Lovely, local, lunch and laughter......

We never get together often (she's always so busy) but when friendKK and I manage to synchronise a free day out we always have fun and yesterday was no exception.

My first dilemma was what to wear. It looked so lovely and spring like but I knew it was colder than it looked, so it had to be layers, warm enough but not heavy if I ended up having to carry not wear and a rain coat as Hubby assured me we would have heavy showers at midday.

FriendKK arrived about 10ish and we headed out to a place she knows just over the Suffolk border into Essex.

Hall Farm Shop is just off the A12 on the way into Stratford St Mary and the gateway to Constable Country.

Hall Farm got some pretty impressive awards for being the ‘Best Farm Shop’ in 2008 and the ‘Best Informal Dining Venue’ in 2009 – so worth a visit. The Suffolk Food & Drink Awards granted them Best Farm Shop 2011 and they pride themselves on offering everything you may need for a weekly shop plus much more!

They have a wonderful cafe open for breakfast and serves lunch and afternoon tea. There is a shop and deli to browse round before enjoying a relaxing cup of coffee or tea in the cafe.



We were just popping into the restaurant to reserve a table for lunch but decided to start as we meant to go on and have tea and cake as elevenses......my coffee and walnut cake was enormous but as light as a father so I ate the lot mmmmm. The windows of the restaurant area look out onto the farm land and we watched goats and alpacas and sheep wandering around. And we talked and caught up on life, families, friends and general gossip.

Leaving there we got into the car and the heavens opened into a really heavy shower and sure enough it was 12:05pm hahaha.

We drove into Dedham village and parked just as the rain stopped! We marveled again at the houses covered in wisteria (quite famous locally). We have so many lovely villages.

We headed into the art and craft centre which is run as a co-operative and is very big inside, packed with a great variety of stuff that kept us there browsing for nearly two hours!

   http://www.dedhamartandcraftcentre.co.uk/


Then it was back to Hall Farm for lunch, we both had the grilled mackerel fillet on a bed of cabbage and sanfire in a butter and crab sauce with new potatoes, truly scrumptious! Conversation carried on as always with not much time between each recollection of what we used to do together and hilarious memories of past times, we always laugh a lot. Neither of us had dessert, not so soon after the morning cake, there just wasn't room for any more!

Then of course we had a good wander round the farm shop and I bought some huge scones to bring home for Hubby (his favourite). As we were leaving the car park we spotted the pigs in the nearby pen had two young piglets in there too so we watched them for a little bit too.

Heading homewards and then a sudden diversion into Bypass nurseries at Capel St Mary.
They have so many departments other than the huge plant nursery including their pet store called "Cats, rats and elephants" which I knew was a memory so far back that I couldn't quite grab, so frustrating and made worse because I couldn't get an Internet signal in there to look it up. I just did and it was from The Unicorn Song by The Irish Rovers, find it on YouTube and you may remember it too. Of course I now have it as an ear worm!

Home with just enough time for a quick cup of tea and to show friendKK my new studio space, and she is so jealous (her words) as we used to do so much of our crafting together which I'm now back to but she doesn't have time until she hopes when she has retired in two years time.

Waved her off then rushed around to sort some art stuff to take and check if I'm giving friendDJ a lift (unfortunately he's still not feeling well enough) and get out for art group, followed by live music at Olive's Bar and home just as the street lights went out.


Disclosure: none of the photos are mine, I pinched them all off Google searches as I was having too much fun to take photos. 
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#DOI.....

No not a twitter post but a whole day out for the Dancing on Ice Final Tour.
Hubby and I took R and E to the show five years ago and when it was announced that this would be the very last tour we asked if they wanted to do it again and they did. My niecesS&L were booking so we did it all together so we could sit together.

I've no photos, sorry, far too busy enjoying ourselves :-)
Hubby picked up the girls from home at midday, back here for lunch, set off just after 2pm and got to Wembley and our pre-paid yellow carpark just after 4pm. After a bit of a walk round the Designer Outlet Shopping Centre we went into Prezzo for dinner (my discount card effectively got the girls' pizzas for free).

