Tia, Eyal and I met the Burmans and Dinah and Verity at the Space museum in Leicester.  A wonderful experience of space travel!!

Joseph in Space suit in the gallery.  Tia, Eyal, Keith where we waited to enter hall.  No rain!!!

Lunch with graduates and Prof Sue Thomas and Prof Kate Pullinger (I read The Mistress of Nothing)

Ian, Amy, Zoe, Kate.

On Sunday, Steve and Mieke lunched with us. It was great to see them looking so well and happy.

The zebras grazed on the veld next to us. Gnus and warthogs came and went.   

We lunched in the park and enjoyed the drive especially when we saw the Rhinos.

We enjoyed the last dinner at the Spur.  Laura and Joseph loved the playroom.

Joseph at the playroom

When it rained we travelled to Durban to visit Ushaka waterworld.  It was wonderful on a wet day but would be even better on a sunny day.

I met Keith, Nancy, Laura and Joseph in Scottburgh with Sevreen and Jack.  We had 2 flats opposite the beach.  The sunny days were spent swimming on the beach and the one rainy day we drove to Durban.  Sev  and Jack enjoyed a braai with us after the beach.   The children made friends and packed a picnic to enjoy in the garden with their new friends. Brian Price joined us for dinner at the Bistro.

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Tia, Eyal and I departed from Mill Hill at 5.30 pm on Thursday to meet Dinah and Jason at Sheffield. It was dusk when we arrived but we drove past lovely old and new buildings to Millenium Square to dine at Piccolino’s. It was wonderful to see them and to hear that Dinah is pregnant. Baby due 15 Feb 2009. They are still shocked at the idea. Sheffield is worth another visit.

We slept in a Travelodge for £30 a room. It was clean, plain and good value.
It was a pretty drive through rolling country side to Hazlewood Country House. 
This was a wonderful stop in the country for breakfast in a beautiful sunny garden with views. We would love to stay for a couple of days.

The drive towards Bamburgh was delightful rolling hills of farmland. The rain came down so we met Jeanette and Scott Robinson, Jessica, Oliver, Tatum and Scarlet at Seahouses in a place that had an excellent playroom for the children.

So began a lovely party which lasted until we said goodnight at 10 pm. Seahouses is a small fishing harbour and we saw the flat which Scott has just bought overlooking the harbour. They want to do holiday lets on it but the rules do not allow it.

We drove the couple of miles to Bamburgh Castle where Jeanette and family stayed in their beautiful apartment in the castle. Paulo, Ben and Gracie from Marlow joined us at the Victoria Hotel in the High street.

After finding our pretty rooms in this rabbit warren of an hotel we met in the pub for early dinner. The rain stopped and there was a lovely garden in which the children played races and always let the toddler Scarlet win!!!

Then the highlight of the visit was to go to Bamburgh Castle where they have a large apartment on 3 levels with wonderful views over the village and sea. There are only 160 residents in the village. So it is really quaint and small. It was well worth the drive to get there and I hope I will return for at least a week.

Jeanette and Scott live in a village, Skirpenbeck, which is outside York. Yorkshire seems a lovely place to be. It is near the Lake District and Bamburgh.

Keith, Nancy, Laura and Joseph and I enjoyed a super warm winter day in the Valley of the Waves at Sun City.