I've just finished a lovely long weekend, with both Friday and Monday out of the office and I'd thoroughly recommend a break like that to anyone. Picking the family from the
airport last Thursday evening went without a hitch - they landed early and had already collected their luggage by the time I arrived there so I was able to pull up right outside the Arrivals hall and collect them from there without faffing about with the short term parking. Even with an escort all the way the trip from Ireland had exhausted my grandfather and he promptly fell asleep as soon as he got into the car.
On Friday my father had decided that since he was in the country he might as well go and see his main client and keep them happy, so he departed early in the morning in his hire car. Shortly after that S went off to work and my mother and grandfather were left to decide what to to with the day. In the end (as I predicted earlier) we went off to a local National Trust property - this time
Coughton Court. Due to my grandfather's lack of mobility we managed a cup of tea and a cake, and a brief stroll around the garden (itself punctuated by several recooperative rests on benches). We never went in the house and missed out almost all of the grounds, but that doesn't really matter - it's local and I can go back. At least being a National Trust member I don't feel I have to extract every penny's worth of value-for-money out my visits. The important thing about the whole afternoon was that grandfather enjoyed it - and it's the sort of thing that he isn't able to do on his own these days.
In the evening we had a lovely meal at the restaurant we will be holding our wedding reception at next year.
Saturday (my mother's birthday) was rather similar to Friday - although this time my father and S were able to accompany us. We saw two more gardens at different NT properties and had another tea and cake session. In the evening we move the table outside and whiled away the evening eating and drinking. British summer weather can be lovely sometimes and when it is we try to make the most of it.
Sunday wasn't so enjoyable as it consisted of nothing more exciting than sitting in the car driving down to Bodmin (and back) to take my grandfather home. Return home that evening S and I were amazed at how peaceful everything was. We'd only had guests for two and half days, but the silence was noticable. No voices, no creaking of floorboards, no water gushing in the pipes, nobody wanting cups of tea (actually not quite true -
we still wanted tea), no searching for a walking stick - just stillness.
Finally to complete the long weekend I took the Monday off to enjoy being lazy on my own for what the news informed me later was the hottest day of the year so far. It was glorious - just sitting out in garden under the garden parasol reading... all... afternoon...
