This was the second holiday the family took at Bowerland Farm in 1990. The day of their arrival on Saturday 11 August was eventful from the beginning. Malcolm had sold his car the day before and had arranged to pick up the replacement that he had bought in Southampton that morning. He had agreed to bring cash by way of payment and he had alerted his branch of the bank that he would be collecting it on that Saturday. At the branch he was unexpectedly told that they could not issue that amount on a Saturday which alarmed Malcolm as so much depended upon it. He took them to task as he had notified them in advance. However, the problem was resolved when they issued a money order.

Malcolm had son James with him and they next went to meet the seller in the car park of Southampton railway station where he was waiting with the car, a metallic light green Rover 3500 litre, similar to his previous blue one. Malcolm soon noticed that the car was dropping oil but he was now in a situation where he had no car without this and the family were off on holiday that same day so he went through with the deal. The seller accepted the money order without question. On the way home, the cruise control mechanism ceased working. On inspection later he found that a bodged repair had come undone and, despite several attempts, he was never able to fix it.

Once back at home, the car was loaded and the family set off for Okehampton. They had only gone a few miles when, in a narrow country lane, an oncoming car clipped his wing mirror and broke the glass. As the other car stopped, Malcolm got out and exchanged pleasantries before continuing with the journey. Thereafter, things settled down until they were within a mile of their destination and ran into a traffic jam.

It was a pleasant holiday exploring Dartmoor and surrounding areas despite the weather being fairly overcast most of the time. Malcolm and James explored some of the former railway lines as usual. In order to keep occupied indoors, Malcolm and the bays brought some Airfix aeroplane kits to make.