Home to Flowers and Cards

It’s lovely to be home, despite the Chinese laundry going on in the kitchen and spare room, and even more so, when we have cards to open!
Our anniversary cards may be left up a little longer than they normally would have been, but we have to get the benefit of them from the sideboard!

I also went into work to a bouquet of flowers! Unfortunately the circumstances for them are very sad.  They were from a lovely chap who had just lot his Dad, and he bought all of us office girls a bunch of them each to thank us for our support.
RIP Harry.
PS If you can make the photo out in the frame, it was taken at the wedding, and we didn’t know it was being taken!

Jo Anne

19 Years Together

It’s our 19th Wedding Anniversary today.
I have two cards to open that I have been given whilst we are in the Midlands, but I know that there will be some waiting on the mat for us when we get home.

Love you Pooh Bear x

Jo Anne

Loving Time With Mommy

I spent a lazy day at the camp site with Sally-Ann and Mike, whilst Paul went over to do some work on his Mom’s guttering, as it was causing a problem. 
We arranged to go over and see her together on the evening.
When we arrived Keith was on his way out, so we had a five minute chat before he headed off, and then sat and had a lovely evening with Mom.  The main topic of conversation was, of course, the wedding and how wonderful it had been to see everyone so happy.

Fred was a little angel while we were there, and sat at our feet, until his Nanny called him up for a love and a cuddle.
We have really loved being able to spend so much time with her, and hopefully won’t be leaving the next trip too long as we are already arranging a visit for them to Cornwall.
Missing you already Mom x x

Jo Anne

Catching Up With Dylan

We have been trying to find a chance to catch up with Kelly, Paul and Dylan since we arrived in town, but finally, tonight we are able to do it.

Now, tiny caravans and little boys tend not to mix, but Dylan, being my Godson, and me being by no means biased, was a little star!

We are lucky enough to have ducks on this camp site, and on Sally-Ann’s suggestion, I grabbed some old bread so that Dylan could feed them.
The ducks were very happy and Dylan got to be up close and personal with them

It was a short but wonderful visit, but soon enough it was over, and my lovely friends had to head back home to get the little man to bed.

Thanks for coming over to see us, it was lovely to catch up x

Jo Anne

Sunny Stratford Upon Avon and Grave Hunting Success

After yesterdays relaxing time, we were off on our travels once more today.
This time to Stratford Upon Avon.
Paul decided that he would remember the route, and despite a minor detour that took us about 10 or 15 minutes out of our way, we arrived and parked up on the Avonside carpark, where we always used to park.

We wandered up the river towards the town, snapping away with our cameras as we went.

It was already 12 noon when we arrived, so by the time we’d had a gentle wander up, I was ready to eat my own arm, so it was definitely time to get some food LOL

We bought our sangas from the Baguette Bar, and they were wonderful, and made totally fresh by order.

I’d forgotten just how lovely Stratford is, and the buildings just kept springing out to be photographed.
We wandered a little more, and at every turn, Fred and Hamish were attracting admiring advances by Americans and British alike!
Mid afternoon, and it’s cake time!

Off we trotted to Cox’s Yard for coffee and cake treated to us all by Mike.
A wander back over the bridge and it’s time for us to get the boat for our little trip up river and back.
The dogs were welcomed on board, and as we were the first on, we chose the very back of the boat.

The two dogs settled down and looked over the side at the ducks that were actually in the water and getting wet, unlike them ~ Silly Ducks! LOL

It was a lovely trip that took us both ways on the river to see the big posh houses on one end and the lovely countryside on the other.

We had a lovely time, and it was made better by the factor that the boat was run on electric, so no nasty diesel fumes to inhale.

Soon the half hour was up, and we were back to dry land, where Mike and Paul got chatting to the owner about the engine and other man type things! Sally-Ann and I snapped away for our blogs with our cameras LOL
Our time in Stratford over, we headed back to the car, and on towards Hampton on the Hill and Budbrooke.

