Our friend Francis House sadly and unexpectedly died in his sleep on 15th February - he was only 59. He had been to stay with us 2 weeks previously, and we had had a great weekend. Whilst he was here, he found his own Plymouth pub ... in Francis Street!
We visited Lydford Grove, which is mentioned on his blog which he started recently ... looks as if he is about to throw Bob in (but unfortunately didn't)!
We took him up to Dartmoor, which despite the rather dismal weather still looked spectacular. Whilst there he met some ponies ...
He also took many photographs of Dartmoor, which are shown below, he certainly captures the bleak beauty of the moor - by chance, he had exactly the same camera as mine, and put it to good use!
Francis had a dry and slightly acerbic sense of humour with a keen intelligence which hid a kind heart. There have been many tributes paid to him, but I think the most apt one referred to him as "one of nature's gentlemen". He was a good friend, and will be sadly missed by us all.
