A Wonderful Week with Lockdown Lifting

One British expression I have learned is “does what it says on the tin” – a 90’s ad slogan meaning an accurate description and the last seven days have been exactly what the title of this post is – a wonderful week with Lockdown lifting.  For those who are in Europe, happy long weekend! This four day weekend – the first of the year – was exactly what I needed to rest and recharge.  It was especially helpful that it kicked off with an update to the UK lockdown laws – which I explained in this post.  On March 29th both the stay at home order ended and the update that you can now meet in groups of six outside or two households can meet.

We took full advantage of this and went on three mini-adventures this past week – one to the South Coast / Dover, one to the Royal Gardens in Horsely, and one up to Kirby Hall.  I could go on and on about each of these but instead just wanted to share a few snapshots of these trips and a few of our long London walks that have made this a wonderful week:

The Historic Dover Castle  – Despite my love of castles I had not been to this medieval one and even though only the grounds were open we had a lovely time visiting on a warm but incredibly windy day.

The White Cliffs –  I dedicated a post to the White Cliffs of Dover when I visited two years ago on one of my first dates with Mark and it was as gorgeous as I remembered with shear 350 foot drops down to the sea.

Whitworths Dried Fruit Basket Snacks – The team at Whitworths sent me a delicious assortment of  dried fruit which certainly was a high point in my work week and I must admit both the 90 calorie snack packs and the apricots are already nearly gone – so tasty!

Tower Bridge at Dusk – Almost three years of living here and this never get  old, especially at twilight when it light sup.  This is my faovrite view of it from the South Bank which I took on walk on Thursday evening.

RHS Garden Wisley – The Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Wisley in the English county of Surrey, just South of London. I love that the recent warm weather has meant the Spring trees have bloomed a bit early – the gardens were full of them!

Cuddling a Little Bear – This adorable little girl will officially become my niece when March and I get married. Even though she lives only 30 miles away I have only met her five times since she was born last may due to COVID.  That meant all of the baby cuddles on Saturday and those are simply the best.

Shoreditch Rainbow Mural  –  On Saturday we took another London walk, this time to Shoreditch to visit La Fauxmagerie, a vegan cheese shop, to purchase a birthday present and came across some gorgeous murals on the way.

Easter at an Elizabethan Country House – For Easter Sunday we drove up to Kirby Hall in the Midlands for a day out and to have an Easter picnic with my future in-laws and you can see how pretty it is. And to cap it off, of course I had to get a true fashion blogger shot in the gardens.

Wouldn’t you agree, a wonderful week?