It’s become a bit of a tradition for me and my Mama to take a wee trip together, and past adventures have included Barcelona, Florence and the Lake District. As I’m moving away in less than two months (eek!) we decided to have a simple staycation in Devon.

We stayed in a remote and adorable cabin in Cornworthy, and were blessed with a complete absence of both signal and wifi. Whilst it was mildly inconvenient to be off the grid for planning our activities, it was also incredibly liberating because I spent so much more time reading out in the sunshine and having proper conversations with my Mum. It’s so easy to talk without really communicating when you’re both busy and stressed, so it was nice to feel so disconnected from responsibility and city life.

We drove to the dinky town of Dittisham where we took a boat (which is summoned by ringing a wee bell, so cute!) across the River Dart to Greenway, the summer home of Agatha Christie. The home itself was gorgeous, with tons of fascinating objects, information and first editions of all Christie’s work. We had a great time walking around the gardens, geeking out with the lovely volunteers of the National Trust and generally acting like old ladies together. They had a voluntary donation stand of extra produce from the gardens, and there was something satisfying about making our dinner with those veggies. The estate also has some gorgeous gardens and rambling woodlands which feature as locations in quite a few dramatisations of Christie’s novels.

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We drove to Dartmoor National Park to do a few trails. We stopped at Newbridge, planning to start with a gentle looping track. We brought a picnic spread, took our lunch by the river. It started off so well, but we ended up blazing our own trail when we managed to get off the beaten track. All’s well that ends well as we made it out alive and saw some great hidden views. After such an unanticipated workout, we decided to reward ourselves with a genuine Devon ice cream.

We were extremely fortunate with the weather, almost aghast at the sunshine and clear blue skies. Although it was only a few days away, I always really appreciate little jaunts into other parts of the UK and none more so than when I’m about to leave my home for the next couple of years.