A visit to the Lavender fields - My Sunday Photo

I took a trip to the Lavender Fields in the Cotswolds this week.

It cost £4 entry, there were toilets and take away food and drinks available and they're open until July 16th. There's no booking required and dogs are welcomed.

Benches have been set apart to allow people to picnic to comply with social distancing measures. I took Bob's long leash as everyone dashed back to their cars due to the rain.

I was wearing a waterproof coat, trousers and wellington boots.

I was still soaked to the skin, but we had a fab time visiting.

Spending quality time with Mum

With living abroad and being a mother of 5 myself, life is busy and hectic.
Over the past 7 years traveling back to the UK has been limited, trying to spread myself around the kids, parents, in laws, extended family, friends.

When we lived in South Africa it was two visits a year, since moving to Dubai it’s been 3 visits a year, but with the kids being scattered around the UK, most of my time has been spread thinly and all visits have been a rush starting with a round of hello’s merging quickly into goodbyes. With 2 of the children spreading their wings and moving further a field, this task has become harder.

The kids do come out to visit and my mum came to Dubai last year and we get some quality time together, but I was working last year and the time felt rushed.

So last year Peter and I decided to invest in a property in the UK where I’d have a base and be able to invite family and friends to visit to enable us to have more quality time with everyone.

It has worked and it hasn’t worked. Where the kids have been able to visit and stay, it’s a 1 bed flat and it’s been packed, I haven’t had my own space to chill out in as planned and when Peter has joined me, we’ve had limited space as it’s been used as a dumping ground by everyone, storing belongings for child 3 who has since moved to Australia and it’s Now home to an 18 year old who due to family issues this summer with the death of my father and his paternal grandmothers ill health has seen him finish 4 years in boarding school and was overlooked when it came to supporting him with finding a job.

But despite all of this, I’ve actually had some of the best times this year with my family, the time we’ve spent together, although tinged with great sadness with the loss of a husband, father, granddad and great granddad, has been wonderful.

We’ve created so many new memories, our relationships have changed, new roles have been adapted, gaps have been filled and new adventures taken up.

Mum and I had the opportunity to travel to London this week for a mother and daughter photo shoot with a National Newspaper for an article on Mothers, Daughters and Grandchildren living in different countries and how we manage.

It’s not something Mum and I would normally do together, Dad would be laughing his socks off at us, once he’d finished telling us how ricidulous we were being, but he’d have looked forward to buying the paper next week. It’ll be online also. I’ll post a link if you’re really THAT interested.

Dubai Ferry trip

There are several routes available, travel along the coast  or take a look at The Palm from the sea, or just pop to one of the fabulous beaches in Jumeriah away from the tourists.

For up to date information on times, locations and costs visit the RTA website

Catching the ferry from either Dubai Marina or Al Ghubaiba, Deira Creek is a must do if visiting Dubai. The trip costs AED 50 and lasts for 90 minutes. After a brief safety demo, the ferry sets off out the harbour.

We started our trip from the Creek, catching the bus from our house on the Al Wasl Road, on our arrival at the Marina, we travelled home on the tram, train and bus. 

Food and snacks were served on the ferry and you were free to walk around talking as many photos as you wanted, which of course my son and I did in abundance.

The ferry travels approximately 1km from the shore line and the views are simply stunning. On this day I had a headache so stayed mainly indoors, so please excuse the reflection in the windows. To be able to see all of Dubai in one go is astounding.

We can see the Burj Al Arab from the beach near our house, but when approaching from the Mairina area by road you can only see the top half of the building and despite the sail looking very close to the Al Arab there is now such much building going on around the area you can only see this iconic view now from the air or sea.

The last part of the journey is entering Dubai Marina, again the shore line is simply stunning.

Dubai Marina Mall, final destination from where you can get the tram, tube or a taxi back to your hotel or home. After a spot of lunch and shopping of course.

Day out to Forde Abbey and Gardens

Forde Abbey in Dorset, with a Somerset postcode, just outside of Chard, is set in 30 acres of grounds, Forde Abbey was once the home, some 800 years ago to Cistercian Monks. After it's dissolution in 1539, it lay empty for 100 years before being transformed into a family home, the Roper family moved in, in 1905 and the 3rd generation remain there today.

We visited with friends on our last trip to the UK. The weather was gorgeous and we spent a good part of our time in the vegetable and flower gardens, everything was labelled and friendly gardeners were on hand to answer any questions. 

A series of ponds, leading from the Great Pond were laid out 700 years ago is an early example of landscaped gardening. The Mermaid pond is home to the Centenary Fountain, installed by the current family to mark 100 years of living at Forde Abbey.

Finally after 2 hours wandering around the vegetable gardens, followed by lunch, we made it to the back of the gardens and into the house.

Sadly we had to leave as we were driving back to South Wales, leaving a bit more of the gardens to explore on our next visit.