Frikadellens!

There were certain chores I needed to get done this weekend, and putting a colour on my hair was one of them! I did this first thing, and Sophie came upstairs with me and watched Saturday Kitchen Live while I completed the essential job.

When I was in the shower, she made sandwiches for a picnic at Brixworth Country Park. I had suggested a walk followed by something to eat, and maybe an ice cream. We drove the short distance and parked opposite the café where Mike used to work when he was a teenager. It had been ages since we'd been there, and the expanse of grass leading down to the reservoir was busy with families enjoying the sunshine, many of them playing games or using the children's playground.

We chose the "Lapwing" walk, which was an hour and a half long. We decided to stop halfway around and enjoy our picnic on one of the many benches dotted amongst the trees. It was warm, and the clouds overhead made it feel a little humid. I was wearing black jeans (bad choice!) and felt hot when the sun shone through.

There weren't many people about, and there weren't a lot of walkers on our route. It was blissfully quiet, and we caught glimpses of the reservoir every now and again through the trees. It's amazing to think I used to do the seven-mile circular walk every Wednesday afternoon with Max the dog! Maybe in the Autumn, when it's a bit cooler, we'll do the whole reservoir walk again and have a picnic.

The walk wound up and down, through the trees and back down to the reservoir. It only took us thirty-five minutes! We sat on a wooden picnic table on the expanse of grass and munched contentedly on our chicken sandwiches. Sophie had also packed a little pot of cornichons and some crisps, with plenty of water. We really must do this more often. We're so lucky to have this on our doorstep!

More and more families were arriving to make the most of the weather and surroundings, with one family unpacking boxes and boxes of food. Barbecues were banned because of the dry weather, but it must have been great to have a large family gathering and enjoy the Country Park on a sunny day.

After we'd eaten, we walked across the causeway. Sophie reminisced about the days when she had a friend in Brixworth and used to go regularly after school to explore the land between the reservoir and the village.

We saw people surfing on the water, and several men in small boats fishing. 

We walked right to the end of the causeway and turned back, returning to the café where we enjoyed an ice cream. The café was different to how I'd remembered it when it used to be part of a shop. It was staffed by teenagers, so nothing had changed from when Mike worked there!

20 years ago:

Mike and cake

A pink-cheeked Sophie at 9!

Have they changed much?

Snowy causeway in 2005

From Brixworth, we drove to the village and popped into the pub for a drink. It was lovely to sit in the garden and chat in the sunshine. The pub garden was a lovely oasis of quiet, and I said to Sophie that it would be great to really enjoy the summer this year and visit the pub more often.

Back at home, Sophie made her potato soup for tonight's German meal. It smelt delicious! She also boiled a pan of new potatoes for a salad with shallots and cornichons. I finished putting the photos onto the computer from our holiday in 1994, and then it was time to relax, enjoy a French Martini and play Scrabble. I'm surprised we both didn't have a nap after our drink at the pub and the walk!

Beautiful old glasses

Our German night was a success! Before we ate, we danced around the kitchen to a couple of songs, which added ten more minutes of exercise to our day! Sophie added frankfurters to the soup, and it was delicious and definitely on a par with our beloved Reinhard's restaurant in Berlin (sadly, now no more).

For the main course, we enjoyed Frikadellens, a kind of porky meatball, with the potato salad. I have a habit of saying "Frikadellens!" which Sophie thought I had made up! But no, they are real things, and they were lovely with the salad.

To end the night, we watched the excellent Unknown starring Liam Neeson in a snowy Berlin. A great end to a lovely day!

The end of another week

Nicola's daughter was helping out today, and I was very grateful, otherwise, I would have been answering the phone! She's a lovely girl and very sweet. She brings a breath of fresh air into the office! It's also great to see how Nicola fusses over her!

The day passed quickly, and I managed to write a fair bit of the moan report. Next Friday, I'm training with Sheila on the new system for our playscheme places, so that will be interesting. However, it means that I will then have only two weeks to try and get six weeks' worth of holiday places onto the system, and six weeks of activities! No doubt this will make the time fly by!

At home, I did half an hour on the exercise bike while watching a quiz show on BBC1. When Sophie came home, she had a shower (it's been warm today) and Keith went to the pub for the first time in two weeks to catch up with John, who'd been in France, lucky thing!

