A Trip to Windsor #3 :: The Changing of the Guard

Hi there everyone 😀

For today's post we are back in Windsor for more of our February trip ...

Tuesday was our first full day in Windsor and after the trauma of Storm Ciara over the weekend, we awoke to clear blue skies and sunshine ... which was a welcome surprise ...

Our primary objective for today was to see the Changing of the Guard. There was lots of information available in our Airbnb and on line about where and when the best views were to be had of the procession and we headed to the Victoria Barracks, just a few minutes from where we were staying, where we were hoping to catch the new guard heading out for the castle.

It was lovely and quiet though there was plenty of police presence, both of the friendly local chatty and the dressed in black and armed to gunnels types.

At 10.15 on the dot we heard the sound of the band striking up and had our cameras at the ready. Sadly for us it was the wrong time of year for the scarlet uniform though, whilst the grey greatcoats weren’t quite as striking, it was still pretty exciting to see them come out of the barracks and march off towards the castle ...

We couldn’t resist yomping along behind them, following them all the way to the castle, where we waited whilst the handover took place behind the castle gates.
We were both surprised at how big the castle is, even though we’ve seen it on the TV loads of times ... and how it pretty much is just there ... smack bang in the high street ...
And just in case you're wondering ... Yes, the above photo was taken at a different time. We had booked tickets to visit the castle later in the week and were hoping to see the actual changeover of the guard whilst we were there.
After about 20 minutes, with plenty of chatting with this very friendly chap ... who was more than happy to be shared on Facebook ...

... the band reappeared ...

 ... to escort the old guard back to barracks ...
I’m so glad we got to see it ... it’s hard to explain but it made us both feel quite proud.

It was then time to have a bit of a wander, find our bearings and somewhere for brunch.

We ended up in Cafe Rouge, an old favourite, in the old station, where crocques were the order of the day for both of us. Tasting all the better for being able to use our 'Meerkat  for 1' app ...

Rested and refreshed we carried on with our wander, wanting to see how far it was to walk to the foot bridge across the river to Eton as we were planning on exploring there the following day ...
As soon as I posted the next photo on Facebook a friend commented to recommend eating in the place next to the river so that was instantly added to the plan for the following day too ...
So that was it for our first day in Windsor ... it did not disappoint and we were both really looking forward to the rest of our stay ... and keeping everything crossed that the sunshine stayed with us 🤞🤞🤞

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Random Ramblings :: Chilling, Creating, Exploring & Simplifying

Hi there everyone 😀

It seems that we are over 'The Peak' of the Coronavirus pandemic and today is the first day of us following our new set of instructions. We have been asked to move from 'Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives' to 'Stay alert, control the virus, save lives' ... which, currently feels a little unclear to me ... but hopefully more information will be forthcoming and we will all understand what we are allowed to do, where we can do it, who with and how often before too long.

I am very much hoping that what we are expected to do continues to keep us safe, but I think we may be following our own stricter set of rules for a little while yet. We certainly won't be packing up the car and heading out to a local beauty spot or beach until we are confident that the rest of the country hasn't had the same idea.

So ... I am imagining for us that nothing really will change, other than feeling that we can now perhaps pop to the Post Office, without looking over our shoulder for someone to ask us if it really is essential. 

I really do hope that everyone is sensible ... having seen some of the footage of the VE Day celebrations over on the weekend I am fearful of a second peak in a few weeks time ... but will be very happy to be proved wrong.

So ... what have we been up to then ... other than staying at home to protect our NHS and save lives? Well ... remember this?

This was the result of my having a word with myself in the middle of March, when we still couldn't seem to shake the January lethargy.

It was just before our formal lockdown began and I'd just decided that I would start shopping fortnightly, rather than weekly ... just in case. I really can't believe it's six weeks ago ... it only seems like five minutes.

Obviously life has been pretty different in a lot of ways to normal so I though it would be interesting to look at whether my 'mind map' has been of any use to me whatsoever ...

Chilling ...

There has been a lot of relaxing at home ... the weather has helped and we've spent lots of time in the garden ... not all of it relaxing, but some of it most definitely has been.

There has been no face to face socialising for us since 14 March. We've seen neighbours and we've chatted to mum and dad on the drive, when dropping off their shopping, but other than that there have been lots of phone and video calls and we've actually not felt lonely or isolated at all ...

Technology has actually been brilliant ... we've been partaking of a weekly on line quiz, with WhatsApp groups set up for keeping in touch with friends and family and my goddaughter has been singing live on Facebook, which has been great to tune into.

I've also enjoyed some of Gary Barlow's crooner sessions and I've even had a virtual tour of Edinburgh zoo ... people have been fabulous in trying to keep us all entertained on line.

