Making history

I went to the Chalke Valley history festival today as the Big D and my godfather were doing a talk there on Waterloo. It was very good. They packed out the tent!

 I saw lots of friends such as the Big D’s goddaughter and her family and also some friends of the big D who he met at the Weald and Downland Museum. I also saw my god brother, Rory and my old friend William who is growing at a rate of knots like me!

We saw loads of cool things like old planes flying in the sky, Ian Hislop, Roman Soldiers and the Big D’s bread oven which he built from scratch in the Anglo Saxon encampment.

For those that haven’t been before it’s well worth a day out. Too late this year as tomorrow is the last day, but 2016 is already shaping up to be a corker.

Oh no!

As many of you know ‘oh no’ has become my catch phrase. And now I’ll get to use it even more… Introducing Oh and No, my new pet ducks. I can’t remember what breed they are something beige, I think.

Uncle Oo-ah up the drive has just hatched Oh and No for me and I went up to visit them. He said I can have them in a few weeks time when they’re a bit bigger. The Big D is going to build them a house by the pond. Soooo exciting!

Well, well, well

After the snake and foot fiasco yesterday, we decided to go on a jaunt to old Sherborne Castle, looked after by English Heritage. It’s now a ruin. Walter Raleigh used to live there leasing it from Elizabeth I. But it reverted back to the throne when he was imprisoned for marrying one of Liz’s maids of honour without permission.

 One of my favourite bits was the 40 foot deep well. I threw my favourite ball in … Luckily there’s a mesh there to catch balls and people! We threw stones down the gaps in the mesh and it sounded really, really deep! I don’t think I ever would have seen my ball again.

Snakes, feet and fathers

It’s been an eventful day already and we’re only half way through.

I got up nice and early so I could wish the big D a happy Father’s Day. I made him a card at nursery and a cast of my foot (I did they last year too). This year though I moved so it’s more of a splodge than a foot. Better Luck next year!

 Then because we were up we decided to do to the West Bay car boot as the big m and D need some outdoor chairs. We didn’t find any though. Next up was church (which we were really late for as lee thought it started later than it did) and then home for a spot of gardening. The big M found a snake. (Don’t tell Ibiza granny – she’ll never step foot here again!). That’s the end of the big M’s gardening career. After a lot of googling (sometimes a bad thing as initially we identified it as an eastern brown snake, which is really dangerous) and discussion we caught it in a saucepan and relocated far away from the garden. Although as it was a baby grass snake, the big m has subsequently discovered that it might be just one of up to 40 in its litter. And it’s mother could be as long as 2 metres. She’s now not very happy.

Never a dull moment!

Wilfred the fire boy

It’s the weekend and that means yet another National Trust property. Today we visited Shute Barton, and were very fortunate to do so since it only opens once every 100 years or so (well 3 weekends a year) as its predominately a posh holiday let.

It has the largest fireplace in England – 22 foot wide- bigger than the one at Hampton Court. Fire boys apparently would have lived in it ensuring that it was always stoked – here I am in the fireplace pretending to be a fire boy

 For some reason you have to go on a guided tour around the house which lasts for 45 mins. I got REALLY bored and consequently didn’t get much past the kitchen. We had a very quick peek at the bedrooms but then went to play in the garden.  It’s probably a really nice place to stay but I prefer the houses and gardens you can wander around at your leisure.

Well, well, well… What’s going on ‘ere then

This arvo we took advantage of the sunny weather and went on a field trip to Wells Cathedral 40 mins yonder.

We saw the world’s second oldest clock (but oldest with the original dials) created in 1390. Every quarter of an hour little wooden knights above the clock joust upon a turntable and the same knight has now been getting knocked off his horse for 600 years!

We also walked up some really worn stairs to an octagonal chapter room, which was really fun to run around. It felt like being a knight from the round table.

Finally we wandered round the medieval town  window shopping. All in all a rather pleasant afternoon.

Feeding the ducks

I spent a a glorious day yesterday at granny and grandpa’s as the big M was in Edinburgh and the big D had to drive her to the airport at the crack of dawn (even before I got up!) which was easier from their house, than ours.

As always we did loads of super fun things. The bubble machine still being a firm favourite, but the best bit was feeding the ducks. I was a little unsure to begin with – I

 couldn’t understand why on earth we would give our bread away?! And tried desperately to gather it up and eat it myself. But I soon got the hang of it and it was great! Ducks are still my favourite bird. Quack quack

Making friends and influencing people

Yet again I’ve been spoilt rotten and the centre of attention! The big M’s Aussie friends have played with me ALL day. The big D had to go to the Chalke Valley so the big M, Fe, Gary and I took ourselves off to Ham Hill. We had a leisurely lunch (I ate my first scotch egg) and then went for a long walk. I had a fantastic time between running up hills, playing in the dirt, throwing stones, using Gary as my own personal chariot, stealing other children’s balls amongst others.

A truly lovely day…

The Museum

The big M and gran-gran have old friends staying, who are from some far flung land called Oz. Apparently, they live upside down there as its on the other side of the world.

We went to a pub called The Museum for lunch in a teeny Dorset village where they all used to work… Quite a long time ago. 17 years to be precise. It’s called the Museum as its in the Pitt River’s estate and Pitt Rivers used to house his collection there before moving it to Oxford.

It’s changed quite a lot. But it was fun to see and there was an amazing playground next door. We can go there again!

Table building

I had a wonderful weekend. The big m and d went to a wedding in Sussex so I went to stay with my best friend! As always I was spoilt rotten! I stuffed my face with all things yummy and had free rein of all the toys and garden playthings. Perfect. Granny also came over from Spain and stayed too so a double helping of being spoilt!

In honour of Gran-Gran’s visit and some half decent weather, the big D made a garden table. I helped… Here’s the proof