Sophie and I opened a bottle of Austrian wine and watched the end of a documentary on Michelle Mone, who had founded the Ultimo lingerie business. It was riveting viewing, as she was a master of self-promotion and went from successful businesswoman to pariah after the PPE scandal during covid.

We only had fifteen minutes to watch, and we then decided to watch one of my favourite films, The Horse Whisperer. The beginning does not make for pleasant viewing...

After dinner, we watched some more, but the film is a long one, so we turned it off and watched Top of the Pops from 1985 instead. More dancing around the living room!

An uneventful Thursday!

My shift at work passed pleasantly today, and I tackled all the emails before leaving at 2pm. The time is marching on, and tomorrow it will be just three weeks before we go on holiday. I can't believe how fast the time is flying by.

After dropping Keith off at home, I went straight over to see Mum and Dad and stayed with them for an hour to chat. Mum said she needed some shopping, so I'll take her out on Sunday when Sophie and I are planning to go to Tesco.

Back home, it was time to do the usual chores before Sophie returned from work. Dinner was simple tonight, so we were able to play cards before eating. Keith thrashed me again this evening! We have started to include the two Jokers when playing, so this makes it easier to get a run of cards! Pah! He had what we call a "washout" - a run of seven cards of the same suit from the Ace to the seven, or from seven to the King. Whoever gets this automatically wins! I think we play a version of Rummy, but the game has kept us entertained for years, and Keith originally introduced me to the game when we were delayed at Luton Airport!

Memories!

Sophie worked from home today and was up and about before I woke up at 7.30am. She set up her laptop in the conservatory, and it was great to sit and have a coffee with her.

Keith and I had no plans for today. I'd booked the car in for a service the night before on my way home, as Glen was back from his holiday, and managed to get an appointment for next Wednesday. It was great to catch up on a few chores and potter about.

Sophie and I set out for a walk at lunchtime, but it began to rain heavily, so we abandoned that idea! Keith and I enjoyed leftover cottage pie for lunch, and in the afternoon, I scanned some old photographs onto the computer. They'd been hanging around for a while, so it was great to get them onto Google Photos, where we could access them more easily. They were from a holiday Keith and I took in 1994, just before I started the soft play business with Mum and Dad, and we'd travelled to Provence for two weeks, visiting Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas. It was amazing to think we travelled back there thirty years later with Sophie!

How young we were then!

What day is it?

So, it was back to work today and a short week! I managed to tackle three days' worth of emails and help with the phones because we were busy with calls about swimming, our soft play centres and cinema enquiries. Outside, the previously sunny weather turned to rain, so it wasn't surprising that we were busy!

At 4pm, I drove home and pootled about until Sophie returned from work. Before Keith cooked dinner, Sophie and I played cards, and she absolutely thrashed me! She won all four games! Huh!

We enjoyed cottage pie for dinner tonight, which made a great change from salad and cold meats!

Moon bums and pheasant feather (he prefers pigeon feathers!)

A walk around Woburn

Sophie went to the gym this morning and took part in a yoga class. I pootled about, and when she returned, we both got ready to go out. We'd booked a lunchtime table at The Black Horse in Woburn, but we were planning to do a walk first, around the grounds of Woburn Abbey.

The M1 was busy, but we made it to Woburn in good time and parked (eventually) in the free car park. A lot of people had had the same idea as us and were walking towards the grounds of the Abbey. We went through a gate and entered a lovely forest glade overlooking a lake.

The path was well-marked, and we followed it to a small settlement of pretty houses, probably owned by the same family that owns Woburn Abbey, the Duke of Bedford. The Abbey itself is currently closed for major renovations, but the safari park is still open for business.

We emerged into open parkland, inhabited by deer, and a narrow canal of water. We followed signs to complete a circular walk back to Woburn, passing stables and grazing horses on the way.

Beautiful old oak tree

There were a few people about, but it was very peaceful. In a fenced-off area, we saw a little Muntjac deer!

Following the path back to the village, we saw gorgeous rhododendron bushes in full flower. They were beautiful!

It had been a lovely walk, and one we'll definitely do again! We emerged from the parkland on the outskirts of Woburn and had a pleasant walk to the centre. The village was abuzz with people sitting outside in the sunshine, enjoying a drink or ice cream. 

