Today we all went to Caroline and Andrew's house in Staines where all four girls had a whale of a time especially when they decided to "get" Uncle Ben!

We enjoyed a lovely meal cooked in their new kitchen and then opened family presents around the tree.

Eventually, we returned to Ben and Alison's house after a lovely family day together.

Later in the day, on our return to Winnersh Richard required a nap to recover energy.

Some irreverent person (Ben is the prime suspect) decided to do this!

Christmas Day and after breakfast it was time to open Father Christmas's presents.

Ben shows Daisy how the inter-active globe works - it was a really impressive piece of technology.

Later we opened the family presents and Poppy was instantly in love with her purring kitten which we had given her.

Christmas Eve and Jimmy (the cat being looked after by Ben and family) enjoys climbing the tree and swatting the baubles till they fall off.

Look carefully to find him - this is not a faked picture!

Later, it looks as if Jimmy is looking for Santa!

A spot of gingerbread making took place today! With Megan, Jessica and their good friend Alana, we made enough gingerbread mix to make 61 gingerbread figures.

Once cooked and cooled, we decorated them....

There were so many biscuits that we invented a few new shapes including bikini clad ladies, snails, elephants, octopuses and dinosaurs - all vital to the Christmas story!

The bottom picture shows Keith's wall being stripped of its plaster in No 1 cottage in an effort to cure the recent damp issue. Doing so revealed what the wall would look like if it was all removed.

The massive stone lintel is clearly visible. Unfortunately, previous owners had filled in the original fire place with whatever came to hand before installing a modern fire.

By way of a comparison, the top picture shows the wall in our Cobbleholes cottage which has been exposed since the early 1960's. The large space has allowed us to put in a wood burning stove which is very very effective!

A few days later Keith wall was hidden behind waterproof cement and a new layer of insulated plasterboard. The finishing off remains to be done.

On arrival at Robert's we had a surprise as James (Robert's son) arrived with his two boys Oliver and Harry and with him came Helen (his sister) and her two children George and Matilda. To almost complete the family line up was Charlotte (Robert's youngest daughter - taking the photo in the mirror) and her boyfrend Joe (extreme left). The only person missing was Katy who arrived next morning.

We had lots of fun before we headed for home on the following morning.

A very varied and interesting weekend!

This morning, after a very comfortable night's sleep, we took the tram to Piccadilly so that we could visit the Manchester Model Railway Exhibition within the university buildings.

With our car safely parked in the hotel car park, we realised that this was definitely the best way to visit Manchester before Christmas.

The show was very busy but we enjoyed seeing the various layouts and looking for little additions for our layout. Jill spotted some wheelbarrows and lawnmowers, which she bargained for at a good price! (We certainly know how to live it up!)

After returning to the hotel later - we then drove on to Richard's brother's home - a riding school near Congleton for a night's stay and a family get together.

Today we met up with Jill's old school colleagues in Haydock for a lunch and afterwards we headed to Altrincham, where we were going to stay in a hotel for the night.

We were on the top floor - very quiet with no business people there as it was the weekend!

Hotels in Manchester were either fully booked or hideously expensive. This move proved to be a great idea...

The big day has arrived and Rich was out at 7am reserving two car park spaces near the Market Place for the real reindeer "landing zone" .

Then back home to pick up Jill and all her items needed for the WI stall in the Market Cross area.

After taking all the tickets at the pier as the first Father Christmas Special Cruise set off at 11am, it was back to town to oversee the arrival of the reindeer at noon.

Once the reindeer and its owner, (Everly Buckley) were in position it was off back to the pier for cruise 1 return and cruise 2 departure!

By 4.30pm Rich was leading the parade with Belle the reindeer followed by the sleigh, lanterns, Winter Costumed Figures and a massive crowd as we wound our way through the streets before ending up in the park for the firework display.

Later we found that the bucket which Richard had fixed to the reindeer pen railings had gained £332 in just four hours!

The official estimate is that around 10,000 people were in town for the day - which makes it our biggest crowd ever!

