Spring Happies

It's gloriously sunny outside and I really should be out there doing some more gardening. I have, however, just been for a swim and, as I'm catching my breath and having a restorative cuppa, I thought I'd take the opportunity to upload the photos from the last few weeks. I'm going to try and keep it short as I'm feeling guilty about all the weeding that I should be doing!

A day trip to Wells. This is probably as far as I'd like to go in a day and we really could have done with it being a weekend break instead. It wasn't our first visit though, so it was really a whistle stop tour of the highlights with a nice lunch thrown in.

The wondrous Cathedral:

The Chapter House:

Vicar's Close - claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with original buildings in Europe:

The Bishop's Palace and Gardens:

Jack and Jill Hill in Kilmersdon. We popped in briefly on the way home and climbed it:

A Mozart Concert at Dorchester Abbey. We enjoyed Ave Verum, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik and the wonderful Requiem, which always makes me think of Oxford as they play the Lacrimosa a lot in Endeavour.

A trip to the Naturalist Gilbert White's House and Gardens in Selborne. He first described the Harvest mouse, the Noctule bat and was supposedly the first person to use the letter 'X' to represent kisses!

It also houses the Oates Collections focusing on 2 members of the Oates family, including Lawrence (Titus) Oates:

I always love a good kitchen!:

Watching Verdi's 'La Traviata'. The main character, Violetta, was played by Pretty Yende, who was incredible - both as a singer and an actor:

A walk along the canal at Hungerford. There was a kayak race taking place which was quite fun to watch - especially as they had to lift the crafts out of the water and run round the locks!

Easter Sunday circular walk at Nettlebed:

There were lots of lovely newborn lambs!

We picked wild garlic and I made some pesto. It was delicious, even if it did look as though I had liquidised Kermit!

Stumpy is still thriving. He now has a Mrs. Stumpy and a baby Stumpy! I'm so glad that the RSPCA didn't manage to catch him after his accident. He seems to be having a lovely life:

Watching Henry V. I have to admit that I wasn't that keen before we went, not being a huge fan of the war plays. R, however, had studied it for English 'O' Level (yes, we are that old!) and really wanted to see it. My expectations sank even lower when, during the introductory interviews with the cast, it became clear that the play was being set in modern times. To my surprise though, I really enjoyed it. They had me at 'Sweet Caroline' playing in a night club at the start! :O)

A trip to The Watermill with L to see Graham Green's 'Our Man in Havana'. It was a musical version of the novel and , whilst I did enjoy the Cuban music, I felt that it would have been better with a little more prose and a little less singing!

Last, but definitely not least, a walk and picnic with L in the Savernake Forest:

Well, that's it for now. I'd better go and hit the garden - those weeds won't pull themselves!

I hope there are lots of happies at your end this month too.

Toodle pip for now. x