UK trip and beyond

Posted by Simon

Before being subjected to having to dress up as a Halloween 'mummy', beset with all the problems of the toilet roll splitting, drooping and tangling up with everything and, therefore, looking like......... well looking like someone who has for some bizarre reason has decided to wrap themselves up in toilet tissue - um!!!, I had taken the boys to see Sally (my sister) in Derbyshire, near Matlock, for a few days.

We had a great time - except for Ben having a 24 hour bug thing - and fitted it lots of things. We went bouldering on Black Rocks and mountain biking down a disused quarry rail track (now a pathway) - well Tom and Sally did I took Ben back to a warm house.

The next day we went to Magna , which is a mini science museum in an old steel works in Rotherham. Although we had a great time and it was (or should have been) a really good day out we were a little disappointed that quite a few of the experiments were not working and I felt it all looked a little tired and some of the displays needed renewing/updating. Nevertheless it was a brilliant day out and very educational for the boys.

Tuesday started wet so we went swimming and in the afternoon to Sherwood Pines (forest) on the bikes again. We had a great time and there is a downhill trail and bike park with jumps etc which we played on - getting very muddy (especially Ben) in the process. On the Wednesday after a trip to the shops and the park we drove back to Portsmouth, via a visit to a family friend, and the overnight ferry.

Back home it was back to rebuilding the old bakery as the weather permitted plus other jobs and walking the dogs. Then it was help get ready for Halloween and of course the Halloween dinner. Also another helper as joined us for a few days so I had to plan some work for him.

Therefore, today we built new and much needed replacement compost bins - out of wood that were the old joists in the barn (now gite). The old bins were a temporary affair and have done well to last three years plus we now have three bins which make it much easier for turning the compost every now and then.