Enjoying the Autumn Atmosphere

Sunday 23 October - Since we had the car we decided to head to Lacock. It was an excellent autumn day with sunny skies and a gentle breeze. We visited our favorite shops in the village then took a long walk around the outskirts of the village and the abbey. When we returned to the village we endeavoured to find a place to eat without much luck until we came to King John's hunting lodge. There was a large garden in the back full of tables. We enjoyed the garden atmosphere and excellent food before heading over to the notton garden centre to peruse all the christmas ornaments already on display. On our way home we stopped in Bradford-on-Avon and took a liesurely stroll along the water and canal before returning to Bristol.

Wandering through Wales

Saturday 22 October - We drove all the way to wooly Wales to visit a fabric and garden fair in Penpont, near Brecon. We had a lovely time wandering the grounds which boasted an impressive green man shaped hedge maze, an elephant shaped boxhedge and an organic walled garden. We saw a lot of fabrics from around the world and enjoyed some treats made from local ingredients. After we had fully enjoyed the fair we took a long drive around the Brecon park before stopping at Raglan castle on the way back to Bristol. We wandered through the ruins of the old castle enjoying the last of the days sunshine among the turrets and courtyards.

A Day of London Luxury for Our Anniversary

Tuesday 27 Septmber - To celebrate our second anniversary Ian and I took the train into London. We had scheduled tea at the Ritz which, as expected was a decadent affair. We had lots of finger sandwiches, scones and pastry's. We were also served a lemony compote and a selection of cakes. We each had our own lion topped silver tea pots with all the trimmings. After tea we took a stroll through Harrods before heading over to the west end. We saw a matinee performance of the long running Agatha Christie classic The Mousetrap. It was good fun and the theatre was very intimate. Then it was a drink at Brown's and a stroll through St. James's park. A quick light dinner at Scala and then on the bus back to Bristol.

Lunch in the Countryside

Sunday 11 September - We drove out into the wilds of Salisbury to meet up with our friends Emma and Dave who recently returned engaged from New Zealand. We had and interesting drive to the quaint little pub and once again got quite lost. However, there was lots of lovely rural scenery. We had a nice lunch and got caught up with Emma and Dave before taking a more direct route back to Brisol.

Frome for Cheese

Saturday 10 September - Despite the erratic weather we made the trip to Frome (getting quite lost in the environs of the city) to see the Cheese Show. This one day event is much more than cheese judging, there were equestrian trails, livestock judging, rides, food and vendors. We wandered around for a while visiting the various livestock and rural dsiplays. Then we grabbed some lunch and sat down to watch the shows in the main arena. We saw some lumbejack displays, racing terriers, birds of prey and equestrian stunt riding. We had an excellent time at the cheese show which is the closest we've come to a tradiotional American Fair.

A skyful of serpents, sealife and stars

Saturday and Sunday 3 & 4 September - This was the weekend of the Bristol Kite Festival. We walked over to Ashton court late Saturday and caught the tail end of the show. Saturday we got an earlier start and arrived at the festival just after 12. We settled in to watch some kite fighting and simultaneous launches as well as an array of weird and wonderful kites. Ian had a good time flying his pocket kite and I got some lovely paper Thai kites for decoration. We had lunch from the food vendors on site followed by fresh donuts and coffee. There were lots of giant kites and some that I hadn't seen last year, some of my favourites were the crayfish and the crab. There was also an unusual display of Thai kite competitions where one kite tries to capture another. We had an excellent time lounging in the sun and admiring the kites.

The Wild Wye Valley

Monday 29 August - Since it was a bank holiday weekend we took the opportunity to visit Hay on Wye. We took a minor detour on the way to visit the quaint church in Kilpeck. The church has a number of charming corbels including a rather cheeky sheelah na gig (fertility symbol). We took a wander around the church and visited the ruins of Kilpeck Castle before continuing our journey to Hay. First priority upon arriving in Hay was to get lunch, we had sandwiches and Sundaes at Shepherds then promptly visited our favorite shops and perused the books. After we had sated ourselves with browsing books we hoped back in the car and drove along the pass heading to Abergavenny. There was a slight delay when we came across three geese in the road. We pulled over to take a photo as they turned into a farm yard and then were entertained by the farm dog who insisted on herding the geese around. We picked up some greengage plums that the farmer was offering then continued further along the track. We stopped and took a small hike to visit some Welsh Cobbs as they grazed among the ferns before heading all the way to Bristol.