Wartime farm!

Yay! Been waiting for this to air on tv and soon the wait is over. We watch so little so look forward to something good being on!

For any fans of Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm is the latest in the series starring Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn.

 Views from Manor Farm

Added bonus for us is that this is set and has been filmed locally at our working historic farm - Manor Farm  - a favourite place to visit for us all; not least Imogen to see all the goings on and have hands on experience of the animals, but also for me as it is where I have demonstrated spinning and will be doing more in the future.

Me demonstrating in the Manor Farm Barn in May 2012

So you can be sure we'll be tuning in on Thursday 6th September at 8pm BBC2.

And other things ...

The Olympics has been a big part of our Summer holidays here, but here are some other things we have been up to.

Celebrating 10 years of marriage, we returned to the place we got married and showed Imogen around the grounds and building. It was lovely going back and then followed by a lovely walk in the New Forest with a New Forest Ice Cream of course!

We had a holiday in Devon. The weather was mixed, we made the most of the wonderful sunshine we did have. The beach at Broadsands gave us a wonderful beach fun day and a ride on a pedalo.

 

 

The traffic was a nuisance. Our holiday cottage was lovely except for being in the attic room which was not that well insulated and the roof became a playground for Seagulls at night - queue sleeplessness until we picked up earplugs! Some places visited were not that inspiring and doubt we'd return to some towns. We visited some lovely small museums and took a few boat trips. We were sailors aboard the Golden Hind.

 Setting off the air raid siren

 meeting Star wars characters and Darwin

 

The Golden Hind

Imogen enjoyed herself, which is good; we were all glad to return home. Enjoying the last few weeks before school returns. Imogen is working on a masterpiece scrapbook, having adventures and writing writing writing  more of her stories, and drawing. Imaginative, creative and happy girl ... and getting excited that she is soon to be seven!

Signing off with a few more holiday images ...

Oops ...

You know you haven't blogged for a while when your husband tells you that you need to update it!

So a little update.

Since my last post we returned to Wembley stadium for our last Olympic event which was the Womens Football Final and medal ceremony. Another fabulous Sunny, even balmy, Summer evening. We arrived at Wembley Park Tube station with ease and walked the short walk up Wembley Way to the stadium. The match was between USA and Japan and there were many fans of each, and lots of neutral supporters too, the most heartwarming sight was seeing so many children there taking in such a lovely atmosphere and event.

Womens Olympic Football Final USA v Japan

We were in different camps for this one, Alex has always liked Japan so put his support in them, Imogen decided she wanted to support USA, then Japan, no USA, no Japan (you get the idea!) so I face painted her for both so she was supporting the winner whoever won! She did settle on wanting USA to win. I went with USA too as I watched how great they were in the semi-final against Canada.

Face painted and ready to go ...

 Ticket ready and entering Wembley Stadium

It's an impressive stadium and a wonderful sight to walk up the steps and look out across the stadium. Watching the sun set on a lovely evening was impressive too.

We had a fantastic evening, the match was really good - ladies do indeed know how to play good football. The result was 2-1 to USA, here are some of our photos ...

 love this image of Imogen with the Sun setting

 Sunset across the stadium

 Winning goal for USA

 ... and a happy Imogen celebrating the goal!

One of the funniest moments on the night was the impromptu boo-ing when Sepp Blatter was announced to the crowd as part of the medal ceremony! Oh we laughed, and boo-ed. I think he got the message. No doubt many Japanese and American supporters wondered what it was about.

 Wembley at night

 Ready to go home

The walk back to the tube station was busier, but well organised by the police on horseback. There was even an impromptu break out of "Don't Stop Believing" as we passed a take away food van with the radio on. Magical. Imogen was a little tired by now though.

Along Wembley Way

Tired on the Tube ride back to the car to go home

Lovely evening, football, ceremony and a late night - returning to our car after midnight and then home about 2am! Imogen was amazed at being so late home, and then I was surprised by her fantastic lie in the next morning as she didn't wake until 11.50am! Just in time for lunch.

Thank you again to London 2012, Wembley and all the added memories.

Tired from our trip, we had a quiet day at home to pack ready to go to Devon for a week - more on that next time.

Olympic dreams come true ...

Wow, wow, wow ... what can I say other than wow!

We have returned from our short break in London taking in the Olympics, the sights and the Science Museum. Seven years in the planning, we have fulfilled our dream to go to and take Imogen to the London 2012 Olympics. What an opportunity to see such a great sporting event in your home country.

Our whole time away was wonderful, no travel issues, no real queues, no "in your face" sponsor advertising  - no, none of those things that the negative press and British public predicted. Just a wholesome wonderful experience - everyone having a great time, a real sense of people coming together to make the games a huge success. Even our more cynical friends have admitted to getting into the spirit of the Olympics, Londoners too. Fortunately the British Summer waited for the Olympics and summer holidays to arrive.

So what did we see - I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking (and there are a few!) ...

Entering the Olympic park early in the morning

Yeah -  I'm at the Olympic Stadium

Royal Marines Band on queue 

- we had heard them on Radio 5 in the preceding mornings

We listened to Chris Evans interview Peter Wilson

(local Olympian and winner of Gold in shooting event)

 Imogen under the Olympic rings

The events we had tickets for were football at Wembley Stadium and Basketball in the Olympic park.

 Outside Wembley 

 Inside Wembley Stadium for Korea vs Gabon!

(Gabon were much supported by the GB crowd, always supporting the underdogs!)

 Imogen wow-ed by the size of Wembley

 Basketball Arena (ominous dark cloud but it passed us by)

 Off to see the Basketball 

Inside the Basketball arena pre-match

We spent much of the rest of the time around the Olympic park which really is a fabulous park area, beautifully landscaped and floral. The other arenas were wonderful to see and the big screens in the park were a wonderful opportunity to see the other events amongst a very receptive crowd - like being at a festival, and we cheered on all the GB competitors with gusto, and the rest of the World too. An amazing atmosphere!

 Imogen with the towering Orbit

 Flowers in the park, 

it really is beautifully landscaped, lovely park areas to walk and relax

 Relaxing and playing in the park

 One of the views across the park

 and another with the big screens in the middle

where we watched many events, saw World records set and medals won

London 2012 was an experience I don't think I will ever forget; I don't think any of us will, we are so pleased that we did it. Imogen has been so inspired by the whole Olympics, her interest in sports and sporting events is immeasurable at the moment - she wants to do so many things.

 Imogen showing us her Usain Bolt pose!

 Meeting Wenlock and showing him her own Wenlock toy

 (one of a few owned now!)

Wenlock giving me a wave!

On our way home we even saw a Cormorant arrive to see what was happening at the Olympic Park.

Thank you London 2012 for a wonderful time, the memories etched in our minds and the wonderful weather! One more event to return and see and boy we cannot wait.

Time to save for Brazil 2016!