Yesterday (16/7) was my mother's 50th birthday. As a surprise, my father had booked us into the Victoria hotel in Sidmouth. I was doing some church PA stuff on Saturday morning, so I took the train afterwards and met them at my Uncle's house in Woking. When we left there my father took the 'wrong' turning - towards the southwest rather than towards London.
3 hours later, we arrived at Sidmouth and swept up the drive of the hotel. My mother was very surprised - my father and sister had executed a perfect conspiracy. The rooms were very well appointed and the hotel was tastefully furnished throughout.
Dinner was excellent, as was breakfast.Having spent the night at the hotel, we set out to make the most of the day, starting with a walk up Salcombe Cliff (on the east side of Sidmouth).
It was very very hot, but there is plenty of shade going up. There were also plenty of ferns. Altogether there were Dryopteris dilatata,
D. filix-mas, 
D. affinis affinis, 
and Asplenium scolopendrium.
I looked for D. carthusiana but did not find it. Previous excursions at Branscombe (a little east of Sidmouth) showed mainly with only occassional carthusiana so I wasn't really that hopeful. In addition there was plenty of Pteridium aquilinum
After the walk, we cooled off in the Connaught Gardens and then braved the beach for a few hours, which was quite pleasant. I was even induced to stand with my feet in the water for a little while. At the end of the day we headed back to London and finished the weekend with birthday cake on the patio at home.
We all had a really great weekend - many thanks to Dad for organising it!
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