Lovedean - Monday (Rowlands Castle, The Bird in Hand)

Monday 13 August 2018

Well, what a day this was.  I sat quietly at the breakfast table when I heard the sound of  "Happy Birthday" coming down the stairs, from a mouth organ!  What the...... ???  And then Jos appeared around the corner of the door!!!  I had already discovered a most lovely birthday card on the kitchen bench, the latter also having been decorated with a 'Happy Birthday" sign.  Such a precious friend!

Then we got serious, finished breakfast and as the weather seemed fine enough for a walk we took off to Rowlands Castle.  There was no parking space left at my usual stop, so we drove around the park and left the car at the Pavilion Tearoom.  From there we walked along the public bridle path, which was rather muddy after the recent downpours, but then we hit upon blackberry bushes laden with fruit.  This time the berries were ripe, which showed when we finished picking as I finally had the stained hands that I remembered I had as a young child when we were picking them. ;-)

We left with a small container full each, but I am sure we ate even more on our walk than we had collected.  Sheer bliss, because this won't happen often anymore, or rather, not at all, I reckon.  Oh, the two of us can be so happy with such small things in life!

As the weather was still fine and the sun was out we dared walk a bit further, so we kept going and I took some more pictures of our surroundings.

While we were picking berries before, a group of people passed us and a lady said: "I bet you regret not having brought a bigger container".  Next thing we knew we passed them on the way back when they were seated on a bench enjoying a picnic lunch.  We chatted a while and Jos told them that it was my birthday.  Before I knew it all of them were singing Happy Birthday.....

Lovely people.  The lady was originally from Germany, she told us, but lived now in the UK.  The gentleman, her husband, was American, and the young man? Who knows...  It may have been their son.  We weren't told....  We saw them again when we left later in the day from the Pavilion Tearoom.

As it was nearly 1 pm we felt like we could do with lunch so Jos enjoyed a clotted cream tea with blackberry jam and I went for a tasty curry Thai soup with butternut squash and brown bread.  I do have a sweet tooth at times, but loooove my soup!

The Pavilion Tearoom, a lovely place to relax

We had such great weather, not so hot and the sun was out, so we walked a bit more.  This time around the Pavilion, the way I went with Wim before, through the arboretum. 

Upon our return we wanted to have a look at the nearby garden centre, and surprisingly they sold more than only garden stuff, so I went home with two new tops.  (Couldn't help myself, they were on special!)

Then it was about time to go home.  We dropped in at The Bird in Hand to book a table and went back there at 6:30 pm for our dinner.  I must say, they have a top-class restaurant.  Our meals were excellent and I enjoyed a different dish of pork, this time with fondant potato and all types of mushrooms.  Of course my favourite dessert was again the summer pudding.

We chatted the night away, then went home to finish off with coffee and after that I rang Kevin, because he had left a message.  It was great to talk with someone from home and we are generally not lost for words.  And now it's time for me to get some sleep in preparation of our last day together, Jose and me, hopefully to be spent in Brighton.

And all I can say at the end of the day is: what a lovely day it was.  Many messages and lovely, thoughful surprises.  Great to have so many good friends.