Winter Daylight Saving……..

………..started today and so that means now it will get dark at 4.30pm instead of 5.30!!! But it does mean (at the moment anyway…) that we are getting up in the dusk instead of the dark!! But it’s lovely, the house is so warm and cosy and the woollen jumpers are too hot for indoors.
Autumn continues at Mill Green and part of Rod’s “Life as a Servant” (in between pouring wine for 3 lunch parties this week – that’s a lot of cooking folks!!!!)… has been getting out in the afternoon and trying to deal with the leaf fall. The gardeners have all been away this week as it’s been mid-term break, so Rod, being Rod, took up the challenge. The shot shows one afternoon’s work – I got to light the fire – love that!!
So while the days are shorter, they are no less beautiful and this weekend Wayne came down from London – yes it is truly only 30 minutes away!
An early morning walk yesterday meant we had mushrooms and bacon for breakfast.
We are still gathering chestnuts and getting more proficient at cooking them! It’s just as well there are so many because the squirrels are going hard out to get lots in before winter really kicks in…they are so cute! As the leaves thin in the forest – just close by – it’s much easier to see the deer – they just wander freely everywhere. Our employer is trying to fence our place to keep them out. However, there is a public walkway through our land and a lady has complained that she has to open the gate now when she comes over the stiles as her Labrador can’t get through the fence! Apparently public walkways are absolutely sacrosanct in England – you own the land BUT the public (and all the relevant H&S bumpf that goes with that) have walking rights over it????????
The pond has been stocked with trout recently.....so that when family come they can fly fish....mmmmmn!
Off to Suffolk today to explore (we are taking the boss’s BMW for a little spin)……then Seville on Thursday for 10 days ……more about that later……..we miss you all and really, really wish you were here xxxxxxx

Maldon revisited…..MountFitchett Castle AND the “Secret Nuclear Bunker”……

……..we decided to revisit Maldon and we weren’t disappointed, sat on the river bank, drank a pint and ate chips – you gotta love that ‘health food’!!! (Ian and Janet – we counted that as our ‘annual fish & chip blow out’ – just slightly early!)

We visited this amazing 9th century Norman village and castle which has been replicated on the exact site of the original– very interesting and well done, animals wandering around – ancient chook breeds, deer, goats – it was lovely.

Then driving home we came upon the sign “Secret Nuclear Bunker”……..really? How many people know now we thought?…….Anyway after driving along windy country roads we came across this site set in the forest – 20 miles from the centre of London, where the government was prepared to debunk to – so to speak – during the cold war….if the flag went up. Would have been a fairly lonely existence if they’d survived I should imagine. Anyway mildly interesting and one ponders on how things may have turned out…………………..???

“Life as a Servant” continues and we still love it….had a lunch party for 10 yesterday and it was fun…we dressed up in our best servile gear and ponced around pouring champers and serving filet steak in maderia sauce. Everyone had a splendid time and we managed to maintain our ‘professional invisability’! Miss you all heaps and love hearing from you xxxxxxxxxx

Autumn in Essex……….

……..it’s such a beautiful time of the year in a lovely part of the world. The days are shorter and cooler. Subsequently the nights are longer and warmer!
The leaves are falling, as quickly as they are raked up there seem to be just as many again. Our employer does not like noisy leaf blowers and can afford guys with rakes, so it’s all hands on deck to cope with the leaf fall. I’m sure the guys MUST win eventually!
My niece Ellie, came down from London yesterday and we went for a walk in the woods and gathered chestnuts, we roasted a few in the oven last night and they are good. We also gathered some mushrooms, fortunately just minutes before we cooked them, there was a programme on telly about a guy gathering wild food. He said don’t eat these kind of fungi – very nasty results……..goodness me we thought “that was lucky”!!!!!! They looked very like unopened mushrooms, but the bottom of the stalk was a bit bulbous…gulp!
It’s also the time of year when birds migrate from colder places to winter over and so we went down to Leigh on Sea which is at the mouth of the Thames and saw the wild geese gathering, they come down from Siberia – all meet up at Leigh on Sea – I guess they have a bit of a festival and then all head off further south. Very civilized.
Talking of flying things…. ….as in NZ, we get lots hot air types at this time of the year. This particular one almost crashed landed in one of our paddocks, managed to get a bit of height again, went a bit further and then came down in a town…..no one was injured except maybe a bit of pride. Two weeks until Seville…….more about that later……miss you heaps and love hearing from you xxxxxxxxx

Thanks to Brian................

…….we finally got around to visiting the pub at the end of our driveway. We’ve been meaning to but…………….we are always on the way to somewhere else????? E.g. Burham on Crouch (see lovely. picturesque little town featuring a ‘licensed’ Chinese Restaurant no less. Anyway Brian and Jane (that’s Jane in the photo) came down for the weekend and, last night as we were working until about 8, they slipped down the driveway for a pint at our very own ‘local’ and came back raving about how good it was. So, next day, to take our mind of the Rugby World Cup tragedy, we walked 100 metres down our driveway for lunch and a pint or two, it was great. So, not only do we live in the equivalent of “Cornwall Park”, we also have our very own ‘local’ AND we are 35 minutes from the centre of London – all we need is you lot to come and share it with us????????
Speaking of Burnham on Crouch……….we have yet to explore Paglesham Churchend and Paglesham Eastend, Fingringhoe, Tollshunt’s Knights, Tollshunt’s D’arcy and Tollshunt’s Major, Curling Tye Green, Fobbing, Mucking, St Mary Hoo, North Shoebury and Shoeburyness, Layer de la Haye and Layer Breton. That is just a mere few of the fascinating place names within a short drive of where we are. We were driving around reading them in silly accents and then realized that here, we actually have a silly accent (most people think we are Aussie or South African…..puleeze!!!) and that Papatoetoe, Rangitoto or Manukau, could be considered ‘different’……so when in Rome…….don’t take the p…s!!! Off to Spain in a few weeks…more about that later. Miss you all and wish you were here, lots of love xx