A Grand Day Out

An early start to Saturday, getting up as if it were a normal work day at 6am. I should be attending a CC meeting today but an opportunity arose to go to see R and spend the day with her, so that trumps everything else. We headed off at 7.30am and got to hers around 9.

C had booked us tickets to the Hampton Court food festival. The Palace is a nice walk from R’s (just under an hour I’d say) and we debated whether to walk or bus given that we’d be on our feet all day but opted to walk it. We had plenty of time and it was a nice day.

When we arrived there was a small gathering starting to form but not too many people. We decided to get some breakfast before having a look inside the Palace then looking around the rest of the food festival and grounds. Bratwurst rolls and coffee was our morning fuel.

We walked around the Chapel Royal, Henry VIII’s apartments then the more modern Georgian end. There was a really interesting exhibit about the Field of Cloth of Gold with pieces, including the actually treaty signed by Henry VIII and Francois, on loan from HM Queen Elizabeth II.

It was interesting to note the multiple ways the various Katharine’s names were spelled. Even when referring to the same one it was spelt multiple ways. R’s middle name is one of the traditional ways of finding Aragon and Parr spelt, two of my faves of Henry’s wives. Anna of Cleves is the other one. Don’t subscribe to the Boleyn fan club, Seymour was either insipid or cunning (we’ll never know), and Howard was just plain silly.

Made a few purchases from the food and drink stalls and the Palace gift shop later and a pit stop for cream scone and tea before finding a bus back to R’s

We chilled out a bit, all of us almost nodding off, before heading out to one of R’s favourite pubs for dinner. None of us was overly hungry so we only had main courses.

A lovely walk along the river again back to the flat before we had to head home. Didn’t get back to ours until nearly 9.30pm but what a fabulous day we had.

My feet ache. My back aches. My bank balance aches. I need to catch up with the fall out from the CC meeting I missed but that will have to wait. I think I’ve been active enough for today ( see yesterday’s blog).