A Walk in the Woods

The first week of the school holidays was a good one!  We wanted to get as much done as possible while the weather was fine and planned a rest day on Friday. Not that the kidlets needed one, but I certainly did!

Number one grandson asked if we could do something – a walk in the woods perhaps. Well why not, I said, a walk in the woods is a nice leisurely thing to do and I got together a picnic, smothered everyone in citronella and off we went.

The furthest I have ever been on a walk in the woods is over the railway bridge to the RSPB hides on the riverside. This time we carried on and found a nice spot for our picnic.

Picnic spot

Then we walked alongside the River Stour beside a huge field. Dusty and Poppy would have loved it, but they’d already had their walk and I think such a long walk might have been a bit much for Dusty just yet.

Glimpse of the Stour

Interesting roots

For the first time I saw the Grayson Perry house. I think it looks like a gingerbread house.

Grayson Perry House

I knew there was a tunnel under the railway line on the other side of the woods, but wasn't sure if we could get to it. If we couldn't we were in for a very long walk back and I was concerned as one pair of legs is only five years old - not that there was a single word of complaint. In fact he spent a lot of the time running just to prove he wasn't tired.

We skirted round the garden of a secluded house (what a dream it must be to live there – down a long narrow track far from busy roads - you can see it in the photo in front of the Grayson Perry house) and found the railway tunnel. 

Hooray!

Back up the hill and through the woods to the car park. Still quite a trek, but a much shorter distance than retracing our steps.

It was a lovely end to the week and definitely something to do again – but not sure it was quite the easy day I’d planned!

Busy Summer Days

It’s always busy at this time of year with so much going on, particularly with the schools. What with fetes, sport’s day, assemblies, shows and the children’s carnival.

The carnival was almost rained off. On the day several of the local schools abandoned the whole thing, but our school was one of the three that carried on, walking round the streets, banging their drums in the pouring rain and keeping the smiles on their faces. They did so well. By the end, we were soaked to the skin and my phone, purse and watch (which I’d slipped into my bag to stop it getting wet) were floating in a puddle in the bottom of my “waterproof” bag, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I didn’t get any photos – it was too wet for my camera which fortunately was in a waterproof case inside my not-waterproof bag.

I have blogged before about Daughters of Ireland by Debbie Blake here. It really is an inspirational book and I learned so much from it. I bought the paperback when it first came out and the good news is that it is now currently only £1.89 on Kindle.

Another book I have read recently is End of the Road and other stories by Rosemary Gemmell and I must say they are the kind of short stories I really love, highly readable with a bit of bite. I enjoyed every single one. Rosemary’s book is only £1.99 on Kindle.

Hope you are enjoying summer whatever you are doing.