Gilberts Nursery and Tearooms

This morning we went up to the village of Sherfield English, just west of Romsey, to visit Gilberts Nursery.

We last came here a couple of years ago and it hasn't changed at all. Its not a big commercial garden centre, but just a small family run business, which is lovely.
Infamous for its dahlias, and its acre field with over 300 different varieties of dahlia on show. You can order a catalogue and order plants/cuttings of them all.

Sign in ladies!

We went for breakfast first in the little quaint tearoom. Small and old fashioned, we both ordered the full English with coffees (£13.00 total)

 Lovely coffee with individual filters. Had to wait for a bit for breakfast, but nice place to wait as the tearoom is within the small garden centre and overlooking the dahlias. They have a lovely outdoor seating area, but it started to rain while we were there so not an option.
Breakfast was good - a choice of toast or fried bread (the latter unhealthier option we obviously chose!), beans, egg, tomato, mushroom, lovely bacon x 2 and sausage.

The rain got heavier while we were eating, and amusingly (for me!) Margaret was sitting under a small leak so was being increasingly dripped on!
Had a wander round the dahlias afterwards. They really are lovely the amount they have on show. Probably would be better to visit early September to catch them at their best.

Pom Pom dahlias!

Drove home via Whiteley Village to visit the 'Italian Food Market 'http://www.whiteleyshopping.co.uk/whats-on/events/italian-market'  on this weekend. Really not worth the visit. About 8 different stalls of very overpriced Italian cheeses/bread/nougat. Hardly anyone visiting so we weren't the only ones who thought that.

After Polly's weekly hydrotherapy - left her sleeping, and with Peggy, Jake and Jessie went and parked by St Marys Church in Warsash, and walked through the woods to Hook Park. Jake seems to have a new burst of energy considering he was so poorly a few weeks ago, and bounces along.
Trying to get them all to pose on a tree stump was hard work though!

All wriggling and trying to jump off.....

Successful pose!


See you all next week!

Chessington World of Adventures

Busy week this week!
On Wednesday Margaret and I bustled up the A3 (through the magnificent Hindhead tunnel which I sadly love driving through as its like a film set!) to Chessington World of Adventures

thanks to some free tickets.
Generally a good day out, mainly as there were not many people there, so no queues. Mainly tempted by the new Zafari ride. It was nice enough - in a jeep through a small enclosure with giraffe,rhino,zebra etc,

but not as long or as thrilling as the telly advert made out. The small zoo (lion, tiger, gorilla etc) is ok

, though too small for the animals. The best part was the' Lorikeet Lagoon' enclosure.

 

The boat/water ride was great, and woke us up to be more adventurous.

Plus as there was no queues we just stayed in the boat and went round again. Survived the scary Vampire ride, and mellowed on the bubble one. Then had an unhealthy chicken burger lunch

.
Overall, it was fun, but definitely more of a family/young children day out. A fair few food outlets and rides were shut too. If we had paid it would have been really annoying.
But we didn't! So a bargain! But go during the week during term time if you can (Plus collect vouchers from tabloid newspapers as the entrance prices are astronomical!).

Byeeee....

The Magnificent HindHead tunnel. A3 Surrey UK.

Blue Star Cafe, Hamble

Today we took advantage of the nice weather and took a trip over to Hamble.  We went on the Pink Ferry which runs from Warsash. This ferry has been running for many, many years and is very well known in the area.

          We went to the Blue Star Cafe which is on the shore just a few yards from where the ferry docks.

                         

This is the view of the cafe as we approach.They have plenty of inside space, a roof terrace and seating outside for when the weather is good and you can sit and enjoy the watching the boats while you eat. We sat at one of the tables on the beach.

They don't do full English breakfasts but they have a good choice. We both decided to have the baguettes with sausage and egg, and it was very nice, all the better for being able to sit outside.







After our brekkie we went for a walk around Hamble Common. It is a really good walk with wooded
 areas, shoreline and open spaces, although Jake didn't cope well with the bridge. The gaps were a bit wide for him.
 

Well now we are all fed and watered and exercised it is time to head home. A few last views of the Hamble from the ferry and that's it for another week. If you look closely you can see Pudsy on this boat

See you next week
Margaret..... x

The Romsey Show

Today we went to The Romsey show instead
of finding a restaurant venue for our brekkie.
We had a really lovely day and the weather just about held up for us.  A little bit of rain but plenty of marquees to shelter in.  I took my two dogs Jake and Jessie with me but Jan decided to leave hers at home today.  Mine are a bit easier to handle in the crowds, I can pick them up if necessary but we would struggle to pick up Polly and Peggy.

First thing we wanted to do  was to find somewhere to eat, both of us were starving as it was late morning by the time we arrived. We had to park a long way from the showground so it took us a while, and then we had to queue to pay.  The queue moved quite quickly though and everyone was in good spirits and we chatted to lots of people while we waited. It is possible to avoid the queues by pre-booking but we decided to see what sort of day it going to be first.

