Last Day

We have had a quiet day at "home".  I caught up on the laundry, used up food from the fridge, baked some goodies for the weekend, returned the borrowed books from the church next door, packed the car and helped Pip with a friendship bracelet!

 Al fresco breakfast.

 Pip helping with the laundry.

 Reading the friendship bracelet instructions.

 

 The finished article.

We have had a lovely holiday and instead of returning straight home, we are making a detour and stopping with Sara and Tom at Threave.  Catch up with you soon xx

This is also post number 500, quite a milestone!

Alnwick Gardens

Yesterday we visited Alnwick gardens, we visited there last year  and the kids had such a fab time it was on their list of must see places this holiday.

 On our way.

 This was the one place that we missed last year, so we made it a number one priority this time.  The  kids did very well listening to the talk, losing interest only towards the end!

  Curved beds full of beautiful but deadly plants, including aconite and belladonna, my number one go to homeopathic remedies!!

 Donation Box!

 This homeopathic medicine came in handy at the end of the day when I encountered a rather unpleasant migraine!

 Pip enjoying the cold water channels dotted around the ornamental beds.

I think Padre Pio once intoned that if God promises you a rose garden, be aware of the thorns!  You just cannot have one without the other and a very good analogy of our life circumstances right now.

Despite carrying food and drinks with us, we did succumb to a hot drink stop.  We had too, my joints were inflammed and very sore and a dose of painkillers and a caffeine hit were the order of the day.  On our way back to the car and before the rain fell, we made our way to the bottom of the cascade and the kids had fun in the water and with the diggers:

 Water Jets.

 Loving the water.

 You are never too old to ride a digger!  Benedict was really sweet and showed a child much younger than himself how to tip up and drop the front bucket :-)

Once home I managed to throw together a tea and then with another dose of meds and a cup of Earl Grey Tea, I made my way up to bed. 

(DH Note: The Earl Grey of the tea fame is the 2nd Earl Grey of Howick and he lived at Howick Hall, just 5 miles east of Alnwick, so the tea choice was quite appropriate)

Picnic Breakfast :: Tully's Tea Room :: Lovely Lunch

Pip was up bright and early at 5:30 am so by 6:00 am we were having a bagel breakfast and a cup of tea on our bed :

After her second breakfast at 9:00 am of crackers and boiled egg  both her and I sallied forth into the village for some extra provisions for lunch.  We made our way up the hill and popped into the local RSPCA charity shop where Pip bought a story book for 20p.

 Hugging a pot pooch!

 We then made our way up the hill ...

... past Vera's Flat, and on up to the Co-op shop for courgettes, pesto and refuse sacks before making our way back down to...

 Tully's Tea Room and Health Food Shop

 Once inside Pip chose a lemonade, I had a cup of tea and we shared some gluten free ginger biscuits as I am still feeling nauseous from this virus:

 The tiny tea area was seated at the back of the shop and was totally cosy and cute.  There was a magazine rack of interesting reads and whilst I sat and flipped through one of them, Pip was leafing through her new book:

 " Argh, you taking pictures again mama!"

 Pip's lemonade and our shared biscuits.

 My tea in a bone china cup.

Once home I made a start on the lunch ~ peppers and courgettes stuffed with breadcrumbs, garlic, sundried tomatoes, courgette flesh and pesto and topped with somerset brie cheese.  This was served with a baby leaf spinach salad and a yummy treat it was too.  Afterwards we shared a bowl of fruit salad.

We had hoped to venture forth on a trip round the village with Dave using Uncle Bernard's mobility scooter but the rising temperatures had affected Dave's already poor walking and the early morning start had also caught up with me and so we pottered around at home.  The kids made a den using a sheet and a few chairs, we read stories, drew pictures and I even managed a row or two of knitting in between some zzzzz's!

We have met several of our neighbours who are very kind and welcoming and the cleaner came today to pick up her phone and we had a long chat with her.  Apparantly the previous holiday folk had left the house in a terrible state and she had to draft in help to get through the work yesterday.  It was a good job we were running late and had not turned up at three o'clock as stated. In fact as we arrived just after five o'clock yesterday she had in fact just finished only minutes earlier!!

We did manage a river walk and play ground trip after tea and now both kids are sleeping peacefully ~ I am just about to follow suit, after all I could be in for another early start! x 

Tulip Cottage

It was very much a case of lastminute.com!  Not the booking of this cottage, but my organising all the associated packing and sorting pertinent to a holiday.  We were up until midnight last night and then I was awake at six this morning.  As I suspected, I was starting with a virus, not a great prospect at the start of a holiday.  Thankfully our homeopath came up with a remedy which I took hourly for three doses and then staggered throughout the day.  I am not fully fit but my symptoms are bearable, thank God!

The journey went well and we broke our journey at a half way point for a coffee and loo stop at Tesco in Hexham.  We had thought to make a stop at the Abbey but since we were later than planned leaving home, it made sense to keep our visit short.  We were also able to pick up some much needed fresh groceries to supplement the dried goods brought from home.

We haven't however been without some interesting moments during the course of the day:

We hadn't got far from home and upon entering the lane designated for the motorway junction, an ambulance needed access into our lane, no other cars were moving and I did my best to pull to one side.  Upon arriving into our destination of Rothbury, I for some reason looked down at the front bumper on the car and it has a multiple scratches all along the passenger side :-(

I was really struggling to drive and at one point narrowly missed hitting a crash barrier at the side of the road ~ time for Dave to take over.  

The heat is affecting Dave and the MS symptoms and driving has been painful for me due to a trapped nerve in my back, ouch!

Once again the car parking space for the cottage is no where near the cottage!!  It was very interesting ferrying all our stuff into the house :-)

We found a mobile phone on the bench in the courtyard and so have left a text message with the cottage owner to let them know.  It turns out that the phone actually belongs to the cleaner!  As I was messaging the owner, her number came up on the lost phone!!

I dropped a bottle of wine as I was extracating myself from the passenger seat of the car!  Dave rang the co-operative shop where the item was bought and they will replace it free of charge :-)

Despite these tiny hiccups, we have all settled in nicely and were seranaded whilst eating our tea in the courtyard:

 On the front gate.

 The courtyard.

 The basement games room!

 Pool and table football.

Utility room off the games room ... luxury!

 Downstairs bedroom going begging, who's coming to stay?!!

Downtairs family bathroom.

 Family lounge and dining room.

 Kitchen off the lounge, left hand side.

 

 Middle.

Right hand side ~ look at all those cupboards!

  The crockery even has room too, no trawling into the dining room for items!  This kitchen is not much bigger than ours at home, but since it doesn't have a back door to accomodate, that is where the extra space is gained.

 Our bedroom.

 Cute en-suite bathroom which is not much smaller than our family bathroom at home!

View from our bedroom window.

The kids bedroom is a good size and accomates a bunk bed (which is a double on the bottom and a single on top) and a single on the opposite side of the room. The kids love it!

Well I had better close as I need to work out what we are going to do tomorrow.  Dave is having fun actually watching TV!  The Beatles, "It's a hard days night!"  Re- living his youth interests!

Night, night xx