We decided to have a quick look in Zoohause, a lovely place for homeware and gifts. I noticed a woman waft in, wearing lovely clothes, with immaculate hair, exuding a gorgeous fragrance. I immediately felt out of place, glowing as I was after our walk, and pink-cheeked (it's better than saying red-faced and sweaty!).

We had a quick look, but as we had half an hour before our booking, we decided to have a drink at The Nook. The place was empty, which was a shame as it's a lovely, friendly bar and we ordered an Aperol Spritz and a curious beer with added cognac! 

We took a seat in the window and chatted while doing a spot of people watching!

As we walked to The Black Horse next door, we felt spits and spots of rain. No sitting outside for us, then! The pub was pleasantly full and we took a table against the wall. Next to us were two ladies, and we couldn't help listening in on their conversation, which was all about man troubles!

Sophie ordered another Aperol Spritz while I chose the Guinness 0%. It came in a pint glass, which I hated! As soon as I could, I decanted the drink into a nicer glass!

We chose courgette fries to start, followed by a fishcake for Sophie served with a poached egg, and fish goujons in a bun for me. We shared a pot of French fries, and the meal was delicious. The pub remained busy the whole time we were there, and it was an exceedingly pleasant lunch.

When we emerged into the busy street, the rain had stopped, and we walked back to the car, deciding to cut through the parkland and take the slightly longer route back to the M1.  We saw a deer standing by the side of the road, looking majestic, with gorgeous antlers.

The journey home was quick and easy, and when we arrived back, we relaxed. I kept thinking that today was Sunday, not Monday!

Out for lunch!

Sophie and I tackled the housework today, and I gave the upstairs a good clean. It wasn't a day for getting washing dry on the line outside as it was a little showery. The weather feels more like April than late May!

It was great to clean the house, and at 1.30pm, we all walked to the pub in the afternoon sunshine for Sunday lunch. We were seated in the back room and studied the menu, all of us choosing a roast. Sophie and I opted for the roast chicken with added stuffing balls, while Keith decided on lamb with an extra Yorkshire pudding. Sophie suggested a bottle of Rosé to drink, and Keith sampled a couple of pints of Neck Oil.

The staff were great and very attentive, serving us two thick slices of garlic sourdough bread to start, which were swiftly demolished! It was great to sit and chat and listen (surreptitiously) to the table behind where one of the women was talking very loudly!

Our main courses were delicious, and although Sophie preferred Keith's Yorkie Puds, and my roasties, we weren't disappointed. The meat was served with carrots, braised red cabbage, tenderstem broccoli and a thick gravy. I don't know why we don't do this more often! 

Sophie and I shared a pudding - a white chocolate and raspberry bread and butter pudding, served with custard, and we paid the bill, saying hello to a couple of our neighbours as we walked out.

The walk home was a little slower, but it was still sunny and breezy. Back home, we did very little, and I had a nap. I definitely can't do lunchtime drinking!

It was a great feeling to know that I had tomorrow off work! It's a Bank Holiday Monday!

Christmas plans

After a relaxed start to the day, Sophie and I went for a walk and did the "round" again, but this time we tackled the big hill first!

Today, we met several dog walkers and said hello to each. It was an overcast, humid day, but when the sun did poke its head through the clouds, it felt warm.

At the top of the hill, we turned right and walked through the cemetery, saying hello to a couple of departed friends. I was pleased to see that an old friend's gravestone had some flowers. From the cemetery, we walked through the village and then back home. We'd been out for about an hour and twenty minutes, and I felt great that we'd done it!

Both of us were hungry for lunch, and we enjoyed half a jacket potato from last night, with a helping of salad. The meal went down very well, and we had a sneaky glass of wine! After eating and clearing away, we booked a couple of restaurants for our holiday, and then looked at hotels in Berlin at Christmas. We have long been debating what to do at Christmas, and although we enjoyed last year, we felt that being away for so long wasn't ideal. I missed the run-up to the big day and the Christmas television!

