Saturday 28 April 2012

Rosie, Tom and Ben's UK Road Trip

Posted by Rosie

It's pouring down outside so no chance to garden and everyone else is playing monopoly on the kitchen table so no chance to cook. Oh well, no excuse not to write up about our trip to the UK (although I should be ironing the gite bedding .....)

I'd not been to the UK for nearly a year and so had lots of friends I wanted to catch up with in Kent. I also needed to visit Mum on Exmoor and pick up the chicken plucker I bought last June that was sitting in a friend's garage, luckily not too far from Mum. The boys had also asked to go to the Science Museum in London and I wanted to take them to the farm where I was brought up in the Cotswolds. Yup, this was going to be a real road trip.

After a very pleasant trip over on the ferry with a friend (where we some-how managed to win the General Knowledge Quiz) we headed from Portsmouth to Kent via Wisley Gardens where I knew I could buy some lovely greetings cards and maybe a packet or two of seeds *wink*.
Fun at Hever Adventure Play Area

Friday we had a lovely day at Hever Castle with friends Karen, Daniel and Amelia. Daniel is 3 days older than Tom and Amelia 5 weeks younger than Ben and all four get on so well despite long gaps not seeing each other.  Hever is a great place to spend a whole day out with lots to do and see. However I would warn against buying the ice-cream which retails at £2.10 for a tiny scoop *shock*

Fish and chips in the park
Friday evening and Saturday were spend visiting lots and lots of friends: dinner on Friday evening was with Sarah and Glenn. Thank you  folks and sorry we were late. Friday coffee was with Anne and Geoff who I have not seen since leaving for France so we had lots to catch up on. Anne very kindly offered us lunch but as she asked all I could sense from either side of me was 2 young faces drop; I had promised the boys fish and chips for lunch and this was our only chance. Anne understood and soon we were scoffing wonderful fish and chips in the park at Darenth. Scrummy yum yum!!

Onwards for an afternoon with Lorraine, Neill and Sam. Sam is almost Tom's age but they've not seen each other for many years. Would they get on? Yes, all three boys got on well, leaving us adults plenty of time to gossip. (Now get back to work Lorraine!!). Dinner on Saturday night was courtesy of our last UK neighbours. It was somewhat odd to be back next door again but again, great to catch up.

Sunday, I took my life into my hands and braved driving to London .... not to the centre I hasten to add and I did manage to get to Mortlake unharmed. My lovely Uni  friend Tania treated us to delicious roast beef dinner and gave my hair a much need cut and layer. Monday was our trip to the Science Museum and I have to admit that I was ever so slightly stressed about the whole thing. I had never been on a London bus, never used or updated an Oyster card and never taken the boys alone into the Big Smoke. Suffice it to say it all went without a hitch. We did the Science Museum, met up with a friend (hi Pablo and sorry Lorena and Santi couldn't make it), visited the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum and went to Harrods. Much as I would love to have bought a new throw for the sofa I did think £10,000 was bit too much, as was the £101,880 for one watch!!

Willliamstrip Farm
Tuesday was a trip down Memory Lane for me as I took the boys to the farm where I was brought up. What was once a working farm with lots of, dare I say it, rather dilapidated barns, is now a small community where the barns have also been made into rather swanky houses and one is lived in by a certain well know TV presenter.

Kent and Gloucestershire behind us we headed to Exmoor and Mum's. We still hadn't finished though and I dragged the boys to see just one more set of friends who have been guarding the chicken plucker I bought some 10 months previously! Thank you so much for lunch lovely chicken-plucker-guarders! Yet another roast dinner at Mum's that evening before the long trek back to Portsmouth the next day for the ferry trip home. This time I didn't have my friend to help with the Quiz and only came second. Oh well, just as well I'd eaten so much on our trip that I really didn't need to win some more M and M's!!

3 comments :

  1. Sounds like a real whistle stop tour with lots of reminiscing and dining and plenty of play pals for the boys.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a brilliant break, a little bit of everything and lots of catching up with folks.

    Nice to have you back.

    Sue xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. It was lovely to see you all - and the boys were SO good with Nenna! The welcome you got was *nothing* to do with clearing the space in shed that the plucker was taking up :)

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.