A Week in Suffolk

Windsor Castle (near Legoland) bathed in the evening sun.

Well I'm back again. I took over 500 photos so they've taken me a few days to sort out. I'm only going to put a select few on here you'll be pleased to know.

What a busy week we had. The weather was mostly lovely and we managed to fit in a trip to Legoland, one to Dinosaur Adventure, a children's day at Bury St Edmunds, a local village fete, a car boot and fun day and a day in Thetford, Norfolk, where I used to live many moons ago.

At the play day in Bury, Jack


Made a crown


Did some painting


And held onto an upside down 'horse' (about the only one who did).

Kitty


Loved her Daddy


And her Mummy.


And had an ice cream!

Jason, Sam and I all enjoyed ourselves too.

At Legoland


Jack and I went on a scary water ride! We got very wet.


Jack flew up into the air


Rode in a cart (pushed by Mummy Sam).

And so did I!


Jack, Sam, Jason and Kitty made music!


We all saw this amazing red Lego dragon.

Kitty:


Loved running free


Climbing


Having a picnic and playing with a cup and spoon


And poking the spoon down a drain!! The spoon was lost forever.

All the lego figures and buildings were amazing, especially the London scenes.


We walked back to the car as the sun set. It was an exhausting day. Jack in particular, loved it.

Thetford

We had a day in Thetford, Norfolk, where I lived with my first husband for 5 years. We met up with Jack's cousins in a lovely park made around Castle Hill. The children all had a marvellous time on the play equipment and running up the hill itself and around the ramparts.


Jason and the children climbed to the top. Can you see them??


All the children (plus one or two not with us) having fun on the play equipment.

I had a nostalgic walk down to the town centre with Sam and Maureen (my first husband's first wife).


This is the bank where I worked for 5 years. I had a great time there.


This is my old house. It used to be 3 separate houses which we bought one after the other then knocked them into one. It looks as though they have now been divided back into 2 houses. The cottage was 17th century and had huge black wooden beams on the ceiling. I loved that cottage. Sometimes I still dream about it.


Back to the park and the children played some more. Jack, Brandon and Conor (the 2 bigger boys) went back up castle hill. Don't they all look happy and carefree? It was a lovely day. We also had a picnic.

At home, Kitty had a chocolate ice cream!


What a lovely mess!!

I'll try and finish this tomorrow as it's a bit late now.

Visitors Part 2. Gort Show, Galway, Sandhill, Feakle.

Now where was I? Ah yes, at the Gort show. Hopefully the photo upload will be quicker tonight.

Outside at the show were lots of stalls and some entertainment too. These curly topped dancers put on a great display:


I bet they were hot. They all wore those curly wigs - I'd have preferred their own hair.

Kirsty, Lina and I found an ice cream van! Then, cone in hand, we wandered up to the dog show. I love these shows. Here is the judge inspecting one of the collies.


There was a gorgeous Dalmatian and puppy there too and we stroked and petted the pup. Kirsty wanted to take it home!


The day was soon over and we went back to the hall to collect up all our belongings. Jim queued for our prize money and I had my photo taken with the photo frames I had won for coming 3rd overall in the photo competition.

Galway and Salthill

This was the last day so we made the most of it. We headed off to Galway and Jim dropped us off by the cathedral while he went and looked at computers, as his had died!

I haven't been inside the cathedral before and it was quite a surprise as it wasn't built until the 1950s, so was quite modern. It is very beautiful though and there are some wonderful stained glass windows and mosaics.


Galway cathedral exterior.

I loved these little fish on the main doors:


I have tried to select just a few from the inside:

Looking up into the dome was stunning.


This wonderful mosaic is at the far end of the cathedral.

One of several rose windows.


My favourite shot, taken looking down the central aisle.

Many photos later, we left the cathedral and walked into the main shopping area. Kirsty wanted to buy a present for her fiance so we did a bit of shop hopping. The streets were full of people and buskers and bands. It really is a great city to visit. Shopping done, we walked up to Eyre Square and waited for Jim to come and pick us up.


I just loved these shoes....


The chap in the hat drove this lovely cart around and you could go for a ride. I would have taken us all but for Jim arriving to pick us up. Lina and Kirsty petted the horse.


A lovely photo of Kirsty and Lina. Lina bought this super hat with panda ears!


