We decided to venture out from our little retreat to Bibury in the Cotswolds. It was described by William Morris as the prettiest village in the Cotswolds. We agree - see pics below.
26 June
Bad news today. We heard from Bilbo that due to implementing a new EEC regulation requiring a safety test that we can't collect our van for another 2 weeks. This is a real blow as we are homeless now and we ordered the van a year ago to ensure it would be ready for 2 July.
However, Bilbo have been very understanding of our situation and are letting use their demo Lezan van. Not quite what we hoped and panned for, at least it's only for a week or so.
28 June
Cotswold falconry centre - an excellent day out to see birds of prey. We watched them being trained, saw flying demonstrations of the various birds bred at the centre (raptors, owls and vultures) as well wild birds of prey, buzzards, kestrel and a red kite. Not surprisingly there weren't many other birds venturing into this particular airspace.
We can't quite remember when we saw this next little gem but now seems to be a good time to mention it. On the way back to our Barn, we saw on the side of the road a broken down AA recovery van. Not that surprising in itself as even the AA must break down from time to time. What was surprising was that it was being attended to by the RAC. Nice that to organisations can help each other like that Ahh!
29 June
In Burton upon Trent (for you Caroline) Burton on Trent to the rest of us.
Birthday/retirement/party weekend at Peter's superior accommodation within sight, sound and smell of Marston's brewery. Having parked our Golf next to his red Ferrari we were given the grand tour of the estate, inc 3 patio areas and reclaimed bench (with strict instructions not to sit on it - rather dodgy slats).
Our sincere thanks to Peter (ret'd).
The evening was spent at the Dog and Partridge, Tutbury with the Cunninghams and Lydiates celebrating a certain 55th birthday. What a rare treat to have all our family together. (Except for Ash and Lucy)
Warwick and Chris
Bill and Carol
Us!
Bill and Audrey
30 June.
The Olympic torch came to Burton at 0800. Due to the previous late night and early start, Kevin forgot to take his camera to this once in a lifetime event. Josie remembered to take her camera but failed to put the battery into it. Nokia phone to the rescue!
As you can see it rained......
That evening we attended Chris's 21st party at the Rolleston Scout hut. A great party until the disco began and all the over 21s had an urge to go home.
The gorgeous Steph and birthday boy Chris
Charlie, Steph, Chris, Josie and Paul
Our hosts Caroline and Peter
1 July
Before setting off to Reading Kevin was outside the front of Peters house contemplating loading the ton of belongings into the back of the Golf and chatting to the neighbour about the previous evening's shed break-ins when there was a loud bang. Looking up the road there was a car parked half on the road and half on the pavement. A car had apparently driven too close and on the ground was a whole wing mirror. The owner was looking up the road perplexed that the owner of the mirror hadn't stopped. He picked the mirror and was just putting it on the garden wall when another vehicle drove by and did exactly the same thing. I think at this point he realised that it might be prudent to move the car. It all happens at Shobnall Road.
Before setting off to Reading Kevin was outside the front of Peters house contemplating loading the ton of belongings into the back of the Golf and chatting to the neighbour about the previous evening's shed break-ins when there was a loud bang. Looking up the road there was a car parked half on the road and half on the pavement. A car had apparently driven too close and on the ground was a whole wing mirror. The owner was looking up the road perplexed that the owner of the mirror hadn't stopped. He picked the mirror and was just putting it on the garden wall when another vehicle drove by and did exactly the same thing. I think at this point he realised that it might be prudent to move the car. It all happens at Shobnall Road.
Spent the day being very busy taking Josie back to Reading to move her belongings from the storage to her new house 100 yards away from the previous house. We never knew how many pairs of shoes you can get in the back of a Golf. We do now!!!
Exhausted we arrived at our refuge for the night in sleepy Steyning thanks to Linda and Ashley. Home made Pizza and white chocolate cheese cake was the special of the day along with lashings of beer and gin & tonic. Followed by two loads of washing and tumble drying. Thanks for a great evening and the use of the 'Henry' for Vacuuming out the car. By the way Ashley, the man at Bilbo said the wheels look great.
2 July
Exciting day although tempered by the fact that we couldn't take possession of our own van. At midday we arrived at Bilbo and were given the "Loaner" that will be our home for the next week. Chris from Bilbo introduced us to the green Lezan high top VW camper. We then headed off to Portsmouth to the storage depot and collected our possessions and filled the van to capacity and more!
An interesting journey as Kevin's first ever drive with an automatic. Good news - he only performed two emergency stops with his left foot.
The "Loaner"
Our first ever campsite happened to be about 4 miles from Chichester!
Choller Farm CL, Walberton (complete with showers, toilets and cows)
Neighbours
A perfect signal on the DAB, expresso in the cups
3 July
We heard from Bilbo today that we can collect our van on 10 July, great news.
This afternoon we went to Pallant House Gallery with our good friend Gaby who kindly drove us from the campsite and took us to Chichester to see the Peter Blake exhibition. Absolutely brilliant. Kevin enjoyed seeing his friends and colleagues from the gallery, especially Mathew. It was very strange being in Chichester as a visitor, not least of all having to pay for parking.
