We've been away for half term. We went to a cottage on a farm in mid Wales and it was wonderful. We went last year and the year before and the year before that to this same place so you can tell we enjoy it. There are lots of places within 5 miles of where we were staying where there are areas of common land and we could park, go for a walk, come back to the car and have a cuppa from the flask and read a book or do a crossword or sudoku. Books were borrowed from the school library and crosswords and sudokus rescued from newspapers from the school library too. It was a wonderful week and my husband's asthma is incredibly good after a week of clean air.

There was also a lot of mud around so we got muddy but we had taken our wellies and older clothes with us so it did not matter too much. One expects mud on a farm in the winter but there had been so much rainy weather of late that there was far more mud than I was anticipating. The farm has lots of animals so I was in my element - horses. ponies, donkeys, llamas, alpacas, sheep (lots of varieties), goats, ducks, geese, hens, parrots (!), pigeons (some special type that I've forgotten the name of), dogs and cat. A lot of the animals are rescued and some have been hand reared and virtually all are friendly and enjoy a scratch. I'm only too happy to oblige.

We'd taken lots of food with us from the cupboards and freezer so we only spent a small amount of money in Aldi in Llandrindod Wells on the one day that the rain came down relentlessly all day. I have to admit to a smug feeling as we sat in the cottage on the farm eating our homemade bread with our homemade butter and our homemade jam in front of a woodburner with homegrown potatoes and homegrown veg waiting to be cooked for dinner. We'd taken some of our eggs with us too.

I looove that woodburner. I was too hot. I have never said that in my house in the winter half of the year ever. I want one! I'm not sure it is really practical in the town but it is definitely on the "maybe" wish list. Wood supply would be a bit of a problem although we would be happy to cut down some of those neighbours' trees that block so much light from our garden...

Anyway, I reckon we spent about £200 on the week, including petrol, plus food mainly from the cupboards and freezer plus a bit of salad and suchlike from Aldi - probably less than £220 in all. Lots of rest and health benefits = priceless.

And our daughter and her husband came down for a day to visit so that my granddaughter could help feed all the animals. Fabulous!