After looking at various options, we have booked to fly to Berlin on Christmas Day, and return on the 28th! We've booked the Wall Street Plaza Hotel and plan to visit the Christmas markets and old haunts while we're there! We're so excited. It means we can see family on Christmas Eve, and neither Sophie nor I need to book any annual leave at work. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, and I had a lovely, hot shower, followed by a game of Scrabble with Sophie. I narrowly beat her this evening, and we played some different words!

Dinner was an easy meal of cold meats, salad and new potatoes, and Keith offered to take us out for lunch tomorrow, which was a lovely idea! It means we can come home and relax and for Keith, watch the football!

Our evening viewing was a free film from Sky, who had apologised for the system going down the other week. We could choose a film to keep, and we picked Hotel Mumbai, about a terrorist attack which killed almost 200 people. It was riveting, but sad in places, and I remember it happening back in 2008.

We managed to get both cats in, and then Sophie sat with them for half an hour to watch The Office. It was good to end the evening on a light-hearted note!

Not the best of days!

Sophie had a headache this morning, so gave the gym a miss. She has been a lot better recently, though, and her headaches have been nowhere near as bad as they were before. We sat with a coffee and I watched the end of Millionaire Hoarders. One woman had a painting of a horse by the famous equine painter, Stubbs, that sold for £130,000! Why can't we have one like that languishing in our attic?

Keith and I left fifteen minutes early this morning, and we were delighted to find that the roadworks had finished. It meant I missed the "Easiest Quiz on the Radio" this morning, but at least I had a head start on the day!

Our good luck rapidly disappeared, though, when Keith called me to say he had a flat tyre and had broken down near Pytchley. Luckily, he was able to pull off the road and was going to attempt to change it. Sophie was on her way to work, and I texted her to let her know. She was adamant she was going to go home and help Keith, who had managed to change the tyre and had limped home with the spare.

I checked the customer service emails and saw one from a member asking if I could email her as she needed help and couldn't call because of a throat condition. I duly emailed her straight back, thinking she wanted me to book a class for her, and she responded with a very strange email... basically, she wanted the company to buy Amazon gift cards for her, so she could cheer up a friend's daughter! I immediately saw it for what it was: a scam, and I wondered if the scammer thought I was completely naive! I forwarded it to the National Cyber Security Centre but kept it to show Nicola when she came in. I then emailed our customer to warn her that her email address was being used by a scammer. The cheek of it!

Keith and Sophie had gone to Kettering to buy a new tyre, and I concentrated on work, answering all the emails and putting on some more films. I also realised that I have four weeks left at work and need to get the summer swim camps, playscheme places and holiday activities onto the system. By the time I return from the holiday, the children will be almost breaking up from school! Where is this year going? 

Mid-morning, Kathy threw a wobbler and angrily spoke to Sheila, who hadn't said hello when she'd come into the office. Kathy then stormed off for about ten minutes to cool down, and I felt so awkward! What with the tyre, the weird email, and Kathy, it had been a challenging morning!

During my lunch break, I messaged Lynda and asked if we could postpone our planned evening at Andrea's house. If I were honest, I didn't want to go, and the tyre failing gave me the perfect excuse. Lynda wasn't having it, though, and twice tried to call me before saying she would pick me up, take me back to her house where her brother would give us a lift to Northampton train station so we could get to Andrea's house in Cranfield that way... I was horrified! There was absolutely no way on earth I was going to get a train to Milton Keynes and then get one home late in the evening! When I finished my shift, I messaged her to say that wasn't an option for me, so Lynda and Fiona decided to go without me. I breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Sophie was happy as well, and we had a great wine night, drinking the Rosé sparkling wine from Austria and enjoying some healthy nibbles while watching a hugely enjoyable film called The Mirror Has Two Faces starring Jeff Bridges and Barbra Streisand. It was the perfect end to a somewhat stressful day!

A quiet Thursday

I weighed myself this morning and saw that I've lost nine pounds so far! I was delighted, but there's still a long way to go!

I avoided the roadworks on the road up to the A43 and went via Brixworth, leaving ten minutes earlier than normal. I wasn't keen on the route and missed seeing people (and cars) that I see every day! It's a good alternative, though, and didn't take me too much longer.

Today has been quiet, and I had a busy shift at work getting a lot done in my six hours. At 2pm, I drove home and have to confess to not doing too much at all. I felt a little queasy; I'd finished off the soup from last night for lunch and then I'd drunk almost a whole bottle of fizzy water. I don't think the coconut milk and the water went well together!

