Easter with Karen and Ralph - Monday

I got up around 7ish after Karen delivered us a cup of tea - I'll miss that when I get home!:)

Ralph was already up preparing a breakfast of their bacon and our home-made loaf - a perfect combination! The sandwiches were superb!!

After a couple of cuppas, we got packed and said our good-byes. It's been a great weekend; we've seen a lot and done a lot; and of course it's been good to catch-up with Karen and Ralph.

Our turn to return the hospitality next time - June in fact.

We popped into the new Sainsbury's for some bits-and-pieces of shopping on the way out. We were back on the road just before 11am and had a really smooooooooth journey back - certainly better than going-up - and we were indoors just before 12.40.

We quickly unpacked the shopping, read the papers and started to catch-up with some of the recordings we'd made over the Easter break.

...back to reality tomorrow!

Easter with Karen and Ralph - Sunday

I didn't sleep too well - I think it's called a 'hang-over'! In turn that meant Ann didn't either, so I expect a slightly less-than-cheery Ann this morning when she gets up! :) Good news! Ann was fine.

We exchanged Easter presents - I bought Ann a chrome case for her personal business cards and I received some 'bunny' themed chocolate sweets.

We had a light breakfast of croissants and then jumped in the car heading for Chatsworth. We expected it to be busy, and it was, even though it wasn't a particularly warm day, it was dry!

Within half-an-hour, cars were arriving in their scores, so we were wise to get there earlier than the 11am opening time.

It was well worth the visit (we hadn't been there for around 6-7 years). The interior was as gob-smacking as ever and their 'Masterplan' in 2010 is to open up parts of the interior that have never been seen before by the public - worth coming back for!!!

The exteriors were just as beautiful too!

They even had a live jazz-band trio in the grounds too - great fun!

We ate a late lunch (Ann - Chicken Hotpot; Karen, Ralph and me - Fish Pie followed by chocolate brownies with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce for Karen and me, whilst Ralph and Ann had home-made bakewell tart with vanilla ice-cream and raspberry coulie).

After a final look round the shops, we headed back to the car. People were still arriving - we reckon 2000+ cars were already parked there when we left.

What should have been a twenty-minute journey back turned into more like 45 minutes due to a very narrow road en-route only allowing a single line of traffic through. 

After arriving home around 4.30, it was feet-up for the rest of the afternoon and evening watching DVDs (What Women Want) and TV (Lewis)

Ralph cooked up cheese and tomato crumpets for tea!

Easter with Ralph and Karen - Saturday

We slept well and woke up about 6. A little later Karen brought us both a very welcome cup of tea each! The weather outside looks a bit grey and unsettled - but maybe it'll brighten up later.

We had a a light breakfast of cereal, yoghurt and fruit and then, just after 10 we took a short walk to the village of Lumsdale. There was a major photo opportunity here -The Arkwright Society Lumsdale Project.

We will then drive to Riber Hall Hotel for a snack lunch of sandwiches, coffee and soup. The weather was deteriorating and by the time we'd finished lunch it was raining so fast we headed back to the apartment rather than take a walk to the ruins of Riber Castle.

When we got back Ralph helped me sort out the cheapo PVR I'd bought from Maplins. After some initial problems tuning into Freeview, Ralph cracked it and the test recordings to mpg format were very good indeed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and watching TV - and I fell asleep!

Dinner was booked at Rowley's Restaurant in Baslow, (20 minutes away by car). Lent officially ends for me today, so I plan to indulge in the three Cs I'd given up for previous 40 + days: Chocolate, Chips and Ice-cream!

We arrived at just before 7.30 and because the Bar area was already busy, we were ushered to our table. We all decided to skip the starters - not because we didn't fancy them, but because we knew we would never make it to the desserts if we did.

Karen and I had steaks (plus a bucket of chips for me!), whilst Ralph had the pork and Ann had the lamb. Ann and Karen had a cheese board between them for dessert whilst Ralph and I had desserts full of chocolate. We all enjoyed it very much - the food was excellent and so was the service.

We were stuffed by 9.30 - I'd had my chips and chocolate but failed to find any ice-cream - we paid the bill and headed back to apartment - just in time to watch the Doctor Who Easter Special that Ralph had recorded earlier.

We finished the evening with Ralph's excellent hot chocolate plus an attempt to consume a large box of Thornton's chocolates!

What a perfect day!

Chatsworth tomorrow...

Easter with Ralph and Karen - Friday

We set off just after noon. and arrived at Rockside around 2.15. It wasn't a bad journey, but we did run into some road-works on the M1 an hour or so into the journey and Matlock high street was totally congested! Weather-wise, it was slightly overcast and a bit misty

The sat-nav in the car got slightly confused during the final part of the journey insisting that we turned right at the end of the high-street when it clearly displayed 'no right turn'. This was due to Mr Sainsbury recently reorganising the traffic-flow after building their much needed supermarket nearby.

