playing host in a field

This morning we went down to the big farmhouse as Ady had offered to have a look at a bit of leaky outside pipe from the kitchen sink to the drain. Denise gave us a lift down in the pick up and she went off for a walk round with the dog and the kids while Ady and I did that. To be fair it was mostly Ady who did that, I stood watching and wrinkling my nose at the smell of a blocked drain pipe 😉

We then had a guided tour of the house, which we’d only been in a couple of downstairs rooms of previously. It’s three floors with grand sweeping staircases, nine bedrooms, pantry, kitchens, parlours and so on and despite being in a very bad state of repair is simply stunning. The views from the top floor are something else.

Back up to the farm and Ady and I did an hour or so of mowing, him following me as I had the mulcher and he the mower. The kids played with the dog and Scarlett spent time with the cows and calves. Denise then dashed down with some eggs to her mum who had started baking and realised she’d run out so I finished laying out lunch and we all ate. Denise made me go and get the last of our dirty washing which she got washed and dried for us – she has been fantastic to us :). I checked it was okay to have Steve & Sarah to come and visit and she sent us round to the campsite with their chairs and instructions to move benches, along with talking Sarah in over the phone when they rang to say they couldn’t find us.

A lovely couple of hours sitting chatting to Steve and Sarah in the sunshine. It felt most odd to be playing host in a field that isn’t ours but has been our home for the week. I know Ady enjoyed being able to make people cups of tea after so long being a guest to other people! 😉 Davies and Scarlett showed Josiah around and then they sat in the van with consoles :rolls:

We wandered back over for feeding time and helped fill up sacks of feed ready for the morning, the kids had a last ride in the quad bike trailer and a last game of football with Kim the dog aswell as a quick self timer or three in the cow shed 😉
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Then it was dinner time – beef (naturally 😉 ) burgers and chips followed by the most spectacular take on baked Alaska ever – flan case crammed with strawberries, loaded with ice cream then topped with home made meringue baked in the oven. Divine :). The kids, who have eaten like horses all week were finally beaten on this one and didn’t manage to finish their seconds!

We were presented with a lemon drizzle cake baked just for us by Joan, Denise’s mum as the kids have raved about it all week, so that’s cake rations for the rest of next week :).

It’s been a fab stay here after a rather shaky start, which Denise is still beating herself up over. I confess to not having loved all the gardening but the highs have more than made up for the lows and we could have happily stayed here another week. Another place with offers to come back another time and stay in touch, more ideas to add to our list and more new skills and experiences had here.

Tomorrow we move on to our longest planned host of 3 weeks. Fingers crossed for another good one.