Over the weekend, we made our first visit to the Miniature Pony Centre near Moretonhampstead, about a 15-minute drive from our house. This is an adorable family fun spot, and we have season passes. The weather was cool but not too damp, and Robin loved running around the grounds, petting animals, and especially riding the toy tractors. There are pony rides, too, which Robin almost enjoyed, but decided at the last moment that he didn't care for being lifted onto a pony by a strange girl, no matter how nice she was. He got a rosette anyway, and we'll try again on our next visit. Probably tomorrow -- the weather is wonderful now, sunny and mild.
We've said a sad goodbye to our luxury rental car and are now tooling around the moors in the Ford Escort Rob and Jill are kindly renting to us. Ari had to have a crash course from Toby in driving a stick shift, and mastered it in one afternoon! He did thoughtfully allow me to drive us around the busy -- and very narrow -- streets of Exeter yesterday, though. The Escort is the perfect car for moor driving though -- the roads often narrow to one lane between high bramble hedges, and cars have to squeeze around one another wherever it's wide enough -- sometimes backing up a 1/2 mile to do so! So we always drive with "moor care," never more than 35 mph, and always alert for cars, sheep, or ponies suddenly appearing in our path around the hidden curves and hills of the moor roads. Every trip is an adventure!
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