King of the Castle

Almost there... Our heads have been down, busy working on preparations for July so our weekends have been quite tame. But in the meantime, here are some pictures from our trip to Wales. We went to Raglan Castle on the way home from visiting Den and Magic, and had a great time going up the towers and exploring the grounds. There were even tiny fish living in the moat.

Through the Green Gate

One of my work colleagues gave me a local tip about getting in to the parklands of Blenheim Palace in Woodstock; and we were intrigued by her description of how to find the green gate that would let us in by public right of way. There is a high stone wall circling a huge area around Woodstock itself as well as a few surrounding villages but we managed to find our way in. The Palace itself is stunning from the outside although unfortunately it has what we call 'the curse of the scaffolding' at the moment. It is famous as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.



Lots of sleepy little lambs in the surrounding pastures.




'Capability' Brown's artificial lake.



A lovely walk on an overcast day.

Ominous Pubs

I think the names of the Bull and Butcher (Turville, Bucks), and the Stag and Huntsmen (Hambleden, Oxon) are a bit threatening! But the White Hart (Chalfont St Peter) is quite a common name. The Chalfont Phoenix is a bit clever as it was renamed after a renovation due to a fire; it used to be the Poachers. We also passed through a cute little village called Skirmett and found a pub called the Frog, which we though was very punny - we like the Muppet Show, but sadly didn't have an animal sign so it couldn't be collected as an animal pub.

Bucolic Afternoon

I think we're a good couple because when we put our heads together, we can come up with some good ideas... Dave was trying to persuade me to go for a walk today and being reluctant I tried to think of a nice location to sweeten the deal. The tiny village of Turville is only 5 miles away from us and is famous for being filmed. It's the village of 'the Vicar of Dibley' as well as being a film location for 'An Education' and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. Getting out of the car, I was glad that I'd been persuaded out of the house.



The English wildflowers and weeds are going through an enormous but pretty growth spurt.



While the village impressed me with its chocolate-box cottages.





Here is 'St Barnabas', the church from the Vicar of Dibley. Its real name is St Mary the Virgin.





We walked part of the Chiltern Way, over a hill and through the woods to nearby Fingist. This village had a lovely and church that we thought wouldn't have looked out of place in Tuscany.



We spied two horses having a conversation.



Another pair enjoying the buttercup field.



And Dave was my hero and rescued a lamb that found itself stuck in the fence!



A sunny afternoon with a happy ending.

Bluebell

Two weeks ago, in Christmas Common. My favourite time of the year... it's simply magical.

Fairytale Castle

Leeds castle is in a beautiful location, floating on its very own lake in the Kent countryside. It made for a fairytale wedding venue for Clare and Joel.

Peacocks strutted about as if they owned the place:



The wedding was held in the gatehouse - a wonderfully intimate setting, with walls 3 metres thick! Tourists were shut out at 5pm, just as the wedding was getting underway.



Congratulations again to the happy couple:



And the bridesmaids were equally stunning:



We all then enjoyed a lovely intimate meal back in the gatehouse:





And finished off the evening with a fantastic fireworks display that we had to evacuate the island for:



Of course, it was actually put on for another wedding that also occurred on the 29th April that you might have heard about, but it still felt very special!

Congratulations Clare and Joel

We're at Leeds Castle today, celebrating Clare and Joel's wedding. A gorgeous day and a lovely location. We wish them all the best for the future.