A pleasant late summer…….

….. we’ve had a steady stream of visitors to stay over the past few weeks and showing them around has reinforced for us, the beauty of the environment we are living in.

We get to wander down the garden path to our “pub gate” and visit our ‘local’ which is a character filled 17^th century English pub.

Malmsbury is just down the road with it’s beautiful abbey dating back to 676!…..good ancient pub there also!

We have spare tennis rackets and have enjoyed some hilarious “anything goes” games of doubles. We have our own rules – no scores – no killing yourself to get to a ball – if the ball is still moving it’s in play – hardly Wimbledon but fun!

The heating in the pool has been turned off but it’s sitting at around 24 degrees which is pleasant enough if you are hardy Kiwis – we are and so are some of our visitors!

We’ve also visited Sudley Castle where Katherine Parr (the last wife of Henry VIII) lived and died. We have joined the National Trust, which for a small annual fee you can visit heaps of amazing old houses and gardens – they do nice ‘teas’ also, which is rather different to our Ponsonby café culture – but hey! “When in Rome…….”

…..Speaking of which…tomorrow we are off to Italy for two weeks….our first time, but a lifelong dream…….

It’s been a mission getting everything and everyone in place here so we can get away for an extended period, but this time tomorrow we’ll be on our way……….we think of you heaps and wish you were here xxxxxxxxx

Summer in the UK is very cool…..

……….often in more ways than one! On a good day the temperature sits around 25° but sometimes can be about 18 – 19……we actually like that. The really cool thing though, (and we’ve mentioned this heaps of times) is the seasons, and summer is no exception. The intense colours and the rate of growth that everything undertakes never fails to impact upon us.
At the moment the fields are full of wheat ready to be harvested and the other day we went for a walk in a wheat field and the sound of the wind through the wheat was like being in a field full of rattle snakes. We could see where Robert Joyce got his inspiration for his song “The Wind that Shakes the Barley”.
We also visited the Snowshill lavender farm – 50 acres of lavender and the bees and butterflys were having a ball! We have to confess we did inhale!
Meanwhile on our evening walk along the almost dried up source of the Thames, we happened upon some friends that we had mentioned to you previously – the family of swans……now gangly adolescents and full of themselves. Interestingly, when we were in London last Saturday, the Thames didn’t look depleted at all…..how does that work?...…The source is practically non existent at the moment!
Another thing we love is the very cool “old things” that you get to visit…some of them are – like the stone circles, barrows or great earth mounds, damn near prehistoric and nobody knows what they were about they are so old. Even so…who forgot???????
One of the relatively ‘new’ things that we visited recently was Sudley Castle, built between 1000 and 1400, very cool place, a few of Henry VIII’s wives lived or visited there….it had been ‘modernised’ by then!
Have just checked the temperatures in Tuscany and on average they are about 35°…we won’t take our warm coats……but the thing is, by the time we get back to England, mid September, autumn will be upon us and all our vistas will be changing yet again. The seasons are a constant reminder against complacency and we think occasionally of Aesops fabled “The Ant and the Grasshopper”……it’s all about preparing for change.
We have friends arriving this Saturday, then more next week AND THEN we are off on holiday……..miss you and wish you were here xxxxxxx

……Where to start??????……………

…….it’s been a pretty “full on” couple of months. We always knew that when our employers would be in residence it would be “busy”….but NOTHING prepared us for “life as a servant” in real time. Our typical day would start at 7.30ish and we would be lucky to fall into bed at 11.30pm and this went on every day for 6 weeks. But the good news is….we did it and survived! We are still slightly punch drunk from the experience …..I can only liken it to a major event that just goes on and on and on.
For the first month we had a chef which was fantastic, but then it fell back on my shoulders and cooking three, three course meals a day, each served with ‘silver service’ is quite daunting….but it’s over and everyone was pleased ……talk about a learning curve!!!! The guest list could go from the house full of 8-9 people to 5 or 6 extra guests in the matter of ½ an hour as could the timing of lunch from 1.30pm to anywhere between 1 & 2…….or dinner at 8.30pm could be anywhere between 8 & 9.30pm…..
One night I noticed the Egyptian security guard walking past the kitchen window, we had the two Philipino staff from Hong Kong on laundry, our Nepalese gardener helping Rod serve - his wife helping a Polish girl with the dishes and me cooking for international guests– a regular ‘league of Nations’….there were a lot of laughs and a few tears! Our employer is lovely, but expects a five star level of service at all times and in all things and gives no quarter! What ever the situation we were expected to deal with it and deliver…….fortunately we did in spite of Rod having a major operation in the middle of it all – and that’s a whole other story!
We’ve had some wonderful visitors from NZ over the past few weeks and we are looking forward to more pending before we hit Tuscany at the end of the month……..

Fools and Horses……..

