It very quickly became apparent that there were more than two teeth on the move!
A week ago Friday (15 June) I went to Gardeners’ World Live (GWL) at the NEC in Birmingham with my mum for the day and whilst I was there Simon discovered a top tooth in Edward’s mouth! Now teeth usually come through in a distinct order – bottom-front two, then the top-front two, followed by the two either side of the bottom ones and then the same on the top. Well upon closer inspection of Edward’s mouth you could see the top four teeth AND the next two bottom teeth all pushing through at the same time! And there we were, not so long ago, wondering if he’d still be 100% gummy on his 1st birthday.
Jack and Ellie went back with my mum to hers when she dropped me home after GWL so on Saturday we decided to go out and about and explore somewhere. Both being fans of Gardeners’ World past and present, we felt it was about time to go and visit the home and GW gardens of the late, great Geoff Hamilton – Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland.
Rutland is only 30 miles up the road and across the border into Leicestershire and we opted to go the pretty route rather than across and up the A1. The villages are quaint, the roads twisty-turny (great for bikes!) and the countryside glorious – even in the thunderstorm that crashed and banged around us half way there.
The gardens…what can I say about the gardens…they are just GLORIOUS. To have gardens on that scale would be our idea of heaven. The scent of roses and rainbows of colour bombard the senses and every corner turned reveals previously hidden wonders. The Versailles Borders and the Cottage Garden are among our favourites.
We got a little wet but going when the weather forecast was so dire did prove to have its advantages in as much as most other people stayed away, so I think we saw one person very briefly in the whole time of our wanderings round – it was like having the whole place to ourselves; it is just wonderful.
Before Edward arrived we bought a sling for him to go in so that it would leave our arms and hands free if he wanted to be held. We decided against the bog-standard slings (well what else did you expect!?) and went for a ‘Freedom Ring Sling’. Basically it’s just a l-o-n-g piece of material that has a pair of hefty silver rings sewn onto one end; you thread the material though the rings and ‘sling’ it over your shoulder and across your front like a sash, create a ‘pouch’ and put the baby in it. Sounds easy huh……it’s only taken us the best part of a year to actually get it right LOL!
However, it meant that Edward could be carried around some of Barnsdale when he got fed up with being in the pushchair, and that our arms didn’t feel like lead with carrying him. It’s not easy shooting the borders with one hand whilst trying to stop Edward pushing the buttons with the other, so I handed the Canon over to Simon and he played photographer for some of the day which means there is a rare shot of me with Edward!
Blue Hostas…
Simon pondering in the Cottage Garden…
Metal Rose…
Part of the Versailles Borders…
Simon and Edward sheltering from the rain…
Honeysuckle…(Simon shot this one)
Me and Edward…(another ‘Shot by Simon’)
That Sunday we had been conscripted to help out at the Old Village Fete – me and mum (she’s the new Parish Council Chairman btw) were running the cake stand 
Jack and Ellie played with their friends from Old and harassed Tony and Luigi (a work colleague) for money for drinks and burgers and the like. Simon and Edward dashed off to the computer fair in Kettering and were back in Old in time for the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight fly-past that had been booked for the afternoon.
The BBMF is a Lancaster Bomber, a Hurricane and a Spitfire and seeing them fly over incredibly low and loud is one of the best sights and sounds. These are the planes that we saw at Duxford when we went to the Battle of Britain Memorial Day (I’ll post some pictures of that when I’ve got round to processing all of them) on the day MIL and David arrived en route to the Arsenal game from Scotland.
That was last weekend, this weekend just gone was a much more sedate affair. Saturday….we did not much! I played Lego Star Wars on the XBox (it’s a great game), played with The Cub and cleaned the carpets with our new carpet cleaner – it’s one of the most satisfying things! The colour of the water is disgusting which makes it all the MORE satisfying and the carpets looked brighter and smelt much nicer. Ok so they won’t stay clean for long but doing it once a month should keep on top of things and Edward won’t end up with quite such grubby knees!
Sunday…a trip to Ikea in Milton Keynes (the Ikea you all saw just up the road is a warehouse and not a store) to get Edward a toy box for all his toys and a heavy-duty rug to put outside that he can sit and crawl around on. Well, the toy box was out of stock but we did get him a great rug, I think he’s gonna have to fight the dogs for a space on it LOL.
Whilst we did all that the kids were with Mum and Tony again – this weekend was the Festival of Speed at Goodwood so they were all up at 5am on Saturday to make good time down to Chichester. Jack and Ellie got up close and personal with Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton’s test driver and went into the MacLaren VIP bit. I think that really did it for them as they were hob-nobbing with the MacLaren peeps and could touch the car whilst ‘the commoners’ had to stay behind the ropes and just drool – “it’s handy having contacts in the trade,” Jack said.
The wasp man came out today so we are wasp free again and now it’s just fingers crossed for nice weather on Saturday!
Sarah x
