Center Parcs

Yay, Center Parcs time again!! I've been going to Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest since just after it opened in 1987. I think we first went in October 1987, when Dan was a toddler and I was pregnant with Luke. Then we started going in January as me, Dan and Luke have our birthdays within 5 days of each other and it seemed a good way to celebrate. Now we go with grown ups - 4 couples in a luxury villa with a steam room, sauna, games room and a wonderful hot tub. And I try and make sure we're there for my birthday. We slightly over-cater on the booze (and there was a wine fridge full of wine and fizz as well as this shelf...)


Monday - met for lunch on the way there at the Rose Cottage Pub, got to the villa, unpacked, a nice walk round the lake and the forest, and back for some singing and playing of pool, after a great meal of venison casserole!



There might have been quite a lot of time spent in the hot tub as well....

Tuesday - hungry squirrel waiting on our patio at breakfast time for us to feed him,


And lots more wildlife it he garden. Any food we put out went very quickly!


Walked to the bird hide just by our villa, and the pond was frozen, but still saw a lot of birds


And then went for a walk....


To Rufford Park. Lovely place - nice old hall, coffee shop


Interesting gardens with lots of sculptures



And a lovely lake to walk round, which was frozen.


Back to the villa for lunch, and of course, straight into the hot tub. Liked this photo of my flowery back tattoo.


The hot tub is a very popular place - at all times of the day or night...

In the evening Stuart was on Strawberry Daquiri duty, his specialty cocktail

And we walked round to the country Club for dinner.

Wednesday. Segway day!  It was snowing but that didn't put anyone off. These were off offroad Segways, very different to the ones you have in cities. Big wheels, and after a quick practice we were off through the forest.

It was very, very cold and wet, and miraculously Stuart didn't fall off!  One of our number did though,
twice ;-) Lunch in the village square, then we went to the Spa, whilst the others went back to the villa.

The Spa is very relaxing - an outdoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, and 16 different spa areas, different saunas, steam rooms, different temperatures, and lots of relaxing places - including water beds, and an outdoor area where you can wrap yourself up n a blanket. My favourite is the Laconium, which is the picture at the side.  Very gently heat, very comfy, very quiet. I fell asleep! We even had a free facial in there.

Back to the villa for another evening in, with an antipasti starter...


More pool more cocktails, more hot tub, more music.

Thursday. Gentle walk to the bird hides, all three of them. Saw lots of birds,


And I loved this cheeky Lesser Redpoll - so cute.



In the afternoon we went bowling - some of us are better than others :-)


And in the evening, in honor of my birthday the next day - a meal in Cafe Rough


Back for more hot tub, and even I played pool...

Friday
Early morning. Yuck! Packed, got out. Walked round lake, which was lovely


sat in the bird hide again


and then we all had brunch - eggs benedict and Prosecco. Made even better because they gave me the Prosecco free as it was my birthday, and that morning the manager had given us some free food vouchers because our hot tub alarm had gone off late at night. Admittedly while we were still in it...

Chatsworth Stags

As it's being snowing, we decided to drive out into the Peak District today to see what it looked like. The view from the top of Hathersage was amazing:


And we even saw a very ugly pig, snuffling around in the snow. I thought it was ugly, Stuart had a conversation with it.


The snow was very localised, not much at all as we went out towards Castleton, so we went over to Chatsworth where there was a lot more. Loads of sledging just as you get into the park opposite Ednesor, and as we drove through the park, we saw the deer. Very close to the road - they looked magnificent.




And on the way back we stopped at the Devonshire Arms in Baslow for lunch.  You can't beat a good beef sandwich and chips!

Christmas, the real thing

I love Christmas :-) It's very different without small kids waking us up at 5am, so we have a nice lie in now, and open our presents together with a glass of Bucks Fizz





My tiger onesie was wonderful and I got a whole stack of other stuff, Then the boys come round and we have a load of more present opening. Then my Mum and dad and Brother and Sister-in law come round and we have Christmas dinner in our kitchen. Luckily my neighbour has an aga which I borrow, because I don't think the turkey would fit in my oven!

Rest of the day is drinking, eating more and finding some games to play. This year we had indoor fireworks, which was a bit an experience!!

On Boxing Day we set off for Handsworth to watch the sword dancers - more carol singing, and the mummers play as well as the sword dance.


Because our family is quite extended, we have several days of various kids and grandchildren turning up for more meals, and of course, more present opening - makes Christmas last even longer!


This year, the night most of the family came round - it snowed! Looked lovely, and we built snowmen on the road, but it did mean no-one could get home. Borrowed lots of bedding form the neighbours, and we had an impromptu sleepover!


Our new cat, Gelly, had never seen it before. He wasn't impressed.


Our annual drinks do between Christmas and New Year is a fun event - its amazing how many people you can get in our kitchen! It doesn't look like this for long.


After it was over, we cleared up, and walked through the snow down to Fagans for our regular Sunday night pub quiz. A combination of snow, and Christmas festivities meant that when we got there, we thought we stood a reasonable chance of winning...


But, others turned up, and we didnt't win.
And of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas wouldn't be complete without a trip to the pantomime - we always go to the City Hall to see whatever Manor Operatic are putting on, and this year it was Peter Pan. Oh no it wasn't....

