Castle garden gate

Today I took Katy to Alnwick Castle Gardens to celebrate her recent (early) retirement from teaching. She loves roses so we spent time there before admiring this new gate - one of her husband's friends was the blacksmith who made it to someone's design.

We then went back to my house to admire my roses which are actually in a healthier state than Her Grace's this year. Then I made her lunch - Padron peppers, potato salad, griddled courgette and pine nuts, physalis, pea and mozzarella in a mint and lemon infused oil. We really enjoyed it. Katy had a glass of chilled Oyster Bay to celebrate. You'll be surprised to learn I abstained - I was driving her home.

Then Mr C and I had to dash to pick up Ella - poor Nathaniel is unwell with an ear infection and was distraught to find we were taking Ella off to our house without him. Then we picked up Thomas from nursery for the long-awaited sleep over.

The cousins are too excited to sleep of course, but after an hour they are now chatting quietly, after lots of pretend games what involved getting out of bed and sneaking a peep into the sitting room, then running away giggling.

Let's hope they settle down soon and hopefully they won't be too tired for fun tomorrow!