We jumped on the tube to Park Lane to go home with Oli who parks under Hyde Park in the most enormous car park, full of BMW's, Merc's and Mini's… Oli has a Poo Brown mini for his probation drive car, we have named the Deuce Mobile! We arrived at the flat with time to change our shoes (Oli refuses to be seen with me in public when I'm wearing my doc martins :)) we went to an amazing restaurant with a bunch of Oli and Jess' friends and thanks to them, they are now ours as well. The waitress accidentally spilled 3 pints of beer all over Kevin so we all got our meals upgraded, free entrees & desserts and two bottles of champagne! It only ended up costing $15 pound each for about a $50 pound dinner. Kev took it like a champ and we all got boozy and had an awesome night out with new friends. Kel (Kev's girlfriend) is actually from Brisbane, we have a few friends in common which is awesome, I'm looking forward to seeing them more when we get back to London, I think they'll be awesome friends!
The next day we had a chilled out day in Richmond, not wanting to venture into the city. Lunchtime beers and ice cream in the park followed by a hilarious dinner with Oliver was just what we needed.
On Saturday Morning, Oli dropped us at Victoria Station to meet Lorraine and Nick to start our adventure into the English Country side to see Alan and Lyn for two nights in Tonnbridge and then onto Julie and Dermot in Winchester.
After upgrading to an Audi A4 Sport, Alex quickly jumped in the drivers seat and became the resident driver for our trip. It was so lovely catching up with Lorraine and Nick, who had just finished a 2 week cruise around the Mediterranean.
We arrived to Alan and Lyn's after driving for about 2 hours, English Champagne was poured within minutes of arriving and the drinks didn't stop until late into the night. Italian wine was produced as well as gin and tonic, scotch and even toffee vodka. I had to have a afternoon nap after a delicious meal of cold meats and cheese for lunch. Honestly the cheese here is out of this world, if I get hugely fat from just eating cheese I won't even feel bad… it's just so amazing! Nothing compares to it in Australia. After another feast of the most amazing food for dinner, we were off to bed. Nick only made it to finish the main course, when he woke up later, he though he was still on the ship. We all had a good laugh at poor Nick's expense :)
Alan and Lyn's house is beautiful, the gardens are stunning and they, along with their neighbours, bought the meadow behind the houses which has an apple orchard. Everything is so green and beautiful at their house, we loved sitting in the garden enjoying the fresh air. They have an Irish Setter called Louis and a beautiful cat called Sachmo!
The next day, we explored the local gardens and had a pot of tea. We then drove over to Bodiam Castle in East Sussex to have a picnic lunch and explore the grounds. It was stunning, the whole inside of the castle was worn away, leaving it open to the lovely sunshine. The buildings and castles here just blow our minds, we can't get over the grandeur of everything and just how old it is. It doesn't feel like real life, it takes our breath away. After another spectacular dinner and more drinks (i've never drank so much in 48 hours), we said good night to all the adults like good little children :)
In the morning, we left Lyn and Alan's to get to Julie and Dermot's for a BBQ lunch with Tony and Mary and their two kids, Alex and Amy. Arriving at Julie and Dermot's was like coming home to Grandma and Papa, it made me a little bit sad, but happy to be able to see so much of my grandparents in them. They are the most beautiful and loving people, their home was stunning. Mary and Tony remembered Alex from when they lived in Australia, they got married on his 6th Birthday at Mt Tamborine, so it sort of blew their mind to see him 18 years later. The BBQ lunch didn't really turn out cause was raining and only 10 degrees so we had a lovely loud lunch inside with everyone. We had a relaxing afternoon and an easy dinner, we enjoyed talking to Julie and Dermot and hearing about all their travels. They were interested to hear where we were going and what we were up too.
The next day we all got up and had some breakfast and continued chatting. I was telling Julie about our idea of going to Courchevel to do a ski season, she mentioned that her and Dermot had spent a few weeks there with their daughter Charlotte and husband Alex with their kids Max, Ivo and Olivia. She bought the photo album down to show us pictures. Julie said "Oh this is the kids with their amazing instructor Sally" as i looked down i realised that it was my God Sister Sal, Alex and I couldn't believe it. Of all the places, we knew someone they knew. It felt amazing, I rang Sal straight away and she remembered the kids. It was so nice to have that moment with Julie and Dermot.
We went to lunch at a Michelin star pub which was amazing… the food in England has been great. Lorraine and Nick completely spoiled us, i don't think we spent a cent the entire we were with them. We can't thank them enough, it has probably enabled us to travel for an extra week.
And with that, we drove back to the lovely flat in Twickenham to Mr. Sewell (with Jess being in Majorca for 5 days). It was sad saying goodbye to Lorraine and Nick, but i'm sure Nick will use us as an excuse to come to England very soon :)
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