Summer holidays

We just returned from a lovely, relaxing week away visiting family, friends, and new places. Sometimes it is so nice to have time to just be, not worry about schedules or chores, time to think and reflect. I feel very rested now and thankful to God for giving us this gift of holiday time.

National Trust and IKEA days out

Nick and I hired a car this weekend and went out on fun visits to lots of different places. The weekend didn't work out exactly as we expected, mainly because the hotel we had booked near Gloucester had lost our reservation so we couldn't stay there, but we had a great time anyway.

We started off at Lodge Park near Burford, a 17th-century hunting lodge which the National Trust has restored. It is set in lovely countryside and is very peaceful. There is a small but interesting exhibition about the history of the lodge - firstly a hunting lodge, later cottages, later a home for the last owner and his wife before the family tree died out.

We then visited Chastleton House near Stow-on-the-Wold. Apparently this is where the rules of croquet were first codified. There were two nice-looking croquet lawns but sadly no balls or mallets so we couldn't have a game. The house itself holds a collection of interesting objects from the 17th century through to the 20th, including a terrifying 1940s bakelite bed-warming contraption, like a hot water bottle but powered through one's unearthed bedside lamp socket. Yikes. I really liked Chastleton. The grounds were small but lovely, and included some delicious scented roses and a wonderful kitchen-cottage garden. 

Sunday we indulged in the rather more 21st-century pursuit of shopping. Firstly we visited Bicester Village, which seems to me to be almost a shrine to shopping. Next it was on to IKEA in Milton Keynes, where we purchased a lot of stuff including a new lamp for me and new desk legs for Nick to make himself a standing desk. We assembled it together when we got home (via Stowe Landscape Gardens where we had a cream tea in the car with home-made jam and scones and the most amazing clotted cream ever, bought in Gloucestershire the day before). I think both of us were pleased with the day's results!

Our Cornish holiday

We recently had a week long holiday in beautiful Cornwall. We spent most days outdoors, walking and looking at lovely coastal scenery. One day was very wet and windy but for most of the week it was dry and we even enjoyed quite a few warm and sunny days. We stayed halfway between Land's End and Penzance in a cottage, where the evenings were rather chilly and therefore involved watching DVDs and eating nice food while snuggled under blankets! It was a much-needed week of rest and relaxation.

I used to go to the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall every year with my family, so it was very special to me to revisit many of the places of my childhood. 

Here is a little slideshow of some of our pictures.

London

On Saturday we went to London for the day, mostly to visit Laura and Anthony but also to see a few museums and have a day out.

We arrived at 1 pm and walked through Hyde Park to get to a sushi restaurant called Kulukulu. I had found it googling and it had great reviews, so we decided to give it a try. It was awesome! The prices were great compared to Yo Sushi (the only sushi place we have in Oxford) and there were some unusual dishes too, like cold spinach with peanut sauce - yummy! The portions were good too so we didn't end up spending masses like we do at Yo. Although I'm not a fan of fish, I do like going to sushi bars because the food is right there in front of you, you can take whatever you want, when you want, and you can eat just the right amount rather than having a huge plate in front of you that you can't finish.

After lunch we looked around the Victoria and Albert Museum. I enjoyed the history of fashion section the most; Nick liked the plaster casts of various enormous columns and sculptures from around Europe. We walked around the area, ending up at the Royal Albert Hall during a downpour. I thought it would be a much more impressive building than it actually is. However, I do want to go to a Prom some time. Maybe later this summer. We also visited the Science Museum - there were a few gems in there like the steam engines section, and Nick enjoyed the mathematical models and geometry instruments, but overall we felt it wasn't quite as good as the science museums we remember from our childhoods (Exploratory in Bristol and Techniquest in Cardiff).

In the evening we took the Tube out to Hampstead to have dinner with Laura and Anthony in their lovely flat. It's a really nice area, very quiet in comparison with central London, yet not very far away. It's almost like a little village within the city. They inspired us with their amazing vegetable garden on their balcony. Next year, now that our garden is in a good state, we'll grow some too...