Haskins Garden Centre

Bit of a boring brekkie out this week. Went up to Haskins Garden Centre Southampton way.
Nice enough large garden centre, but pretty expensive so neither of us bought anything.

The breakfast was fine, albeit a bit bland. Plus £16 for 2 x 5 item brekkies, 2 slices each of blomer toast and 2 very large (though medium size) coffees.

Relatively quiet week on walking together too!

Had a lovely afternoon on Sunday. Our friend Chris (from the original dog walking team!) came round to Jan's to help cut her mega overgrown hedge,

Chris cutting hedge in background!

 

Jan's saviour Chris - thankyou!

 

so they had a busy afternoon out in the sunshine and Peg and Pol helped their mum clean out the fishpond finally.

Pol helping with watering

Peg 'looking after' the fishes!

Clean pond!

Margaret and Jess came round later so it was lovely to reminisce about the last 12 years with all the great walks, days out and even our dogwalker's/ and dogs holiday away in Devon a few years ago now.

Peggy telling Jessie off for ruining her mum's flowerbed

Jessie not budging - so Peg gave up

The look of innocence

 

The handsome Bud - Chris's dog

 

And.... to remember our Jake. Pain settling for Margaret, but the memories will stay fresh and live on xx

Hope you're sleeping well dude! x

The Horse & Jockey Curdridge

Saturday morning was really hot and sticky so we decided to walk through the woods along the river Hamble from Burridge to the Horse & Jockey at Curdridge. There you can eat outside right by the side of the river. You have to take advantage of these lovely days.  We took two dogs with us, Jessie who after a difficult week of getting over losing Jake is beginning to pick up now and Peggy.  Jan left Polly at home as it would have been too much for her wobbly legs and she she needed to save her energy for her hydrotherapy later in the day. The pub doesn't open until ten so we took our time, about 40 minutes to walk there but it was well worth it.

You need to order your food at the bar but they bring it out to your table, all freshly cooked and piping hot . We just had one of each item and it was delicious, especially the fried bread and plenty, and plenty. Not the cheapest we've had but well worth the money. For the two of us it was nearly £17 with the coffee.

Bit of a photo call before we headed back. After that fried bread it was a good thing that we had to walk back.

.

It is a nice walk through the woods back to Burridge, a bit rough in places underfoot where it got very muddy in the winter and has now dried out.  Part way along there is an old Fairy Tree where people leave all sorts of knick knacks. It is mentioned on the pub website, linked above.

They enjoyed clambering around and finally cooling off in the river.

Over the other side of the river you can see the shoreline in Manor Farm which is another walk we often do.

As I said Polly missed out on this walk but Sunday I took Jessie to visit and Polly looked after her while Jan took Peggy out for a more energetic walk. 

That's it for this week, see you next time..........................Margaret x 

Carlo's Icecream Parlour West Wellow

Sad brekkie out this morning since Jake passed away 3 days ago (see previous post). We decided to head to West Wellow to Carlo's Ices. Infamous for its home made ice-cream and sorbets (Polly and Peggy have been before and had their own sorbet!), we went just for their cooked breakfast (as a bit early for ice-cream).

We took Jessie,

Jessie waiting for sausage

as she has been affected by Jake not being around, so needed cheering up. The parlour is easily found with signs from the main Salisbury road. Lovely large garden, with large rabbit hutches (and baby bunnies) , chickens and sheep in the surrounding fields.

The garden - rabbit hutches at the rear

Margaret and Jess checking out the sheep

Large cooked breakfast with coffee and toast came to £12.50.

Huge it was! And beautifully cooked. Only downside was disposable plates and cups as we sat outside, but it was only tricky with the plastic cutlery. So worth a visit just for the breakfast alone.

Over the last week we managed a couple of last walks with Jake in his stroller.

 

Poignant time with the 70th anniversary of DDay - hence planes flying overhead on the way to Normandy for the remembrance.

 

 

The hot weather has made the dogs struggle when out, especially now they are all older. Polly has had a few days at home as the heat makes her even more wobbily.

Peggy and Jessie went for a longer walk along Titchfield Haven, which is a godsend due to the river they can duck into.

 

So the end of a sad week, though happy memories of the 12 years of Jake's life.
Polly,

A rose from Polly

Peggy

Sad Peg

 

and I will miss him greatly, and huge hugs for Margaret, Jessie and Mitzi.

Gone, but  never forgotten....

The marvellous Jake. Sleep well dude x

xxxxx

R.I.P Jake 2002 - 2014

Very sad week for all of us, but especially for dear Margaret and Jessie and Mitzi (the cat). Jake, the matriarch and only male of our dog walks, and indeed the reason we all met and became firm friends over the last 11 years, sadly passed away on 11th June.

An amazing little character (I was never a 'small dog' person before!), Jake has battled health issues for the last few years, but last August 2013 he was given about 3 months to live due to a tumour. Tough little fella that he is, he tripled that estimate, but over the last week has just gradually been starting to struggle slightly with day to day activities. Margaret had the awful decision to decide when the right time was, and timed it perfectly when Jake was becoming uncomfortable, and it was time to let him go.

Prior to heading to the vet, Jake, Jessie, Mitzi and Margaret had a final bonding (and eating) afternoon in the sun.

 I was honoured to be with Margaret and Jake as the vet helped him on his way, and it was incredibly sad, but peaceful and Jake passed away with dignity. Rest in peace to an amazing little character, who we will all miss incredibly.

Titchfield Haven- The Cafe

This Saturday we didn't have the time for our normal weekend jaunt as Jan had to work. We did manage to pop out early for a quick brekkie to The Fabulous Bakers in Park Gate. We have been there a few times before and we have blogged them twice.  As usual we had a very nice, hot and well cooked full English.

So, this week we decided to go out on Monday for lunch.  We went to Titchfield Haven, The Cafe. We had my dogs with us so we needed to check out the outside seating area and we were really surprised. From the road we had seen a few tables on the patio but when we got round there was a lovely garden with plenty of seating and a wild life pond. Had we known how spacious it was we would have brought all four dogs, next time we will.

It was very pleasant sitting there perusing the menu.

We both went for a panini which was served up with salad and crisps and looked and tasted lovely.

At £3.50, very reasonable. All washed down with a nice cup of coffee.

We try to take Jake to as many places as possible as he is very poorly and running out of time. So we are doing his bucket list.

Out to lunch

Twitching

Down by the sea

Ice Cream on the beach

Pinching a lick of Auntie Jan's ice cream

Cuddles

Poor Polly and Peggy stayed home but we will make up for it next time.

See you next week.................................Margaret x