Christmas - the anticipation

We all know when it's getting close to Christmas, because we go on the Santa Cruise!  A canal boat trip with the grandkids, and friends and their children (although the number is reducing as the kids get older)

Its a trip up the canal, which is actually very pretty, and some years made more exciting by the boat having to break the ice. There's mulled wine, mince pies, biscuits, Santa, a present for the kids, and a bauble for the christmas tree for the grown ups.

Usually followed by a walk into town, a mulled wine in the Sleigh Bar and a nice meal with everyone.
Then there's the carol concert - some of our friends are in the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, so we go to see them sing a mixture of traditional, modern and local carols. And for the past few years they have had the Black Dyke band with them - who are amazing. Another good evening, preceded by a meal with everyone in town.

This year we had a really special evening in the run up to Christmas, where we went to a gourmet evening at Chatsworth with friends. Cocktails at our friends, champagne and canapes in the painted hall, a private tour of the house, and then a seven course meal in the candlelit Stables. Very nice, and I think we scrubbed up well!


We also went to Chatsworth during the day to their Christmas market - packed as usual, but we managed to buy lots of unusual presents, so it was worth it.


On the Sunday before Christmas we go to a social lunchtime hosted by Handsworth Traditional Sword dancers - this year it was back at the Devonshire Cat - a good lunchtime with carols, dancing, beer, and a mummers play or two.

And finally, our Christmas Tree. this year we had two. After the Handsworth event, I noticed how many needles ours was dropping, and realised it would be bare by Christmas. Serves me right for buying from a pop up shop rather than go somewhere reputable. So, in a fit of pique the next morning, I moved all the presents from under it, took the decorations off it, dragged it out into the front garden, and through it into a skip we handily had outside.Went to B and Q, bought a new one for one pound!! Apparently by the end of the day they were 10p!  Was so pleased to see the new one up - it looked great!


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London weekend

For the past few years we've a weekend in London to see Robin Ince's show, Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, but last year he decided it had run its course and would do something new, so we still got our weekend in London. Traveled down on Sunday morning on a very cheap First class Advance ticket, and went for a walk. Ended up at Covent Garden where we had a great lunch of a pint of lager, fish finger sandwiches and chips. Brill!  Then we had a walk round the market, which is always decorated for Christmas


and this year had a Santa, sleigh and reindeers made from Lego!


As it was a Sunday , there weren't many shows on, but we managed to get tickets to an early performance of this:


The story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. The only problem was, I'd bought tickets in the balcony by mistake - I thought I'd got circle tickets. We came in at the back, at the top of a very steeply raked balcony, had to walk down it to out seats at the front, and then have what to me looked like a sheer drop to the stage. I don't like heights!! Stuart went and got me a bucket of wine, which did make me feel a bit better. The show was great, and you don't realise how many hits the Four Seasons had until you hear them all.


After the show we wandered up through the west End, through Picadilly Circus and Leicester Square, and ended up back at the same pun where we'd had lunch for a proper pie for supper. One with pastry all round it. It does annoy me when you get a dish of stew with a circle of puff pastry on top and they have the cheek to call it a pie!!


The following morning we set off early to Bethnal Green, to the V and A Museum of Childhood. I'd never been before, and it is well worth a visit. A huge open space inside

with displays on two levels. It brought back so many memories - I even found Tressy dolls.Before the advent of Barby, most little girls had a Sindy doll, but I had a Tressy, who's hair grew if you pushed a button in her tunny!



We'd gone to see a Dolls House Exhibition which was really interesting. Old and new dolls houses, telling a story from the era in which they'd been built or decorated.



Then we got the tube to Tower Bridge, and walked across it to the South Bank - only at road level. My fear of heights wasn't up to me going up to the top deck, especially as part of the floor is now glass!


The walk down the South Bank is really interesting. You pass the Golden Hind


and some converted warehouses which are now posh shopping centres, and have to wind your way under some tunnels, and past old prisons. We got as far as Millenium Bridge, which gave us a lovely view of St Paul's in the sunset.


After a meal at an small Italian place near the hotel, it was our usual short walk to the Bloomsbury Theatre (one of the only theatres I've ever been in where you can get Eduroam...) to see Robin Ince and many friends in his Christmas Special - we saw The Ghost of Christmas Past which was the usual blend of science, comedy and music.



An interesting act was the rapper Baba Brinkman and his wife, neuroscientist Dr Heather Berlin, who talked about creativity, neuroscience and rapping, and Baba freestyle rapped some neuroscience!

Following morning we went to the National Portrait gallery - one of my favourite galleries in London, and saw an exhibition by Grayson Perry called Who Are You. i knew little of him, apart from he has an alternate persona which is a little girl called Claire, but I was bowled over by his exhibition. A huge tapestry about what was Britain - this is only a small part of it


and ceramic figures and his famous vases. All stunning.


Finally we had a walk round Trafalgar Square where living statues, most either Yoda or father Christmas, abounded, and I was glad the see the big blue cock still on the fourth plinth.


Then we picked up our cases and walked back to St Pancras in time for lunch in the Betjeman Arms.