This is, of course, Fin, one of our 'littlest' friends!

We’ve spent a fabulous day enjoying being here in Cornwall and even the fact that we had to do a bit of work on the Grand Plan didn’t detract from what a good day we had.

From the moment we got into the car to go and get the materials for the next Grand Plan venture, we were enjoying ourselves, listening to Elvis Presley, Ike and Tina Turner and the Kinks in the Cornish sunshine. That set the tone of the mood and it only got better all day. We did our work, treated ourselves to lunch in a pretty courtyard café in town then came home.

When we got home, we had a couple of hours in which DM was glued to Le Mans and I was wandering around the garden, looking for a bee shot that didn’t quite come off – as with all of these ‘taking pics of fast-moving, uncontrollable natural things’ things, the bees were never quite right – I have a fantastic one of a tongue going down the throat of a bearded iris….but it’s not quite sharp, I have another great one of a bee flying into land on the philadelphus….but again sharpness isn’t there. I have some wonderfully sharp ones of wings and pollen but no face on the bee. Ah well, that’s life I suppose.

Later in the day, we set off down the hill to help celebrate a little chap’s birthday. It’s a forty-minute walk to Iain and Beck’s home from us and it takes us through a beautiful more-or-less uninhabited valley. To get to the path, we need to walk a short walk along the road and as we got to the top of the hill, shortly before forking off down the path, a car drove past with the occupant waving and grinning at us. It was Alistair. We’ve got friends in the community here.

The dogs are safe to be off their leads and we can stroll along without worrying about them. We wondered how long it would be before Arch recognised his ‘turf’ and sure enough, he realised where he was quite quickly despite not having been that way for several months. Rosie took longer, we think she only twigged when she got to the spot where she always had to have her lead clipped back to her collar. At that point she sidled up to me, almost instinctively and let me click the catch of the lead on without a murmur. There was no obvious recognition of the walk until that point from her.

Fin was having a riotous time, with all his cousins, other friends, Grandad and a few others, like us, who were happy to be sitting in the middle of a joyously chaotic three-year-old’s special day!

Our bubbles were instantly put to use in the bubble blowing machine, received elsewhere and shown in action here, while Daddy looks on in the background.

There is no place like that – not even where we are now, however much it is a better, bigger home for us and the dogs. That spot of the world is very special indeed. The community spirit is something I’ve never experienced in my lifetime.

What a fabulous day. We’re here. We’re part of village life (even if it’s not our village anymore) and we’re happy.

Last year, I took one of the best photos I've ever taken.