A walk in the woods...

For those who've not yet heard the news, our walk in the woods at Upton House and Gardens (near Banbury) on Tuesday ended in rather dramatic style, with Mark being air lifted from there to hospital in Coventry after falling awkwardly and breaking his ankle. Despite lying on a muddy slope for an hour and a half he was lucid enough (thanks to the morphine) to suggest that Debbie took a photo of the air ambulance. Debbie felt this was a step too far, so this photo from their website will have to do! It's been a challenging week for us all, but we are glad that Mark was able to have an operation on Wedesday evening and is back home now. It will be a long old road to recovery, but atleast we're on it.

Bluebells

The last few weeks bluebells have been filling the countryside around us, and last Sunday we had a walk around Crackley Woods, just outside Kenilworth, where they were abundant. The bluebell is apparently Britain's favourite flower and as Ben dived into their midst, we did wonder whether it was illegal for him to pick them. A bit of internet research suggests that picking bluebells, along with most other wild flowers, fruit and foliage, is not generally an offence, although it is illegal to pull the bulbs up, and the commercial sale of any part of them is unlawful. Still, we didn't let him do too much damage!

Day tripping

In recent weeks we have taken advantage of the better weather to play tourist and visit some country houses. First we had a day out at Coughton Court with Mark's Mum, who came to stay with us for a couple of days the weekend before last. Here we are enjoying the gardens. Ben also enjoyed the swings and the slide and playing with the fountains!

Then we visited Mary Arden's House and Palmer's Farm in Wilmcote near Stratford. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mother and we enjoyed a day out looking round the two farms, visiting all the animals, watching the Maypole dancing and playing skittles. Below is a picture of Palmer's Farm, which until recently was mistakenly thought to be Mary Arden's House. The latter is just a few yards away.
Finally, Debbie, Ben and her parents went to Snowshill Manor in the Cotswolds this week and enjoyed a picnic in the glorious sunshine. Snowshill was the home of a clearly eccentric collector of anything and everything - Charles Paget Wade - and it was quite an experience exploring this Tardis-like house with every room packed full of curiosities.

In the garden

With the arrival of the sunshine we have finally been forced to spend some time in the garden sorting out the weeds and putting in some plants. Neither Debbie nor Mark is a very keen gardener so it has been a relief this year to have some help from Ben. Here he is helping Mummy with the weeding (no comments on the view please!) and doing some watering.