Jim drove us to a place called Salthill. We have never been there before and thought we'd see what it was like. It's a real seaside resort and has a fairground - but no fish and chip shops! We played on the beach for a while and on the rocks:


L - R. Me, Kirsty, K and Lina. It was a bit windy, as you can see from my hair!


Jim took this lovely photo of some people diving off a board into the sea. The sun was going down and it was getting late. And our tummies were empty, so we headed back to Galway and the splendid fish and chip shop there!


Jim and me eating our lovely fish and chips. Rather a crazy photo taken by K!

We headed back to Feakle as it was the last day of the music festival there. Kirsty had wanted to try a Guinness so we went to Peppers Bar to see what was happening there. It was buzzing and there was an Irish band playing outside and lots of dancing. Kirsty had her Guinness and it really was the perfect end to our day - and K, Kirsty and Lina's stay with us. They had to catch a plane very early in the morning.

Garden Update - Quick one!

We've been back to the gardening and have started work on the back yard. It was very overgrown with grass and covered in stones left by the builders. We have done much stone clearing and grass digging and things are actually beginning to take shape. I'll post photos soon.

I'm off AGAIN!

Tomorrow I'm off to Suffolk for a week. I know I know. I'm staying with Jason, Sam, Jack and Kitty. Usually we have a few days away at a caravan but this time we are having 'days out' chosen by Jack. Goodness knows where we'll be going but I do know one of the days is to Legoland. What fun.

I'll take one or two photos I'm sure!!

Have a great week everyone.

More Visitors - Bunratty, Galway, Ennis, Feakle!

Sorry I've been away so long. I was very busy with my daughter's visit of course. She came with Lina and as a surprise, brought my oldest granddaughter Kirsty. Jim knew of course but I had no idea.

The first trip we made was to Bunratty again! Jim and I managed to see parts we hadn't managed to visit last time with Val. Although the 3 girls were very tired, they still enjoyed the castle and surroundings. Just a few photos from there:


Lina (centre) and Jim having a rest outside the 'doctor's house', Bunratty.


This fabulous stag didn't mind having his photograph taken. It's taking ages to upload the photos today so I'll not have to do too many.

We also found the walled garden. Here are my 3 visitors:


Lina on the ground, Kirsty in pink and K at the front.

We came across an old water mill and a mare and young foal. Lina fed the foal some fresh grass:



These are the cogs that drive the water wheel. Unfortunately they had slipped our of true and needed repair, so the wheel couldn't turn.

On the Friday we left Jim at home and headed for Ennis. Kirsty, who is getting married next May, had found a wedding dress shop there and we had an appointment for 2.30pm. She looked gorgeous in all the dresses of course and really loved one of them. In the end we didn't buy it though.


Here's K peeping through a rather fancy statue we found in Ennis.


While Jim sorted out dinner we walked Buster to Lough Graney, through Dillons' Wood. If you look hard you can see Lina on the shore. The water was really low and Lina was able to clamber right to the end of the line of rocks:


Kirsty was wrapping herself up in her pink scarf when I took this delightful photo of her:



I guess we'd better have one photo of Buster!

On the walk back up the lane to the car, we spotted loads of these hairy caterpillars on the ground:


I must try and find out what they turn into...

On the Sunday it was the Gort Show. Jim had entered lots of flower and vegetable classes and I had entered a couple of craft sections plus lots of photos. It was pretty hectic getting all our things ready. I had entered Lina and Kirsty into a 'miniature flower arrangement' class! Kay had a marvellous time doing 2 arrangements and Lina and Kirsty did one each, all of them were lovely. Jim had also entered so he chose one of K's for his!


Here is the hall all laid out beautifully and 3 judges working hard to reach their decisions. I was able to take this from upstairs in the hall. Jim and I were stewards for the children's section as was K, although she also looked after the crafts some of the time and was very helpful.


Kirsty, Lina and K having their lunch upstairs and looking down on the judging - trying to spot what we had won!

At last we were allowed back into the hall. K's 2 miniature flower arrangements won 1st and 2nd prize! Jim's vegetables did incredibly well as did his jam, also winning a 1st and 2nd. Here is a basket of veg that won first:


I did well in the photographs, coming 3rd overall in the amateur section, which gained me a prize of 2 gold photo frames. I was very pleased with that result.


Just a flavour of the show. Jim took the photo above. Can you see the lady in the blue dress and splendid hat?

The photos are taking a silly time to load, so I will come back and finish tomorrow. Happy Weekend everyone.