Jan queueing for our food

There were plenty of eating places, mostly BBQ's, burger vans, doughnuts etc, and plenty of places to sit down and eat. Jan had a roll with Lamb and mint sauce and I went for a roll with sausages, bacon and onions with lots of mustard.  Probably not the healthiest meal I have had but very nice.



                             They did get a bit, honest.

After we had eaten we took a look around the show. It seemed a lot bigger than it was last year and there seemed to be a lot more people there too. We enjoyed the plant marquee and there were lots of clothes stalls and crafts of all kinds, and a lot of pet stalls selling toys and coats and pet food. We went in the very large food marquee on the way back to the car, they sold everything.  We were tempted by the fudge, fruit, pork pies and much more which we didn't give into.

On our way round we stopped and watch the ferret racing which was very entertaining.  We thought they were going to be very fast but they were very reluctant to get going and very reluctant to win.

I could easy have caught that!

We had a 50p bet each, I chose Stimpy in the red tube and Jan had Maisy in the white tube. I think it was a fix, mine poked her head out first but kept her tail in so Maisy got it. We picked the dogs up in case the ferrets came through the fence and I don't know what their fate would have been then.

Another enjoyable Saturday jaunt, more next week................................Margaret x 

Hallmark Jewellers Coffee Shop, Titchfield

We had to avoid going out for a normal breakfast this morning as Margaret was off to the pub for her son's birthday lunch. . **Sigh**.  So we decided to pop down to Titchfield for a light brekkie and coffee instead.
We went to the little coffee shop incorporated into the Hallmark Jewellers in West Street in Titchfield

. It is always lovely coming here as Titchfield is a lovely village with its old houses and streets.
The jewellery is handmade and unique - so definitely worth a look. Though its definitely not bling!.

The coffee shop is a very friendly place, with only a few tables downstairs and more upstairs in a very quaint environment.

It was threatening to rain, so we went inside, but they do have a lovely little garden with a water feature and fish!

We both decided just to have a teacake with our coffee.

Very nice - though more butter would have been good (not for our arteries though!). They seem to have a reasonably priced varied menu for lunch, in addition to the limited light breakfast choices.

Lovely cakes too. I succumbed to a mincemeat shortbread slice (as I wasn't allowed my normal brekkie) which was yummy!
It opens at 0930, and it can be difficult to park in the main square, but there is a small car park 5 mins walk away.

Peggy and I had to go for a solitary walk, as Polly had hydrotherapy, and Jake and Jessie were stuck at home while their mum propped up a pub bar (possibly!!). Bizarre weather today as hot one minute - and pouring with rain the next. Walked through the woods from the church in Warsash

to Hook Park, all prepared to battle the elements in wellies, jeans and light fleece. And the sun stayed out so I was far too hot!

Keep smiling, and see you next week!
x

Westlands Farm Shop

It seems ages since Jan and I did one of our Saturday jaunts for breakfast. I think it is only four weeks but it was so nice to go out again this morning.
We decided to try out Westlands Farm Shop at Shedfield.



It was a bit of a drive but it was a nice morning and we thought it would be nice to go somewhere we had never seen before. We got there without getting lost , plenty of parking and went inside.
 
  We were told to take a seat and someone would be with us shortly. After at least ten minutes the waitress arrived to take our order.

 We both chose the light English breakfast which cost £5. We had to pay another £1 for a slice of toast (which incidentally was very burnt) and £2 for a cup of coffee. We waited just over half an hour for our meal to arrive. As it was we were not in a rush and we passed the time looking at all the things they had for sale. They had lots of jams and preserves, fruit juices and bread flours etc.

Our breakfast was nice enough, except for the toast but we felt it was a bit pricey for what we had and the very slow service would not encourage another visit.
 
I did buy some of their bread flour and the onion loaf is cooking as I speak, the smells coming up the stairs are wonderful.
After brekkie we called in on Mudd Island nurseries, one of our favourite garden centres because everything there looks so healthy.  Then we went and collected one of our dogs each, just Peggy and Jessie this time.  Polly had her hydrotherapy and Jake can only do short walks at the moment.  It's only fair we give the others a good run on some days.We did a circular walk along the shore at Warsash from Hook Lane and back up through the fields.  If they weren't tired, I certainly was.

Sunday, 1st September.
Itchen Valley walk

Today we thought we would walk all the dogs at the slower pace.  We went to Itchen Valley Country Park.  We went early as thought it would probably get busy later.  They have 'Go Ape' through the woods so once that gets going you need to keep dogs on a lead.  At nine in the morning though it was good. We started off in the big field where there were lots of dog walkers around.  They all enjoyed, even Jake who although I know he is very poorly was today very bright, just like his old self.

Jan with all the dogs

Me with all the dogs

Walking through the woods

 After the walk we went down to the cafe which we found closed, doesn't open until 10.30am. Disappointed!  Had to try an think where to go as we were gasping for a coffee.  In the end we called into Universal Marina at Sarisbury on the way home. They have a nice little cafe there, where we enjoyed a lovely sausage baguette and coffee.  Was worth the wait and for £8.90 for two very large baguettes and coffee we thought it was very good value indeed.


Well quite a busy week-end and very enjoyable too. Looking forward to next week,  more then.......Margaret x