After a very simple supper of fish and mashed potatoes, served with Keith's own mushy peas, Sophie and I watched Race Across the World. One of the contestants became overwhelmed in India by the noise, crowds and confusion. I know I would feel the same. It's one of the reasons why I've been reluctant to visit!

A busy day!

I had an appointment for a contact lens check at Boots this morning, so after a relaxed start and coffee, Keith and I drove to the Weston Favell Centre. We had time for another quick coffee, and I gave Keith a list of ingredients for tonight's supper, a Thai-inspired coconut chicken and mushroom soup, which he was going to buy in Tesco.

I saw a lovely optician, who checked my eyes and suggested I switch to disposable daily lenses as I'm not wearing them very often. I agreed, so she gave me a pack of five to try and let the branch know how I get on with them. My nails have grown, so I had a worry about getting them out, which isn't easy with longer nails!

When I met up with Keith, he had managed to get the ingredients for the soup, namely lemongrass, galangal, coriander, chillies and Thai red curry paste. I texted Sophie about meeting her for lunch and she asked us to go straight down to her office. 

Sophie had already had lunch, but she joined us and had a cup of tea, while Keith and I chose sandwiches. It was lovely to sit and chat for half an hour, and we managed to avoid getting cake afterwards! I definitely feel a little slimmer, but I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow... !

We walked back to Sophie's office, said goodbye and drove over to Kettering to drop off a CD for my Dad that he'd asked me to order last week. I put it on for him, stayed and chatted to my parents for a while, and then it was time to go home and get on with the usual Wednesday chores!

As is usual with soup, it took me ages to prepare the ingredients. Keith had already cut up the chicken, but I finely chopped shallots, chillies, garlic and mushrooms. I bashed the lemongrass stalks and put the rest of the ingredients into little pots ready to be added to the soup.

The various spices smelled delicious when I started cooking, and I let everything simmer slowly. I'd added the chicken and coconut milk, and felt quite hungry!

Here is the recipe:

Sophie returned from work, and it was great to sit and relax while the soup simmered. We served the soup with naan bread, and I was delighted with how it tasted! I sprinkled some coriander over mine.

We will definitely make this again!

I donate a pint

I became trapped in the traffic jam this morning and was late for work again! This is not good! I'll have to figure out another way to go on Thursday morning, or leave very early!

I had a busy shift at work and caught up with the emails by mid-afternooon. Before I left at 4pm, I filled out my blood donor questionnaire as I had an appointment to give blood at 4.30pm. On the way I drove to the garage in Moulton to see if Glenn was back, but the building was locked up. We'll have to try again next Wednesday!

My blood donor appointment (my 47th pint) passed pleasantly and quickly. I drove home via Moulton to avoid the dreaded roadworks and arrived just after Sophie. We sat in the kitchen and relaxed as dinner was already prepared, and we just had to add a little more cheese and make garlic bread. There was still enough left in the casserole dish for two lunches for Sophie... phew!

Keith disappeared upstairs to watch football while Sophie and I watched another cringey Virgin Island programme. I'm not sure exactly why we continue to watch it when both of us find it so awkward!

A little fragile!

Sophie felt a little fragile this morning (a bottle of Vouvray, followed by a bottle of red Sablet will do that to you!), so she skipped the gym, and we watched A Place in the Sun: Home and Away with a coffee.

My shift passed pleasantly, and I managed to get a lot done, including the moan report. What a relief that is! Keith picked me up at 4pm, and said there was a lot of traffic at the Holcot roundabout because of roadworks, so we drove home via Overstone, and then turned right onto the A43 because of cars queuing. It's the most inconvenient place to have roadworks, virtually on the roundabout!

I did half an hour on the bike and then pootled about doing the evening chores. Sophie came home and we relaxed in the kitchen before she made a lovely chicken Arrabbiata pasta dish. There was so much left that we decided to have it again for dinner tomorrow!

After dinner, I watched an interesting documentary about swimming clubs, featuring Swim England, with whom we have connections at work. I'm not sure they came out of the documentary very well at all, and it made for quite a disturbing watch. This was followed by Scam Interceptors, and there must be a special place in hell for people who try and scam elderly and vulnerable people out of their life savings. I hope they burn for all eternity!