During my family history quest, I have found that there are many of my family born, bought up and buried in these two villages.
When we arrived we went to Hampton on the Hill first, but only found a Catholic church there, and this did not fit with the profile I had.
A mile or so up the road, and Budbrooke looked exactly as I expected in my minds eye, and in the church-yard we found graves stones almost straight away.

Unfortunately the church was locked, so we took some external pictures and made our way back to the car to check the names on the stones with my PAF file on the laptop.
Meanwhile Sally-Ann spotted some people coming across the car park away from the church, so, being cheeky I asked if they knew anyone who may be able to give me some information.
The chap was instantly extremely helpful, and said he had keys and could access the records in the safe for me.  How fantastic!

The inside of the church was lovely, and once the gent had checked the records he confirmed the names of the people that I had already photographed the stones for, and also another two, were so old, they were no longer legible.

At this point I became overcome with emotion, and we chose to leave, thanking the kind gentleman profusely for all of his help.
Now it really was time to head back to the site, but one last stop was in order.

Hatton Locks, for a quick photo opportunity, and a look back down the locks towards the church we had just been in.We had the chance to watch a boat come through one of the locks and then climbed back into the car for the last part of the journey.

Another great day!

Jo Anne

Relaxing at Kingsbury

We had planned to do some more day tripping today, but at the last minute, Sally-Ann had a cunning plan to stay on site and have a relax and explore the Water Park.

We succeeded in doing a full circular walk along to the front entrance of the park via the road, and then in through the park and around and back into the camp site.

We stopped in the middle for a coffee, and managed to catch pictures of some ducks, squirrel and bee’s in action.

We had arranged for a big family gathering once more on the evening, so that we could discuss the wonderful events of Saturday with the new Mr & Mrs P.

On arrival back at the caravan site we were treated to a spectacular sunset to end our day.

Jo Anne

Ironbridge Gorge and Blists Hill Museum

Today was the day we had all been looking forward to.
Of all the places we wanted to visit this was the one that we all agreed would be the most interesting.
Mike had asked a while ago if we could fit in a trip to Ironbridge whilst we were up in the Midlands.
No problem! It’s only a couple of miles from Blists Hill Museum where we all wished to go as well.
Following an eventful trip up the M6 Toll Road, where Paul threw our £5 note into the coin machine by mistake, we arrived in plenty of time for a good wander around both destinations.

It had been some years since Paul and I had been to either of these places, and we were really looking forward to it.

We parked up a little way through Ironbridge, and walked up through the town with the bridge coming into view ahead of us as we walked.

It really is a marvellous piece of engineering, and Sally-Ann pointed out the face in the ironwork above our heads.

Shrewsbury architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard first suggested to John Wilkinson in 1773 that an iron bridge be built over the Severn. Pritchard later designed the bridge but died in December 1777, only a month after work began.

The bridge was completed in 1779……. How on earth were people that technically advanced all that time ago?

We had a walk across the bridge, and then headed back for a cuppa in the nearby tea chop, where Fred and Hamish met another Hamish!

A quick relax and then onward to Blists Hill Museum.

This is a fabulous place showing the very best of the era through shops, technology and technique.

The lovely lady in the Pharmacy, kindly allowed us to take her picture and agreed we could blog it.

The iron worker was fascinating to watch, as he made the moulds for pouring the molten ore into.

We stopped for some lunch and a drink and then were off, fully replenished once more.
Having wandered around a little, we spotted the Drapers shop, and as Sally-Ann has this profession in her family, she wanted to get some pictures of this store in particular.

The store itself was lovely, and packed with fabric and lace.

This very important task complete, I bought some aniseed balls and liquorice comforts in the Old Sweet Shop and we headed on to the outer points of interest that required a little walking.

It was worth it, as we got to see the lift and the Hay Incline Plane.

Finally, we had seen everything, and it was time to make our way back to the car, and the 21st century, but not before making friends with the local Shire horse.

What an incredible day!

Jo Anne