Summer Holiday…

Normandy (June/July)

We took the Ferry from Poole to Cherbourg driving down to our gite just outside Arromanches-les-Bains. Here we met up with Marc, Heather and Elise and celebrated Marc’s 60^th.

2^nd day – We explored some of the local beaches (Gold) – here there is physical evidence of the Mulberry harbour on the beach and in the sea.

3^rd day – We drove up the coast to the pretty fishing village of Honfleur at the mouth of the Sienne.

4^th day – We (Minus Marc who had a work commitment) drove down to the fabulous Mont Saint Michel Island village and abbey.

5^th day – Was spent mostly at the gite (inc. playing several board games).

6^th day – Out at the nearby Bayeux where we visited the Commonwealth War Cemetery, D-day Museum, the tapestry, and witnessed a Medieval parade.

7^th day – A short way along the coast is the town of Courseulles-sur-Mer (Juno beach), where we wandered around for a good few hours.

8^th day – Was Sue’s birthday, and today we returned to Bayeux for their amazing Medieval weekend where we saw displays of ancient crafts, stalls selling period appropriate gifts, people dressed in a wide variety of costumes, musical acts playing music on instruments from the past, and also the towering cathedral in the centre of town.

9^th day – Whilst the others stayed around the gite, Sue and I went out to Le Petit Jardin for a lovely lunch and then to the little fishing town of Port-en-Bessin and a nearby cidre farm.

10^th day – Marc treated us all to a celebratory lunch in Bayeux at the Saint-Laurent restaurant. Afterwards Sue and I went on to explore some nearby gardens at Chateau de Brecy, while the others went to an adventure park.

11^th day - Marc, Heather and Elise left for Paris and there were thunderstorms in the morning. Sue and I drove off to avoid the bad weather and visited several towns and beaches on both the southern coast (opposite Jersey) and the northern (Omaha) and Pont du Hoc. We also had a fabulous lunch at Le Petit Nor’Cat (Normandy/Catalan fusion).

12^th day – We drove out to explore the Pays-en-Auge region (fromage - Camembert, Livarot, and Pont-l'Évêque, and cidre villages). On the way we stopped at the grand Chateau Fort De Creully, and Billy’s Cidre Farm. We had lunch at one of the prettiest villages in the region, Beuvron-en-Auge (exposed timber buildings) and continued to the Garden of the Pays d’Auge at Cambrener.

13^th day – We checked out and travelled home via the museum in Arromanches-les-Bains (outside of which there was an American youth band playing for 4^th July), and then (Utah beach). A ferry ride back to Poole and a couple of hours in the car and we were home in the early hours of the next day.

Less is More…

March continued

Spring started early with warmer and drier weather than usual triggering early flowers to bloom.

We spent a few days house and cat sitting (only saw one of the cats, the other being shy) at Jamie’s in Peckham. We took advantage of the location to explore and get out and about.

-        We saw Angus Rogers (paintedbird) play at the Social. His cover of Nick Cave’s ‘God is in the house’, was particularly good.

-        Sue went shopping at Borough Market (a short ride on the train).

-        At the nearby CLF Art Lounge, we attended the Jam (Sandwich) Session, where we saw various talented performers including Zinzi, Temm, and Cob.

-        As London was so close, we popped out to visit National Portrait Gallery, one of our favourite art spaces.

-        Back at the CLF again later in the week we saw the experimental violinist Beka Reid.

-        Further afield we took a bus to the Greenwich Old Royal Navel College, where the Helios display was on show (a large, suspended representation of the sun). We then continued to see the Thames Barrier before returning for a tasty Jerk chicken dinner at the Prince of Peckham.

There was little evidence of the partial eclipse at the end of the month, but it did bring back memories of many years before when there was a more significant eclipse, and we created a pin box camera in the garden to show its progress to Jamie.

As the weather improves, we find ourselves out at the Dropkick Brewery, who have taken over what was the Gin Kitchen premises to expand their operation. It is becoming quite the destination location.

Another sign of the season is the wild garlic is ready for picking and turning into pesto.

At the end of the month the family took Barbara out to her favourite Chinese restaurant for Mother’s Day.

April

We decided to redecorate our bedroom and roped Jamie in to assist with some of the preparation work.

More flowers are making themselves shown as spring makes itself felt.

We ate out alfresco in the garden for the first time with a seasonable spring lamb dinner.

After the bedroom we continued to repaint the kitchen to freshen it all up.

Using a new route, we walked in a circle from Shere to Albury and back, stopping occasionally for refreshment.

We took Barbara out to her happy place - the garden centre, and there she bought enough plants to fill the car up.

Out local Historical Society has a couple of annual walks, one being the Good Friday walk around the village. It is a gentle stroll with information provide by local history experts and usually ending up in a private location – this time at the back of the ponds.

As the year progresses, we have started to work in the garden getting it back into shape ready for the summer.

We returned to the Dropkick Brewery with friends for a few drinks and live music.

Easter dinner was at Barbara’s with the family gathered around her dining room table.

Deb and Dave love to eat out in their garden and several friends joined them for their celebrated Pizza.

Jamie wanted to make some improvements to his back garden and so enlisted our help with some of the plant selection and planting.

 

May

A large group of friends and family gathered at the Whittenbury’s to celebrate Reg’s 95^th birthday in some style.

Several of the Dorking pubs organise music events together and we attended the latest with some of our neighbours.

VE Day celebrations in Dorking this year were a bigger affair than normal, with yards of bunting, various period appropriate musical acts, historical displays, horse drawn omnibus rides and open gardens, which we attended with Chris and Carole.

Dave and Terry rendered our patio that had suffered damage over the winter, and we painted it ready for summer, bringing the tender plants out of the greenhouse.

We visited RHS Wisley to witness some of the spring flowers in bloom.

Also joining in the Pizza party trend, the Brown’s invited is around to theirs. Deb and Dave of course to cook.

At this year’s UK Game Expo, I only bought a couple of games - MicroMacro Crime City All In, and Disappointing Affirmations. Faye, Rhys, Martin, James and Noah, and I played plenty more games over the weekend.

Whilst I was away in Birmingham/Coventry, Sue and Deb flew off to Las Vegas for a few days of girl time as a belated birthday treat to each other.

 

June

Musical events in the local pubs are likely to encourage us out and so it was early in June when we went with Anne and Howard.

Taking advantage of our National Trust membership with visited Leith Hill Place gardens and then Hatchlands Park House and Gardens.

Epsom is about halfway between our place and Chris and Carole's, so we met there for a lovely meal out with them and Paige.

A place we had hear about but never visited was Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens, which is not far away. So, we rectified this and were surprised with its scale, the variety of sculptures, and the many things to be seen there. We did however avoid the naturist charity event that was schedule for later that day.

Westcott Open Gardens is a small local charitable event where some residents open their gardens to visitors to roam around, something we couldn’t pass up.

We returned to Jamie’s with some of the family for a BBQ in his garden where we could gage how well he had been looking after the plants (pretty well was the answer).