The flight from Sydney to London was long but soon forgotten, although the jetlag did hit us on and off throughout the first week. Lynda kindly collected us from Gatwick airport and drove us up to East Grinstead for a happy reunion with Eileen the Campervan. Jonathan had warned us that throughout the wet but mild winter, she had started every time……. until five days prior to our arrival, when she decided to be stubborn and not turn over. So, just like last year, Rodney disconnected the battery and popped it in a shed to charge for 24 hours. On Wednesday morning, with battery reconnected, Eileen jumped into life and we both did a little happy dance. Rodney cleaned the green patches off her exterior. I sorted books, maps, DVDs, clothes and stuff and made lists of what we needed to buy to restock the cupboards. Then the following day after farewells and thanks to Mark, Lynda, Jonathan and Clare, we set off to the south.
We stayed with Rupert and Rose for a couple of nights, where we were exceedingly well fed and spent many an hour rudely falling asleep on their sofa. We popped over to my Aunt and Uncle in Seaford for lunch on Friday and I spent hours discussing our family history and the sewing genes that we have inherited. On Saturday morning we headed west to Horsham. Lots of chatting, a bit of shopping and then we had a day out in Brighton with Caroline and Steve on Sunday. The weather had been dry and warm all week, but Caroline declared that Sunday was positively scorching, not quite what we would have said, we were more worried that she would get sunburn on her goose bumps! Yes, we didn’t quite agree on that, but we did briefly get down to t-shirts and there were a few topless men bravely parading along the seafront…! We walked a fair distance along the promenade and on Brighton Pier we had to indulge in an ice cream. Unfortunately this resulted in a rather tragic seagull incident. I big ‘un swooped down, clipped Caroline on route to Rodney’s ice-cream and deftly and expertly plucked out the chocolate flake, without even touching his ice-cream. It was an amazing feat and I wish we had caught it on camera. No I didn’t share mine with him….
We returned to Horsham with sunburnt faces and the next morning set off north towards Hertford, for more reunions with old friends and collection of our mail at Andy and Carole’s. Thank you Paul and Geraldine for squeezing us in for a delicious dinner, with absolutely no notice at all. We then spent the next five nights in our fourth bed at Bill and Ang’s in Watton-at-Stone. And so flowed another busy week of catching up with numerous friends and family; chats with Bob and Jean, an impromptu lunch with Eric, Brian and Lin, afternoon tea with Auntie Sylvia and cousins Philip and Margot, dinner with brothers, Neil and Morley and evenings spent in pubs and restaurants with many others. The week ended with an enormous meal at Bill & Ang’s that included four desserts! On Saturday morning everything that had gradually crept out of Eileen, was bunged back in and we drove across England to my sister in the Cotswolds. Sunday morning started with an Easter egg hunt all around the garden. I think the average haul for Ellea, Max and Honor was around nineteen eggs, I failed miserably with only twelve, but I’ll blame that on my lack of previous hunting experience. The afternoon was spent around the dining table with nine of us eating a roast lamb dinner, Easter eggs and playing ‘parlour games’ which involved an awful lot of laughter and only a few tears.
On Tuesday, Rodney took Eileen to Willersey to get her bottom rust fixed up. He left her at the workshop and cycled to Candice’s in-laws, Kath and Bill, which was where we found him later in the morning. The three of us had lunch at the Broadway Hotel and then whiled away the afternoon by ducking in to almost every shop along the main street of the pretty village of Broadway.
A big food shop was the first order of the day for Wednesday and then we stopped off with Neroli and Ian next to Chew Magna Lake. They’re in the middle of sleepless nights and anxious times….it’s lambing season and they’re obviously very proud of their sheep and their new lambs. We visited their Dexter cows, avoided the ram and then strolled down to the field of new mums and still pregnant sheep. There was a set of twins and a set of triplets gambolling about, all of them only a few days old. I held one of the little grey ones, while Neroli fed him extra milk from a bottle. In a small enclosure another set of triplets, born only about thirteen hours before, were still finding their feet beside their mum; I had a little hug with one of them too. Dinner that evening was a delicious roasted joint of a previous season’s Dexter named ‘Filet’ and the next morning, with a portion of mince from “Filet” stowed in our freezer, we said our farewells and continued south.
“I’m going to put some casters on the chaise lounge” said Bill at breakfast time…….