a month of photos

What a great month we had. It was an absolute joy to have my mum and dad come and visit us and we made so many memories. Best of all Lily had the time of her life with her grandparents and crammed into 1 month what wish she had all year through. Grandparents are so important to ones life and development. They have all this time and love to give.

This lovely little photograph below was taken at the princess Diana memorial playground in Kensington gardens. Its a little jewel in London and its FREE!!! ( a rarity these days) Kensington gardens is the spiritual home of peter pan as J.M Barrie met the boys he based the story on on a park bench in this park which he frequented daily. there is a beautiful Peter Pan tree just outside the playground which is worth a visit. The playground itself has a Peter pan theme and includes a huge wooden pirate ship, wooden boats , a huge sand and water area around the pirate ship with a stone crocodile, tee pees , wooden treehouses and slides . Really, it is an amazing playground. Here are Lily and Grandad sliding

Below we have Nana and Lily in one of the wooden boats. Nana is of course pretending to be a pirate as one does in these situations

Those were the only photos I have as you are not allowed to take photos inside the playground to protect the other children. After a day running and jumping in the park you get these feet. We named them fairy feet. they require vigorous scrubbing in the bath

Just next to Kensington gardens is Hyde Park and running along the road next to that we have the famous Royal Albert Hall with Mum and dad posing with him below

On the same day we took the vintage routemaster bus down Piccadilly and stopped at Fortnum and Mason. the queens department store. Its like heaven for me and I always , always feel under dressed. Lily and Nana loved the seaside inspired summer window displays

We did not stay in London through the entire visit though , as we went to Wiltshire in the west country to stay with our friends. Mum and Dad stayed with old friends David and Flo whilst Kristian , Lily and I stayed with their daughter Lee and her family in the next village. They stay in proper English countryside. chocolate box stuff. Grandad, Nana and Lily set off and caught the train whilst Kristian and I drove up in our teeny , tiny car. Here they are outside the "green Door" ( Lily's name for our new house)Lee and David stay in Steeple Ashton, the most beautiful village in the world (I think) they are on a farm which they do not own but own an acre of land on it. This visit I opened and closed cow fences, saw calves and a MASSIVE bull, helped hatch a duckling and picked some buttercups and radishes as my country side experience. The countryside is my dream life I have to tell you. Kristian just looks at me fearfully as I waffle on about my love of it all . below is the Church in Steeple Ashton

this Village is Castle Combe where stardust was filmed and many other movies through the years. its the most perfect little English village.Really quaint. For me its not a proper village like Steeple Ashton because even though people live there its very touristy. its edible though. so sweet

The Salisbury plains begin just near the two villages we stayed in and the famous white horse overlooked us. We drove to the top and looked out over the flat countryside which was fabulous , if not a tad windy.

Aunty Flo and Lily were best friends. She is still talking about her almost every day. they went off on an adventure all the way to the top of the hill

a lovely little photo of my gang

This was a wild poppy field I came across

Remember I told you we went to the top of the white horse to see the view. well here it is

On one of our days we went to Longleat house which is a stately manor as well as a safari park now. The current Lord Bath who owns it is slightly eccentric and started a safari park in the 60's which is now a huge conservation project. the grounds are spralling with a pets corner with smaller animals , a steam train ride around as well as a maze and boat trips. It all retains a stateliness (if that's a word) and does not feel at all tacky. It was my most enjoyable day there actually. Here is Lily being measured. she is fairly tall for almost 3 , no?

Below is Lily with Georgina and Christina (Lee's daughters) on the mini steam train

Here is Lily under a very old tree

This is Longleat house from the back with the rose garden

Mum and Dad in front of the beginnings of the solstice maze

Lily and grandad playing wheelbarrows

Below was us all sitting down for our picnic

Back at Lee and Davids ,Lee is busy fishing with lily in the stream running through their property. they fashioned a rod from a wire hanger and a pair of fishnet tights. there was not a fish to be had.

Aunty Flo has a wonderful garden. when I first stepped out I was quite flabbergasted by it. she is a gardener supreme

Finally we went back home and here's just a little photo of grandad and Lily having a chat in the garden

On the last Saturday Mum and dad were here we made Lily have a sleep late in the day which turned into a 3 hour marathon sleep which turned out great because we got to all go out to dinner on the Southbank. The Southbank runs on the South side of the river Thames (duh) Its a lovely walk and if you get off at Waterloo and head there you can start at the London eye and take in all the street performers and restaurants , head down to the Tate modern and the millennium bridge and even go to the borough market. We did just that but just headed for the restaurants. we went to Strada ,which is Italian fare as Lily wanted pizza. It was a lovely evening, Lily was so well behaved and had such a great time. she is a pleasure to take out as she is so quiet and enjoys it all so. After dinner we walked towards the eye again taking in some music along the way and some boats. here is everyone (minus me) along the river bank


Mr cat came with as is usual , but this time Donkey got a rare outing as well

In fact Donkey got a whole lot of attention
And that's all folks. a fabulous holiday for me and a long couple of weeks of post visit depression to pull myself out of but so worth it for the lovely time we all had..