Bensons

We went to visit the Bensons (Mike's my cousin once removed) in Sussex for the long weekend, which was great - lovely to have quite a low key one - we went for a few walks and just hung out for a bit.

On the way there we went past stonehenge - which was quite funny actually, to just see it sitting in a field like that

We went for a walk up on the South downs, and came across some Paragliders.

We also went with Michael and Mary to church, went for a pub lunch, had some swims in the neighbours pool, and went for a walk in the 'forest' (with no trees!).

And on the way home we decided on a whim to stop by Brighton (half an hour out of the way) - which was fun, and funny to see the stereotypes confirmed!

We also stopped at a random village fair, where there were lots of old cars.

Dublin

Ahh, I'm falling seriously behind on these. OK, Dublin...

We were staying in Trinity College right in the middle of the city, which was great, and were in one of the tourist attractions which we later did a tour around!

Did the obligatory guiness brewery tour - which was really very well done, lots of interactive video presentations and very interesting... and on the top floor got to pour our own guiness and went up to a bar with an amazing view over the city.

We also did the Jameson Whiskey tour... which also included a free glass at the end to taste test.

Trinity college where we stayed.

Just sort of wandered about the city and around the temple bar area. Good fun.

Nana's visit

Nathan's Nanna came to visit us for a week or so - unfortunately I had to work so couldn't go up to London with them but we did lots in Bath as well...



We went and did one of those red bus tours of Bath, went out to the river, went out for fish and chips, and went to the Raven for a pub meal, they came and met me in Bristol for lunch one day and went to the Wesley chapel, and we all just spent lots of time together at one place or another which was really lovely.





We had a bit of a bbq at my place on Sunday, so she could meet some of our friends...

Topsham

Topsham is the place I stay at when I am down in the Exeter office for 2days together. As much as I complain about having to go away with work, it's one of the nicer places to have to go to - it's a really cute little town, and I do quite enjoy being there, when I'm not missing out on things back in Bath.

Anyway, one time when I was down there I rounded a corner on the way back from dinner and came across this:

Random.

Some particular kind of Morris dancers apparently - funny old English people. They were actually not bad - and the band was excellent, especially one of the guys dressed in a badger skin who was beating his drum with a teddy bear!! Hahaha. Didn't manage to quite capture it on film but was very entertaining, and right outside my hotel.

While I'm on random English things, how about this:

An 'urban beach' set up in the middle of Bristol, next to the river that you certainly wouldn't want to swim in.

So strange.

Nath and I went down there for a day trip one saturday.

We had devonshire tea, and I got a bit artistic!

Sheep Racing

We went to Alex and Nicky's parents little village - Nether Compton - for their village fete - the highlight of which is the sheep racing! Most of our homegroup went, along with a few hangers-on, so it was a reasonably full household.

Here we are:

Kate, Sarah, Mike (Sarah's boyfriend), Mim, Julia, Luke (married), Alex&Nicky's mum, Nath, me, Luke (friend of mine from NZ), Alex, Nicky (sisters), Chris (married to Alex).

Enjoying pims on the lawn.

The sheep!

There was other entertainment as well including coconut shy, raffles, lucky dips, ice creams... did I mention pimms? :)

Cornwall

We went down to Cornwall for a fantastic weekend with family and boats on the water!

'sunny' British summer... hmm...

The Benson's are pretty well set up down there - they go there for a couple of weeks every summer with kids and grandkids... in total the families have a laser, a mirror, an RS, a topper, and a rib with waterskis and wakeboard.
Nath and I had a go in a couple of boats each, and were trusted to go out together in the mirror, which was so much fun!! Though coming back into shore was a bit tricky and took a few goes.

Really nice to get to know the rest of the family a bit better - and with 3 years since I last saw them, the younger generation have grown up heaps!

This was also the weekend there were crazy floods in much of England... fortunatley we were ok with the trains... until the way home when we were delayed for about an hour, but not too bad.