Out And About In Suffolk And LEGOLAND (And Dartford Regrettably)

Regular readers of this blog will recall that, after her terrible bout of swine flu, Marion suffered the horrible side effect of her hair starting to fall out. The problem began in April and escalated throughout May, June and July. I am delighted to report that the thinning finally appears to be in decline and there are signs of new growth at last. She had her hair cut for the first time in four months last Friday.

It looks great, as you can see from this photo taken on Aldeburgh beach where we went last Sunday. We parked at Thorpeness, had a light breakfast in the cafe there and walked along the path to Aldeburgh.

There were so many of these beautiful blue butterflies along the route.

This week's outings with the metal detector didn't turn up a great deal. There was this nice horse harness decoration pictured here with a very early button and a post medieval mount

 and this trader's token issued by Thomas Burrough a Grocer of Ipswich in 1644.

While I was out wandering the fields, Marion and three friends were reliving their childhoods and went crabbing at Walberswick. They caught almost thirty crabs before returning them all safely to the water.

The big event of this week was a birthday treat for one of our granddaughters. Catherine has just turned four and we promised to take her to LEGOLAND in Windsor. It's too far for a day trip so we booked into the LEGOLAND hotel.We set off from Framlingham at 6.30 on Wednesday morning to arrive in good time in Kent to collect her. Just our luck, we managed to choose a morning when the Dartford crossing was closed due to an accident. 



The red squares on this photo of the SATNAV screen indicate stationary traffic. The traffic was stationary for hours and we had to abandon plans of picking Catherine up from her home in Rochester. Her parents agreed to drive her to a service station on the M25 and we finally reached LEGOLAND at around 2.30p.m - that's eight hours to do a journey that should be no more than three and a half. 

So was it all worth it? We were a bit worried as there are a very high number of negative reviews of the resort on Trip Advisor. I think a lot of this negativity reflects the very high cost - you could have a package holiday overseas for the one night stay and two days' admission to LEGOLAND. The real acid test is whether or not Catherine enjoyed it and the answer to that is a resounding yes. She loved it. She loved the Adventure themed room (with a treasure hunt). She loved the splash pool. She loved the kiddies' entertainers. She loved the theme park itself. The food was okay. The staff were all friendly and helpful. Yes it was very expensive but that's a matter of supply and demand - the hotel was fully booked so, if they can get those prices, good luck to them.

Marion and Catherine enjoying a fairy tale themed ride.

Catherine meeting the chef.

Catherine insisted on taking a present home for Daddy. It appears that Daddy loves bacon.

The pirate show involved some spectacular acrobatics.

With a very grand finale

So that's another busy retirement week that's flown by. The diary is filling up again for next week but, as the saying goes, at our age it's best to "make hay while the sun (still) shines".