We went to take Willow for a walk up the Magog Down the other night and even though it was still light, the gates are shut at 6pm there, so there was a whole bunch of cars parked along the wonky verges. So we decided to nip along a little further and take her on Stapleford park. This is another lovely old recreation ground, you can quite often catch a nice game of cricket there ;) You can also see the 'Magic Roundabout' !!! There are 2 play areas, one is on the south side for younger kids and then there is the old school play area by the entrance on the north west. This is where if you are lucky you will see the big old roundabout - The 'Magic Roundabout' - turning round and round, slowly, all, it seems by itself. We sat and watched it for ages and no, it's not because someone had not long been on it! There was no wind as such and the thing seems to turn on its own, we reckon, due to the bumpy ground it sits on. Anyway I jumped on and had a go and made myself feel really dizzy :) There are definate earthworks across this rec, signs of the activity of Stapleford hundreds of years ago. There's plenty of wide open space and nice trees about, so it's well worth a visit :)
We took Willow for a lovely walk to the Beechwoods the other day. I have gone to the Beechwoods since I was little girl, I once found a butterfly brooch in there! It’s a lovely place and well worth a visit especially if you haven’t been before. Cambridge has some wonderful places to go for picnics, walks and to take the kids and dogs and even better most of them are free.
Just over halfway into the Beechwoods is a hollowed out area in the natural chalk, which we used to aim for as kids - many kids called it 'the skull' due to it's rounded shape. We would run up and down the sides of it.
The Beechwoods is on the Gog Magog Hills in Cambridge. Take a look at the Wildlife Trust’s website page about the Beechwoods where you’ll find a map and directions along with information on the history and info about the nature and wildlife you can find there.
Little puppy Willow isn’t so little anymore, she’s now 6 months old! We are lucky to have the recreation ground just across the road and the strip of land everyone round here calls ‘the back field’ right by the house and they’re great for short walks. When we take Willow for longer walks we tend to go to Cherry Hinton Hall or the Gog Magog Downs which are both only about 10mins from the house and we can let Willow off of here lead there so she can have a good run around. She’s such a pretty little dog and has lovely colouring, I haven’t regretted getting her at all, dogs can be such a big responsibility to take on but Willow has just made us all happier and isn’t really any trouble at all. She hasn’t really chewed anything really badly while she’s been teething but she has just learnt to help herself to things out of the bathroom bin and how to stand up on her back legs and turn the toilet roll round and round so a line comes down which she can then run off with – just like the Andrex puppy! I can’t wait to take her up to Hunstanton to the sea and beach and she what she makes of all that J
We took Willow, our little Cocker Spaniel puppy to Dog Training at the weekend. Willow is just over 3 months old now so she joined the puppy class at Impington. It was really good fun, Charlotte and I watched as Russ took the role of trainer for Willow and she learnt various basic commands. There was such a variety of dogs to see there. Several classes took place at the same time in different patches of the meadow. Towards the end of her class Willow was taken onto the agility equipment and got to go over the little bridge and through the tunnel. Everyone seemed very friendly and nice at this Dog school and we'll be taking Willow there every week now to complete her puppy training. Russ got Willow some of the 'pilchard cake' which was one of the things they had to use for a treat to aid training. This seemed to work well but Willow did the most amazing stinks in the car on the way home - so if next weekend you spot us coming home down the A14 with all our windows undone and our heads sticking out, you'll know we've just been to the puppy class! Cambridge Canine Education Group
Poor granny has been back in hospital but she should be out today. She's amazing, she just keeps fighting and is made of strong stuff! Along with my sisters new little baby, granny now has yet another great great grandchild as my 2nd cousin Liam Toller has just had a baby. It's amazing how many peoples lives granny has affected and help make :) I am still juggling being a mum and working, summer holidays are always a challenge! I have been teaching Charlotte (my 8yr old) to knit, we can only do little stright lines but it is a bit of fun. Sophie (my 17yr old) moved back home last week which is great but poor thing, she can't unpack properly yet as the bedroom she is going to have, the plaster fell off of the walls! the council should be coming to fix it on the 31st and then she can get sorted. In the mean time the house has been a muddle what with the old fireplace and boiler being taken out and a new combi boiler being fitted in our bedroom, the phone and internet wire coming off the wall outside - which has just been fixed today and Iain (my 16yr old) due homw next week!!! Life can certainly be interesting! Little puppy Willow is doing great, she had her micro-chip put in yesterday and we are taking her to puppy training classes at the weekend :) In between all that I have finished off my War Ditches work, done several wedding makeup jobs and been busy with other work. More updates will follow later so keep an eye out!
I've been editing my final draft of the historical background for War Ditches and am very pleased with it, I will be even more pleased when I have actually handed it in and I can take a break from it to concentrate on some other exciting work and spending time with my lovely family and friends for the summer break :) We now have a new addition to the family! We got a dear little cocker spaniel puppy last week, she is brown and tan and we've called her Willow :) so as I sit here doing some work I have a dear little, soft, furry puppy nuzzled against my arm :D This week has been busy as always but I am pleased to finally get some closure on a nasty bit of business caused by someone who has harassed, tried to bully and tried to publicly humiliate me since last October. Everything has been dealt with so professionally by my brilliant colleagues who have also had to put up with trouble from this person and I would just like to thank all my friends and family who have supported me and helped me through it all. I am so glad it seems to be at an end now. The Police and the Hate Crime Group and my solicitor have been fantastic and I am confident in how to deal with anything like this again (which I hope I never have to!). I would encourage anyone who ever feels threatened, bullied or harassed in any way to always speak out. Bullies want to frighten and intimidate you, you must not stay silent and hope it goes away. Tell someone! Your true friends and family will support you and there is a fantastic network of professional organisations out there to help you too. I went out on Friday night for a little 'new start' celebration with my lovely crowd of sisters and friends. We had a lovely evening finishing off with everyone coming back here to see and cuddle puppy at about 12.30am. On Saturday it was Charlotte's 8th birthday, so we had another nice day. Sunday we spent decorating Charlotte's bedroom which now looks really nice. The next room to tackle is my office; I actually have a whole room inside the house (rather than the outhouse/store) to have just for my office! I can't wait, it will make such a difference to have all my work stuff in one room, where I can also go to work rather than sitting in the front room on the computer where I am really having to fight the temptation to watch Neighbours and Murder She Wrote in the afternoon ;) Exciting event to go to on Wednesday in London, more on that soon!
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