As we were finishing we were swapping text with my nieces who had found a dodgy kebab shop to eat in. We all then met up in the Starbucks right by the Arena entrance, they had a friend with them so seven of us walking through the crowds to our seats struggling to keep together.

The show was really good of course.
The celebrity line up was Gareth Gates, Bonnie Langford, Suzanne Shaw, Beth Tweddle, Jo Pasquale, Kyran Bracken, Hayley Tamaddon and Ray Quinn of course as the untimate winner of the final TV series.
The judges were Robin, Karen and Nicky.
And Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean did all the comparing as well as a lot of skating.

Jo did a very funny performance of teaching us the basics and stripped down to pretty skating dress to show us what it's like for the girls. There was a beautiful dance by the professionals with the three girls wearing huge swan wings. Everyone performed a lot and so well.
The show ended with Jane and Chris performing their Bolero!

Very late home and all straight to bed happy :-)
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Freezing cold and hot pot....

Had a lovely day out with Daughter, E and O. It was really cold and windy, we could feel the wind pushing against the car. First stop was Parcour, for the children. O was in the first group and E was in the third group. The hall was cold but nowhere near as cold as outside. While the middle group were running and jumping around on crash mats we walked round the corner to the play park......shiverred for barely 5 minutes when E and I had to walk back again, Daughter and O came back very soon after!

When we were done there it was off to Museum of East Anglian Life
We were meeting up with lots of other home-ed families and we first met in a room full of tables and chairs and we hurridly ate our packed lunch that Daughter brought.
I've loved this museum since we moved here more than 30 years ago and took our children often. One of the things I love most is that it's not one large building it's a collection of barns and warehouse buildings and cottages and ponds and bridges and lots of outdoor space between the exhibits, brrrr not so good in this weather!

We headed home with just enough time for Daughter to have a quick cuppa then dash off again, only to find that Hubby and R had gone shopping, so frantic phonecalls and a gulped coffee and Daughter flew off to get R from the front door of Sainsbury's then get E and a fast asleep O home and get R to her dance lesson!!!!

Meanwhile I had lots of tea and tried to warm myself up.

Our lovely next door neighbour-friendsP&A then called in to look at the kitchen progress and invite us in for dinner :-)   She had had beef in the slow cooker all day served with mash and veg and good company so a great way to warm up!
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Castles, Tudors, friends and relations....

Make a coffee first this is a long one  :o)


Friday 6th - Hubby and I had planned a day out with SisterM and her hubby. Sadly SisterM's cancer is progressing and she is now feeling a bit too weak in the legs for much walking around so we borrowed a wheelchair from our local Community Charity Shop. The weather was not good so there was no rush but hubby had assured me it was going to clear later and if we headed into Kent we had a better chance of staying shower free, so that's what we did, choosing Hever Castle as our destination. Still raining when we got there so had a lovely pub lunch first then as forecast the sun came out, the puddles dried and we had a really lovely afternoon in the castle and the gardens and even sat outside for afternoon tea. Got them home and didn't even stay for a cuppa as Friday evening traffic is always terrible coming east. We all really enjoyed the day.

