London Calling!

It’s been a while since we did this – and we’re certainly packing it in – a short two-day break to the Capital! Deep breath, and here we go! …Train from Bedford… …a brief meeting with Chris, our Financial Adviser… …dump our bags at the Hotel… …Champagne Lunch at the Ritz (thanks Roger, Jane and …
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Return to Netherfields

After last night’s late-night curry-fest with the Costellos, what could be better than a lie-in this morning? Well nothing actually, but instead, we sped off to Nick and Celina’s to continue with helping them re-model their garden. After a quick faff-around in the kitchen clearing up the final debris, we hit the road early and …
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Costello Curry

We got together at ours tonight with our good friends, the Costellos – Trish, John, Sean, Conor and Conor’s girlfriend Shantalle. No special reason except a perfect opportunity for one of our legendary Curry feasts! Ann excelled with three different curries – Cod, Lamb and Chicken, whilst my contribution was a much simpler (and always …
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Dahlia Express!

Another small garden project today in the shape of lifting Denis’s Dahlias! Gosh, we don’t hang about, we left home pretty early and were on Denis’s doorstep by just after 10am! Bev arrived not long after which gave us all the perfect excuse for a coffee-break! …and boy, has Denis got a lot of Dahlias! …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 6) – Final Day

It’s our last full day here today in Cider Country – and there’s a storm a-comin’! The local forecast paints a very (very) wet picture of this area JUST after lunch. So, with welly weather in mind, we’re going to cram in TWO properties before the wet stuff hits us. On a more positive note …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 5) – Birthday Boy!

Well, here we are – In Somerset for my 61st. It was good to wake up and (when I eventually got a signal) to see all the good wishes via social media. I think for the first time, there were more ‘happy birthdays’ via the ‘interweb’ than by traditional cards. The main event for today …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 3)

Today is a cultural marathon, where we’ve planned to take in the following locations. In fact, we squeezed in an extra one, so read on, loyal reader… Muchelney Abbey Somerton Lytes Cary The Royal Naval Fleet Air-Arm Museum They’re all fairly local to here, so we’re not planning to drive further than about half-an-hour from …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 1)

After a good night’s sleep and leaving the laptop on overnight to download the photos we’d taken yesterday, I discovered that the router was still at it, having spent all night downloading just TWO! (shown below). For the biggest router I’ve ever seen in my life, it certainly lacked speed! After a hearty breakfast, we …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Arrival)

Barrington Court Estate (Click on the image for a larger view) So, here we are for the next week, about three hours from home at the National Trust’s ‘Barrington Court’ estate in Yeovil – an empty Tudor manor house, beautifully restored in the 1920s with some rather posh accommodation nearby called ‘Strode House’. But first, …
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