Our Property Magnet daughter needed to 'sort out' the Paston property garden for a new tenant.
Chris only had a half day leave as she had to attend a meeting in Chester. So it was decided that I would drive her to the meeting, have a wander around Chester and then we would head off to Peterborough.
I enjoyed my walk around the traffic free heart of Chester city centre; the historic facades of the black and white buildings which dominate the city centre include "Chester's Rows". Here 21st century stores thrive in a medieval setting. The city is compact enough to walk around with ease, and the unique two tiered rows made my experience even more enjoyable especially when it started to rain.
The Clock, over one of the gates, is well worth a visit and it reminded me of previous walks Chris have done in Chester. It is situated near the 5 Star Chester Grosvenor and Spa Hotel.
Rain made me enter the Grosvenor Museum a classic 19th century building. A group of children from a local Junior School were looking at a most impressive collection of Roman tombstones; their constant questions and enthusiasm was 'wonderful'. A bit later another group of youngsters arrived, dressed in 'home-made' roman armour; what a pity their teacher was so determined to be the centre of attention. A loud, pompous and rude person who had very little interest in the childrens questions or other museum users feelings. I decided to leave before I was tempted to say something I would regret. I headed back to the carpark, to wait for Chris, making a short detour to look at the 'single-span' bridge over the river; it had been mentioned on the video I had watched in the Museum.
Chris arrived and it was off to Peterborough. The journey was interupted briefly when I had to pull into a lay-by on the A51, to take this picture of a straw sculpture...
You must admit it is impressive! Snugbury's, I discovered later, are icecream makers who are also "renowned for their straw sculptures". As you can see this years sculpture is of the Lovell telescope at Jodrell bank. It celebrates 50 years of the dawn of the space age and the telescope's construction. It is also the tenth anniversary of the straw structures; the dish weighs in at over 6 tonnes and has a 32 foot diameter. You can find out more at http://www.snugburys.co.uk/sculpture.htm.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, stopping briefly for refreshments, we eventualy arrived at Mandy and Daves; I resist the temptation to mention Chris was looking for the road Mandy used to live in rather than the one she does live in! Both Mandy and Dave were well and over a few drinks and food we caught up with news, travels, plans, dreams etc.
Chris and I slept on a matress downstairs and after a reasonably early breakfast we headed towards Paston and the jungle, sorry garden, we had been asked to tame, sorry make-over!
As you can see from the photograph, jungle was a more appropriate word to use! I wont dwell on detail but Mandy, Chris, Dave and I got 'stuck-in' and after 6 visits to the local tip, blisters, scratched, stung hands and arms etc., we overcame the challenges we had faced and transformed the jungle...
The challenge now is to make sure that it doesn't return to the wild!
We even managed to get back in time to watch England win in the World Cup. Could things get any better? They could indeed! Cobra beer and a curry in the local Indian Restaurant! Mmmmm very nice indeed. A quick walk in the dark, past a local landmark (a man-made hill), and it was back home; none of us needed any rocking, as Chris's Mum would have said.
Today Mandy and Dave went to purchase plants for their garden and the garden was weeded, plants set and when everything was done and dusted Chris and I set off for home.
Watch this space to see if we are called upon a fourth time to tame the wild!
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