Road Tripping Part 2

The last part of our trip was also our longest stop. And it wanted to be as well. The last leg was Sussex, and my Cousins.

They are all younger than me, with the youngest being less than two years older then Fin. I grew up looking after these boys on family holidays and visits, and it was so deeply heart-warming to hear the sound of them reading to my boys in bed, or playing with them in the garden.

Fred helping to organise the hose for car washing.

This was the highlight of the trip though! The Selmeston Village show. Oh yes, the Village Show, you know the score. And if you don't, if you are either not affiliated with a village, or have just never taken yourself along to one, then you must. Almost every village in the country has one, and they all follow the same blueprint, more or less. What you really need is the list of entries, that's the best bit. Deciding whether to enter category 15.a) 'single floating fuscia flower in a wine glass', or maybe 23 'assortment of tropical fruit on a plate', or perhaps go all out for 67 'fruit cake (boiled, not banana or carrot)'.

My lovely Aunt Lucy is on the committee, so was very busy with marquee erecting and hamper arrangement, but had also entered all the categories she thought she could reasonably manage. The various bits of veg and flowers were assembled, and she had a small paper plate of the the best of a batch of meringues waiting to go. The only thing that was left to do was the cheese straws, which my youngest cousin Will's girlfriend Beth had said she would make. So, at about 9.30pm on the eve of the show, in someone else's kitchen, Beth and I made some cheese straws. We even managed to stop Will and Tris from eating all of them before they too were put on their little paper plate to be entered into 59 'cheese straws (3 on a plate)'

The tense gathering to hear the raffle called.

And third prize for the cheese straws! Oh I tried so hard not to be bothered, but third prize in a baking category at a village garden show is not something to be sniffed at, believe me. It's a cut throat, dog eat dog kind of a culture, and the W.I are not to be messed with.



Road Tripping Part 1

So, the summer....

Yes, I know that was ages ago, and I should have blogged this sooner, but we have been ever so busy with the start of a new term and the re-start of my classes.

In fact the only real reason that this post is so late is that my computer has decided that uploading photos to Blogger is just soooo last season and to get any pics on here is currently requiring the patience of a Saint and an evening entirely devoid of more important things to do.

And I have neither.

Ok, so road trip

First stop was Bristol, then on to stay with my beautiful sister and her Mum in Gloucestershire.

We took the boys to Bowood House, a large country estate with this brilliant adventure playground within its grounds.

And fairly typically, this is Jack in the safety nets! This drew quite a crowd, especially when Fin had to get in there to rescue him.

Fin doing his best to get Kirsty to be sick

We left Gloucestershire and headed over to my smashing mates new home in Epsom. This was last time I visited them.

So, are Epsom and Ewell Borough Council a) the most naive Council in the UK, or b) the only council in the UK with a sense of humour?

Please, if anyone knows of a better named shopping centre anywhere in the UK, do let me know.

Kite flying on Epsom Downs.

A good dose of tree hugging in Nonsuch Park

Is it the association with ice creams, or the having your photo taken that becomes unacceptable at the age of 12?

Using Epsom as a base we spent a soggy but fantastic day in London with the splendidly dressed Uncle Ben and friends. There is nothing quite like a damp 3 year old for ruining a perfectly good suit!!

We went to the Natural History Museum which was immense. Unfortunately being a wet day in the summer holidays, we were joined by most of London!

It was such a great place for the boys though, and so lovely to spend some time with Ben and his friends, having not seen him since Cornwall.



From here we moved on to Sussex, but that will have to wait until I feel a Saint-like dose of patience coming on!

Half Term in Cornwall

My Birthday and half term in Cornwall.

sea,

rock pools,

raw birthday cake,

woods,

Pimms,

barbeques,

kick the can,

seaweed,

evenings,

lobster,

beautiful days,

beautiful people,

happy children,

delicious food,

and laughing.

Lots and lots of laughing.

And all over far, far too soon.

More photos to follow when I find the cable for my phone!

And now 31! I have issues with that that I didn't have with turning 30. I couldn't begin to fathom why.





To London

It was my very dear friends 30th last Sunday, so I went to London for a visit. I went alone, just me, no children, no husband, just me. This is the first time I have had any time off when I wasn't teaching since I was about 7 months pregnant with Fred.

