August is our rainiest month, I say it every year and every year I am corrected by learned campers who, having checked annual rainfall statistics for august, assure me that my claim is quite simply not true. But every august I apologise profusely to our campers for the weather and cringe and feel guilty as the precipitation sets in.
However, this year I have to say has been different, I have not felt the same guilt when it rained, in fact I have been grateful for the rain and welcomed it with open arms - quite literally - It has helped the grassland rejuvenate and the crops grow.
One of the crops grown locally is wheat, our neighbours have grown it in the next door field and it has provided shelter for one or more deer who have been visiting Horsefield Wood and eating our saplings. I may already have said, that whilst I love the idea we have deer locally, I am not so happy they are eating our young trees.
So I am very glad that the wheat is harvested, the fields are open and exposed and not so condusive to giving the deer 'cover' and their visitations have been curtailed.
Wheat is not the only thing harvested in august. Field mushrooms start popping up in the pasture where the sheep have grazed and can be collected early in the morning, before they get kicked about by animals or eaten by slugs.
Blackberries are also now bountiful and blackberry crumble is a favourite, especially when the eldest son visits.
And august is the month when the family also visit. It has become an annual event and I LOVE IT......with big their big tents - flauting my regulations this year-
Family means food and campfires and lots of tomfoolery, silly stories and laughter and dreamy evenings watching stars.
This year my brother and sister have their own family dogs,
So we had even more fun walking on the beach with a platoon of children, adults and dogs,
Beach art is always a plenty in cornwall and this rather spectacular Stonehenge was just asking for a photograph!
Our campsite is the perfect place for my niece and nephews to have fun........
and only a short hop to the beach to have more family fun.........
.......watch out for small children with rounders bats!
