We arrived in Bristol on Friday evening, and there was a taxi waiting for us, arranged by wonderful sis in law. It was dark by the time we arrived at their house in the Cotswolds, but next morning this was the view from our bedroom window. Sis in law and her husband bought their current house earlier this year, and ever since have had builders totally renovating in. The result was quite jaw dropping. The kind of house I would fantasise about buying if I won a very large lotto jackpot. Our hosts were overseas when we arrived, and didn't get back until a week later, so we were left a door key and instructions to make ourselves at home, which we wasted no time in doing.On the Monday, we set off for Leicestershire in our hosts' car (a great big fuck off 3.2L Audi). Yes, as well as leaving us their house keys, they left us their car keys too (with John on the insurance of course!). Did I mention that they're my favourite in laws? We rocked up to our friends in Market Harborough, one of these quintessentially pretty rural English towns on Monday afternoon. These are friends of ours with whom I used to work, in fact at one point all four of us worked in the same place. So on Tuesday, the girlies went off to Birmingham for a days shopping while the boys went off to do Engineer type pursuits, visiting an air force base aviation museum. We rounded the evening off with the usual British tradition, a trip to the local curry house and a feed of lager.
The following day we headed back for base, calling into some of my relatives along the way for a cuppa and a quick catch up. Thursday was the only full day we actually had to ourselves. We took off up the motorway yet again and spent the day pottering around Cheltenham. On Friday, another lovely sunny day, our hosts returned and we fired up the barbie.
John and I had prepared a butterflied leg of lamb, marinated with anchovy past
e, rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Slapped it on the bbq and yummmmmmm...... We sat out in the evening sun, with a nice few bottles of wine and watched one of many amazing sunsets over the Cotswold hills.The following day the weather was again fantastic, and we set off for a walk on the nearby heath, which after much dodging of cow shite, ended in a very civilised al fresco (slightly boozy!)lunch at a country pub. This really is my idea of living. Sunday was the last day of our holiday, and sis in law and husband had some friends arrive at lunchtime. The weather was actually hot, and we had to wear suncream and hats out doors. Once again the bbq was fired up in style. This time, a large rib of beef, which had originally been earmarked as a Sunday roast, was sliced up like large steaks and barbequed. Then the ten year old bottles of red started coming out. Alas, our taxi came to collect us at 4pm for our evening flight, so needless to say I snoozed in the back of the cab all the way to Bristol.
We got back home around 8.30, to our neighbour worrying that he had failed us in his cat sitting duties. Lizzie the little madam (ie our female cat) had been AWOL for the previous 24 hours. While we know this is not unusual behaviour for cats, it's unusual for our two, but once we switched on the lights and called her a few times she and her brother came running in. Queue a lot of cuddling, nuzzling and purring (and that was just the humans!). Home sweet home!
3 comments:
Very nice. I've been in Cheltenham today too, (for a meeting), its very near where I grew up and it is a lovely part of the country. Glad you liked it. Dare I ask about the tww? (Is that blogging etiquette?)
Sounds like a fabulopus holiday. I absolutely envy you the weather. We were in the Scottish Highlands and it RAINED. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
The grilled lamb sounds wonderful. Mmmm, nummy.
@WFI - Yes it's a beautiful part of the country. In many ways I prefer it to the Irish countryside. Much more tasteful style of house building that blends into the surrounds.
We weren't on the tww this month, as our doctor wants to see an improvement in hormone levels before we get back in the saddle. AF arrived in the middle of the week which was a bit of a pain, literally, so I've just finished this month's dose of clomid. Fingers x it will do the job.
@ May - Gutted for you that the weather was so bad in Scotland. Still, it sounds like you had a lovely visit with HFF. The lamb is indeed scrummy yummy. That was the first time we had cooked it on a bbq. We normally sear it on a griddle pan and then bung it in the oven for 20 mins or so. It's one of my favourite dinners.
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