Had an absolutely cracking night at the Reytons homecoming gig at Clifton park, Rotherham Last night. Having played their biggest gig so far last year at Sheffield Arena last year , this year they wanted to go one better and play a gig in their home town in the biggest venue available, Clifton Park. They… Continue reading

It was K’s birthday this weekend so we had a day out at the Cambridge University Botanical garden. Its such an amazing place to visit, its been open since 1846 and there’s over 8000 plant species from all over the world the glasshouses just amazing. I have to say its much better than Kew! oh… Continue reading

Emmas school held their prom at East Mersea Hall last night. The girls looked amazing, its been so cool to watch these girls grow up to be the young women they have become. The weather was perfect and the girls had a great time. I can’t believe how quickly senior school has sailed past. Continue reading

Had a great day out at the Earls Colne Open Gardens today. Thankfully the weather was perfect. Chris and Derek came over and Dad & Judy surprised us by turning up as well. We had some burgers at Tracies and some amazing Carrot cake in this garden in Park Lane. A right good day! Continue reading

Alan and I have have just spent four days cycling the Pictish Trail from Inverness to Edinburgh. It was such a good trip. We took the sleeper train up on the Friday evening. The train was delayed leaving Euston which meant that we got into Inverness about 90 minutes late which gave us a bit… Continue reading

Caz, Chris and K arranged a trip to the Dads Army museum up in Thetford. They had a fantastic day touring around shoot locations on a vintage coach like something out of “Hi-di-hi” then back to the museum for tea and scones. On Sunday we all met up at the Kings Head in Pebmarsh for… Continue reading

Some time ago I read about the Locks Inn in Geldeston Norfolk. Its located in the middle of the marshes, with no access apart from by river or by an unmade road. Its recently become a community pub and it just sounds really cool. So this weekend, Ben and I cycled the 70 Miles up… Continue reading

This weekend we had a random day out on London. No real plan just a bit of an amble about. First of all we went to Leake Street under Waterloo Station to see the current graffiti. Leake street Arches became what they are today after Banksy, back in 2008 invited artists to the arches stating… Continue reading

K picked me up from work at Saturday lunchtime and we headed straight off on the 6 hour drive to Kirkby Lonsdale. We arrived at about 7pm to the rain slicked streets of Kirby Lonsdale. It’s a really delightful town to see at Christmas as most of the houses and shops in the centre of… Continue reading

We had a really good night at the Classic Horror Night at Colchester Arts centre last night. The event has been running for five years and is held roughly once a month and they show a really old horror film and as this was the last showing of the year they also had a quiz… Continue reading

To celebrate her birthday we took Emma and Luca to The Kings Head at Pebmarsh for tea and then we came home for a Malteser cake. As you can see from Luca’s face it was pretty awesome! For her birthday she got some DM’s. Very cool! Continue reading

Emma was having a day out at Spitalfields Market in London with her friends so we decided to get the train in with them and do a walk from the fantastic Londons Hidden Walks book by Stephen Millar. We chose a walk in Clerkenwell and we had a really nice day out. As we walked… Continue reading

It’s my Birthday tomorrow and as a treat K arranged a day out in London with a trip to Battersea Power Station. I’ve been wanting to go and see the redeveloped site since it opened last year. A bit of info about the power station..The power station ceased to generate electricity in 1983 and as… Continue reading

The girls had a very nice day at the beach. The weather was lovely and Caz even had a dip! Continue reading

Emma and I went up to Sheffield this weekend to see the Reytons play their homecoming gig to a sold out crowd of 13,500 at the Sheffield Arena. It was their biggest gig so far and what an amazing night it was. This was the biggest gig the band had done to their own fans… Continue reading

While Emma was away in America, K and I had a trip up to Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries & Galloway for a couple of weeks. It was a beautiful area, so quiet in comparison to Essex! We stayed in a little cottage in Gatehoues called the But & Ben a fantastic little place which was perfect… Continue reading

Alan and I have just returned from a gravel riding trip up into the Cairngorms. We haven’t done a trip together for ages so it was great to have nearly a week to explore the area and tick off some of Ed Shootes rides We met up in London and got the sleeper train up… Continue reading

For K’s birthday this year we went to the Wetlands Centre in Barnes. the weather was lovely and we had a nice time exploring this little oasis in London. After the centre we went to the Jolly Gardeners Pub in Putney, a great pub in a really nice neighbourhood. Continue reading

Emma and I went to see the Artic Monkeys at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. This is a band I have wanted to see for years and they definitely didn’t disappoint. When I bought the tickets all the pitch tickets had sold out so I went a bit crazy and bought VIP tickets which cost… Continue reading

Had a great New Years Eve at Lucy and Daves last night. Lucy cooked an amazing chinese and K supplied the afters, an ice cream bomb! At the midnight hour we went out to the top of the High Street in Halstead to hear a local bagpiper play in the new year. There was about… Continue reading

Happy Birthday Love! xx Continue reading

Its Emma’s Birthday next Wednesday, so as a treat we had a day out with Maddie at Camden Market. We got the train in via Stratford and got off at Canden Road and after a short walk along the canal we were there. We had a right good day exploring the area and having a… Continue reading

We have just returned from a fantastic week in The Borders. We stayed in the Old larder which is part of the Glen House an Estate just outside Innerleithen. We spent the week walking, exploring the estate, Peebles, Melrose and Edinburgh which included a walk up Arthurs Seat. I had a day on my bike… Continue reading

Emma is raising money for her America Trip next year so the girls decided to walk The 81 mile Essex Way long distance walk which goes from Epping to Harwich. They were due to start the walk on Tuesday 19th July but due to the near 40° heat they had to start at Chipping Ongar… Continue reading

Had an absolutely amazing week last week cycling some Gravel Rides from Ed Shoote’s fabulous book “Gravel Rides In Scotland” I had never visited this area before. When we’ve gone to Scotland in the past we’ve always driven through the Borders to head up to the west coast. But, having read Ed’s Book I decided… Continue reading

Emma has been selected to go on a trip with the scouts to the USA for 3 weeks at the end of July ’23. This will be an amazing adventure for her. They will fly to New York spending a week at a scout camp just outside the city allowing them to visit the city.… Continue reading