few years, we approached the nearest major branch. This was in Weston Super Mare so we left the dog cosy and walked, with the TV on quietly for company and drove to WSM. 

Luckily they had a large branch of our building society there too.

On arrival we found the bank was closed Thursdays, and discovered all the surrounding local branches had closed down. So we had to drive to Bristol to find one. This was another hour’s drive away.

When we found a branch of our bank, after a long queue, they said they no longer had a printer on the premises, as it was all done digitally.

We drove many miles around Bristol, visiting several branches and they all told us the same story.

We drove back to WSM and went to a branch of our building society, where we had to wait an hour for the manager to return. He was brilliant and very helpful when we explained our dilemma, he could see how stressed we both were.

 He took the time  and printed out a huge thick wad of paper statements, then signed and stamped each page for us. (He restored our faith in human kindness)

We didn’t know how on earth we would get the bank ones done, and get it all to the consulate in time. (Now 4 days).  We drove back to the barn and arrived in the dark. We got told off by the farmer on our arrival for leaving our dog home alone and that he had been howling for the past hour! 

Unbeknown to us the TV in the barn was on a 4 hr timer so it had turned itself off, so poor Watson was in the dark!

 (It had not been a good day!  )

We drove the next morning to Torquay, we took Watson with us and planned to go to a large branch of our bank plus visit our Daughter.

 I wasn’t feeling very hopeful as I stood in a long queue in the bank, but after lots of polite pleading, the branch manager was brilliant. I sat in his office for almost an hour while he printed signed and stamped!

Then it was my husband’s turn to run around getting his done.  By the end of the day we had all the documents the consulate were demanding, so after a quick visit with our Daughter, we left and headed to Exeter. 

There we handed over the documents, in a large brown envelope to a courier company. We paid to guarantee it would arrive by Friday morning, It was now in the hands of the gods. 

We came to the end of our week at the barn, and both decided we needed to move on...

We booked a lovely spacious apartment in Dartmouth. It was just what we needed, lots of lively friendly pubs, cafes and shops and an M and S food, all on our doorstep. Total bliss.

We both felt much happier in Dartmouth, taking in the beautiful views, over the river Dart every day. At the weekend our Daughter and Grandchildren came to visit us ,and we all enjoyed fish and chips together, at rockfish.

We booked for a second week, as we were very happy here, plus our vet was close by in Torquay. I was very aware of the 2hr appointment needed, to do the paper work for the animal health certificate, which would hopefully be needed soon.

On  Saturday eve, we decided to have a fancy meal out.  As we sat down with our drinks, and our food ordered, my husband received a phone call, from an  unknown number.

 He took the call, and the look on his face was quite alarming! He took his drink and the call outside.  Turns out it was finally news from our courier company letting us know when our furniture would be arriving in Spain.  Now apparently!!

They were telling him, they had arrived at the storage unit in our little village in Valencia, at 8pm Sat night, and it was closed! (It didn’t open weekends it clearly states online and we gave them all the details months ago!)

My husband rang the owner of the storage business, in sheer desperation and luckily she picked up the call. She was at a family wedding close by, and she offered to go and open the storage unit and let them unload our stuff. What an absolute wonderful person! 

Finally during our third week staying in Dartmouth, our Daughter received 2 recorded delivery letters both addressed to us and obviously from the Spanish consulate. 

This was it; she quickly rang us and opened the letters. Inside were both our passports, and no letter or anything with them.

At first we all thought the worst, when our Daughter said wait! 

There is a stamped page in both of the passports that says.....  visa for Spain, valid for 1 yr!

Two days later, it was a cold and frosty late November morning, (still dark) as we said goodbye to Dartmouth. 

Bikes on the roof and Corgi in the back, we finally      started our Journey to Spain!