Raining and kicking

More larks with Grandad Ian this week, though mostly confined to indoors as the rain did not stop all last week. We managed a trip to the cinema, a lunch and dinner out and lunch at Dad and Alexandra's, but any other sightseeing was confined to the car, views obscured by the dashing of the wipers on the windscreen. We had one clear day on Friday so we took Ian off to Battle for the tour of the battleground of the battle of Hastings. (I've never seen the word battle that many times in a sentence before.) On Saturday we drove in the rain to Chartwell, Winston Churchill's former home, to meet up with Helen and George and the kids, to do the Grandad Ian handover. We toured the house, but the wet weather prevented us from enjoying the grounds and after a freezing undercover 'picnic', we drove to their house in Surrey. The boys immediately legged it to the pub, before Helen and I had emptied the car boots of wellies and bags, so we settled in for couple of afternoon gins and a catch up. In the evening, a chicken curry hit the spot alongwith a bottle of port. Oh dear. Yesterday, we left in convoy for a gorgeous Sunday lunch at George's parents' place in Gerrards Cross.

In other news, I went to my first kickboxing class on Thursday which was awesome. It's the bext exercise class I've ever been to and I have not been able to stop evangelizing about it, and Rob is quite bored of the subject. I can't wait for this week's class.

Godfathers and Grandfathers

Lots of fun this week, with both Kendall the Godfather and Ian the Grandfather. Kendall is in London writing about London's 5 star hotels, staying at a different one each night. On Wednesday I met him at the Tate Modern to see the Damien Hirst exhibition. Once we'd stopped jumping up and down on the spot in excitement, we joined the queue for tickets and were soon gazing on Mr Hirst's Shark in formaldehyde, dissected cow and calf, and giant ashtray. Didn't really get the pharmacy room displays but enjoyed the exhibition overall. After a lovely lunch in the top floor restaurant, we walked back along the South Bank to The Savoy, our home for the night. We were escorted to the 4th floor to our two-room, riverfront suite, complete with butler, Julius. The room's views stretched from Canary Wharf in the east, along to the Houses of Parliament. The London Eye twinkled all night across the river from our room. It was so much fun, hanging out in the room, drinking wine and thinking up tasks for Julius. Cocktails in the American Bar followed, before we walked to Les Deux Salons in nearby Covent Garden for dinner. The next morning a huge breakfast was served in our room, at a table overlooking the Thames. After using every bathroom product available during a very long shower, I got the train back to Hastings. Meanwhile my tagteam mate Rob had dropped the girls at school and was on another train London bound. He met up with Kendall in Soho for the next night at the Dean Street Townhouse. After some light, recreational shopping, they hit a bar, only to find Kylie Minogue shooting a video outside. Dinner, drinks, laughter, you know the rest.
On Friday Rob met Ian off the train at Waterloo, and brought him home to Hastings, to stay with us for a week. With the weather having turned completely pants, and Ian having developed a bad back, we took things easy on Saturday, driving to Winchelsea beach for lunch at The Ship, followed by a very windy and cold walk/bike ride along the beach at Pett Level.
On Sunday, the skies cleared, the sun came out and we had a brilliant lunch on the deck with Dad and Alexandra.  It was the first time our Dads had seen each other since our wedding in 1995, plus the first time the girls had been with both Grandfathers at the same time.

In other news, Rob has started teaching Scarlett the piano and in just two weeks, she can already play a couple of short songs and is loving what she has achieved, as well as the one on one time with Daddy.

Easter Holidays part 2

We spent the remainder of the Easter hols, wrapped up against the cold that has now gripped Britain. All rather disappointing after the marvellous Spring/Summer weather we were enjoying before we went to Italy. We headed to Suffolk to relieve the boredom, staying with top mates Rich and Justin. Since we last visited,  Smart Fox Cottage has undergone a major extension cretaing a huge new living space, extra bedroom and amazing bathroom (sorry no pics). On the way there we got a National Trust fix at the spectacular gardens at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge, before heading to the boys's for dinner on Thursday night. On Friday, while Rick and Justin worked, we walked a few miles through gorgeous fields and woodland to the staggering beautiful Ickworth, another NT cracker where, as well as the splendid state rooms, the servants' quarters have been recreated to resemble life below stairs in 1935, which all Downton Abbey fans should check out immediately.

 On Saturday, still in recovery mode after Friday night's amazing venison stew and much red wine, we left the boys and drove to Surrey to Helen and George's to see Rob's dad Ian, recently arrived from NZ and here for the next 5 weeks. A lovely walk, great catch up and hours spent on the trampoline (the cousins) and a terrific pub lunch later, and we are now home, in front of the fire, ready for an early night as the girls go back to school tomorrow. Another great school holiday, with lots of adventures.

Easter in Italy

We arrived home on Saturday night from an amazing week in Italy. The trip almost didn't happen, when we couldn't start the car just as we were leaving for the airport. A quick call to Maria and Lol, and their spare car was delivered for our use.  Phew! We flew to Rome, picked up a hire car and drove north east for an hour or so to Umbria, Italy's so-called 'green heart', to stay at hilltop Todi Castle. We first visited 8 years ago, with  baby Scarlett, on the way to England for her christening, Dad's 70th and his wedding to Alexandra. On that visit we stayed in the castle grounds, in a 17th century farmhouse, with Liz and Mike, Moira and Fraser, Giles and Lucy and Ruth and Pete.  After writing a piece for the Sydney Morning Herald travel section, owner Mario reported a summer of Australian bookings. Ever since, he has promised to repay me with another stay, and it has taken us this long to arrange it. On this visit he put us up in the castle itself.  This amazing 12th-century former fortress was the perfect base to explore the surrounding towns of Orvieto, Assisi,
Todi and Perugia.
Any drive from the castle was a treat - green lush countryside, rolling hills punctuated by beautiful hilltop towns and villages. At all of them we parked at the bottom of the hill and were transported to the top by lift, escalator or funicular. As a result the towns are car-less, unspoilt and quiet. We spent our days lunching on impeccable pasta, pizza and salads washed down with red wine and sparkling water, sitting on sundrenched terraces looking at the views. We strolled piazzas, ate gelato, explored ancient churches and local cemeteries and dozed in the sun on church steps. One day we caught the train two hours' north to Florence, to show Flo her namesake city. It was the only day of bad weather, raining on and off, but we managed a great walk through the city, ending up on a hill overlooking the famous duomo. On slower days, we walked the grounds of the castle, through the olive groves and hiked up a local hill in search of ruins and views.


A highlight of the trip was Flo learning to ride a bike without training wheels. With a little help from Scarlett, she was very quickly up and running on a bike, much too big for her.  On the last night were hosted by the castle owners in great style. We missed Mario on this visit as he lives half the year in New York, as you do, but his brother Flavio and their father invited us in for dinner in the private wing of the castle. While a fire roared in the huge stone fireplace we were served the best risotto I've eaten in my life followed by venison, from the deer in the grounds, followed by gelato and grappa. Flavio and Mario's father is a former Italian Ambassador to Cuba, Tunisia and the United Nations, so the family wing is filled with amazing collections of art and sculpture from their times overseas. It was a great end to our time in Umbria. On Easter Saturday we drove back to Rome for a whistlestop tour of the city. We arrived 20 minutes before St Peter's was closing for Easter Sunday preparations, so had to race through the basilica, After lunch Rob drove us from site to site, parking illegally, allowing us a few moments to leap out snap a few pictures before zooming off again.

 

 

Here are a few pictures to explain the trip better than I have here.