smile and say cheddar cheese!

Yesterday we headed to Cheddar to go to the gorge and in the caves.  It was really pretty and inside the caves was amazing! They keep cheddar cheese in the caves that you can smell as you walk through... unfortunately I had so much cheese on my sandwich for lunch I didn't have the appetite to buy any cheddar cheese from cheddar.  We went on some nice walks and toured around a bit before coming back (with a nice little "detour" along the way...cough got lost cough) 
Today we went to the outlet mall in Swindon and I just got some clothes for work and a couple books.  Oh I also finished the book I'm reading called "We need to talk about Kevin"... very good book!! We then took my parents over to Pete's to do some archery and axe throwing!! It was very entertaining to say the least!


Tonight we went to Pizza Express for our last dinner with my parents :(

View of the gorge from the tower

In the caves

Cheddar Man...

Stalactites and stalagmites

"St. Paul's Cathedral"

My cool reflection shot! Been spending too much time with Ben...

Cute little water vole that lives in the river in the gorge

Mom concentrating on archery - it was hard to get a photo of her where she wasn't giggling!

Concentrating...

Ben and I having a competition... I won't brag but... I WON!

Mom and dad having a competition

Dad after his successful axe throw!

Teach demonstrating

Ben showing mom the ropes

Good way of releasing anger! Unfortunately I didn't have enough for the axe to make it to the target..

beer, camping, salisbury and bath

Lots to update on since Friday!
Saturday:  Devizes is well known for its massive brewery, Wadworth brewery, which supplies beer to pubs within an 80 mile radius, and in Devizes it is still delivered to all the pubs by horse! So Ben, Mom, Dad, Gillie and I all went on the tour around the brewery to see how the beer is made and get lots of free samples!  After that we all just came back home and relaxed, and went out for a meal to an Italian place with James and Chloe.  It was also my parents' 39th anniversary!!


Sunday:  The weather forecast was good so we drove to Pembrokeshire, Wales to go camping by the coast.  The campsite was literally just a field which just across from the beach.  It took just under 4 hours to drive there, so we just put the tents up and relaxed by the beach for the afternoon, before going for a walk to watch the sunset in the evening.


Monday:  Still in Pembrokeshire, we went on a boat cruise around Ramsey Island to look at all the caves and seals etc.. it was gorgeous, it didn't feel at all like we were in Britain! We then went to a different beach and Ben and I went in (with wetsuits as the water is still really cold!) and then drove home in the evening and ordered a pizza!


Tuesday:  Took mom and dad into Salisbury to show them my school and then into the city centre to go see the cathedral.


Wednesday:   Went into Bath and did a little shopping, and then to Ben's Nan's for lunch.. now just watching a movie!

Outside the brewery

Playing bananagrams!

Our luxurious campsite in Wales

Beach number 1 - bit cold but still gorgeous!

Beach number 2 - bit busier!

Walking around St David's - the town closest to the coast we were camping at

Always therapeutic watching the sunset by the water!

One of the many caves around Ramsey Island

Just one of the views from a walk we went on by the campsite

Salisbury Cathedral

Ben's arty photo in the cathedral

Just mom and me in Salisbury

This door makes Ben look tall!

walks, bowling and.... more rain!

Today was the first "real" day with my parents here.  It was a pretty early night for all so we woke up early enough to go for a quick run before we set out.  We went back to the Long Barrow (burial site) again to show mom and dad and it was much busier than last time! There were lots of people getting in touch with their "spiritual" side, singing and caressing the rocks...  it was.. interesting!  We then went on what I thought was an excruciatingly long walk which everyone else somehow described as a "walk around the block"!!!!


I only complained a little bit that I was hungry............... so we drove a few minutes to a really nice town called Marlborough where we had lunch.  Since it was pouring down with rain by this point we were trying to think of something inside that we could do, so we decided to go bowling...  I will only mention that Ben lost miserably, as he is very upset about this and the fact that he got less than 50 points is very embarrassing. Enough said.
To recover from his loss, Ben had to play me at pool to redeem himself, and he did beat me (by one ball!).


After bowling we went to this garden/craft type centre, just becuase every town has one here! And then headed home, had some dinner and just chilled out.

From yesterday - Devizes church

Mom and I on the 15th century street in Devizes - just outside the hat shop!

Still from yesterday - at the market (you can just see Ben and I buying some chocolate mint!)

Bit blurry but this is just outside the barrow

Just on the walk!

Ben enjoying his pool victory!

parents, grandparents and rain!

Been a few days so I'll do my best to update since.... Monday.
Right well I may have to come back to Monday because I completely forget what we did!


Tuesday we went to visit Ben's grandma and took her out to a garden centre and then went out for lunch at the Red Lion in Lacock.

Whitehall Garden centre (a very small part of it) although it was pouring down with rain so didn't quite look like this!

  

Red Lion in Lacock

Wednesday we honestly spent the entire day cleaning the house!! I don't know how it was possible to do that but we did... it has never been cleaner! Might be a good time to take some pictures of it!  


And finally today we got up at 4:30am to head to Gatwick to pick my parents up!! we came back home for something to eat and then headed in to Devizes for the market, which we decided we have to shop at more as it is ridiculously cheap! Stopped at a nice pub for a drink, and wandered around some nice bits of town to show mom and dad the castle and some 15th century streets! Now just back at home very sleepy watching crappy tv :)

Devizes castle - right in the centre of town but you can't get too close as it is privately owned and there are signs everywhere warning you not to! 

Where we went for a drink - really nice pub in the centre of town.  I think dad took lots of nicer pictures so I'll put those up once I steal them from him x

comedy club and camping

great past couple days! On Friday went into Bath with Gillie and Debbie and shopped around for a bit, found a shop I absolutely love called instant vintage, will be going back there!! After shopping we went back to Gillie's new place for a bit and then headed back into town to go to the comedy club for dinner and a show.. food was really good and some of the comedians were really funny.. Pierre Hollins the headliner was hilarious! 

Yesterday Ben, Kate, Sam and I went camping in a place called Sandy Balls! Ha! It was a really nice place, right by the New Forest where there are loads of wild horses (pictures below).  Had a great night, went to a pub where I mistakenly drank 2 pints of cider, had a nice walk around the fields, had a bbq on the Cobb and just hung around the campsite! 

one of the many horses hangin out outside the pub!

Kate and Toby the best dog ever

Mommy and son (definitely a boy....!!)

Love this!

Toby looking for his new toy that he found!

Toby is so impressed with my head stand

woo hoo

more of ben's light painting - kate and I on the swings

I always knew a poutine would benefit me one day

Another relaxing day today. Went to body pump in the morning and couldn't move my arms for about 3 hours, then went into Devizes for a bit of a stroll with the Benjer.  Met up with some friends for dinner and then to the pub quiz which WE WON!!! Not to mention my one question that I got right was about the national dish of Canada! Yeeahhh! 

At the pub

My insanely spicy drink!

Clever team and our winning wine! mmm