To watch a visitor's video of the parade and fireworks display - CLICK HERE

Today Ben, Alison, Poppy and Daisy arrived for a few day's stay.

It wasn't long before Poppy and Daisy asked to have the little railway set going. It is a narrow gauge railway which goes around a bunny school (bought in Hamburg some years ago).

The fun part is putting the little rabbits on top of the train to see how long they can stay on!

By the end of their stay - several bunnies were missing their ears!

Today we took the girls to Ben and Alison's house in Winnersh (Reading) for a "girls' get together". As usual, Ben did a superb roast dinner - enjoyed by all!

On Sunday afternoon, Jill returned to Staines with Meg and Jess and Rich stayed on at Winnersh to get Daisy to school the next day. Jill would be taking M&J to school before Rich reappeared at Staines to await Caroline and Andrew's return.

For our final day in London together, we all took the bus to Trafalgar Square and then walked to the Churchill War Rooms Museum near Horse Guards Parade.

The museum was a fascinating insight into how Churchill and the High Command avoided all the air raids.

Afterwards we walked through St.James' Park to the refreshment pavillion for lunch. That was OK unless you had an aversion to pigeons - who waited for the slightest chance to grab a tasty morsel.

Tonight we all went to the Duchess Theatre to watch a play called "The Play That Goes Wrong".

The whole play was a catalogue of errors and we were all aching from laughing by the final curtain.

Click here to watch a short trailer for the play.

Today we set off on our annual trip with Richard's B.Ed group which has met every year since they finished their part time course at Edge Hill in 1982!

This year we were staying in Drury Lane in Central London, close to all the main attractions. That night, after checking in, we all enjoyed a Greek meal with tapas-like dishes piled high on plate racks.

Here Jacqui (L) and Liz(R) contemplate their next course!

Jessica holds up a white bait during the meal.

After battling through the crowds at Waverley station, we were back on our train with reserved seats to Oxenholme.

For Jill, the chance to have a nap!

From the Old Town, which was full of Japanese tourists (which prompted Megan to say "Does anyone from Japan EVER leave home without a camera!") we wandered down to Princes Street Gardens and Rich and Jessica had a ride on the Ferris Wheel whilst Megan and Jill watched from below. Before heading back to the station, we had a lovely meal at Richard's favourite French restaurant - Chez Joules.

The waitress took our photo with our drink of choice - Kir Royale.

The girls were intrigued by the iceberg which was a very large lump of ice in a very cold room! There were various holes where people had put their hands and melted it slightly.

Here, Jess (R) puts her hand in a hole as Megan (L) touches the ice as Jill wanders past.

Today was our anniversary so we decided to make a special trip to Edinburgh with Megan and Jessica.

We took the early morning train from Oxenholme and by 1015 we were in the city and heading towards the place where we would board a sightseeing tour bus.

The girls had a list of things to see... a piper, a man wearing a kilt etc and it didn't take long to tick off both of those items!

At the end of very busy play day, the girls are not quite so neatly arranged in bed as their teddies had been!

This was the scene when we peeped in at 10.25pm

The girls were in their element today. The settee became a teddy hospital ward with four beds.

Each teddy has a name card with details of their names, illnesses and even a temerature chart!

On July 2nd Jill was fine. The next day she seemed to have been hit by a virus which caused arthritis.

As a result - without pills, she has trouble moving around, so it fell to Richard to take the train to Euston today to meet Caroline, Andrew and the twins, have a quick lunch and then return with the girls who were to stay with us for two weeks.

Here Megan (L) and jessica (R) pose at Euston with just some of their teddies!

A trip to the local model shop in Twyford revealed a fantastic hand-made thatched doll's house. The owner of the shop gave us a guided tour! The thatch was made from coconut "hair" and every brick in that wall had been stuck on by hand. The walls were hand plastered.

It was amazing and a snip at £3500 (unfurnished!!!)

The reason we had travelled down was to be able to see Poppy in her end of year school concert.

Ironically, Poppy was content to just sit and smile and wave and not sing a word! ...but then she is only three years old!

Faringdon Library???

Must be the world's smallest one. Actually you can take any book for free and of course you can also leave one if you wish.....

