Stately homes, gardens, Roald Dahl days out, swimming lengths.

Trentham gardens today. It was overcast but still very warm and muggy. I loved the wild flower meadows.

Top of the world..his favourite spot.

Covered in ice cream!

Wicker deer sculpture...it was more visible for my eyes than the camera.

The formal gardens are looking good.

The next day we visited Tatton Park for the first time.

We loved the Roald Dahl experience which marked 100 years since his birth.

The Matilda rooms at the Mansion house

BFG

Willy Wonkers lift

Eating with the Fantastic Mr Fox

PE in the adventure playground

Tatton Parks Home Farm

Meeting all the animals.

The Clydesdale

Donkeys..Sam's favourite

Reindeer

The cider store, complete with fake rats.

The farm house

Angora Goats 

Many rare breeds of poultry, including chicks.

We all loved the different types  of pigs.

We enjoyed the artwork from different countries advertising the Dahl shows.

And marvelled at the splendour of the Mansion house.

We then dashed back home for a quick break before jujitsu class. The boys walked miles today, so I was surprised they were still keen to go out again.

Sadly I had a really rough night,so was pretty exhausted the next day. The boys enjoyed doing some word searches.

Next we learnt about South Korean food . Sam was somewhat concerned that they showed a great deal of squid being eaten, as squid are 'one of my favourite underwater animals'. The programme explained well how in recent history Koreans had to forage and make meals from what they could find and had previously been a very poor country..hence their ability to pickle and preserve many foods over the Winter months.

Later Owen and I watched part of the Ages of Britain series with David Dimbleby. We both admired his pluck at being hoisted up in a winch to enable him to view a painting.

We went to the library, even survived them testing the fire alarms. Ok the children were rolling around with their fingers in their ears shouting..'is it done yet!?'. 

We picked up the books the children ordered and found a few more they fancied. The afternoon involved , showering, reading, making minecraft videos and generally chilling out..which was much needed. I managed to prepare a nice meal and stock the fridge with healthy treats. In other news Owen tried some home grown spinach..he didn't like it but he tried.

We had a lovely afternoon at one of the local wildlife reserves today. We had planned on staying home..but when the sun came out, decided it was too nice to stay indoors.

We made some land art.

Bird watched

We saw Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits, a Bullfinch, Geese, Ducks and a wild rat...much excitement about the Rat.

We paddled and watched for Kingfishers and fish in the water.

We saw lots of Butterflies and native wild flowers . Then went to the swing and sensory garden where they squealed with delight at being able to touch the tree branches due to Blokeys mighty swinging powers.

Then we ran around playing with our boomerang .

And climbing through the tunnels built into the hill in the meadow.

In the evening the children took turns to play chess with Blokey and we're still chattering happily when we finally got them into bed...I can still hear them now as I type..lol.

Quiet day at home today, which is just as well because it's bucketing down. Blokey is tiling and I am cleaning and trying to get my pain under control. 

Sam singing in the rain. Behind him you can see our herb and salad garden , it's been a huge success this year , giving us a great deal of food.

Blokey working hard.

Sam and Owen flit between playing games together, playing Minecraft online with friends, making videos and watching films.

I also devour this Peter Gabriel Concert from which arrived this morning. The menfolk pop in and out to ask questions about the stage show. We enjoy the bonus footage , which talks about how the show was conceived and put together. It also gives us and insight into all the performers and crew who worked on it.

In the evening we come together for a meal, which is a rough attempt at tapas. Comprising of home grown salads, tomato and potato dishes, homemade dressings , pittas and wraps. 

The next day Blokey and I finish the tiling and grouting in the kitchen, the boys make videos , play chess and later we take them for their swimming lessons. The seem to get on well with the new lady and are honing their techniques now as they bomb up and down doing lengths.

Afterwards Blokey and I clear up the DIY mess and as it's late we order a take away meal. The boys ate loads but there were still left overs for the next days lunch.