England 2011, Day 2: 20 Trees and Fun Fair

Lovely to wake up in Hayfield!!  In the morning, we all walked up to "20 Trees" (an aptly named local landmark) -

our favorite little walk!  Last year on this walk, Maddie was in the Bjorn!  This time she enjoyed navigating the cattle grids and stiles with the best of 'em.  Ollie trudged along in a manly way, ever curious, full of observations.   We all met

a very social cow who must have been hired by the tourist board -- he turned to look at the camera whenever we took pictures. 
Back to the house, had a bit of lunch, then off to the fun fair right down below our house on the cricket pitch!  Ollie went on all the rides he could - bouncy slide, carousel (twice),

whirly cars... and Maddie liked the bouncy slide as well.  We bought tickets for the duck race fundraiser... what's a duck race, you ask?!  This was my first ever.  For a pound, you "buy a duck," which is a rubber duck with a number on it.  You know the number

of your duck, and HUNDREDS of ducks (we overheard that this race consisted of twelve hundred ducks!) are released all at the same time at the start of a little stream that skirts the edge of the cricket pitch.  Loads of spectators line the edge of the stream to watch the fun and root for their duck, and the first duck to reach the finish line

wins a big cash prize!  We all thought this was pretty much the coolest thing ever, even though we had NO idea where our duck was within the throng of identical ducks!
Dinner was Carole's fabulous chicken pot pie, and after the kids went to bed Andy and I met Steve and Sabina at the George Hotel's pub for some catching up.  Such a nice day!