It's Raining, It's Pouring

What a funny season we're having this year.  Wydemeet B&B has been up and running for six years now, and I thought everything had become fairly predictable.

But no! My bookings seemed to be way down on all previous years, for no tangible reason  - yet in the end we have ended up as busy as ever - this year filling up with 'last-minuters'. Probably Brexit's fault, like everything else.

This means we have to be on our toes, to ensure rooms are ready, and everything required for our super-duper breakfasts is available and fresh in the fridge; emails and telephone messages constantly checked.

Our guests seem to be ever nicer if that were possible, and our reviews even more flattering - a total delight to read.  Running Wydemeet B&B loses none of its pleasure as the years roll by.

To ensure that it stays such fun, I'm clear that breakfast is now served anytime after 9am.  This way, looking after my guests never becomes a chore or feels like work; instead you'll be greeted with a smile and (probably too much) chat - it's like friends coming to visit for a permanent house party!

The only downside is this hideous rain - surely it must stop soon! I am busy researching jolly things to do on Dartmoor in the rain.  Top of the list is a visit to Princetown Prison's museum.  As recommended by ex-Radio 2's DJ, Simon Mayo, it's been run by the same enthusiast for years, and it's opening times tend to be a bit erratic. There's also the Dartmoor Visitors' Centre in Princetown, the almost-empty Arts & Crafts building, funded my some lunatic EU scheme, and the cosy, welcoming Plume of Feathers pub.

I love Princetown - it's the highest town in England, and has a foggy, damp, cold, windy, grey climate all of its own. Mostly built from granite, the huge, imposing, menacing prison, which houses 600 Grade C male prisoners, glows in an orange haze at dusk, looming and silent; half the shops and cafes are boarded up, including a permanently closed Arctic explorer's display; and an aura of misery and poverty pervades the wide, empty streets.  It's a memorable and fascinating place to visit, a centre for keen walkers.  You can hike to the most remote accommodation of all on the moor: Whiteworks, which overlooks the gloopy dangerous stretches of Fox Tor Mire (Grimpen Mire in 'Hound of the Baskervilles' - where someone drowns in it). Or cross the moor via the banks of the bottomless Crazy Well Pool to beautiful Burrator Reservoir.  Or head in the Tavistock direction along an easy-walking stretch of disused railway.

All this providing it's not pouring horizontal cats and dogs of course!