The Buchans 2013: Summer’s Coming

With the advent of summer we decided that the conservatory roof needed a lot of TLC. The conservatory is about 14 years old and the roof was beyond it so we decided to have a new one. Fortunately on the day the weather was very good so the builders managed to get the roof off and the new one installed and made weather tight. The following day they had to finish off, but couldn’t finish until the afternoon because of the poor weather.

Before

After

Nearly finished

Finished

North of Ringwood, at Hale, a new geocaching circuit had been put out so we went off to tackle this on a nice sunny day. Sue as you probably know prefers flat walks, but she did manage the steep hill at the beginning (and the one in the middle). At the start we walked along the edge of Hale park which looked really nice especially with some of the bluebells on show.

Hale House

The lime avenue to the house

Hale House from its front gate

Bluebell woods in Hale Park

We have had a few visitors recently. Sue’s sister Pam came for an overnight stay followed by Norm and Maya who also stayed overnight. Sue and I have known Norm since my college days at Loughborough – that was a few years ago.

We had a trip down to Christchurch – well dressed for the summer weather!

Drinks at the Beach House Café – we even sat in the same seats as we did with Maggie and Andy – it was marginally warmer and drier this time.

Sue has been busy painting recently. Here are 2 she has done out of the many she has painted this year. For and idea of size they measure about 15 inches (38 cms) across.

We have the caravan serviced close to Blandford Forum so this year we decided to visit the town and then collect the caravan when finished and bring it home. It saved quite a lot of travelling. Much of the town was destroyed by fire in 1731 and over subsequent years it was rebuilt in the Georgian style. We had tea and a piece of cake (small) in a newly opened café. Unfortunately the teapot didn’t pour properly (nothing new here) and so it spilt on the nicely pressed linen.