After our week in Paris we trained to England to stay with some friends in the midlands. We had lived with them years before in Southampton, so it was like a re-enactment, but with kids 😁

They live in a very small village just outside of Stafford, in a lovely old house (built in 1843!) that was once part of a large estate.

They are in the midst of doing it up and it was wonderful to sit in their garden in the sunshine. (Yes we actually had a good amount of sunshine – must have brought it with us!) They grow many things, from gooseberries (not ready yet but M’s fave), fresh mint which made many a pot of tea and also a cherry tree which needed protection from the birds.

The little town was very pretty with so much character, including an old church (earliest gravestone we found was 1781) and some seasonal crocheting.

We also met their very friendly and gentle cat who may or may not have had a little nap on our bed once or twice.

This was a bit of downtime for us to organise some minor things like new UK drivers licenses, sort bank accounts and buy a car for our Euro driving…. just a few minor details!

We had an excursion one day to go “magnet fishing” where you throw a powerful magnet on a rope into a canal and see what you can pick up. Like standard fishing, there’s a lot of hopes that get dashed and a fair amount of bored skepticism… but M was successful in the end, catching a huge bundle of steel wool! Just imagine how many dishes could be cleaned with this baby 😎

Our hosts had spotted Tim Tams in their local supermarket the week before we arrived and had stocked up. Of course, we then needed to buy Penguins so that the kids could compare the two. (Definitely for the kids’ sake!!) While at the supermarket, we did notice a few other Aussie things…

Almost feels like home! 😜