Today we drove down to Reading via Faringdon near Swindon. We had found a paving firm there which sold slabs in the shape of segments (for a garden project we had planned).

We liked Faringdon, a sleepy small town, and we ate lunch at this very old coaching inn.

Richard's day out! Today he went by train from Carnforth to Keighley where he boarded this train (an ancient diesel multiple unit) on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway of "The Railway Children" fame. At Oxenhope there was a model railway show in the station buidlings.

On the return journey on ths train the driver opened the cab door to allow Rich to video the driver's eye view ahead.

The weird thing is that Rich remembers travelling to Derby aged 16 in one of these deisels when it was brand new!!

Today we had a ride out. First stop was to find the desserted and much overgrown station at Bassenthwaite. Sadly, it was impossible to get close to it and it looked on the point of collapse.

Next we drove towards Caldbeck, a village "behind" Skiddaw, where we had tea and a cake as we sat by the river. These cottages must have been in the firing line during Storm Desmond in 2015!

The result...... one collapsed wall. To say that Rich wasn't happy when he saw what happened would be a massive understatement!

The tarmac firm were contacted and they soon agreed to pay for the wall repairs.

It arrived in a fleet of lorries like this one - eight wheel monsters which crawled up Kirkstone Road with their loads.

Then they had to reverse along the track to get to the machine shown below.

Now that the frosts are (hopefully) gone, we have replanted our selection of hanging baskets and fence troughs.

This basket hangs from the base of our American-style post box which we brought back from Caroline's wedding trip to New York in 2006.

In the garden at Winnersh, we rose to the challenge for Daisy's homework (these days known as "home learning") which was to make a boat.

This was Rich's effort made from a sheet of A4 paper. It worked so well that we then added stones as cargo until it finally sank but not before we had the evidence of a photo to take to school!

Daisy has a white board and so Rich and Daisy decided to draw a picture to depict Matilda by Roald Dahl. Miss Trunchbull hurls Amanda Thripp out of the window by her pigtails as Bruce Bogtrotter gets stuck into eating the giant cake etc.

Outside, Miss Honey and Matilda hold hands as the Wormwood used car, bought by Miss Trunchbull) emits smoke from the bonnet.

In the skies above, the Wormwoods flee from the pursuing FBI helicopter!

(Note 4 months later - the picture is still more or less intact in their dining room!)

In May, on a bright and sunny Sunday morning - it's time to think about Christmas Lights!!!

To be precise, Jill and I were supervising the removal of the lights from amongst the trees at Waterhead promenade. Later the wiring will be replaced and then the lights will go up each year - as opposed to being up there for 17 years in a row!

Bad news - during this operation Rich lost one of his spectacle lenses at a cost of £71....

Poppy looking particularly cute as she enjoys the fairy swing!

Note the unicorn ears......

Ben and Alison are with us for the week (after a false start when their BMW turbo blew!)

The next day Ben, Ali, Daisy and Poppy arrived in Alisons's dad's car!

We had booked a visit to Fairy and Dragon World at Hayes Garden Centre.

Here we pause for the picnic provided!

Back home in Ambleside after a great trip including birthdays and holidaying, we found that Ambleside is one giant film set in Compston Road as a scene for a new feature film about Peter Rabbit is filmed at Ambleside Toyshop!

The right hand layby was full of film trucks.

We heard later that every truck was booked by a traffic warden!!

Seems no-one told him that the layby was out of action! The tickets wer cancelled later!

Daisy blows out the candles on her clouds and rainbow cake. The cake and all its icing had been a Herculean task for Alison!

The Magna Carta was is a small "tent" within one of the cathedral's chapels and no photography was allowed.

See Richard's photo!

Of a computer screen outside before you get ready to alert the authorities!

On our final day of the tour, we left Shaftesbury and headed to Salisbury - a town neither of us has visited before. It was a sunny day and the crowds were out as we headed through the shopping area towards the cathedral, where we were hoping to see one of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta.

On the walk we passed this building - a home of a former bishop.

