A giggle of spaniels and fond farewells - Oct 2025

 

This gorgeous giggle of spaniels

We were delighted to accept a short sit just before we were to leave the UK.  Here, we were to be entertained by a lovely family of spaniels - mother Rosa, her daughter Dora and ring-in Cracker (who suits her name to a tee!).

The girls were such good company, taking us for two, sometimes three, walks around the property each day where we spotted a number of deer and some hares.  The girls chase neither but are well trained in the art of flushing the odd pheasant that we came upon.

In the evenings we were all happy to settle down in the snug for some cuddle time.

Dora and Cracker

Rosa

The girls also had their beds under the bench in the kitchen that they liked to hang out in while we were cooking or baking.

Treat time!

There was always plenty of time for more snuggles ......

We absolutely loved hanging out with these three such affable and energetic companions.

We got back to Bury St Edmunds just in time to say a thank you and farewell (for now) to James's Mum and Dad and catch the train to London for the weekend with Clare's niece and family.  A well timed trip into the city centre for visit the museum had join in with the Pro Palestine march.

Even the dogs came out in support

Then a twirl around The British Museum.  As we will be in Athens sometime before Christmas it seemed apt to view the Parthenon frieze, or Elgin Marbles , that were stolen by Lord Elgin back in the day when it seemed possible to do such a monumentally (parden the pun) absurd thing.  We will take a trip to see where they are supposed to be in-situe and wonder again at the misdeeds done by the landed gentry throughout history.

Farewell England. Next stop Georgia!!

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside - Sep 2025

 

Great Yarmouth

We popped back to Bury St Edmunds and took James's parents to the seaside.  We had coffee at Great Yarmouth and fish and chips at Lowestoft.  James grew up in Lowestoft until the age of seven.  It's always nice to take a trip back there.

We also took the opportunity to catch up with a couple of James rugby teammates, and their wives,  from back in the day.  One still lives in Bury and the other in Hong Kong.

These likely lads shared an 18th birthday party.
40 years ago!!!

We managed a short wee sit in the lovely village of Haverhill, just outside of BSE.  Elsie is the sweetest eva 13 yo choccy lab.  She is finding it difficult to get around these days.  We were just as happy to sit in and chill with her.  What a gorgeous old lady.

We were delighted to come across these beauties in the fields.  Fried up with bacon and eggs. Mwah!

Giant puffballs

We also managed to harvest some more venison for family and friends.  This time we were able to enjoy the offal with James's Mum.

Next we took a train down to Aldeburgh, to a housesit on the coast.  We were delighted to be in the very good company of a very well behaved 8mth Tibetan Terrier, Eddie.

It didn't take this one long to get his slippers under our bed :-)

We loved our daily trots around the estuary with him.  He was such a good boy with all the people and other dogs we met along the way.  

Disused moorings

We spent a day at the beach with James's niece and family too.

We found the old boat with our names
on it that we first saw here 10 years ago.
It hasn't moved since then.

Best fish and chips dinner with the fam

We also enjoyed our evening staying in and watching some telly.

This was day one.  What a cuddle bug!

We were sad to leave this lovely boy.  No doubt, if we meet him again, he will have grown into his skin.

Country bumkins - Aug 2025

 

Before heading off to our next sit, we had a lovely lunch out with James's family at the pub in Huntingdon, where J's uncle lives.

Our next sit was in the weeny village of Burrough Green.  We had no domestic pets here, only farmyard animals.  What a lovely place to be!

We had the very good company of Cruella, the pig.

Seven ducks that didn't lay any eggs but were, nontheless, very personable.  Once they got used to us, they would sing out every morning and evening for their kibble.  As it had been so dry for so long, it was also important to provide them with lots of fresh water as their pond had completely dried up!

Yet, most surpising of all, was the tortoise, Mercury, in the back yard.  He is 23 years old!  We fed him fresh beans from the garden and fresh dandilion leaves from the hedgerow.  And he absolutely loved company!  So we would sit in his enclosure for a while each day and be entertained by him. What a (hidden) treasure!

James also had the opportunity to go hunting with his nephew-in-law on the family farm.  It is so much different to hunting in New Zealand.  This style of hunting is high seat hunting, where you sit up in a seat and wait for the deer to come to you.  As most of you will know, if you follow our lives/story, we much prefer to eat our protein this way .... by gathering it ourselves from the wild.  This did not disappoint.  James cam home with a Muntjac deer which we have all enjoyed.

Too far away.  But what a mob!

The real work begins

We put a lot of work into the harvesting and breaking down of our wild game in order to get the best out of the animal out of respect for a life given/taken.  We even eat the neck meat, which, if you haven't tried it, is slow cooked and made into a pie or similar.  If is a bit like pulled pork in texture.  Melt in the mouth!  We also eat the heart, liver and kidneys.  Nose to tail harvesting.

We have seen so many deer in the countryside and even in the town this trip.  Not sure what is going on.  We have seen Muntjac, Red, Fallow and a Chinese Water Deer.  Pretty special indeed.