We have been trying to get out to the coast all summer but, since this year seems to have been the wettest summer I can remember I have been more likely to reach for my wellies than my flip flops.
We braved the weather during my week of work to visit Whitworth Hall, a picturesque hotel with deer park and gardens near where I grew up. We were married there in the little church a stone's throw from the hotel, which is the same church my parents were married in back in 1970. We also had our reception in the hotel.
It pissed it down from the minute we got out of the car until the minute we left. We had to go to my parents house up the road, strip off and tumbledry our clothes while she made us a sandwich and a cuppa. And the highlight of my daughter's day? Hand feeding the deer? The fabulous countryside? The swans swimming regally on the man-made lake? Not likely.
Her favourite bit was the icecream she had in the car on the way home.
Our trip to the coast this week was a greater success. It didn't rain, in fact it was hot enough to raise a little sunburn on the back's of our necks. It was also windy enough to blow our sandcastle back in our faces but you can't have everything. Josie loved every minute, running into the sea before I could get my shoes off, laughing as daddy chased a wasp from our picnic spot (or was it the wasp chasing daddy?) and her favourite bit?
Yep, you guessed it, the icecream on the promendade before we came home.
Isn't it great being two . . .
