Week #71 Chester Zoo and Kitchen Creativeness

It has been so nice being at home in the Yorkshire Dales over the past week. There are still a couple of small touch up paint jobs to do and I need to finish the kitchen blind, but it was lovely coming back and just being able to enjoy the cottage. It is so peaceful in the hamlet , even though the good weather on Wednesday prompted the farmer to silage the fields at the bottom of the drive. It was quite therapeutic just sitting and watching the tractors from our window. With the forecast of rain for the rest of the week, the farmer kept going until he had collected ALL the silage finishing well after midnight!

Family day out at Chester Zoo

We had the most fabulous day on Monday. Georgia had bought us tickets to Chester Zoo for mothers and Fathers day, so we all tootled off in the rain. The forecast for the day was pretty horrendous but we could not swap the tickets so we just went with it, luckily the weather gods were on our side and we only had a few down pours and we spent the whole day there.

Richard was in his element taking the Nikon camera and surpassed himself with the superb photo’s that he captured. The orangutans were a definite favourite of the day, we caught them at feeding time which was quite hilarious watching the different tactics.

Even in the rain we managed to catch sight of most of the animals, even the giraffes came out at tea time. We must have spent a good half hour watching the antics of the incredibly cute baby flamingos.

We had such a good day that I am considering upgrading our tickets to the yearly pass now that we are retirees and have all the time in the world to visit, with free parking it would be a cheap day out for us.

Variety is the spice of life!

Every so often we decide that we are really bored with the foods that we eat. We are creatures of habit and tend to stick to a few favourite recipes and have the same meals most weeks. This week I decided to try a new tactic looking up recipes for different cuts of meat on the internet before doing our weekly shop. So we have had a fun week enjoying cooking in our new kitchen and so far the meals have been lovely and healthy!

Tonight’s meal is quite a stretch, but sounded interesting, sausages baked on a bed of swede and apple wedges with some of the herbs out of our garden and spring greens. I hope we like it!

Tidying up the garden

We spent Wednesday and Thursday while it was dry tidying up the front and back gardens. WOW, there was A LOT of weeds, we took 12 bags to the tip just from the front garden! But it looks so much better and we can now plant a few bits of summer bedding (I know it’s late!) to brighten up the sparse beds. All we need is for the sun to make a come back, it has certainly been hiding since we returned from France.

Settle Flowerpot festival

It was so much fun going into Settle this week. Dozens of different flowerpot creations have appeared all around the town, so we set off on a mission to find our favourite. The festival runs all through July and August and every time we have popped into town this week more creatures have appeared. I think next year I will take part in one of the workshops that they have at the Watershed Mill, where you can create your own designs and meet people.

My firm favourite is the stag, which is even more impressive in real life!

Catching up with old friends

We spent Saturday night back in Cheshire catching up with old friends. Richard attended an old boys and teachers reunion at the school he taught at in Sandbach for many years. He was surprised at how many of the staff of his era had also retired early (maybe not quite as young as us) and has made loads of contacts as seemingly most staff had also bought campervans, so hopefully we will have a few trips away in the coming months meeting up in the vans.

We realised how different our lives are now when we had to go to the lock up to get a shirt, tie and smart shoes for Richard to wear!

Visitors at the cottage

We had a nice surprise on Friday as Georgia and her partner Molly came up to stay with us. They were supposed to be going camping but the weather was dire so we invited them to stay in the cottage while we were away. We keep reminding them that the cottage is also their home and they need to just keep coming up whether we are there or not and treat it as a holiday home. It was a bonus that they came up a day and we had a fab evening cooking one of our new recipes, Honey and mustard chicken thighs roasted on a bed of new potatoes, peas and spinach. It was delicious and we loved sitting at the dining table entertaining.

Out on the bikes – The Dales are not the same as cycling on the Il de Re!

During a break in the wind and the rain we have managed to get out on the bikes. I only managed about 8 miles as the hills are going to take some getting used to! It was absolutely stunning cycling on the back roads around Settle and Giggleswick and I am really looking forward to the summer, getting out as much as we can. Richard braved a windy ride on Friday between downpours, I’ll let him explore get to know some of the routes first, particularly the café stops. Next week, my aim is to cycle out to Feizor one day where there is a fabulous café called Elaine’s Tearoom which does the most delicious home made cakes.

Next week will mark a year since we both retired, what a year it has been! Looking back, I can’t believe how much we have packed in and how much our lives have changed. We have no regrets about retiring so early and are looking forward to a much less stressful year living in the fully renovated cottage and traveling as much as we can.

Catch you next Sunday

Jackie and Richard