It doesn’t happen very often, it’s not usually more than once a year, when we venture out of the county. It has to be something rather special to lure us beyond the boundaries of Norfolk. The last time we undertook a journey out of our favourite county was just after Christmas last December, to see our baby grandson. This weekend Peter drove down to Bucks so we could see our youngest son and his partners’ new home. For the past six years they have been living in London but have now bought a house not too far from where our eldest son, his wife and son live. We took Barney with us and as he has never travelled such a distance and has a history of being sick in the car, we took good supplies of kitchen towel with us too. We needn’t have bothered, he was the perfect passenger laying on the back seat for most of the journey, with the occasional peer out of the window when we slowed down to pass through a town. We drove into the forecast rain at Duxford and this continued for the rest of our journey, in fact it carried on through into the night. The worse part of the journey was the M25 where lorries were throwing up spray and making visibility poor. Added to this, traffic was reduced to 40 mph and in some places 20 mph. In the end we decided to come off the motorway and use the main roads.

Our first stop was to see my Mum and Dad, who had very kindly laid on lunch for us. After we had eaten, had a good chat and Barney had fully explored their house we set off again, only to find that the road through our old village, which we planned to use as a short cut, was closed. A detour and another session in slow moving traffic with the final part of the journey through open countryside, we arrived at our sons and his partner’s new home were our son was there to greet us.

What followed was a very enjoyable weekend where we not only saw their house and garden but also met up with our eldest son, his wife and our grandson. We took a walk along footpaths and up to a nearby village and met them at a dog friendly pub for lunch. I am always a bit sceptical about babies and children in pubs because they quite often get bored and either end up crying or running around. However, with toys to play with and a couple of walks round the garden our grandson was well behaved and not at all fractious. The rest of the afternoon was spent back at the new house with time for lots of chatting, photographs and videoing.

Buckinghamshire Countryside

The weather was kind to us on Saturday but it was not long before on Sunday morning the rain started again. This was a shame as our son and his partner had hoped to do some work in their garden. Unfortunately this has been left untended during the period of the purchase (about four months) so needless to say there is plenty that needs attention, in particular some areas of very invasive convolvulus.

A good journey back using a slightly different route that only involved a short run on the M25 and we were back home just before lunchtime. During our short absence from the village our neighbour told us about the force eight gales that blew all the tents away on the camping field during Friday night and based on this we quite expected to see our garden devastated. Apart from some damage to the runner beans, torn fleece which was protecting the purple sprouting from cabbage white butterflies, plus the grape vine and a climber that need tying back in, there was little harm done.

Oldest Smock Mill in England

Today work on our bathroom has started. It’s only half eleven and already all the sanitary ware has been removed, a hole cut in the wall ready for the extractor, a good number of tiles are off the walls and the new lights are being fitted.

As I sit here, our home feels as though it is in total chaos. The lounge is now accommodating our outdoor jackets and footwear and to add to this is; our new basin and pedestal. The new toilet and cistern are currently in the storm porch and other pieces that will make up the shower are in the laundry room and Peter’s workshop. In addition, our spare room is full of boxes etc. to take to the Overstrand Fayre plus our bathroom cabinet and mirror. Despite keeping the doors closed while the bathroom refit is in progress, I have been watching the dust steadily accumulate on the sideboard. I have decided to ignore this until the bathroom is finished and then I will have a good clean up. This morning a heated towel rail was installed and this afternoon the new door is being fitted. Tomorrow the flooring will be laid and all that should be left then is the coupling up of the toilet and basin to the main water supply and final bits and pieces, such as putting up the cupboard, mirror and toilet roll holder. Well that’s the plan anyway!

We have not been out much which is no real problem as the weather has been so awful for July. Just as soon as the sky clears then another belt of showers move across. In between these showers we have been able to do a few things in the garden. Peter has lifted the shallots and garlic and these are now drying (well they will when these showers finally pass) and I have had a general tidy following last weekend’s winds. One thing we have not had to do and that is water! But things are looking up and from tomorrow we should see the end of the showers and Saturday, when the Overstrand Fayre will take place on the sports field, it looks as though it should be a pleasant 20ºC with sun and a small amount of cloud.

Well that’s about it. Hopefully by the time I write my next diary entry our bathroom refit will be finished and we will be back to some kind of normality.