My birthday in Kew Gardens

It has been many years since I've been in the UK on my birthday.  I stayed with Rachel the day before and then met up with Joal for a surprise day out.  My only instructions were to meet him at Earl's Court station.  We got on the tube and ended up at Kew Gardens.  What a lovely surprise and what an amazingly sunny and warm day we had for it!

Kew Gardens is full of lots of lovely planned gardens such as the Japanese Garden.  It's possible to wander round the whole day and still not see it all.

Some of the greenhouses and other buildings were not yet open - they were undergoing renovation.  We got some good views of them from the top of the Treetop Walkway.

 

We had lunch beside this lake.  Rachel had made me a lemon meringue for my birthday cake!

The day included a yummy cream tea in the Orangery!

Suffolk in the spring

I was in the UK in early March last year, and it was a bit early for the bulbs to be out.  This year I was hoping to see a lot more, though when I arrived in London it was the day the "Beast from the East" hit, followed later by the "Mini-Beast".  In fact there were very few days when I could get out and walk around Nowton Park, but on the days that I could I certainly enjoyed the spring weather and flowers.

Suffolk in the snow

I took the whole of March off to spend time in the UK.  As I've decided to move there next school year to spend more time with Mum, I had a lot to sort out.  On the day I arrived at Heathrow, the "Beast from the East" hit the UK - with deep snow.  Even when we drove up to Mum's several days later, there was still enough snow to build a large snowman outside her new place.

One evening we went out to our favourite local pub, the Rushbrooke Arms, where we sampled different varieties of the local gin.

Christmas in the UK

Christmas time is family time!  I flew to the UK and had some days in London with Joal and Rachel, and then went up to Nowton for Christmas and New Year.  How lovely it was to have all the family together again!

Just like last year, Christmas Dinner was cooked by Joal!

Autumn in the UK

This year I'm working part time, so I was able to spend time in October and November in the UK with my mother.  In the 6 years that she has been at her current place, I've never been there in the autumn before - and what a super autumn it was!  For some of the time there the temperatures were 18 degrees!

The time there started with a few days in London.  Rachel had celebrated her birthday and we all went out to an escape room.  Lex and I also walked on the North Downs at Box Hill.  We also went to Windsor Castle one day.

I stayed at Mum's for several weeks and generally it was lovely weather there - I took advantage of this by walking 5k almost eery day.  Most days I didn't even need to put a coat on!  Just look at the Autumn colours!

There were also good family times as well - meeting up with Joal and Rachel in London, going to Victoria Park with Lex and meeting Sylvia, Sally and Jacqui at LPQ for a very long lunch.  

On my final weekend in London Rachel and I walked to a Buddhist temple in Wimbledon - who knew such a place existed?  It was a long walk there but certainly worth it.  Now I'm looking forward to being back in England again for Christmas and New Year.