We did spend a lovely Sunday afternoon supporting a neighbour whilst she ran the equivalent of the London marathon up and down the street and we've been out every Thursday for the NHS clap and we bobbed in and out on VE Day. The street has really come together and the sense of community has been really lovely, with lots of people looking out for each other ... long may it continue ... 

The one thing that has really surprised me is that there has been barely any reading at all since March. I did make a start on a book late in April, hoping to be able to publish a 'Reading Corner' post for the month, but I have hardly got anywhere with it at all.

Creating ...

There has been lots of creating going on, especially in the garden. Early on we did ourselves a bit of a plan so we knew what our priorities were and we could make the most of the good weather as it occurred ...

The green bubbles relate to the different parts of the garden and those that have been filled in with red are jobs that we've completed ... so we are doing really well with this list ... still got the front to tackle and a few odds and ends out the back, but our hard work is really paying dividends and the garden is looking pretty good ... it was not many weeks ago that we were both saying that we couldn't imagine the garden ever looking nice again ...

There has also been plenty of cooking ... from scratch as we normally would, but definitely more baking, a few new recipes and some al fresco too ...

There hasn't been lots of activity on the crafting front ... the weather has just been too nice to stay indoors for long. Following the success of our 'mind map' on the gardening front I did another to show what I had on the crafting agenda ...

There isn't as much on it as there is on the gardening one and I think I need to pretty it up a bit, but I have managed to complete a baby blanket for my eldest goddaughter, who's first baby is due in July ...

Today I've managed to finish off the first set of free motion embroidered gift cards that I've been working on and I just love how they've turned out ...

Exploring ...
Whilst there has been no travelling or days out at all we have needed to explore a few new ways of doing things. 

Things like the fortnightly shop, which is working well in some respects, though I'm starting to feel less and less comfortable in the supermarkets as they seem to be getting busier and busier and lots of people seem unaware of the need to maintain a social distance. We are now trying to make use of on line grocery shopping to try and ease this stress a little.

Shopping fortnightly requires pretty robust menu planning to ensure that we make best use of all of the fresh produce that we need to buy to last us for two weeks, but so far this is going well.

We have also made big changes to the way we manage our finances and again, so far so good.

On the volunteering front I've continued to work at our local foodbank two or three times a month and we are also shopping for our elderly neighbours and my mum and dad, all who are shielding ... this makes for a pretty big shop, when doing it fortnightly, I can tell you.

Simplifying ...
Being confined to barracks has definitely lead to us having to simplify ... since we received our stay at home instruction back in March we have literally left the house only for shopping or when I’ve been at the foodbank.

We've definitely been learning to make do with what we have, especially in the garden, where there has been lots of growing from seed and creating from what we already have.

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So here we are ... I've got the Prime Minister briefing the House of Commons on his latest update on in the background and have the 50 page document providing all the detail of his latest instruction to go and have a read of ... hopefully all will become clear and I will be confident in what our new rules are going forward.

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Happy Anniversary!

Hi there everyone 😀

Today is our anniversary. Martin and I met on 7 May 2006. This is the first photo taken of us together ... how young do we look?
Three years later, to the day, we got married at the Inn on the Lake, in Glenridding in The Lake District ...

It was only a small wedding, but we were lucky enough to share it with our closest family and friends ...

We were kind of lucky with the weather ... though it did get a bit on the breezy side ...

... and we did have to head inside for some photos ...

We even managed to get out onto the lake ...
Since we've been married we've tended to be away for the majority of our wedding anniversaries, though for some reason we didn't go away for our 1st wedding anniversary in 2010 ...

2011 - 2nd Anniversary ... Porlock, Exmoor
We stayed at The Watermill in Porlock Village, which was just lovely ...
We really enjoyed exploring Exmoor for the first time and re-visiting some of the beautiful spots on the North Devon coast ...

2012 - 3rd Anniversary ... Finsthwaite, The Lake District
For our 3rd anniversary we were back in The Lake District, exploring the other side of Windermere. We stayed in a lovely cottage called Nethercroft in the tiny village of Finsthwaite ...
It was another lovely part of the country to explore and we got out and about and saw lots of new places and even did a bit of walking ...

2013 - 4th Anniversary ... Pickering, North Yorkshire
This year we were in Pickering in the very lovely Coach House just outside of the town. It was a beautiful cottage, with a beautiful garden and we were greeted with a cream tea and roaring log fire. The owners even dug up a clump of camassia for us to bring home, which now always reminds of this holiday when it flowers ...
This was a fabulous location for exploring. It really does give access to all kinds of different days out. We got to visit the coast, heartbeat country and got to see plenty of the steam railway. This is one of my favourite spots in Scarborough ...

2014 - 5th Anniversary ... Eglwysbach, North Wales
We stayed in a lovely cottage just outside of the tiny village of Eglwysbach in North Wales for our 5th Annivesary ... Buzzards' View was tucked up right at the top of a tiny narrow track. I loved it so much that I hung out of the sun roof of the car and made a video of our descent which you can see here.