Saturday 7th - When FriendsL&K wanted to arrange a day to meet up I told them of our plans to visit Kentwell Hall for the Tudor re-enactment and they jumped at the chance to join us there. We picked up M and D at 10am then met our friends in the carpark at Kentwell at 11am. Hubby changed up some money to Tudor groats and pennies so we could buy things inside then we walked through the time tunnel into 1556. I've been there a few times now and still totally amazed at being immersed in living history with every resident  having so much knowledge to pass on, we talked at length to the washer women and the alchemists and the woodchoper and watched the players rehearse which was so funny. We stopped in the alehouse so the men could have some ale and of the games drawn on the table I played Nine Men's Morris and Horseshoe losing both games to a Tudor maid expert. We ate in the modern cafe but sampled Tudor marshpane, biscots, sweetmeats and men-of-ginger. O had been a Tudor all week but had missed his dad so changed back to modern clothes to be with his dad and come home with us, this also meant that Daughter, R and E could really enjoy the last night party and pack up their camper without the help of a 3 year old. It was so hard to be there and not hug my daughter and grandchildren as they had to stay in character which they all did really well. Again another dry day for us thankfully. The day ended with the fair which was brilliant. D won a candle on the hoopla stall, lots of Tudor children took part in the play dressing up as chickens (ours included). There was wrestling for the boys and 'arse pushing' for the maids and musicians and dancers too (including daughter) while the gentry walked around admiring the show.
When a very tired O flopped on granddad's shoulder we decided it was time to leave. We dropped off M, D and O at their house and went home to meet again with FriendsL&K who were staying the night. After a very much needed cup of tea we relaxed a bit then out to the pub for dinner. Late(ish) to bed and so lovely to have plenty of time for a good catch-up chat.

Sunday 8th - Up for breakfast but no-one was rushing although they had to get away before lunchtime. Very soon after Hubby's brother M and his partnerJ arrived bringing back hubby's laptop that they had borrowed and telling us all about their planned house move. Out to the pub for Sunday lunch which was yummy and all the nicer when bilM paid the whole bill, thank you :o)
They left quite early and hubby didn't have bowling for a change on a Sunday which was lucky as Daughter turned up about 8pm still costumed and with the girls all looking really tired, wanting help with the trailer camper to leave here before they could head home.

Monday 9th - Daughter arrived with the children to open up the camper and clean it and dry it out and to scrub all the children and their very muddy Tudor shoes. Unfortunately she is now full of cold and aches and pains and is very tired, not surprising after working hard all week and being out and camping in some horrid weather for 9 days. Slow going but all achieved. I fed them all both lunch (bacon butties) and dinner (lasagne)...definitely not potage!
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Special treats...

Last Thursday our twin granddaughters, R & E, became 10 year olds  :o)
They started their day quite early as O was so excited he made them get out of bed to open their presents, and that's when Daughter told them that one of their presents from her was a trip to London to see Matilda the Musical.

Daughter and the three very excited children arrived here about 9:30am to open presents from us and also to be told that as we had plans for Friday in London we were staying overnight and I'd added a hotel stay to their treat. We had a lovely birthday lunch including birthday cake and candles then Daughter and I hit the road with the girls leaving behind O to play with Granddad until his daddy got home. This was a very special treat for the girls but also a very special treat for Daughter as it was the first time she had left O overnight and was really looking forward to an undisturbed nights sleep!

We parked up at Newbury Park and tried to surprise my SisterM as the girls wanted to call in to say thank you for their birthday money in person but they were out, so they put a note through the letterbox instead and we walked round to the station. We found the hotel just a short walk from Marble Arch station and even then we were all a bit hot and sticky as it was a very hot day.

We had booked a family room which actually turned out to be two bedrooms and the girls immediately asked if they could have the big room and share the double bed, so Daughter and I had a single bed each in the smaller room which worked out well.

A quick freshen up then off we went. I treated us to a black cab to The Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden then a short wander and we found a lovely Italian restaurant for our dinner. We were all quite full after lovely main courses but as it was a treat desserts had to be chosen (actually I didn't), the girls were thrilled when they ordered lemon sorbet and it was served inside a whole lemon peel with its little cap back on :o)

Matilda The Musical was amazing. The lyrics by Tim Minchin were so clever and so funny (Daughter and I both like him as a comedian anyway), the cast were amazing, about half of them were children and they were amazing too. Even the set kept us amused the whole time with the surround being made up of lettered blocks making words relevant to the show although none of the words were obvious so we had lots of fun searching and pointing out to each other the ones we found. The only bad thing I can say is the theatre was so uncomfortably hot and stuffy.

We stood outside the theatre a little while just to get some air then hailed a cab to take us back to the hotel. Fans on, we got ready for bed and watched a bit of TV with our cups of tea/hot chocolate and maltesers then lights out about 11:30pm.

