The end, the beginning, the continuation

Tess and "Joey" (who is in fact a female pony) at WarHorse Valley Country Farm Park today.

My mothering duty responsibility thingy thingummy has been telling me all summer that Tess needs to get up close with some animals and not in a zoo environment.

I've been scanning the area online for days and finally came across this place this morning - in the final few hours of Tess's school holiday.

The farm was once the home of Jack Russell - who bred the well-known terriers, and is the inspiration behind Michael Morpurgo's War Horse (he lives very close). To get to the farm we passed Michael Morpurgo and his his wife's Farm for City Children at Nethercott House

We've had one of the best afternoons I can ever remember. It's such a simple, natural, untampered-with setting, the cream tea was one of the best I can ever remember having, and the countryside sloped and rolled and cuddled like only Devon can. As if that wasn't enough we were only charged £4 (£3 for kids) entry fee. I love discovering unpretentious places like this, but what I love even more is seeing one of my children in a happy place.

It feels as if all the boxes are ticked today. And some.

Oh - and it's an organic farm too. Win, win, winny, win, win.