Tag Archives: Richard

Devon Delights

Knowing how warm and sunny England can be in late March we had absolutely no hesitation in accepting Richard and Collette’s invitation to join them and Gretel for a few days in delightful Devon over the Easter break.  No doubt we had visions of sitting out under the van’s awning playing with Gretel whilst enjoying a quiet drink and listening to the gentle sound of the sea lapping against the sun drenched beach.  Right!   Unfortunately reality set in as we drove across Exmoor on our way to Croyde with snow beating against the windscreen and the temperature hovering around freezing; although things improved a little when we reached the coast and our rather soggy campsite I’m sure it can’t have stopped raining for more than a few hours over the entire long weekend.

Richard, collette and Gretel on the beach
Ah, the delights of the British beach holiday!
Gretel with crayons
That’s more like it. In the café with some crayons.

Had it not been for having to lend our electric heater to  the ‘young ones’ to warm up their ‘glamping pod’, and the van’s central heating system chose that moment to throw a hissy fit,  we would probably have been quite smug snug as the wind whistled and the rain beat down on our roof!  Fortunately we’re British and won’t be defeated by a little ‘inclement’ weather – and in fact we remained (mostly) dry and thoroughly enjoyed the entire long weekend.  Gretel was her usual amenable self and ‘Granny Denise’ revelled in the opportunity to do a little babysitting.

Denise, Gretel and Finlay in the van
Have no fear Finlay – Granny’s on duty!

 

Eine Bayerische Hochzeit

It may have taken Richard a little while to get around to popping the question to Collette, but it seemed to take no time at all for the big day to come around.  With Jennie and Nathan’s Yorkshire event still fresh in our minds we were really looking forward to celebrating this second family wedding in the course of only nine months.  The fact that this time we’d be doing so in the Bavarian Alps made the prospect even more exciting.

The Duftbrau Gasthaus was a wonderful setting for a wedding – mountains, forests, wild flowers, donkeys and excellent beer, what more could anyone want?  The pictures tell the story ……….

A Yorkshire Wedding

PENT8228aWell, the great day came at last and Nathan and Jennie have now tied the knot!  A September wedding in Yorkshire was always going to be of a bit of a gamble with the weather – and celebrating the event in a tent (sorry, a Papakata tepee) in a field on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors was definitely pushing their luck – but fortune favours the brave and I’m glad to say that we were blessed with sunny skies and the only water to be seen was bottled and on the tables.PENT8315a

Beautiful bride, handsome groom, glamorous bridesmaids, lovely setting, great weather and surrounded throughout the weekend by family and friends – what more could we have asked for?  Well, we could have asked for a Hip-Hop DJ session provided by Richard and Tom – but we got that anyway!  All part of our musical education I suppose.

One drink and she just can't stop bouncing!
One drink and she just can’t stop bouncing!

Nuremberg with Richard and Colette

Slightly belated post to record our recent visit out to Nuremberg to spend a long weekend with Richard and Colette.  We like Germany (hardly surprising really considering the number of years we lived there and the fact that all of the children were born there) and we especially like Nuremberg, which seems to have everything going for it – great architecture, beer and bratwurst!

Once again we elected to fly from Stansted which, although not the most accessible airport from Gloucestershire, has the twin advantages of taking us direct to Nuremberg and offering the cheapest flights.

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On the Saturday Richard kindly drove us the 60+ miles to Rothenberg ob der Tauber, a well-preserved medieval walled town  which Denise (heavily pregnant) and I last visited in 1982 with my parents.  Unsurprisingly it hadn’t changed much; perhaps there was rather more of the ‘Disney’ feel about the place this time, but nevertheless we enjoyed a wander around the town soaking  up a bit of spring sunshine whilst Richard lived out one of his ‘Teddy’ fantasies – try dribbling all over that one mate!PENT7245-small

The next day we trooped off in the opposite direction towards the Czech border just north east of Bayreuth.  Lovely walk, more sunshine, good food and a cooling radler in a great little gaststätte way up in the forest.

On Monday Denise and I  explored the Nuremberg alt stadt whilst Colette and Richard got on with earning a living; this is what retirement is really all about!

Thanks both for making us so welcome.  As Arnie says …… we’ll be back!