mybigadventures.com

Today, we continued our adventures in the local area (and a little further afield). We started off at Runnymede, a small area of landscape by the Thames, owned by the National Trust. It is regarded as the birthplace of democracy as it marks the spot where King John first placed his seal on the Magna Carter, marking the beginning of democracy. It was quite a small area of parkland, with two different memorials - one to JF Kennedy, a memorial following his assassination, and one to the Magna Carter itself. Both were surrounded by woodland, so we wandered in the area for a little bit, enjoying the bluebells and spotting a few bunny rabbits darting into the bushes. We had a mosey around for about 40 minutes, although it was quite cool in the shade compared to our previous days out. We walked back to the car park along the river, and made our way to the tea room by the car park for some lunch. Just for a change, we were served immediately in the cafe, and the server even went to make our sandwiches while we dithered about drinks. Such efficiency!

From there we made a short-ish journey to Ham House for a return visit. When we went last time, it was in January 2016, so it was a little different this time, with a good show of tulips in the kitchen garden and a spectacular display of wisteria against the Orangery (tea room). The gardens are certainly well-manicured - lots of topiary carefully shaped and 'coiffured'. There was a partiularly symmetrical arrangement of spheres of lavender and curry plant in one part of the garden, divided neatly into sections by box hedges and cones. We managed to get into the house just before 'last entry' and were suitably impressed - it's all fairly original (so we were told!) and very luxurious, with quite a range of styles and furnishings. Had to speed round a little bit towards the end as they were due to close, but just about saw everything!

We treated ourselves to an ice cream (well, I had a coffee and his lordship had an ice cream) and sat next to the wisteria, enjoying the fine fragrance! Then we ambled slowly back to the car, along the Thames again (a different part this time) and then made our way home.

Who would have thought it, just 3 short years (to the day) after the last update and we're back online. All that was required was a total re-write from Java to PHP. Simple! I've added a few updates that make things work a little better along the way. Now you can see what albums the random images on the front page belong to, and even more interesting for us - see what the random comments link to. I think that's all for now folks! Rock and Roll!

Happy St. George's Day everyone. Pinner had an event on to celebrate the day with lots to do. It was really busy with lots of families out enjoying the sunshine. There was a petting area with animals from a local farm including a nice little piglet and lots of rides for the kids. There were also lots of stalls with food and games including a tombola and a cross bow game. Later on there was a bit of wheelbarrow racing which included refreshment stops at each of the drinking venues for a mandatory pint. The sun has been out all weekend, it almost feels like summer...