In our usual fashion, we are blogging April’s holidays in December!
April 4-14: Ireland Road Trip – Part 1
April 4-14: Ireland Road Trip – Part 2
June 28: Day Trip to London
July 4-5: Week-end Trip to Dover and Battle
July 9: Sarah’s First Missing Tooth
“It’s one o’ dem tings what is is dat wakes you up in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat wondering how it’s all going to come together…” To parody Eccles and Bluebottle
Nothing new in buying a house, well versed in the concept, but this time it’s a bit more of a thing than dem other things what is…
But let me not get into all that!
So here are some photos…
Below, the playground literally 30 seconds walk from the front door embedded in the “ancient woodland” that borders our new (hopefully) home. The kids can play here and I could call them from the back yard and they’d be able to hear me, well theoretically speaking. Practically, I can stand a metre away from them, speak directly into their eager faces and they don’t / won’t hear me… but anyway, the thought is nice.
The last bit of green grass near home – the approach from the park. Our place is not visible from here, we’re set one house away from the end visible here. 
Bugz standing in front of our back yard fence – ancient woodland on the left, lovely lovely. 
Approach from the road – we’re the house behind the Tudor in the centre of the shot, can’t see us from here, but the road is pretty too, don’t you think? 
There it is, the one behind the Jeep! Hopefully the tree in front will be a bit more fuzzy when summer rolls around!
1x Hunny in front of 1x new house
Pathway to afore-mentioned park, play area and ancient woodland…
Lounge, not surprisingly. No more carpets – Hooray!
Standing in the lounge, and looking back towards the back yard, dining room first, then the conservatory where Hayley is standing.
Dining room looking toward lounge
Much better kitchen – gas n all.
Conservatoire!
Bedroom
Same one
Play room – it’s pink enough to qualify, no arguments here
Landing
Nuther one bedroom (study perhaps?)
Master bedroom
Loft apartment, lounge in front, bedroom behind and en-suite on the right
And that’s it until all the stars, banks, tax clearances, credit scores, contracts, transfers and the billion other things, including a few ducks line up!
So the night finally came, the kids have been in and out of their scary kit for weeks in anticipation. It really is the first Halloween of any significance we’ve experienced, and it seems to be quite an event.
We stocked up on the candy, gutted a pumpkin (or 3), and though we were out most of the evening at the fireworks show, we still managed to serve a few trick or treaters.
Tonight’s main event was the fireworks display though, and I’ve been really looking forward to it. Held in a park but a mile or so up the road from us, on a huge sports field. En-route we noticed loads of families and groups of kids out with axes in their heads, etc going from house to house, bags of sweets in hand. At the venue - lots of darkness, with lots of lights for sale, lots of people there to see the show, and quite a festive vibe to it all.
These are some shots of the kids (and us) playing with light.
Below is Sarah painting on the night.
Ambers turn 
Then we got to writing names… this was a little more interesting 
But they turned out nicely – this is a form I would love to experiment more with.
A view over the crowd – everyone waiting for the show to begin
Ok, ok, so I don’t have any good firework shots! Mainly because I chose my 1.8 standard for the display, which was just way to fast, I’d have stopped it down, but then I had a very nervous child crawling up my leg when some of the larger rockets covered the sky… poor thing. 
Next time, I will do better - (and take my tripod!!)
Over and ooooooooooowt!
Greetings from the blogless Woods, it has been a while…
Ah well, we are all back on track having bidden farewell to the unwelcome swine, who with the exception of Amber, left us alone for the most part. Saz had a fever for a few days, and some mild symptoms, but nothing close to what poor Amma had to deal with.
The girls are both in good health, currently on a holiday camp and loving every moment of it.
It’s Jack time of year again, and so, as is becoming the custom, we have dutifully carved out our lantern in preparation for Saturday. This year, we have to be ready for trick-or-treaters, tho, I don’t think ours will be venturing out just yet… but I may be wrong. Sarah wants to do up the front of the house with glowing lanterns etc to advertise, if she gets her way, we are going to have to be well stocked.
Please pay no mind to the disaster zone that is my kitchen tonight… nothing good has happened here today :s
The other bit of run-up news was the school disco for the kids here’s some imagery from that evening…
The party was one of those that leaves me feeling that the next generation of party animals is well on it’s way. They grow up SO young… I remember Std 5 well, and I don’t remember it being this advanced, not by a long way. True, that was several decades ago, so perhaps, the next generation of fuddy-duddies is also on track!
Will see you again soon – I hope!
Sarah, being the brave soul that she is, decided that I should pull her wiggly tooth.
This is Sarah, still excited and chipper, not realising what is about to happen
This is the first expression of shock after Colin ripped the tooth out
And then the giggling set in along with the 1 x big gaping hole
And Sarah became 2 pounds richer, thanks to the tooth fairy
Our first tea stop on the way to Dover was at The Teapot Island in Yalding on the river.
Being a hot day, everyone was making the most of the water
The Teapot Island Restaurant had a very interesting sideline… they made ceramic teapots. But ceramic teapots in all shapes and sizes – from dancing figurines to the queen’s head…
Next stop at the local farm stall near Chilham, called Badgers Hill Farm & Cidery. They had some unusual animals around and about, and a very quaint farm stall.
We could not resist buying a pint of their local cider – although I don’t think we got much beyond one glass each.
Now, Canterbury was a REAL treat. This town made me feel like we were back on the continent exploring old crooked villages. This is a truly authentic little town and great to explore.
The MOST crooked house I have come across
The last stop of the day was Dover before heading to our B&B in Deal. We had dinner at the docks, followed by a stroll along the top of the cliffs.
Colin was so inspired that he got up at Sparrow’s Fart to try to catch the sunrise on the cliffs – unfortunately it was an overcast morning so the trip was not a total success.
Our B&B in Deal was alongside the sea shore, so after breakfast in the morning, we took a stroll along the beach and out onto the pier. The village was very beautiful, all in bloom.
The other treat of the journey through Kent, was sampling the world famous Kent cherries and strawberries. At each farm stall, we would stock up on berries (and usually polish them off before we were back in the car)
Our journey from Deal took us back past Dover and then around the coastline past some very beautiful towns, including the historic village of Rye. Unfortunately, we zoomed past this one too fast, that it is on my list of places to revisit and spend a few more leisurely hours in.
Finally, we went through Hastings and then back up to Battle to visit Battle Abbey where the battle of 1066 took place during the Norman invasion.
But first! Cream Tea! (for the uninitiated, this is not a cup of tea with a dollop of cream – these are scones with jam and Devonshire Clotted Cream with tea – YUM YUM!!)
This is the front view of the Abbey which is alongside the battle field
And this is the girls doing “The Turkey”.
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