Friday, June 26, 2009

Back from our whirlwind tour of England... Visited Brighton and Hove, Chichester, Nutbourne, Chelsea, Battersea and Elstead, Surrey. Used a variety of modes of transport as didn't hire a car on this occasion. So little Willow is definitely getting the travelling bug. She screamed to get on the big red London buses, danced with delight at the prospect of going on the train again and enjoyed every minute of the flights which was fantastic for us! A big difference to when we flew to Florida when she was 15 months! So maybe the trip to Oz in December won't be as difficult as we are anticipating? MMMMmmm i can only hope!


New dress and shoes, accessorised by Willow....


First stop, Brighton, England...





Bob's daughter Dom with Willow

Bob's girlfriend Carol enjoying the wonderful view from the window seat in his penthouse


Next Stop, Chichester...

Family pub lunch in Nutbourne

(Great) Aunt Jane, Willow and Daisy

Willow and Daisy


Ben and Megan

Willow showing Megan her bling

Willow met Daisy, Grace and Megan, her cousins, for the first time and had a wonderful time


She particularly took to Daisy. It was very cute....


The walk to the Bunny

Proud daddy/uncle

Picnic at the Bunny, on Gran and John's memorial bench




Strawberries by Jane and Jo, cupcakes by Jo and beautiful picnicware by Rice, available online at Ben and Jo's company http://www.nettlegreen.co.uk/



Another proud daddy/uncle

The beautiful girls....


The beautiful birthday girl cousin Lucie

Cousin Harry's band Rob the Rich played an acoustic set which was very cool

www.myspace.com/robtherichtheband


The girls were a bit starstruck by their Uncle Harry

Young groupies!

A very tired little groupie


Next stop London, Battersea

Auntie Amber, Uncle Rolfie, Sienna and Caspian kindly put us up at their place in Battersea, again. Willow enjoyed a brief play with her cousins before they went to bed and again before they went off to school. Then we took to the streets of London for a fast-paced look around. We had lunch at Carluccio's in Chelsea which is always fantastic, and great for children. We made a few purchases, rode a few big red buses to keep Willow happy then back to Amber's for a delicious dinner that she had prepared, gourmet Indian followed by Chocolate Mint mousse. Deelicious!

Next morning we strolled along Northcote Road in the sunshine, spending time in Jamie Oliver's new venture Recipease. Wonderful place, as is everything he does. Check out http://www.recipease.com/. We bought some yummy bits and pieces from the bakery stand and took it back home to eat before our train to Surrey. Oh and husband bought his prepared crab from the seafood caravan that he always has to have.

Our conclusion is that it is now a lot cheaper to live in England (retail speaking....)

Auntie Amber, daddy and Willow had a little singalong before we dashed off to Grandma's

Final Stop, Elstead, Surry

It was a perfect summer's day in the countryside and a perfect way to end our hectic week, with a bit of nature loving and relaxation. We took a walk around Grandma Lois and Grandpa Norman's wonderful garden and so I leave you with some images of summer in Surrey...







2 comments:

home girl said...

hi darling. loved seeing these pics particularly of all the little girl cousins together. poor maddy is soon to be v outnumbered here and she would love to get in on the girly action. wish we could have been there having asummery lunch catching up and revisiting nutbourne. hope u got my text yesterday (hope i sent it to right number) if u didn't let me know xxxx ps looking forward to bday party shots

Marbella Mummy said...

no!! didn't get your text :(