The Village Bakery (Warsash), Gracie-Anns Tea Rooms (Port Solent), New Forest Spring Fair, Waffle and Pancake House (Gosport)Bistro 8 (Universal Marine), and Boswells, Eastleigh

SO SORRY about the major delay to the blog. Lots to catch up on.....

One month's worth of updates.
Still our weekly breakfast/outings continue, but the dogs keep us busy physically (Alfie!) and emotionally (Polly!).
Alfie has settled in wonderfully - 2 months in and it feels like he has been around for ages  (that's what Mitzi the cat probably thinks since her peace and quiet gone!!).

The marvellous Alfie..

 

Pleasssseee can I eat Mitzi???

 

Polly has had a few heartsink moments with her health, with her poor wobbly legs, but is bouncing back as best she can.

Sprained wrist :(

Elevated wrist with ice pack on - she is such a good patient!

 

Finally upright and weight-bearing :)

 

Jessie and Peggy poddle on merrily, though both starting to slow down bless em.

Awwwww

 

And we still think of Jake often, and miss him.

xxxxx

Outings..

Village Bakery in Warsash. Always a good place to go. Good value, very friendly, and great waffles (though Jan had the cooked for a change - only as she had been to Sprinkles that week!).

Gracie-Anns Tea Rooms in Port Solent. Lovely old fashioned facilities, with a lovely view over the harbour and posh boats.

 

Both had the cooked breakfast. Beautifully presented, lovely coffee and not bad price.

 

Always nice to wander around afterwards, though not many shops around really. Only drawback is that it does not open til 1000.

Day out at the New Forest Spring Fair earlier in May. Lovely day, and had a wonderful grilled cheese gourmet toasted sandwich (with bacon/scrambled egg) from the pop up Gourmet Grilled Cheese Company... oh it was delicious...

 

 

Alfie thought so too but wasn't quick enough....

good try - pull the napkin for the toastie.... but Aunty Jan got there first!

 

We have been to the spring fair a couple of times, but sadly there weren't nearly as many stalls as there used to be. And they now charge £5 to get in, whereas it used to be free. Didn't stay for the fun dog show as it was getting a bit too hot.. so stopped off for walk in the New Forest instead.

Bistro 8, first visit since new ownership. Sat outside in the sunshine with the doggies. Bit pricey, and only choice of a full cooked or ciabatta bread with scrambled egg/sausage or bacon.

 

 

Even thought the scrambled egg one we both had was lovely, we wouldn't go there too often.
Always coincides with a walk along the river Hamble and up to see our llama friend (though now know he is an alpaca!!) and the donkeys. Alfie pleased to meet them too!!

Larry the Llama! (who is an alpaca...!!!)

hello donkey!!

Went to the new Waffle and Pancake House in Gosport last week. Only just opened up. Doesn't open until 10 am. Not the most impressive/clean environment, but they did us waffles not on the menu (with hot toffee sauce and bananas/cream) which was good. And the coffee was great.

Full cooked for both of us at Boswells in the Swan Centre in Eastleigh today. Mainly as we both had chores to do in the centre.

 

Nice cooked, £12 with coffee so worth a visit if there.

Fair few walkies over the weeks (Polly only managing short ones, so hydrotherapy or 'ball' bobbing for her!)....................

Burridge and the river Hamble



Nearly in the water.....

Pretty girl Jess

Nope - still not going in..

Jess jumping!!

Manor Farm country park

Barfoot Farm

Polly after hydro

Polly tennis ball bobbing!

 

 

Alfie and Jessie spent the day with Aunty Jan last week while Margaret went to Bath for the day. Lots of photoshoots (would they look the same direction at the same time? Noooooo)... and practice for when they come to stay soon ,,,,,, so far so good...... though Alfie has too much energy!!

And finally - Alfie and Mitzi are bonding!!! :)

Will update the blog quicker in future.... promise!!! x

Alfie and Mitzi sleeping together!!

Hensting Alpacas

Whenever we go on one of our Saturday jaunts we try to find something a bit different to do. I think this month we succeeded in doing just that. We went to Hensting Alpacas in Otterbourne, Hampshire. We had to forgo our usual brekkie and make do with eating a sausage and bacon baguette in the car while we waited. Well worth it though, we had a lovely morning.

The farm is right on the river Itchen and it is a lovely family run business. You are made so welcome right from when you arrive at the gate. It all starts at 10am and lasts for a good two hours. Derek and his wife Hazel and their two children are obviously very proud of their farm and their alpacas and really want you to enjoy the experience. 

You start off with a short health and safety chat and then you get to meet the alpacas. You learn all about how they live, how they are cared for, really fascinating. Then they put halters on them and introduce you to your alpaca. You all walk in line down to the river. You walk on grass all the time so very easy going and lots of time to take photos.

The normal price is £49.95 for a two hour session but you can often get offers on Groupon or on their website. When we went we paid £24.95 for the two of us sharing one alpaca. I think one animal between two of you is fine, gives you more chance to admire the lovely scenery and take photos. Here are some of ours.

This was our first alpaca, Saturn, who was a bit stubborn. He took a bit of persuading to move.  We always ended up at the back.

Half way round they swapped everyone's alpaca and we ended up with Galaxy who was much more lively and I thought he was lovely.

Jan trying to get Galaxy to take a drink but he was having none of it.

He enjoyed the treats though.

Such a beautiful place to go for a walk.  Bit different to walking the dogs.

The next day we had to get back to normal and walk our own four legged friends. We went over to The Queen Victoria Country Park at Netley. They had a dog show on that day but it did not seem to be very well supported this year. There were a few stalls and demos but not too many people. We had a wander and then we walked the grounds because it is a very nice area to walk. Well worth a visit, right on the the shore, play areas and train rides in the summer. It is a very historical place as well, once a military hospital which opened in 1863. Lots of information on the website.

Once again we turned to bacon butties to keep us going, and very nice they were too.

 We had a go at the doggie agility, Jan did quite well even though I think it was Peggy who was supposed to do the jump.

Me and Alfie were absolutely rubbish.

Also during the week we did a home visit to Jan's. In a few week's time Jan is going to look after my two dogs while I go on holiday and we thought we should do a trial run. The dogs all know each other very well but we needed to be sure they would get on ok in Polly and Peggy's home. Especially as Alfie is quite new to the group. All went really well. Alfie took himself off to check it all out and I think Peggy was a bit surprised at his speed charging round the bedroom when she was trying to take a nap.

Well Polly and Peggy, can we come and stay?

Not a lot about brekkie in this week's blog but hope you find it interesting. 

More soon ............................ Margaret x