Easter Holiday

Life is as usual very busy and so with the Easter holidays approaching rapidly, Edwin decided that we had to take a few days off. Initially we'd planned to go up to Leeds to visit his ailing brother but, with good news that he was doing well, we decided to only go up during the Summer holiday. It was then, only at the start of the holiday, that we started thinking about where and what we might do, eventually making the decision to go to Leicestershire, popping in to visit Edwin's sister in between exploring the countryside.

I managed to book us into a B'nB for two nights on a farm just five days before as well as find a couple of interesting places to visit in the area.

On Monday morning we left, packed up in our mini estate pulling the trailer behind. We must have been quite a site as we saw quite a number of people looking at us as we drove past. For us, it was like we were off on an adventure.

Shortly after eventually finding our B'nB, we headed off to Rockingham Castle for an Easter Egg hunt and to explore the gardens. Daniel was in his element climbing towers and pretending to be a soldier during the time of Robin Hood, and was delighted with his purchases of a bow & arrow and a sword. It took him a little while to work out how to shoot and was soon having loads of fun with it. On the way 'home' we stopped over at a pub for a really great meal.

The following day we traveled through to Leicester where we spent a lovely day with David and Joan. David prepared a superb meal and spent hours entertaining Daniel. First with his air rifle which Daniel mastered very quickly, under strict supervision, and then into the garage. Daniel and David talked for long periods. Daniel asking lots of questions and telling David things, and David explaining what everything was for, how it works, etc and telling him all about his two man aeroplane he is building and will one day fly. In the meantime Joan, Edwin and I spent time catching up and sharing photos.

On Wednesday we packed up after a hearty breakfast and headed for Foxton Locks. Daniel found it very interesting and had great fun. There are 10 locks to negotiate in order to get from the top down and vice versa. Daniel helped one couple through the last 6 and they in turn rewarded him with a short ride through the last one. He is now very keen to go on a canal boat holiday. I'm just not sure if I will manage the constant movement. We may need to do a trial day trip first before commiting. It was a chilly day and so a lovely warm meal in a nice warm pub was very welcoming.

As always, we returned home with mixed feelings. Home is where life gets back into the rat race and the busy life returns. But it is also the comfort of your own bed, not living out of a suitcase and the friendly happy greeting of Benji. But it was a great holiday even though it was only 1 1/2 hours drive away, it was a family time, a time to enjoy life together and that is important for us!