The views from the cottage across the valley were just stunning ...
We did lots of exploring whilst we spent our week here but one of the highlights had to be our visit to Bodnant Gardens, where we entered a photo into their garden photographic competition and we were actually placed and got to have our photo, along with the other winners, hung in the entrance subway ... we were more than chuffed ...
By now I had started my blog and you can read more about our stay in this beautiful part of Wales in the following blog posts ...

• Eglwysbach - North Wales - Arrival, Llandudno & Conwy
• Eglwysbach - North Wales - Bodnant Gardens
• Eglwysbach - North Wales - Betws-y-Coed to Llanberis
• Eglwysbach - North Wales - Back to Betwsy, Colwyn Bay and Home

2015 - 6th Anniversary ... Ballater, The Cairngorms

We loved The Cairngorms so much, including Corndavon Cottage where we stayed, that we returned to stay again a few years later with mum and dad. 

It is the most beautiful part of the country and we got to visit so many new places, including Balmoral Castle, which was definitely a highlight ...

Another spot, which I described in my blog at the time as one of the most beautiful places on God's Earth was the Linn O' Dee ...
There was lots to share about this trip and if you want to read about all of the places that we visited then here you go ...

• The Cairngorms - Arrival & Visiting Ballater
• The Cairngorms - Balmoral Castle
• The Cairngorms - Braemar to the Linn O' Dee
• The Cairngorms - The Tomnaverie Stone Circle, The Burn O' Vat & Back to Ballater
• The Cairngorms - Caching on The Haggis Highway
• The Cairngorms - To the Coast & Crathes Castle

On our way home we even managed to fit in a visit to Rosslyn Chapel, which was a real treat ...

2016 - 7th Anniversary ... Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire CoastWe were back in Yorkshire for our 7th Anniversary, this time we were staying in Wykewood, just outside of Robin Hood's Bay, a literally Gorgeous Cottage ...
As usual there was plenty of exploring ... this time of some old favourites, as well as lots of new spots ...

• Beautiful Britain - Whitby, North Yorkshire
• Beautiful Britain - Whitby, North Yorkshire ... Take 2
• Beautiful Britain - The Cinder Track, North Yorkshire
• Beautiful Britain - Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire
• Beautiful Britain - Scarborough, North Yorkshire

By now, we'd clearly got Smart phones are were into selfies. We spent our wedding anniversary in Robin Hood's Bay with fish and chips on the quarterdeck ...

2017 - 8th Anniversary ... at home

May 2017 saw lots of work going on in the garden, with some major improvements to the hard landscaping under way. We didn't go away this year but lived in chaos instead ...

It was a stressful few weeks, but I think we both would definitely agree that it was worth it.

2018 - 9th Anniversary ... Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
We did something a bit different in 2018 for our 9th Anniversary and went away to Stratford-upon-Avon for a few days break.

I'd always wanted to visit the Shakespeare properties and we were blessed with glorious weather and had a really lovely time. It was nice to get to spend a bit more time in the area as normally we would only go for a day. I think Anne Hathaway's Cottage was my favourite ...


... but the garden at Hall's Croft was pretty special too ...

Oh crikey ... I nearly forgot New Place ...

We even managed the mandatory romantic ferry ride ...
... and breakfast in a real favourite spot ...

2019 - 10th Anniversary ... Pwllheli, Llyn Peninsular
For our 10th Anniversary we were on the Llyn Peninsular. We stayed in a cottage, close to Pwllheli, on a farm in the middle of nowhere ... with this for our evening view ...
This part of the country is something really special. It was pretty new to both of us but it was so beautiful. It was a real mix of fabulous beaches and country lanes, but not that far from the beauty of Snowdon.

We spent our wedding anniversary doing a pretty stiff walk up to the Tin Man above Llanbedrog beach ...

... followed by lunch at the cafe at Porthor beach, where we listened to the sands whistle ...
We finally got to take the steam railway to the top of Snowdon ...

... and got to explore the crazy beauty of Portmerion ...
We both fell in love with The Llyn Peninsular and it is somewhere that we will most definitely be visiting again in the not too distant future.

2020 - 11th Anniversary ...
So here we are today ... staying at home so that we can protect our NHS and save lives. We will be making our fortnightly trip out to Aldi later to do some food shopping and we will probably be joining up with friends and family later on WhatsApp to do the weekly on line quiz, which is about all the socialising we are doing at the moment.

We're not complaining though. We have spent our time in lockdown making the most of things, spending lots of time in the garden and just generally chilling out ... though I think we both have everything crossed that we can get to take another trip away in the autumn.

I'm guessing our 11th Anniversary will be forever know as 'The One we spent in Lockdown'.

Happy Anniversary Martin 💓💓💓 Looking forward to lots more adventures together.

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