Weekend with Family…

Recently we visited my uncle and his lady friend at her place for a family get together before my folks returned to NZ.


I initiated my own unofficial ‘bring your parents to work day’ as we planned to leave straight from work on the Friday, so they enjoyed the dubious delights of Bracknell before joining me and a large group celebrating a colleague’s retirement at the quirky Hideout, home of the Thai House Restaurant and a local hang out for a group of us each Friday lunchtime. It is an odd place hidden in the Bracknell forest decorated with humour with a teddy in armour and stag’s head wearing a hard hat and sunglasses and a couple of Harley Davidson video game machines that I have never seen working.

After work we drove straight on to Gill’s house and encountered the expected Friday afternoon chaos that is the western side of the M25. This was one of the main reasons why we arranged our travel this way as I knew it I had to travel back home before returning along the same bit of motorway it would be a nightmare. Also we didn’t want to leave our journey to the next morning as our village would have been cut off as the roads were being shut for the Olympic Cycle races on Saturday and Sunday.

We were treated to a wonderful evening meal and had plenty of catching up to do. Mum and dad enjoyed exploring the property and interacting with the animals.

We joined the Aldbury Morris side once again, this time as they performed at the Aston Abbotts Fete which is a small, perfectly formed, village fete. Where owner’s dogs were entered into competitive sausage eating contests, kids climbed of antique tractors next to the bouncy castle and the Silver Band played next to the outdoor skittle alley.

On our way back we stopped briefly at the Pitstone Windmill, an iconic post mill in the middle of fields of waving golden grain.

On the weekend we also visited Waddesdon Manor, one of the Rothschild’s party houses built specifically to house a large collection of art work and to entertain guests on hunting weekends. I found this place disturbing with its vulgar display of wealth and antique bling in such an over the top manner.

Out in front of the house was a large display of shiny automotive art in the form of the Jenson Owners Car Club, C-V8 50th Birthday celebrations. Here buffed and polished motors gleamed in the sunlight, though closer inspection revealed that many had cloths under the engine to protect the ground from oil leaks.

Also in the grounds were some very interesting sculptures scattered around the building offering some surprising views.

To top our visits off we also stopped at the Ford End Watermill which was putting on a demonstration grinding grain into flour with the impressive power of the water in the mill pond that turned the grinding stones and shook the building.

We had a lovely weekend and it was a moving sight as mum and her brother said their goodbyes.