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Published: October 28th 2013
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Well its been a whirlwind of a few days. I landed at Heathrow with my lovely niece Romy there to meet me. It was off to see her home which is lovely and light and bright and straight out to Brent Cross shopping centre. For me lots of nostalgia as I remembered different places all familiar. We got provisions for Friday night Shabbat dinner and had lunch at a Wagamama so I can cross that off my list. In the afternoon she dropped me off with friend Lois and it was so lovely to see her. Her garden was filled with apple trees all laden with apples love that about England. We had big mugs of tea and I mean BIG and then she and Davey took me back to Romy and Brett. We went to a local Japanese restaurant for dinner which was delish - i had a Bento box with Tofu, tempurah and tepenyaki chicken, salad and miso soup.
The next morning I was going to take a bus into town when Lois phoned and said join me and my friend Gary we are going to Wrest Park for the day and I did. What a great day
it was too. Going through a tiny country town of Flint we veered off the path to look at the old manor house which is now a menzies hotel. The first thing is the drive with the trees lining it and then right at the top the house. It has been beautifully restored and we wandered around the gardens before ordering a coffee just so we could sit inside and enjoy the feeling.
We then went on to our initial destination which was Wrest House and that was too marvellous for words. Felt like Downton Abbey to me we went on a tour of the house - only one room furnished but the other rooms you were allowed to visit did have all the grandeur about them the ornate walls painted and some pictures on the walls.
As the flyer stated - "Stroll in the recently restored Italian and Rose Gardens. Enjoy miles of reinstated historic pathways as you discover the garden buildings, pavilion and statues. Find out more about the garden and the people that shaped it,....."
And we did! One of the highlights was through the apple orchard all full of apples of
many varieties and we tasted loads. A few were too tart to eat or a bit floury but we did find some russets that were wonderful. We ate our picnic in the Pavillion looking back at the house a couple of swans perfectly hanging around. In fact there was quite a bit of wild life that we saw on the walk - hares and pheasants to name a few.
Got back to London a bit late and Romy and Brett had got the dinner sorted and all i had to do was get the roast in the oven. We started with a medley of salmon and salad, followed by roast veggies and potatoes to rival Margies roast potato's - watch out Margie you have serious competition from Romy and then the beef turned out very very delicious followed by an apricot tart from M and S.
the next morning we were up and fetching the car from Finchley a quick toasted sandwich and double flat white at Costa's and then it was off down to Barnstaple. The traffic was a bit hectic going out of town but that was ok in my very bright green car that stood
Horseshoe Garden furniture
taking recycling to new heights out amongst the crowd of vehicles. The country side was a splendid array of green and gold and autumn leaves blowing past. All the sign warnings were up on the gantries for an impending big storm coming Sunday night.
I was happy to arrive at Beara intact and received warm greetings from my friends. At last I could see their delightful house - a cob house lovingly restored by them. Pastoral fields outside each window the remenents of an old castle on the hill with a winding river all made up the picture. Its been so good to catch up with old friends - Stevie Baby I had last seen in 1999 nothing changes he does not look a day older and still as funny as all hell. Sunday was a slow start followed by a birthday lunch for Jim of roast lamb and veggies followed by a delcious pineapple upside down cake yummy!!! what a great day. We kept our eye out for the storm but it was earily quiet here and even though I woke up a couple of times to try and see what the weather was doing we were the lucky ones. It passed over us be have been looking at the havoc it caused elsewhere.
Today was catching up with the washing and Trudy is packing and tomorrow we head on up to London
p.s having trouble uploading pics sorry thats the best part i know will do so as soon as i can
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
England
So beautiful