Hayley’s Birthday

Well, today I was thoroughly spoilt!

Woken up with Pressies in bed;

Followed by Coffee at a bookstore with Colin (buying travel books, of course); Lunch at the river with the folks;

Afternoon birthday cake with the family;

What more could a girl want!

Fathers Day at Savill Royal Gardens

“The Royal Landscape is an area of a thousand acres of gardens and parkland, accessible to the public, at the southern end of Windsor Great Park. It includes The Savill Garden, The Valley Gardens and Virginia Water Lake. It is a man-made landscape, which has been shaped and planted over a period of 400 years. The Crown Estate is the owner and steward of Windsor Great Park.”

It is Fathers Day and I have a serious hankering for English Cream Tea.  And no, this is not a dollop of cream in a cup of tea, it means big chunky scones piled high with jam and cornish clotted cream and the tea comes on the side.

After a few minutes of google searching for the best place to have cream tea, I came across the Royal Savill Gardens with their tea room renowned for … Cream Tea! Plus the fathers enter free on Fathers day!

The grounds were really stunning and we took our time meandering through the many paths into secret gardens, winter gardens, spring gardens and beautiful formal summer gardens.

As we neared the back fence, we heard the sound of bugles.  We ran over to the fence in time to watch a whole procession of horse drawn carts trotting past.

Sarah leading the way with her trusty map.

 

The flowers were beautiful, but Colin’s photography even better.

Day trip to Stonehenge, Wardour Castle, and Fordingsbridge

Week-end 2 and a packed itinerary planned – Stonehenge, Wardour Castle and dinner with Aunty Jude & Uncle Peter at Fordingsbridge.

After a late start out the front door, Stonehenge was first on the agenda.  The weather was a bit grim at the start, but it brightened up brilliantly towards the end for some great shots of the henge. 

After parking the van, we stopped for a picnic snack out the boot of the car.

The Woods were HERE!

And so were the STREETERS!

Next stop Wardour Castle.  This was the site of the filming of Robin Hood with Kevin Costner.  It is a beautifully romantic castle.

Romantic enough for a wedding which was underway.  Colin’s camera worked overtime today!

Wedding party enjoying cocktails on the lawn           

 

After Wardour castle, we went down South to meet Judith & Peter for supper.  They found a great pub restaurant on the river “The George Inn”.  It was a great spot to kick back and enjoy a brew.

Sports Day at School

English weather being what it is, the girls’ sports day had to be postponed by a week because of a sodden field. Fortunately messers Duckworth and Lewis were not called upon, the day was left to unfold as it would. As it was, we had a narrow escape with touch and go conditions for most of the day.

Recollection of my childhood sports days had more to do with trying to dodge the cross-country draft, and other endurance nasties… a 400m sprint is still the stuff of nightmares. Amber and Saz’s day was a varied one, with competitive activities ranging from skipping (how many jumps can you complete in a minute), shooting for goal in mini-soccer, tossing bean-bags into hoops etc, before anything track took place. Still, there was a lot of fun to be had, and it was.

No photography of the off-track activities was allowed, ditto for the first event of every track race. Apparently there are people who have too much to fear in life. Nothing a year in ZA wouldn’t cure.

Here we are, the old, the young and the neither, waiting for the days events to begin.

Saz the speed queen… the races were mixed, with boys and girls competing in the same events, not the levelest of competitions, but still…

Squeeze came in with some good placements

Amber, not as nimble as her sister still scored for her house, but the boys in this group were astonishingly quick.

What follows is the customary inclusion of the “impossible races”. The best strategy is to hold the hoop on your head / ball in the spoon and belt it down the track – our kids are just too honest for podium places.

Well done kiddies!

The moms and dads did a tug-o-war each, it was good fun, can’t remember the last time I strained so!