Today I reached that point in the holiday when I actually felt more tired than I did at the start of the week. This phenomenon can’t really be put down to over exertion as we’ve not really stretched ourselves, but rather sleep deprivation. 
It’s always a bit odd when you are not in your own bed, but to be fair the bed in the cottage is quite comfortable – for two. There lies the problem. As we travelled here by train we packed light, so no room for Zoly’s bed. We did bring his mat and blanket, but these are not up to his usual nocturnal standards and he’s made that very clear.
Despite the ‘no dogs on the furniture’ rule, Zoly has decided that he must sleep between the two of us. Given that the bed here is considerably smaller than our bed at home, for this arrangement to work well it requires a regimented alignment of sleeping partners and absolute stillness throughout the night. Zoly and Mike are not known for either of these.

  Two’s company, there’s a crowd

Last night we reached ‘peak duvet’ whereby the amount of duvet available to cover both Mike and I was seriously impeded by the large fury boy with long extended legs laying between us. Much tossing and turning ensued, with my peace and slumber finally being shattered at around 3am by my beloved husband exclaiming in a firm voice that Barbara Woodhouse would have been proud of ‘Zoly get your paw off my face’.
Needless to say I did not awaken this morning feeling fresh as a daisy, so after much discussion with Mike I decided to limit my excursion to the Cotehele gardens (as the sun was finally shining) whilst Mike and Zoly enjoyed a longer walk. This was most definitely the best decision as when I am sleep deprived I am not the best person to be around (unless you like grumpy middle aged men!).
A few hours pottering amongst plants and stopping to snooze in the warm spring sunshine (at last!) on the different garden benches has done the trick. My batteries feel recharged and I’m ready for a final burst of excursion on our last full day tomorrow.