It’s Movie Night at the Palmer’s! But really, it was just a good excuse to catch up with great friends and neighbours – Jo & Janet. 💏 We originally saw The King’s Man with Ralph & Karen on Boxing Day last year when it first came out at the cinema – and it didn’t disappoint. …
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Category:Friends
Return to Ascoughs Bistro
The first time we visited Ascoughs Bistro in Market Harborough was with Bev & Jules back in June. The food and service was really good, and we decided to visit there again as soon as we could. Today was that day and David & Valerie joined us as part of our semi-regular ‘monthly-eat-outs’ and an …
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Dubious Dovecote and a Great Garden!
Off to the Dovecote Buttery today for Sunday lunch with Helen. We haven’t been here for about a year – and it was good to be back. Well, that’s how we felt when we arrived! Disappointingly, the place was so busy, the service levels fell well below how we remember it. Additionally, the food was …
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Nutters Reunutted (again!)
After yesterday’s sad news, it felt a little odd going out for lunch and meeting up with friends! ☹️ Geoff, Rhonda, Paul, Sue, Ann and I got together for lunch at the Olde Victoria to discuss next year’s ‘Northant’s Nutters Annual Getaway’. In amongst the excellent food and service (as usual!) we narrowed down our …
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Rocking up to Rockingham Castle
It’s on our doorstep, but the last time we think we visited Rockingham Castle was probably 25 years ago! Before I even began blogging! 🤔 These days (at the time of writing anyway) it’s only open Tuesdays and Sundays from midday until 5pm – so today was a good decision! 😉 After yesterday’s trip over …
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Dead Centre!
Maybe not everyone’s idea of fun on a Sunday morning, but here we are at Kettering Cemetery in London Road! Fortunately, it’s not for the reasons you might imagine! 👍 We’re actually here as part of our semi-regular ‘Sunday Hosted Walks’ courtesy of Friends of Kettering Art Gallery & Museum! ‘Tour Leader’ today was David …
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Belvoir Castle with Dennis and Sandra
We drove to Belvoir Castle today to meet up with mates (and newly retired) Dennis & Sandra. We’ve built up quite a portfolio of venues over the past five years for our ‘days out’ together. Venues past… Kedlestone Hall (May 2021)Hardwick Hall (August 2020)Castle Howard (December 2019)The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)Bolsover Castle (October 2018)Belton …
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Itchin’ for Hitchen’s – a Birthday Celebration!
Today, was our second visit this year to Hitchen’s Barn in Oakham. The reason? A belated Birthday lunch for Janet – ably assisted by Jo, Carol, Ann and me! Our first visit here was back in May (with Nick & Celina) and we were so impressed, we were itching to return. In our view, it’s …
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Cat’s Away (Day)!
Ann and I aren’t often apart these days – but today was an exception! 🤔 We drove down to Roy & Susan’s today for a sleepover – and a catchup! Whilst Ann and Susan headed off in the direction of RHS Wisley for the day, Roy and I had other plans! 😁 With the girls …
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Film: Thor: Love and Thunder
Another busy Sunday (in a good way) as we headed straight from Rosi and David’s ‘Ruby Do’ to the local Odeon (meeting up with Janet & Jo) to see the latest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) franchise – Thor: Love and Thunder. This is a direct sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the 29th …
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Ruby Do!
On possibly the hottest day of the year, we set off to David and Rosi’s for their Ruby Celebration Garden Party. As expected – and forecast – it was another scorcher of a day with temperatures heading into the low-30s. We picked up neighbours Paul and Karen (fresh back from their holiday in Italy) and …
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Tolethorpe Hall: Spider’s Web
We headed for Tolethorpe Hall today to catch the matinee performance of their latest production: Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web. Where’s Tolethorpe Hall? Just like our other fave outdoor space at Kilworth Theatre, there’s the tradition of bringing a pre-performance picnic – and with the weather heading into serioius scorchio territory this week, it would have …
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A Packed Sunday!
