On The Island

We decided to go to Faversham , stopping on the way in Nonington to let Ellie have a wander around the park. This lovely house is right by the park.

Unfortunately Lou and Rhys were working so we had a wander around the town and then had some lunch at Cafe Guild. We sat outside with Ellie. Lovely staff there and good prices. I had a prawn baguette which was £5.95!! Their lattes were very good as well.

A drive to Minster. There are a lot of “free” foods growing around the fields there. Today we saw Salsify and Alexanders.

In the evening we went to see Hamza Yassin at the Marlowe Theatre. I have to say the evening was amazing. I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested in the natural world and photography. He started off being very nervous to a packed theatre and said it was more stressful than doing Strictly! The whole evening was just so full of facts, beautiful pictures and stories of his journey. Amazing. This was a picture of him when he was in Antarctica in minus 43 degrees! The white marks on his cheeks were where he had touched his face and it froze!

He is totally dedicated and only spends 25 days a year at his home. It was all so interesting.

A walk over the fields. Ellie met plenty of dogs including the black lab who fell in love with her a long time ago! Also a new lady and her dog who live just along the road who we have never met before. She hasn’t been here long.

The rest of the day “Spring Cleaning”.

I am pleased we are not going to Madeira this year (a decision made because it is unfair to leave Ellie at her grand old age) because they are having nothing but rain. Today 9 flights were circling the island and they have now started diverting.  We were so lucky on our trips as this appears to be happening much more frequently.

A walk around the orchards, a little misty.

I heard from Sol and a total idiot (drunk) smashed into Milly’s car and drove straight off. How awful particularly as the two children were in the car. But with the help of various footage, he has been found. Poor Milly.

Our usual Sunday walk to Knees Wood and East Kent Railway. It is a charity and it is Ellie’s favourite place, we felt we ought to support them and so joined as members!

This is how Ellie is when we enter the wood, just sets off on her own and decides the route!

She does look round every now and again to make sure we are following. Lovely bluebells down by one of the trains. Then coffees at the Colonel’s Cafe.

Spurs in the afternoon, they played like a different team and won their game!

 

Over the fields with Ellie but it was very humid and so she plodded along, not very enthusiastic.

In the afternoon we had the procession in the town, celebrating 800 years of having mayors. We were the first town outside London to have a Mayor.

We really enjoyed the parade and it was such a lovely afternoon we went to the Red Cow for a drink in their garden where they had a DJ playing. It really was like summer!

Home to watch the Hammers game. Mal was not happy, they lost! Important games this end of the season.

We went along to the Viking Ship for Ellie’s walk. It overlooks Sandwich Bay.

Of course after the walk, a coffee. We do try and keep these small places going.

For lunch we had a booking at Bottega Caruso, the vouchers Dom and Jem bought for Mal’s birthday. We were really looking forward to it. What a disappointment. It was fine to start with and Ellie lay under the table and nearby tables commented how well behaved she was.  There were only 3 choices on the mains menu. Mal ordered Fennel sausage pasta and I, the asparagus and mushroom pasta. Tiny portions, lukewarm and quite tasteless. What a disappointment. The waiter came to collect the plates and asked if everything was OK. Mal said “I wanted to give my dog some of the sausage but there wasn’t any”. It just looked like mince. Mal then wanted to go on to say the meals were lukewarm but the waiter just grinned and walked away. I had a home made limonata and it had SIX huge chunks of ice in it, so little drink and that was £5!! We glanced at the desserts but being treated like that, rather than spend another £10 each, we paid and left. A glass of ice…….

It was so nice in the evening we sat outside in the garden playing cards.