On Holiday At Home

When you are retired life is a constant holiday but it's more so for us, as, having moved to a completely new part of the country, we don't know a great deal about where we are living. So we've decided to treat July and August as a bit of a holiday while we discover more about where we are.

On Saturday the weather changed a little and was cooler with a light cloud covering. This was good for us as we had booked a boat trip run by the RSPB to Havergate Island. It's Suffolk's only island and it is not much more than a strip of grassland flanked by muddy lagoons. But it is home to an incredible array of wildlife and we had a very enjoyable morning sitting in the hides and watching the avocets, spoonbills and much more through our guide's super powerful telescope.

The hides all have helpful charts for identifying what you see.

And they are well fitted out with plenty of room for visitors to watch in comfort.

We managed to see the famous hares.

It's not scenic but we had an interesting three hours and if we were keen bird watchers I think we would have added a fair few new species to our spotting books as even our guide said he'd seen some rarities.

It was good to see the boats under sail in the river.

When the boat docked back at Orford we went for a coffee at the famous Pump St Bakery and then bought some very fresh seafood from the shed on the quay. 

I made a very simple Saturday meal with the lobsters and they were absolutely delicious.

On Sunday we went to Rochester for our granddaughter Catherine's first birthday party. I've put a few photos on my Facebook page. Josephine baked a fabulous strawberry cake which looked great and tasted delicious.

Today we've holidayed in our home town of Framlingham. 

We visited our local castle and enjoyed the displays, a walk around the walls and watching the children's entertainment laid on by English Heritage who were putting kids through their paces at jousting and an assault course - great fun. I can't wait to bring the grandchildren.

After a refreshing glass of cider in sunshine at The Crown, Marion bought a few more summer outfits from Ruby Tyger and had a quick look at the other clothes shops before heading home. We had a lovely afternoon all within a quarter of a mile of the house.

To end the day on a high note. We dined outside on some home made fresh pasta that I got from a recipe in Jamie's Italian cook book. It was supposed to have home made pesto with it but as the Co-Op had run out of pine nuts, Leo's Deli came to the rescue and I used theirs (which was delicious and probably better than what I would have made).

It's days like today that make retirement very special.