Life is Good
Last Saturday, my uncle and his girlfriend came over for the day. The weather appeared to be on our side, so we put our plan for the day into action.
The first thing we did was to take a walk to Ryton Gardens for a look around and some tea and cake. Once we’d walked back, it was time to jump into Jeff’s car for a trip to Burton Dassett Country Park. What a spectacular place. I could hardly wait to get out of the car to have a look around. After Jeff parked the car, it was a matter of a short walk back to one of the ticket machines to pay for the parking, but as we were walking and the wind was coming up (it’s probably always quite windy up there), we started to pay attention to what was coming towards us…lots of clouds that looked quite stormy. Within just a few seconds, there was thunder and lightning and we decided to re-think the plan…why pay for parking if you can’t wander around? Back to the car we went and back down into the valley, just in time to be inundated with torrential rain. We were all very happy we’d made the decision to get back in the car!
Jeff’s next suggestion was that we go to Compton Verney, not to tour the house itself, as it was getting late in the day, but to go to the tearoom and have some more tea and cake – none of us had actually had any lunch – so that’s what we did. Of course, by the time we got there, the tearoom was getting ready to close for the day. I had an opportunity, however, to see the house in the distance, which was nice.
From there, Jeff mentioned there was a nice pub nearby, which, if it was closed, he was going to throw himself in the river! Of course, it was open, and so we were able to have tea and cake. The only downside to this was that they had a very nice courtyard seating area, but it was too wet to take advantage. Still, we had our tea and cake and sat and relaxed and chatted and then headed for home.
It hadn’t rained at all at my place and we sat in the front garden in the sun and drank more tea and had a long discussion as to what to do next with the garden. It was then time to head to The Royal Oak for our dinner, although we took a walk around both Wolston and Brandon before going there so they could better have a chance to ooh and ahh as the thathed-roof cottages in both villages. Our food was good, we had a really nice time, and then the two of them made their way home.
Now, as the money gets tighter, I am forced to stick closer to home. I can’t afford to buy a monthly bus pass (and don’t need to travel everyday anyway), but even a return ticket to Coventry is nearly £4, so I’m really marshalling my resources and thinking about what I need to buy – not much, my freezer has a lot of food in it – and what I need to do. This has certainly given me more time to work in the garden and the house, as well as to work more on family history.
Things could be worse.
