Stowe

Today, in glorious but slightly unseasonably warm weather we went to Stowe to meet up with my parents who had P to stay for a few days. We had a lovely picnic by the Chinese Temple and then went for a wonder round the grounds.

 We saw lots of snowdrops!

 We had a cup of tea (and E had her first ice-cream of the year) before going our seperate ways!

Ickworth

G, E and myself popped to Ickworth for their scone of the month - which was a rather yummy Toffee Apple flavour. They were a little dry but there were pieces of toffee in them.

We then went for a quick walk round the estate. It was a beautiful sunny day and I loved all the shapes of the bare trees.

RSPB Big Garden Watch

The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch is the world's biggest bird survey and regularly attracts nearly half a million participants. The records from people counting birds in their gardens provides a vital snapshot of the UK's birds each winter. The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2018 took place over this weekend (27th to 29th January 2018). To take part, you simply spend an hour watching the birds in your garden or local park over the weekend.   This is what we saw:

  And not a bird but enjoying the seeds all the same:

New Year in the lakes

Over New Year we stayed in a beautiful house near Bassenthwaite - I got to live out my country fantasies with cooking in an aga, sleeping in a four poster bed and playing board games by a log fire.
We also did some great walks round the area. The first few days were snowy and icy and the last few days were wet and windy!

Winter Lights 2016

Today we went to the rather fab annual Winter Lights at Angleysey Abbey. It is sold out (we got our tickets in the summer!). We loved the silver birches and the mill beautifully light up! The girls enjoyed a pulled pork bun/hot dog whilst watching the shadow dance of Peter and the Wolf. However, we did the miss the entertainers from last year!