We checked into our B&B in Shaftesbury and then searched out Gold Hill - regarded as one of Britain's steepest streets and definitely an iconic view.

Here Jill climbs back up Gold Hill but without the Hovis loaf which featured in the famous advert!

Later we had a meal in an Italian restaurant in a converted chapel. The single room, high ceilings and a party of "lads" made for a rather noisy meal before we returned to the B&B.

Richard's Buddhist Pine

Today we said goodbye to Cornwall and set off on the long drive back towards London with the plan of stopping the night in Shaftesbury. The new road over Bodmin Moor was very impressive but we had to trundle along in a queue through the continuing roadworks.

Near Exeter we stopped at a Bonsai Tree nursery and bought some lovely bonsai trees - one for Ben, one for Caroline and one for us!

Ben and Caroline's Japanese Holly

Tonight we stayed at another farmhouse bed and breakfast at Summercourt near Newquay. Once again it was down a single track road, this one with potholes awaiting your arrival!

The hostess was a beekeeper and also keeps pigs which provided the bacon and sausage for breakfasts. Interestingly, she was a complete dead ringer for actress Emma Thomson.

After a memorable stay at the Driftwood, we drove across to the northern side of the Cornish peninsula to Laddock where Hayley, Jill's ex bellringing friend now lived with her husband and 9 month old baby boy.

Their house is a converted old mill with loads of character.

Chris came out to meet us (much to the intrigue of the four people on the next table) and Jill got a quick smooch!

We were glad to have had a once in a lifetime experience of staying at dining at the Driftwood.

Thanks to Chris for making it so special!

Our pre-starter...

caviar in a apple shaving slower with blini.

Let the meal commence.

The pictures above show the courses with the first course at the top and the last course at the bottom.

Our room - Room 3 -had every comfort. It turned out that Ben and Alison had stayed in the same room when they visited the Driftwood!

Bedside lamps, picture frames and mirror surrounds - they all have drift wood in them. A theme which goes through the entire hotel.

Tonight we were staying somewhere special - The Driftwood Hotel near Portscatho non the southern Cornish coast.

Why here? Our son Ben just happens to know Chris Eden - the hotels Michelin Star Chef! Ben had laid plans for our arrival and we had an idyillic room looking out over the cliffs. The hotel has its own private beach!

As Richard watched, Jill made her way along the very highest part - the tropical skywalk - above the canopy of trees.

Jill pauses for the camera at the start of the second level section from the left. Or was she simply getting her breath back?

The heat inside the tropical biome was energy-sapping (36C and 85% humidity) but it got worse as you climed further and further up the slope inside!

A bewildering array of tropical plants surrounded us at every turn, and occasionally we saw small tropical birds scavaging in the dense undergrowth.

The owners certainly had wealth. No expense was spared. This is just one part of the kitchen area. Bread making, cheese and butter making, meat, veg preparation and desserts all had their own rooms!

After the parties, we started out on our trip to Cornwall. Today we went via Winchester where we explored the cathedral before searching out Stockbridge (the real Stockbridge - as opposed to the Stockbridge which features on Richard's model railway)!

It turned out to be a delightful Georgian village!

Our destination tonight was a farmhouse B&B near Yeovil. We eventually found it down a single track lane!

Rather than have a meal we ventured into Yeovil, found Tesco's and bought a snack meal to eat back at the farm.

On the way back from Yeovil Jill spotted a sign which read "Crematorium - Long Term Parking" (should it be "eternal" rather than long?)

Today we had a birthday dinner at The Three Horseshoes in Laleham village.

The party consisted of Caroline, Andrew, Megan and Jessica as well as ourselves and Eunice, Andrew's mother.

Jess decided that her mummy needed a hug and a photo!

It was a lovely meal and we could all enjoy a drink as Caroline had organised a people-carrier type taxi.

Being the start of the birthday season, we headed down to London for the twins' and Poppy's birthdays, not to mention Richard's! The following weekend it will be the turn of Ben and Daisy so we are planning a trip to Cornwall in between!

First stop was to have lunch with Jill's colleagues in Haydock.

