I’ve photographed this building (or what’s left of it) many times. It was under snow on Christmas Day, a crow’s nest, it was a foil to Archie and my Mum last autumn, a frame for a view towards Tokenbury Corner and I’m sure these aren’t the only occasions it’s been in these pages.

Today’s visit has been as a way to soothe the soul. We’ve been all over Caradon, showing Patti some of the reasons why we love this place. Her take? ‘This is so well worth all that pain you’ve been through.’ I hope she’s right.

The walk was, in truth, the only real option open to us after a very late start this morning and a requirement to go to Mole Valley Farmers for an oil tank to feed the new Rayburn that’s coming next weekend. By the time the chores were over and the lunch done, there was so little daylight left that we thought our best bet was to stay local and just get on with it.

It didn’t occur to any of us that Patti’s triple heart bypass op of a couple of years ago would leave us worrying about the sanity of making her climb a mountain to go to the quarry and then around the mines – at least after we left the quarry, there was little or no climbing to do until we had to climb the hill on the other side of the valley to go home.

I’m trying to keep her away from work – but I’m no great role model of someone who can just say ‘no’ so I’m finding it really hard to persuade her of the sanity of not doing some of this mountain of work she’s under at the moment.

This is a welcome break from the hard realities of life and a sure-fire way to lift the flagging spirit.

Last year, it was our anniversary.....so of course it is today too - five years in and still loving it, can't be bad - and DM was inside the chimney and two years ago, I was bemoaning the lack of decent hostelries in the South East - now worrying about that is a thing of my past!