Eurovision Song Contest Day!

The morning was spent preparing for today's Eurovision dinner: beef stroganoff followed by fruit pavlova. We have it every time we watch Eurovision!

As well as preparing the meal, we cleaned the house and did laundry. The weather has been dry and sunny again, with more cloud in the morning, clearing to sunshine in the afternoon. Sophie filed and painted my nails in the afternoon, and we played Scrabble early, accompanied by a glass of sparkling Vouvray. Bliss!

We started watching the music festival at about 4:30 pm, as we knew that if we left it until after we'd had dinner, we'd have a late night! We'd seen some of the songs when watching the semi-finals, and we each had our favourites. If we'd been able to vote, I would have chosen Ukraine, Germany, and Greece, but we were a day late! We loved the three women presenting, especially Hazel Brugger, who was mad!

Halfway through, we prepared dinner, and I boiled a pan of basmati rice. The meal was delicious, with enough leftovers for two lunches. We watched the second half and enjoyed a slice of pavlova topped with strawberries and chocolate buttons. Indulgent, but it doesn't hurt once in a while!

By 9pm, we were all done and cheering Austria as the winner. Now all we need to do is get tickets for next year (the 70th Anniversary!) and return to Vienna for Sophie's 30th birthday!

An evening with Levison Wood

Sophie and I were excited to see Levison Wood this evening and Sophie had managed to bag front row seats! We had booked a table at Lola's for 5.30pm and Keith very kindly dropped us off so we could enjoy a few glasses of wine.

Lola's was empty when we arrived, but the bar/restaurant soon filled up. Some people had chosen to sit outside in the early evening sunshine, but we took the same table we'd sat at the last time, overlooking the downstairs bar.

We ordered a bottle of the house Spanish red and two bottles of sparkling water. We decided to order different tapas dishes this time: pork belly bites, pigs' cheeks with pureéd potato, black pudding topped with a sticky marmalade, padron peppers, cod croquettes and sublime peppers stuffed with soft cheese. The food was delicious and the pork belly bites and peppers were especially lovely. The red wine went well with the food and we both did a bit of people-watching, always our favourite pastime!

We managed to find room for puds - Sophie indulged in churros with chocolate sauce while I opted for the blackberry pannacota dusted with chocolate.

All the staff were friendly and the service was great. At 7pm, we paid the bill and walked the short distance to the Royal, where Levison Wood was appearing. Derngate was also busy with people arriving for an evening performance of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

We took our seats on the front row, and Levison Wood appeared at 7.30pm, dressed very casually in jeans, a tee-shirt and a jacket. He was a little greyer than when we'd last seen him in 2017,  but very entertaining and interesting. He opened the show and talked about fear, describing the car accident that had nearly killed him while in Nepal.

Fear was the theme of the evening, and he showed us some alarming clips of when he was in Syria and had come under fire. He must be mad! At the interval, Sophie and I had a glass of Shiraz and chatted about the show. You were able to buy his books in the foyer, and we both said that we'd love to watch the programmes again.

In the second half of the show, a female journalist interviewed him and showed some more clips, one of which was an excerpt from Walking with Elephants, where lions killed a water buffalo, much to Sophie's horror. He then had a question-and-answer session with the audience, who asked some good questions.

It had been an excellent evening and thoroughly enjoyable. It was great to see Levison Wood so close! We joined the throngs of people leaving, as Keith had texted to say he'd arrived, and drove home gazing at the beautiful evening sky.

Mooney was already in when we arrived home and was sitting on the windowsill waiting for us! Gomez appeared, so Sophie was able to get both cats in. We avoided watching the Eurovision Song Contest... that's strictly reserved for tomorrow!

English country gardens!

Saturday 17th of May

At 8.30am this morning, I was primed and ready to buy tickets for our BBC Proms night in September. We wanted to go to the Classic Thriller Soundtracks, conducted by Edwin Outwater, with music from Vertigo, Psycho and North by Northwest!

We had already made our "plan", so when I went onto the website, I was asked to redeem it. I was then put into the "waiting room" with a countdown to 9am when we would be allocated a place in the queue to buy tickets.