Friday morning all up in good time to have baths and down for breakfast by 8:30am. Then packed up and checked out by 9:30am. The plan was to meet up with other home-ed friends in Regents Park at 12noon so with time to kill we took a walk along the West End shops stopping in New Look and Primark to try on and buy a sun hat for R and sun glasses for E. We also had to buy something for picnic lunch in the park and also another treat in Selfidges having coffees and teas and posh cupcakes.

Then as a group we left the park and travelled onto the Photobox photo processing factory, Daughter's friend is a director and founding member of the rapidly growing company and had arranged for them to show us around. It was a really interesting visit and they really looked after us all especially the children and after the tour and refreshments a group photo of all the children was printed onto a souvenir mouse mat for each of them to take home.

Bit of a problem at the end of the day when R really wanted to go and eat with the others but E was tired and just wanted to get home, hopefully in time to get to her normal trampoline lesson, so we split up leaving R to go with friends who will bring her back by train and Daughter E and I got back to the car and managed to crawl in a traffic jam all the way home. Then Saturday morning they were off early again to meet their dad and enjoy a special day at Chessington theme park for their birthday treat and home again Sunday evening.

And this Saturday Daughter is holding a birthday party (at my house) for lots of their friends and most of them will be camping in the garden as Sunday we are all off to the medieval Oyster Fayre in Colchester and then Monday is our street party for the Queen's Jubilee.......so hopefully this will be a birthday they will always remember with a smile.
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Worth the wait.....

My lovely FriendKK and I became friends very nearly 30 years ago and we did lots together with our young children evenings, weekends and during school holidays. We also did lots together when the children were not around, we are both very arty-crafty types with FriendKK always having lots of "let's make, sell and make money" ideas which were always hard work but fun to do and rarely made enough money to cover the material costs let alone our labour. KK if you are reading this, remember the Christmas wreaths project where we were both covered in cuts and bruises from foraging for greenery and your poor dinning room carpet covered in squashed holly berries......there was also the "Clowns" project when we made from little brooches up to big rag dolls and even thought to dress as clowns to man the stall......and it might be best not to remind you of the "ginger beer" project that actually exploded all over your cellar!

Over the years we had less time to spare - she got an allotment and I got a factory job (yes it was easier than having to help her dig). About 10 years ago we decided it was getting daft buying each other birthday presents when what we really needed was time together so sometime between her birthday and mine we plan a whole day out, mainly to catch up with each other's lives. Unfortunately over the past 3 or 4 years it has been really hard to find the time that fitted in with us both so it was especially nice to manage a day together this year...yesterday in fact.

We started the day at Wimpole Hall (National Trust) and out of the car and into the tea shop :o)
A lovely walk around the hall, reading the info, asking the guides in each room and generally poking about a house that still feels very lived in. Then we stopped in their restaurant for a very late lunch and spent a very long time sitting in the warm just chatting, sharing all the news about our loved ones and having a real good whinge about the people that really piss us off (essential therapy right?). After that we drove back to Bury St Edmunds for an evening at the theatre. A quick meal in a pub before the theatre. Actually it had to be quick as the pub was hosting a Frank Sinatra evening and all the tables were booked from 7pm, but the curtain went up at 7:30pm so that was fine. We got the cheapest seats, thankfully, as the show was a bit of a disappointment. It was called "I'm An Aristocrat, Get Me Out Of Here" and was about the French Revolution and the imprisonment of the posh lot including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and their rescues by the underground group 'Les Petite Pois'. There were just three performers making lots of quick costume changes to play lots of different characters but the script was a bit daft and delivery wasn't good so just a few 'moments' that made me giggle but overall just a bit weird. Then home by 10pm making it a 12 hour day out almost to the minute.

Actually even doing naff stuff together is good because it makes us laugh and gives us plenty to talk about. So a really good day and hopefully it won't be 4 years before we get to do it again.
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