……we went to the local Gymkhana to experience some of the country’s cultural heritage. As promised, parts of it were pure “Thelwell”, some parts farcical, but we were filled with a sense of envy for those privileged kids participating. Horses are such wonderful noble creatures and while some are incredibly patient and long suffering, others express much disdain at being expected to jump over things at the apparent whim of Freddie or Beatrice and stop suddenly at the very idea. The parents urge from the side with encouraging “Oh! darling!...never mind…well done you!”
We assuaged thoughts of our deprived childhoods by returning to our “manor” and flinging ourselves into the heated swimming pool with surround sound in the ‘hedge’. Work here has been racked up yet another notch as our employer is coming for 6 weeks from this weekend. The other day I was doing something inside and selected some of my favourite music from a panel in the wall. I couldn’t seem to get any volume, so kept pressing the control until I could hear it. It was not as good as other rooms “must get one of the techies to check it out” I thought. The site manager rushed inside and said “What’s going on? Everyone is being deafened on the site!!!” I had accidently activated the “hedge” surrounding the swimming pool and was blasting the site with Beethoven, much to the shock and horror of the workmen….and probably most of the village! Such is life as a servant!
All is pretty much in readiness for the residency. A chef arrives on Sunday…to whom I will be “sous chef”……the chef has cooked for Royalty so I have great expectations of learning heaps. We will be pretty much “off planet” i.e. in another world for the next 6 weeks so please don’t think we have forgotten you. We miss you and wish you were here – in fact some of you will be in a very short time, can’t wait……lots of love xxxxx

Life as a servant continues…….

……earlier this week our employers spent a few days here. They arrived with 5 suitcases which was 1 suitcase too many for our car – a lovely late model Honda Jazz. “I think we need something a little larger for you” said our employer – “I think a Audi A6”. This aforementioned car is for our personal use as well as being our work vehicle. We buy the petrol when we go traveling. With this in mind we reached a compromise and are changing our present car for an Audi A4 Estate. Anyway we went to look at cars on Friday. Work here is coming to an end but there is a push to get everything finished by the end of the month – yay! It took us half an hour to get out of the driveway. We had to get the following moved – a small digger, a truck, a large front end loader, a grader, another truck, another truck and several cars!
We have been worried about our lovely swan who we observed nesting for weeks and then she disappeared. We were walking along the stream (which becomes the mighty Thames) the other night and there they were, Mother, Father and 7 ugly ducklings – glorious.
It is a Bank Holiday weekend – sunny and warm – most unusual for Britain. We went to London for the day yesterday and it was magical…..everyone smiles and are really friendly and happy when the sun comes out. We strolled along South Bank and it was going “off”…..there were masses of buskers and on a small space of beach ‘youths’ were flinging themselves acrobatically backwards off the wall…a new urban youth artform???
There was a lady with two budgies who could tell your fortune (she says)…the budgies pick a card (any card!)…bit random! It was great to be in London.
We are going to a local gymkhana tomorrow apparently it’s totally “Thelwell”.
Lots of love xxxxxxx

Everyman and his dog……..

…..goes to the 4 day Badminton Horse Trials and we were invited to attend yesterday. It is a great quintessential “English Event”…..held annually at the home of the Duke of Beaufort. It is incredibly prestigious and I’m proud to say Mark Todd has won it three times! Only 2 other people have won it more – one being Mark Phillips and the most successful a woman! Great place for one of our favourite pastimes “people watching”…..there was the “country set”, the “smart set”, the “horsey set”, the “corporate set” and “the rest” – The artistocracy hang-out at the ‘house’ and come out to ride – Zara Phillips and the like. I’m not sure where we fitted in – the friend who invited us works for the main sponsor and so we enjoyed a bit of corporate hospitality. We also enjoyed a spot of retail therapy as well as watching the competition of course.
Meanwhile the countryside here is ridiculously beautiful…..the ‘rape’ is in flower and it is so vibrantly brilliant it almost looks radio active!
Work continues here for the impending summer residency of our employer and at the moment the driveway and car parks are being ‘done’ – I glanced out of the kitchen window last week and did a double take – a mountain of gravel had appeared with a huge digger thing perched on top. The mature gardens continue to roll out and from one day to the next we (the people who live here!) aren’t sure what is new and what has been here for a week or more…….it all looks as if it has always been here. Much love xxxxxxxx

Cornwall magic……….

We were approaching the little harbour village of Fowey. Rod and I have this thing when we are driving if I suddenly yell “STOP” he does! I had spotted this gorgeous “bus stop”…….we checked it out and it was quite magical – there was a little clock, books, magazines to read while you wait and fresh flowers - it was quite, quite wonderful. We drove down into the village and the shops were all shut being after 6 o’clock, including a gift shop specializing in candles – however, outside still on a display were samples of the stock in the shop…….?? The only apparent deliquents were the molly hawkes ripping into the days rubbish in the street……..we left Fowey with a smile.
On returning to Ewen and talking with various people we believe it’s a different story in summer when hundreds of holiday makers descend on Cornwall queuing to drive around the narrow streets – maybe the bus stop and candle shop are an antidote to the dreaded crowded holiday when we all mutter through gritted teeth “are we having fun yet”!!!
Visiting places out of season has a lot of merit…….do come and visit us out of season??
Much love xxxxxx