Nope! Definitely not used to this! Pretty much OUT all day – although it was for all the right reasons! 😁. A longer walk, a new lunch venue and a movie! Yes, I know: ‘tough life!” 😜 The Kettering Walk First off, we met Jo & Janet outside Kettering Library for the ‘Kettering Walk’ – …
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Canons Ashby
Off to National Trust’s Canons Ashby today to meet up with long-time mates, Chris & Gill. Ordinarily, a straightforward journey using the A43, but not so today! It’s F1 Silverstone Weekend starting later and that means only two things – chaos on the main routes plus the local villages seeing an exponential increase in through-traffic. …
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Film: Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
Off to the flicks this evening to catch the final in the Jurassic Park movie franchise – Jurassic World: Dominion. Released on the 10th of June here in the UK and with a runtime of 2 hours and 25 minutes, it wasn’t just the dinos with monster proportions! Background Touted as the final instalment of …
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“We’re at the Theatre Dahling!” – Carousel
Here we are at Kilworth House Theatre with Jo, Janet & Carol for the theatre’s latest production – Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s Carousel! (the pair’s second collaboration from 1945). For those that haven’t heard of this Theatre, it’s local (ish), located in the grounds of next-door Kilworth House Hotel in leafy Leicestershire. Over the years, we’ve …
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Another ‘George’
It was a welcome return to that ‘other’ George today – The George in Great Oxendon! This time, lunch with Ian, Ann, Alan and Mags as of our semi-regular foody get-togethers. Last time we were here was back in January of this year with Paul, Sue, Geoff and Rhonda – and this was our fourth …
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Bonkers Beckworth’s
We picked up Helen today and headed for our favourite Emporium – Beckworth’s. And if people are supposed to be tightening their belts and cutting down on eating-out, then no-one told those ahead of us! When we arrived just before 1pm, it was bonkers busy! 😟. So much so, they’ve now introduced a pager system …
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What a Shower!
Even at the tender age of (almost) 66, I’m still up for trying new things. And today was one of those days! Ann and I were invited to our first Baby Shower. From what I’d read it was another of those celebratory imports from across the pond designed to mark the imminent arrival of a …
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First Visit: Ascough’s Bistro, Market Harborough
It was our first visit to Ascough’s tonight – and what a beautiful evening… the best we’ve had here weather-wise for a long time. Bev and Jules picked us up, and we took the very pleasant drive over to Market Harborough. It was obviously a popular venue as even though Jules had booked quite a …
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The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration
Beginning on Thursday. 2nd June and ending on Sunday, 5th June, this was a celebration of HM Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne. Thursday, the 2nd Spent the morning catching up with ‘bits and bobs’ as we only got back from our Scottish holiday yesterday afternoon. Top Trooping First of the formal stuff – …
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Pupils Reunited!
I hadn’t travelled to London for almost three years and then today, I was here in the capital again, in just two weeks! Recently, it was the rather excellent Doctor Who Experience with Jo; this time something much less timey-wimey – today, a small reunion of ex-school chums (Valerie, Hazel and Bob) and all official …
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Film: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Off to the flicks with fellow superhero enthusiasts, Jo and Janet, to catch Marvel’s latest blockbuster – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – part of the continuing expansion of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (the MCU). 😀 Hard to believe that this is the 28th movie in Marvel’s rollout (yes, really!) and the 11th instalment …
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Food and more food!
Increasingly, we’re both a little bit more conscious of what and how much we eat these days – so today was going to be a challenge! Not so much quaLITY but quanTITY. Potentially, there was a big chance we could easily over-eat – and, no doubt, pay the price the following day! 🤔 First stop …
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London-bound: Doctor Who Immersive Experience
We haven’t been to London for nearly three years (because of you-know-what) and it felt slightly weird boarding the train. Some things don’t change though, and because of engineering works, we had to skip Kettering station and drive to Huntingdon to get to the capital on time. Again, ‘normaility’ meant the train was PACKED! The …
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Return to the other George!
A welcome return to the newly refurbished ‘other’ ‘The George’ today – the Pub/Bistro/Hotel in Buckden. Since we were last here back in April 2019, the place has had a complete makeover – not just the eatery but the whole Hotel! The ladies’ loos had gold taps and were immaculate from top to bottom (so …
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The Wheatsheaf – Again!
We returned to The Wheatsheaf in Titchmarsh today to meet up with good friends Mick and Jane. We were last here in January, again with Mick and Jane, and we’d chosen today’s repeated visit for the simple reason that previously, we’d all been mighty impressed with the food and service! 👍 We arrived just a …
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Film: The Batman (2022)
In complete contrast to our recent outing to see The Duke – a rather light-hearted affair – here we are once again at the local Odeon (sans Meerkat) to see the new Batman film – by comparison, it looks like a much, much darker offering! 😯 It seems only yesterday that we had Director Chris Nolan’s …
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Friends Reunutted!
Here we are at The George in Great Oxendon reuniting with The Northants NuttersⓇ, aka Geoff & Rhonda and Paul & Sue. We last got together for our Warner Weekend at Alveston Hall, back in January and it was good to see everyone again! 😀 As we arrived in the car-park, it was clearly a …
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Film: The Duke (2022)
We headed for the local Odeon today to see the much-praised movie: The Duke starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren.