Towards the end of August we had a visit from Tom, Emily and  Rory.  On the first day, with Emily’s nose fixed firmly to the legal grindstone, we took the ‘boys’ off to a garden centre near Swindon.  ‘That’s a bit harsh‘, I hear you cry, ‘what did they do wrong to deserve that particular fate?‘  Ahh, but this wasn’t just any old common-or-garden garden centre.  This was a garden centre with a petting farm, a butterfly room and a reptile house!  All you had to do was cough up a few bob and fight your way through an enormous warehouse full of tat to find the way in.  As we’d somehow managed to pick a lovely day, and most of the animals appeared to be quite sociable (once they’d sussed that we had food) it was an altogether pleasant experience.

The following day, with Emily’s nose temporarily removed from the grindstone, we headed off to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR for short).  Despite having lived here for 17 years this was an experience that we’d carelessly missed – more fool us, because it was an excellent day out.  What boy between the ages of nearly three and 72 doesn’t just love steam trains?  I think that even the girls may have enjoyed themselves.