The celebrations in Staines started with a Shaun the Sheep birthday cake for Rich (the only way lamb is allowed in Caroline's house!)

Today was to be a memorable one. We drove down to Cheshire to visit Pete Waterman's model railway which is truly amazing - not just by its size, but but it's attention to detail and authenticity!

We won the First Prize when we entered a competition at the Warley National Model Railway Show at the NEC last December (see the 2016 blog page) and this was the prize!

Here Pete explains to Jill how he makes the wagons which run on the layout.

Despite his fame, Pete was "one of the gang" on the day. Jill and I both feel privileged to have been invited to his home, and we thank the Warley Club for arranging the visit for us.

Of course Jessica had to do the same. Like many 7yr olds, the girls are quite used to handling I-phones and swiping screens!

Once we arrived at Ben and Alison's, the phones were ignored because Poppy and Daisy - the twins' cousins were full of ideas about games to play!

Today we took Megan and Jessica over to Ben and Alison's house whilst Caroline and Andrew dealt with mortgage matters.

Rich was to help Ben get two network cables under the floorboards as part of the preparations for their new garden room project.

Here Megan is playing on Jill's phone as we travelled from Staines to Winnersh.

Today we travelled down to Haydock and St.Helens before driving on to London, taking all Caroline's and the twins' luggage back after Christmas!

First stop was to drop off some boxes for future log supplies at Jean and Roy's house in Newton-le-Willows.

Then it was a quick dash to St.Helens for our dental check-ups.

Next we returned to Haydock for lunch with two ex-colleagues (and one lady's husband) from Jill's old school.

The pictures here show the two Kaths and Harry (top) and Kath L (bottom). Kath L is the person who ensures that we keep up to date with this blog!

Today is the Annual Dinner of the Bond or to give it its correct title.... "The Ambleside Association for the Prosecution of Felons".

The Bond started in 1813 and was a forerunner to the local police force. Local businessmen paid an annual sum to help pay for law enforcement. The constable would ensure that criminals were delivered to Kendal Prison and beggars and vagrants were escorted out of the parish!

Today there are over 200 local men (sorry, no ladies!) who pay £29 per year for a meal. The meal is always the same - vegetable soup, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding etc and followed by Christmas Pudding (in mid January!)

Richard became a member (Bondsman) in 2009 and has a Bond tie with the Hangman's Gibbet. A draw for tickets takes place each year on Jan 5th. It is always over-subscribed!

Tonight, the Salutation Hotel will be packed as 115 lucky ticket holders enjoy the food and humourous speeches.

Richard has ticket 113 (only just made the draw!)

If anyone is unable to attend, one of their friends shouts the traditional "half a crown" when the roll-call is read out and then pays £1 on their behalf! (That's inflation for you!)

This afternoon, almost a year later than planned, we went to the Daffodil Hotel at Grasmere for afternoon tea.

Caroline had given Jill a voucher in 2015 to celebrate her birthday. However Storm Desmond in December 2015, followed by Frank in early 2016 put a stop to that plan as the hotel was (like most of Grasmere) flooded!

So today it finally happened... in a beautiful setting we enjoyed the tea with our good friends Shirley and Joe. The savouries were delicious - the cakes were too and the afternoon was also the time when two Polish people were married upstairs and then came down with their two friends to enjoy a similar tea! Definitely a small scale wedding!

The "lollipops" on the stand were cake lollies - one was chocolate and the other was an almond sponge!

Afterwards we returned home with absolutely no need for an evening meal!

Thank you Caroline!

The rest of the lights were taken down today - in rain! The rain has washed away the remains of the slight snowfall of the last two days. We have escaped lightly compared with the east coast!

In Kelsick Road we were about to complete the removal of the last string of lights, when Jill suddenly said "take a picture of me! Kath Loveys says that locking manhole covers (see December in the 2016 Blog) have limited interest to her!"

Cheek!

So here is proof that Jill was out with the lights team helping to control traffic as we lowered each string of lights and packed it away into large plastic boxes ready to be checked later.

It is worth pointing out that Jill was the only one who had the use of an umbrella!