Sophie and I sat with a cup of coffee, and at 9am, I was allocated a place in the queue... I was about 14,900! Sophie then logged on with her phone and went onto the bookings (without a plan) page, and was before me in the queue! We both had over an hour's wait, and the time passed quickly, thank goodness. Plans to watch Saturday Kitchen fell by the wayside as we were glued to the computer and phone!

At about 10.30am, Sophie was able to buy two tickets for the evening, which was fantastic! I was still about 3000th in the queue, so there was no incentive to make a plan. I think this applies to people who want to go to more than one concert. We were absolutely thrilled to get tickets, and we have provisionally booked a hotel for the night as we don't fancy getting a train home at 11pm.

Having achieved the most important objective of the day, we drove over to the care home to take Mum some items she needed and then popped to the recycling centre at Brixworth (which is now open every day!) to take some unwanted clothes. Sophie had two large bags from work, as the people in her office had been running a clothes swap session over the last few months. It was a great idea, but some of the clothes had failed to find a home, so we put them into the textile bins at the tip.

Back home, we both had a quick lunch and set off for Walgrave to have a walk around the open gardens.

It was cool and cloudy, but looking at the weather forecast, the sun was due to shine later in the afternoon. We walked to the village hall first and paid £10 for a map of the gardens. We decided to head up past the school and start at garden number 1. There was a short description of each garden and clues for a treasure hunt for children.

We walked across the playing fields and dropped down to the street where we used to live.

Silver Street, where we lived for eleven years

It was then up the hill to the pub, and a walk up to the school.

The first garden was on the outskirts of the village, and it felt a little strange at first going onto someone's property! The owner was very friendly, though, and we chatted about how long he'd lived in the village and then admired the beautiful garden.

The second garden was a haven for wildlife and had swings for the owner's children. Again, it was great to chat and find out a little about the people who lived there. At this house, the woman we spoke to mentioned that they'd bought the house from an old lady, and Sophie and I remembered seeing her standing at the window when I used to collect the children from school.

On our approach to the third garden, we saw a little Muntjac deer in the field next to the track! The garden was a piece of land occupied by aviaries as the owner was a keen racing pigeon enthusiast. He also kept budgerigars and canaries. We chatted to him about the birds and said hello to them as they twittered away!

We walked back into the village and the lure of the pub! It was lovely to sit outside with a half pint and say hello to people passing by. I recognised a lot of people today from living in the village and frequenting the pub!

By now, the sun had appeared, and it was pleasantly warm. We finished our drinks and walked back down Zion Hill to the fourth garden, which was filled with gorgeous shrubs and flowering plants. From here, we popped into the Baptist Chapel where Keith and I had been married more than thirty years ago (the vicar of the Parish Church wouldn't marry us as Keith was divorced).

Baptist Chapel built in 1786

There was a small craft fair in progress, and I admired a beautiful piece of wood shaped into different bowls. It was £600!

From the Baptist Chapel, we walked to a gorgeous garden on a corner plot. The garden wrapped around the house and was huge! The owner was busy talking to a couple, and he must be retired to keep such a large garden looking so beautiful!

There was a Monkey Puzzle tree in the border and I made myself go and look at it... I have a bit of a phobia about these trees, or Araucaria araucana, as I think a spider dropped out of one of them onto my head when I was very young. If I see a full-grown one, I shudder!

The next two houses had stunning gardens with views over open fields. The first one covered three acres and had an orchard leading down to meadows. I couldn't get over how beautiful the views were!

At the second house, we were able to buy lovely pottery items and Sophie treated us to three pretty dishes - one as a tealight holder, one was a soap dish that she planned to hang in her room, and the third was perfect for dips. The woman who lived in the house was giddy with excitement at having people buy her pottery! 

Sophie and I agreed it was a perfect afternoon and very genteel! Everyone was friendly, chatty and admiring of the beautiful gardens. It was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into their upkeep. We saw two more before we walked back to the village hall for a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

We sat inside and enjoyed our tea and cake, looking at a leaflet about village concerts over the summer. There is always so much going on in the countryside - you'd never be bored!

We took a slow walk back home, as by now it was warm and we had a bit of an uphill walk. Sophie jumped straight into the shower, and I followed when she was done, as we were leaving at 5pm to drive into town to see Levison Wood at Derngate. What a busy day!