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Exploring Dartmoor -

Widecombe Fair 2024

Widecombe Fair 2024

A celebrebation of Dartmoor life! "Live music all day long. Devon axe racing championshiop. Vintage displays. Craft & produce. Livestock. Dogshow. Food talls. Bar and more!" It was our 4th time as an exhibitor at Widecombe Fair. We love the excuse to visit a favourite place and catch up with friends. (It was on a visit to my parents, who lived just outside Widecombe, that we came up with the idea of PACMAT in 2015.)The fair is always held on the second Tuesday of September. The earliest recorded fair was back in 1850. It gave an opportunity to sell livestock...

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Festival -

Green Man Festival PACMAT picnic blanket

Green Man Festival PACMAT picnic blanket

Light, waterproof and easy to carry PACMATs come into their own at festivals. This year we made a bespoke PACMAT for The Green Man Festival. The Green Man bold print looks fabulous on the PACMAT. Here it is spotted at the End of the Road Festival. Green Man Festival PACMATs are only available to purchase from the festival website here.  

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Camping -

Sleeping under the stars

Sleeping under the stars

It's becoming a tradition. Every year, toward the end of the summer holiday, we head out with the kids to wild camp in the mountains. The forecast looked good. We decided on a spot we know well from day time walks. Being further away from the UTMB course and crowd we thought it should be quieter. We all met in the car park and sorted out our gear, making sure we had enough tent space, food and water between us. Basil, our dog, would join us for the day but wouldn’t stay overnight to avoid any encounters with sheep or their guardian dogs....

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Mountain mini break

Mountain mini break

Rifugio Vittoria Sella, 2588m We've never spent much time in the Gran Paradiso area but had heard get things about it. On a dark winter's day we sat down at the kitchen table to plan, browsing our Cicerone book "100 Hut Walks in the Alps". Rifugio Vittoria Sella, in the National Park, Italy, looked like a great spot, at 2588m and, when we emailed them, they said we could take the dog! We booked in for two nights, mid August, thinking it would be a good place to base ourselves to explore a little more. The rest of the trip was...

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Exploring the Alps -

Walking in the footsteps of the Dinosaurs

Walking in the footsteps of the Dinosaurs

On the promise of dinosaur foot prints, we packed our rucksacks for a 12.5km picnic walk starting off from the Emosson dam above the Trient valley. After lots and lots of hairpin roads the kids were thrilled to find a zip wire (and ice cream shop) at the top. Stretching all the way across the front of the dam. Only two of our group were brave enough. The younger two of course. Once we'd got that (and two ice creams) out of the way we set off to find the footprints. Walking around the track alongside the vast expanse of turquoise...

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