Our Trip to Sidmouth

11th-16th August 2013
This was mine and Ole's little getaway before our son was due to enter the world.

Originally, we were meant to have a weekend away at a spa hotel which Ole had surprised me with, but when he went to book the treatments, the hotel said there were no more spaces - so we cancelled. Although it was a shame, I was soon to be going away with my family to Turkey for 10 days, and Ole was soon to be going away with his friends to Magaluf for 7 days. We knew that we both really wanted to get away together, just us before the baby arrived so we kept our options open. I even suggested camping to Ole's dismay haha. After searching through lots of options, Ole's mum recommended Sidmouth.

One of their family friends owns a house there right on the seafront, and Ole and his family had been and stayed numerous amounts of times during the summer so Ole knew the location fairly well. This seemed like a brilliant idea - and Debs didn't want any money either so this was even more appealing! We decided to drive down on the Sunday evening after Ole and I finished work at Vauxhall. The drive only took 3 hours without stopping but it was a gorgeous drive, especially with the summer sun setting around us. We drove past Stone Henge and a vast amount of gorgeous fields and farms, singing along to songs the whole way.

When we arrived it was dark but you could still see the waves lapping on the shore in the moonlight and I remember thinking that nature is beautiful. We unloaded all of our things after having a look in every single room of the house (it's 3 floors) - as you do! I think it must've been about 21:30 and we were peckish so we decided to go for a walk into the town which was only about 10 minutes away. After meandering through the cobbled streets, past the cute little shops we found a Tesco Express! Which was good because it was the only place open! We bought shepherds pie and some basics and decided we'd come back tomorrow for more supplies. After getting in and eating dinner at about 22:30, we snuggled up and watched a film.

For the whole duration we'd wake early - around 9ish, have some breakfast and watch some tv. Then fall asleep again til about 2pm, have some lunch and then go for a wander around Sidmouth. Although the beach was pebbled, it was gorgeous and so relaxing watching the children play in the sea, build sandcastle and watching people in boats. Of course we bought some seaside chips and donuts to share and we sat on deck chairs sharing them in the gorgeous sun.

It was the best week ever with Ole, totally relaxing enjoying each others company, doing what we wanted, when we wanted. We also both love to cook so making dinner every night was something we could share and have fun doing together. We even got some fudge and rock to take back with us - I grew quite a sweet tooth in my final few weeks of pregnancy. Walking around everywhere whilst 35 weeks pregnant had its advantages and disadvantages. Obviously the disadvantages were that by this point my bump was getting really heavy and this was putting a strain on my lower back and nerves. Plus I was waddling like you wouldn't believe - funny image to think about I know haha! The advantages though were that it made me feel good to be walking everywhere and at my own pace, knowing that with every step the baby was getting lower and lower into my pelvis!

It was sad to be leaving Sidmouth and back to reality but we were also excited as it was one week closer to meeting our baby boy!
Saying that, the journey home was horrendous. We left Sidmouth at about midday, and it took over 6 hours to get home (without stopping) due to a crash on the motorway, and as a result the motorway had to be shut, so we were crawling the whole way home!!

J xxx