Elveden and Brandon Country Park

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Thursday, 21 April was a free day for John & Mary, and they took us to Elveden and Brandon Country Park.

Elveden has a lovely and exclusive shopping mall with the best selection of dairy products, seasonings, snacks, and bread, and vintage wines. They treated us to delicious cream teas in the mid morning. John recalled the time when they had Barney, telling us that they used to sit at the table outside. They bought three types of cheese including”five county cheese”.

On arrival at Brandon Country Park, Mary told us that we needed to do a 3-mile walk to reduce John’s sugar level, which she thought had increased while he was eating the teacake.

The 3-mile course took us to the woodland trail following the columns painted purple. The woodland was enclosed by ancient pines, newly planted pines and birches, and ancient heath. We remembered walking with Barney and in the snow. It was sunny and incredibly warm in the afternoon on 21 April, and we got sweaty. There were a couple of families with young children following the same trail as us. The fellow walkers had spotted the grass snake and pointed it out to us. It was moving in the grass, but didn’t seem to have noticed us or was hungry, and he went away.

We walked past the pond and Edwardian Mausoleum. John explained to us that the descendants owner’s didn’t follow the will and they put the tombs in the church yard instead of trying to keep them inside of the building. This walking course was one of Barney and John’s favourites, and it again reminded of us having Barney.

We had lunch at the café at Brandon Country Park.

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