Our Northumbrian trip wasn’t only dedicated to Roman antiquities. We took time to drive over to Howick Hall, seat of Earl Grey of tea fame, where the gardens are open to the public.
The gardens and arboretum are designed such that different parts flourish at different time of year, so there’s always something different to see.
The wildflower and tulip gardens were still beautiful …
On our recent trip to Hadrian’s Wall, we stayed at a wonderful site called Herding Hill Farm. Just outside Haltwhistle, it was ideally located for our planned visits to the Roman sites, and it also had (because I’ve become a complete camping sybarite) fully serviced pitches which provide continuous water and drainage.
Today we crossed another small entry off the bucket list: a visit to the Roman fort at Vindolanda. This has been long in the planning, and it was every bit as interesting as we’d hoped. Not only are there extensive (and continuing) excavations, but there’s a reconstructed tower and a really engaging modern museum.
I’ll let the pictures tell most of the story:
A model of Vindolanda in its later manifestation. The fortified military area is in the foreground, the village behind it.
We took a brief holiday in north Norfolk to visit Holkham Hall, and to go to the East Anglian Game Show. Much as I had been looking forward to them, both exceeded my expectations – really superb days out.
Posted in Caravans
Tagged Holkham Farming Exhibition, Holkham Hall, Holkham walled garden, Mr Coke of Norfolk
We went to the show again. Even though we didn’t have anything that we wanted to buy, least of all a new caravan. But it’s always fun just to have a snoop around and see what’s new.
Our current Ixworth flock is getting on in years, and it seems a good idea to introduce some new blood into the breeding. On the Ixworth Breeders group that we belong to, someone was selling their breeding flock, plus a few not quite so pure bred ones, so we jumped in and bought them.
It took a trip up to North Norfolk to collect them. Nostalgic for us, since we lived in Norwich when our children were very young, and so the trip brought back many good memories.
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged Bantams, integrating flocks of chickens, Ixworth chickens
I have a dreadful admission to make. In the last few years I’ve become progressively less physically fit until even I had to admit that “something must be done”.
So, in pursuit of the usual New Year’s resolution, I’ve been striving towards getting a bit more active. One of my Christmas pressies was a Pebble watch, which among many other functions has a pedometer. So I’ve been counting steps and trying to do a bit more each day. But progress has been slow, and some days I don’t achieve my target.
The answer? It has to be technology. What else? So for those rainy, cold, miserable days when I don’t even want to walk to the newsagent, we have:
Posted in Diet & Fitness
Tagged Livestrong LS10.0T, Pebble watch, Pedometer, treadmill
At Christmas time we often make ice cream for friends and family as a small gift. This year we did two flavours: a really traditional French vanilla ice cream, rich with egg yolks and filled with home-grown damsons, and a simpler coffee ice cream without egg yolks. Both are delicious, but like most home-made ices they tend to get overly hard in the freezer and need to soften slightly before serving.
In spite of my love of coffee, we drink lots of tea. For many years we’ve bought Ceylon tea from Robert Wilson, and have loved every drop. We’ve currently got a bag of Hellbodde Estate on the go, which is one of our favourites.
But today was a revelation. Up to now we’ve not been making our tea properly, which is a shame. But wow, now that we’ve discovered the secret, is it good!
Enter the Sage Tea Maker.
One of my most entertaining Christmas presents was a drone. A Hubsan X4, which is a beginner’s quadcopter. It was remarkably easy to get it flying, more or less straight out of the box.
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