England 2010: Part 1

I'm determined to use the blog to record a travelog of our recent trip to England in September - seems like a daunting task, so much to tell and so many photos to sort through, but I'll do my best!

After a pretty quick flight over (just 6.5 hours!), during which the kids slept about 3 hours and Andy and I not a wink, we arrived at our cute "cottage" in Hayfield around late morning, excited to explore every bit of it and so happy to see Andy's parents, Carole and Maurice. Carole had worked SO hard to equip the house with every possible thing we could need - a bed rail for Ollie, crib sheet and blanket for Maddie, every imaginable toiletry, tons of books and toys, a stroller, and a ridiculous amount of groceries in the fridge and cupboards and freezer... not just butter, milk, eggs, cheese, but sausages, jams, ketchup, peanut butter, spices, drinks, pizzas for the kids, homemade mac and cheese, and favorite treats like battenburg, malt loaf, and Marks & Spencer double chocolate rolls! It was amazing.

Ollie wasted no time in proving himself an equal-opportunity stripper (both sides of the Atlantic), taking off nearly all his clothes and prompting our first photo, taken in the living room. The backyard overlooked a lovely cricket pitch, and there was even a game underway when we got there, or at least a practice. I never got tired of that view, with the pretty hillside beyond - just so pretty. We all had a fantastic afternoon nap for several hours, and woke up so refreshed. We were determined to attend Granddad Maurice's concert with the Tideswell Male Voice Choir that night at 6pm at Peak Cave in Castleton - that's right, a concert in a CAVE! It was fantastic, and Maurice even had a solo, "Bring Him Home," which always makes me cry when I hear him sing it. So glad we were there! That night we all slept like logs.

The house was just wonderful - playroom and laundry room on the ground floor, with a grassy patio outside, living room, kitchen, and bathroom on the main floor, with a nice little back deck, 3 bedrooms and a full bath on the 2nd floor, and a big bedroom with 2 skylights on the top floor - old hardwood floors, deep windowsills, and steep stairs that felt like exercise to climb, all just right. Half the oven didn't work, and the internet signal never showed up, but other than that, perfect! We just loved that we could step out through our pretty red front door and walk down the hill town in 2 minutes, to a couple of little food stores, a coffee shop, magazine shop, gift and antique stores, several pubs, and of course, the village chippy! At the other end of the cricket patch was a really sweet playpark for the kids, which we visited a few times when it wasn't raining!