Foxlake Revisited

So much fun did we have at Foxlake on Holly's birthday, we went back again. Which reminds me, there's a video of that I need to edit...

Helix North

For the second week of our holiday, we had a loose structure to the day; jobs in the morning, outings in the afternoon. Today we trimmed the front hedge, which allowed the kids to clamber all over it and make it all tufty again.

In the afternoon, we took the bikes to The Helix to show Helen the Kelpies. Bikes are the ideal way to get around as it's pretty spread out, and it was while exploring Helix North that Louis - who had been up ahead - turned around and ran back to tell us that there was "a massive butt around the corner".

Lo and behold, there is. It's a sculpture called Love and Kisses set in community woodland, and from certain angles it does indeed resemble a massive arse. Other more charitable interpretations would include a heart, a bicycle saddle, or a huge pair of lips.

As for The Helix as a whole, it'll be nice when it's finished :-)

Dovedale

Dovedale is a wee valley at the south end of the Peak District. There's an easy footpath following the river all the way up to somewhereorother, and there are stepping stones, bridges, interesting rock formations and caves along the way to keep the kiddies amused.

It's a lovely walk, although Louis elected to take his bike. We stopped for a picnic and a paddle before the usual ice cream stop at the end. Peter also has a splendid picture of the stepping stones here.

In the evening, and with Peter and Kirsty and family now in attendance, we all had dinner at the Royal Oak in Alton. Very nice it was too, although sometimes the kiddies find these occasions a bit dry. Luckily Holly was on hand to escort them outside and lead them in some amusing games while we supped wine and chose desserts...

Petit Train

Somewhere in the vicinity of Stafford, there's one of those family farm things with animals, tractors, a play barn and a working forge. This one had a narrow gauge railway too.

One of the steam engines (not the one pulling us, alas) was called Isabel, a name it shared with young Ms. Morris, so the engine driver took us into his shed to show us. The smell of oil and metalwork, the massive tools lying around, the palpable sense of manly pottering all gave me some definite inspiration for my retirement.

It seems too long away :-)

Life Is A Rollercoaster

We went to Alton Towers. It rained a bit, we split into groups to cover different intensities of ride, and I didn't bring my camera, all of which resulted in something of a dearth of pictures. Here are a few though.

We had a marvellous time though, it was relatively quiet thanks to recent events, we didn't have to queue for any unreasonable times, and we had a go on some of the tallest, fastest, scariest rides the park had to offer. Special mention must go to Rita which was ludicrously quick, scared the bejeezus out of me and left Holly somewhat shaken. What a laugh!

Little Monkeys

So, this year we spent a week's holiday in a wee house just outside Alton in Staffordshire, where the McKees and Morrises had also taken a holiday home. On the first day together, we visited Trentham Monkey Forest, where Barbary Macaques roam free and view the parade of passing humans with some interest. Afterwards - as it our wont when on holiday - we repaired to a hostelry for a pint of coping juice, and thence to our garden to enjoy the sunset and do a bit of balancing.

Coast

First few stabs at taking a nice picture of our local environs to put on the wall. And a wee test for the new Flickr slideshow feature. You should be able to click through all the images above.

Birthday. Cake.

We had a wee family gathering in honour of Holly and Grandma's respective birthdays. Holly made a rather splendid cake. I didn't take many pictures :-).

Masterchef

Free Food and Beer

Three of my favourite words are "free", "food" and "beer", especially in that order. Imagine my delight then, when courtesy of a competition in The List, Helen and I had "VIP" access to the Moretti Gran Tour, the idea of which is to promote Italian food from local suppliers and wash it down with Moretti beer. We also got to make some ravioli, something that's an almighty faff but we should do more often on rainy summer afternoons...

On The Ropes - Birthday Phase 2

Holly's actual birthday; school's out and both Helen and I had taken a day off. Presents in the morning before a special trip into town with Helen for ear piercing at Jenners.

Later, we headed to Foxlake near Dunbar, a ropes course similar to Go Ape and its ilk, but without harnesses and over water - you slip, you take a dunking. Marvellous fun, and there's a POV video in the pipeline.

As a special treat, Helen put together a splendid birthday dinner based on Holly's requests - scallops & pancetta on puy lentils to start, then hake and polenta chips with purple sprouting broccoli, and chocolate bread and butter pudding as a dessert. It was lovely. She certainly has more sophisticated tastes than I did when I was 11!