05-09.07 - Days 172-176 - Buckingham to Chelmsford
Friday 5th July - Buckingham - Chelmsford
With the car back at the garage (Day 172) we roll down Page Hill to Joa and Colin’s house with their medley of dogs - Imogen, Bentley, Amelia, Xeva all golden retrievers plus Winston the cockapoo being temporarily looked after. It’s a lot of legs and Sienna certainly is in 7th heaven as we feast on lunch.
Saturday (Day 173, 6th Jul) we head back to Chelmsford in the rain but only after Seb and I have revisited the Pick-Your-Own strawberries wearing flip flops in the rain, Seb holding the umbrella as I quickly pick 1.5 kgs of juicy strawberries.
We have lunch at Hannah and Dan’s with Holly, their daughter (Charlie, their son having been dropped in the rain at scout camp where he is building his own shelter for the night). Turbo the tortoise plodding around the house freely.
Though Turbo is about to move families, with Pete and Sonia taking him under their wing, swiftly renaming him Tobias (Turbo sounds like a name a 7yo boy would give him being the reason) and giving him a bath - much to the amusement of my parents who have had Zill and Guliver for 65+ years and never once considered the need to bathe them.
We’ll now stay at Gwynneth and Graham’s house after their bout of adult chickenpox - the kids thrilled by the trampoline and Seb especially buy the football goal and two mostly willing boys in Euan (17) and Ethan (14) to play with.
Pete and Sonia bring round a portable pizza oven and we’re soon churning out homemade tasty pizzas whilst watching England in the Euro’s.
Sunday (Day 174, 7th Jul) is a relaxing day mostly spent at home except a trip out to the library, returning with an armful of books, even if Sienna almost prefers to simply re-read Harry Potter. Otherwise it's a day of Lego, football and trampolining.
Monday (Day 175, 8th Jul) we’re now on school holidays - two terms down, two to go - but everyone else (in the UK) still has a few weeks left of summer term so we’re left to our own devices.
We visit Heathcotes Farm, a small petting zoo with donkeys, chickens, rabbits, pigs and the like, with a broad range of Pick-Your-Own.
A picnic lunch nearby at Chelmer Park (a frequent netball rally venue for Kate as a child) is followed by time in the play park including a maypole swing contraption. Back at home, the building of the immaculately repacked Lego now has Technic sets added to it.
On Tuesday (Day 176, 9th Jul) Sienna goes to school for the day with Gwynneth - not unlike Corinne and I did 33 years ago when we went into school in Boston when Aunty Judy was doing a teacher exchange. Sienna enjoyed her day hanging out with the Year 6 girls (2 yrs above her), tackling their algebra - which she can do but not say - and watching them rehearse for their end of school year performance of Matilda.