We started off with a tea and then progressed onto alcohol (not Ann who was still sticking to her promises for Lent nor Karen who stuck with tea), crisps, olives and peanuts.

We spent the afternoon chilling-out and re-watching the excellent 1999 DVD Shooting the Past by Stephen Poliakoff - what a great DVD!!! No car chases...no loud music...no CGI - just a bloody good story, great acting that kept us on the edge of our seat. We watched parts 1 and 2 before settling down to terrific evening meal: Thai soup followed by one of Ralph's excellent prawn stir-frys and finished off with fresh-fruit and ice-cream (not me...Lent...just 1 day to go!)/yoghurt.

We also watched a pretty rare DVD shot in 2005 that featured Earth, Wind and Fire AND Chicago TOGETHER live at The Greek Theatre in LA.

We finished eating around 9pm and finished off watching the E, W and F/Chicago and Shooting the Past although I fell asleep towards the end.

We finally crashed out at 10.30!

Chinese 'blow-out' with Jo and Janet

In preparation for giving-up something for the period of Lent, we were invited to Jo and Janet's for a mega-Chinese meal!

I'm aiming to give up chips and ice-cream (and possibly chocolate too) for forty days! (Cue soundtrack from Mission: Impossible!)
 
Ann is giving up wine and chocolate!

The Chinese-food was probably the best takeaway we've had since we lived here - scrummy!

What happened next was shape the rest of the evening. We decided that I should have a go with the Nintendo Wii. The girls had played before - I'd never been near one!

Apparently, I was entertaining to watch and this was complemented by my lack-lustre performance overall in the various games and exercises.

Here are my results:

Balance(d)	Un!
Weight	Over!
Ski Slalom	Hopeless
Ski Jump	Better
Head-ball	So-so
Table tilt	Not bad
Bowling	OK
Boxing	Awful

....but it was GREAT fun and highly addictive!!!

Easter Holiday - Day 3

Ann's birthday today!

..when we woke up around 7am, it was snowing.

I co-ordinated the family and we all clubbed together to her the top-of-the-range Tom Tom portable sat-nav.

Separately, I bought her a leather case and a docking station, so it can be charged outsde the car.

Nicki C bought her a beatiful necklace. So did Jane, plus a bracelet.

After brekky we headed for Caernarvon. Boy, it was cold!! The snow turned to rain and we arrived about 10.30. We took a flying visit round the castle and then headed for the nearest tea shoppe Ann did the postcards and we then headed for the centre of town.

12.00 Then, a shortish drive across the Britannia Bridge to Beaumaris Castle (English Heritage). It's still cold but the Sun is trying to break through.

12.55 We arrived at Plas Newyyd (means 'new place'). It was a great place - lived in 'til the 70s - It had long mural in the main room by Whistler. Fantastic! A view of the water outside showing loads of detail.

A great tea-shoppe too that doubled as a second-hand book-shop too.

14.30 On our way back now via the Menai Bridge. We stopped of in Betws-y-coed

..and then back to the to the Pub for a read and final meal there.

We travel back home tomorrow.

Easter Holiday - Day 2

Wow! We both had a really good night's sleep. We woke late - 7am. There had been a light dusting of snow overnight, but nothing too serious.

We headed down for breakfast. I went for the 'full-English' (or should that be full-Welsh?).

The weather forecast is 'sunny', so we took a drive to Llandudno along the A470.

What a lovely town! (Mind you, the sunny day helped!). We hit the shops, M and S, Waterstone's (for coffee).

We visited Conwy Castle as well as Aberconwy House, the oldest building in the town - 17th Century.

Then a quick snack and it was off to 'Plas Mawr', a fine example of a restored Elizabethan town-house (English Heritage).

2.30. We're heading back to the Pub Along the way, we stopped off at Bodnant Gardens (National Trust). The weather deteriorated, so after a quick walk-around, we headed for the Tea Shoppe.

4.30. We then headed back to the Pub. Time for a catch up with the Papers and Podcasts. We'll then finish off with a meal in the Pub.

Easter Holiday - Day 1

After heavy snow, we decided to hang on and not rush out. The snow started to melt, and by the time we left, it had begun to melt.

So, we packed up the car and left just after 10.30. Once we got on the road, the weather improved dramatically - in fact, it was a really sunny day for the first part of the journey along the A14 and the old M6.

We made good progress and because we had time to kill (we couldn't check in until 4pm), we stopped off at Chirk Castle for lunch.

After lunch, we resumed our journey and headed for our destination - The Lion Inn - in Gwytherin - after stopping off at Betws-y-coed to kill a bit more time.

We arrived around 4.30 to a really nice room. No double bed, no TV signal and no mobile reception - will I survive? :)

We spent the next couple of hours catching up with Podcasts, listening to music and reading the newspapers.

We're off to our first evening meal in the pub tonight at 7.30. I wonder what it'll be like?