A few people have suggested I blog rather than email our photo updates and so here goes and hopefully this will keep inboxes free from photo heavy emails but still able to share what we have been up to.
This year I worked both Christmas and New Year's Day but to make up for this we had 6 days off in between which we spent in Wiltshire with my parents with varying combinations of other family members.
Advent found us exploring a new venue courtesy of our friend John.
Though nothing like the amount of people in there when we visited as in the photos on their site! Just a couple who vanished hastily on our appearance... Had a good time testing some real ciders though you can see the one I didn't like which had been aged in some oak (I think) barrels and it did not have the nicest taste and had lost a lot of its ciderishness.
I took John to Sondes Tea House on his birthday which is a place I need only time and an excuse to go to. It is not open again til Feb due to some refurbishment but hopefully it will retain it's character but with a more reliable boiler!
The photo below is of one of our previous residences that is no more no more. Clearly the cheapest way to prevent squatters is to demolish the building. For those that don't know or don't recognise the location it is in fact Southlands in Bobbing, near Shittingbourne.
We could navigate the building as we could work out where things had been from the shape of the floor. It was like walking on an architects plan - literally five years ago on this day John had been hosting his 60th birthday party here.
A walk in Coxheath with Meg & Angus - two Scotties that I walk as I volunteer for The Cinnamon Trust and we found this robin that was ignoring local regulations and was risking a parking ticket and a clamp if it stayed there much longer.
Other walks showed the floods - the Medway rose a lot but as the hill we live on is steep it will take a lot of water before it gets to us. The folks down in the valley are less lucky though...
This is how the lock should look like:
(not my photo)
And this is how it looked when we visited it recently.... there is no lock and no path.... and those folks above would
Looking the other way across the bridge... the two metal poles sticking up bottom right are the top of the anti cycling framework that narrows at the top so you have to get off and walk through so are several feet high.
It went down for Christmas though came back up. again recently with the second lot of rain.
I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so we went to the "midnight" service at 9.30pm at West Farleigh as it meant I could get to bed earlier than the 11.30pm one at East Farleigh and then being up at 6am to get to work on time. This is a quick snap of West Farleigh Church. Carpetted no less!
Oh Christmas Tree....
We had a bit mix and match with our Christmas presents. We opened our stockings and Some presents. The rest were packed and Woody drove us down to Wiltshire once I had got in from work and we'd had The Grand Opening.
A friend of mine and I are also celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas so there was ongoing present opening until Epiphany which was great but requires forethought and have already started the collection for next year in the January sales!
Whilst in Wiltshire we visited Mottisfont which was Flower Fairy themed.
You had to spot a flower fairy in every room...
In their display room they had works from students who had made clothing inspired by particular flower fairies.
There are some lovely trees in the gardens and we don't know why Papa's initials (Nigel Rex) were also visiting but nice to see him!
Woody enjoyed the walled garden....
And we found some Peaky Blinders in the shop....
Another day and another walk, this time the Town Walk around and into Salisbury which has also experienced some flooding....
Woody rapidly lost weight....
There was Wiltshire's answer to Niagara Falls...
And a night walk found us in the local park doing our exercises...
In town Woody and I only found one of the Nutcracker Suite but we didn't have the guide with us to be fair so good that we found one at all!
We enjoyed a visit to friends in Dorset briefly and Princess Lil enjoyed time with Woody... fluff up your nose
We also enjoyed a visit to Ramsbury and met up with Tony and Estrid whom we hadn't seen since just after our wedding - embarrassingly 6 years ago.... much easier now parents live in Salisbury so hope to see more of them now.
We stopped off in Stockbridge on our way back. M&D had come in their car so we went for a walk on Stockbridge Down and then, well if the bears can do it then so can we...
Racing up the hills.....which should be down on the Down really
And then we went back to Stockbridge for another spot of Bear Spotting. Actually found this by chance as we found a place open for lunch. Watch out for wind!
The view up Stockbridge High Street - all Very Nice Round Here you know.
And a very good pizza! Happy to stop here again!
More recent shenanigans to follow and good to hear from everyone xxx
I waas intrigued when I read that you holidayed with your family in Wilshie, and especially when you mentioned visiting in Ramsbury, as my brother lives in a lovely medieval cottage on the Hungerford Road between Ramsbury and Aldbourne - very close by! It is a lovely part of the country.
ReplyDeleteUI will be back in England from the beginning of March and hope we can meet up again sometime in the spring.
All good wishes,
Jeanne.