I love going to see my friend. Living so far away, and both living our busy and hectic lives, we don't see nearly enough of each other. So to have a whole weekend with her was luxury.

 But the journey, oh the journey, what bliss! An hour on a bus, an hours wait at the train station, then nearly 4 hours on a train, and the same coming back! Just me and my knitting and the occasional cup of peppermint tea. I honestly enjoy the journey as much as the visit!

I don't think you can really appreciate time spent on your own until you have none. Likewise anyone who says they are bored just clearly has too much free time on their hands and a lack of imagination. I can't imagine ever getting through all the things I'd like to do to get to the point of feeling bored!

Oh, and these? They were bought in Clapham, in a sale I hasten to add, and have become my 'when you reach your target weight' reward shoes. So for now I just get them out of the box and smell them a lot! I love the smell of new shoes!

France - My 'Official French Birthday'

As we were actually flying back the day before my birthday, it was decided that I should have a birthday day in France. The day started in the best way possible, we went to a market. it wasn't a huge or brilliant market, but that was just right or we might have spent too long there, and there were other things to do.

Like go to Limeuil and play in the Vezere

And then go to 'Le Chai' for the best pizza ever followed by one of their delicious sorbets.

I had a salmon and aubergine pizza and, after wrestling with the choices for an almost impolite length of time, finally settled on one 'boule' of dark chocolate, and one 'boule' of cassis sorbet.

                           

We then took the huge bag of stale bread that the lovely lady in the restaurant had given us, and went back down to the river bank to torment the ducks and holler at the canoeists some more.

We went home late, soaked, full and happy. It was a beautiful and brilliant birthday day. We finished it off with a few 'white ladies', a bit of barbecue and a chocolate cake with strawberries.

Perfect.

France - Exploring

Does it count as exploring if you know the place well? If it's your favourite town in the area? Well we explored Monpazier, both during the market and when the streets were clear. Monpazier is a bastide town, built inside a large square outer wall of houses, with the streets on a grid. They were built to be easily defended, but they are also often very beautiful.

Monpazier has a central market where the upper floors of the buildings overhang the lower, and are held up by huge old stone arches. The resulting arcade underneath is home to wooden toy shops and antique shops and dressmakers selling things I would only wear to a fancy dress party!

The central square houses the market on Thursday mornings, and though I do love a market, I almost prefer this little town without. It is also home to Gaya, a beautiful home wares shop tucked into a side street. Full of old furniture, vintage style canisters and clocks, and ornaments and decorations almost always to my taste.

 

I bought two of the same little stoneware chicken ornaments as presents, and was given one myself the following day by my Ma. I would happily furnish and accessorise my house entirely from this shop.

The lovely man inside also took a shine to Fred, and gave him this little metal elephant coat hook as a gift. It is now waiting patiently on my chest of drawers for the boys room to be separated when it can take up its rightful position on the back of Fred's door.

And castles, always have to find a castle or two. This is Castlenaud. Again, we have been here before, but it's still exploring.

And after a hot trawl around a castle you obviously have to paint yourself with chocolate ice cream.

Then there is the kind of exploring that I think I inherited from my Mother. The kind that drives my husband mad. Its the kind of exploring that happens when you catch a glimpse of something as you drive past, and insist on stopping for a better look. Its the kind that has you running around unknown villages looking a bit like a stalker!

But look at this!

Apparently it's owned by Americans who don't have the funds to repair it, so instead they visit occasionally to watch it crumble. I could cry for it's lost splendour.

France - To Market

There is almost nothing I love more than pottering around the French markets early in the morning. Our market ritual starts early to avoid the crowds and heat, and almost always involves a stint at a street side cafe for coffee (or tea in my case) and croissants.

French markets are wonderful, full of life and colour. I managed a market pretty much every morning that we were there. I was even given an extra Birthday treat by my husband who stayed at home with the boys so that my Ma and I could go to Le Bugue market together.

We meandered through the market, chatting to people she knows, trying on armfuls of brightly coloured dresses, drooling over the beautiful quilted bedspreads so common in this region, being offered tastes of cheeses and meats and saucisson and being spoken to in French and English and Dutch, sometimes by the same person.

It was as perfect a morning as I could imagine.