JULY AND AUGUST IN ENGLAND

We’ve just passed the one year mark of living in England. The summer is winding to a close with surprising warm summer days book-ended by chilly fall mornings, and the sounds of the birds in the morning is changing from enthusiastic to communicative.

As we settle into our second fall here in Great Britain, I am finally finding time to tell you about our summer. I was going to say that it was pretty quiet, which in a way it was, but as I started looking through all of our summer photos I realized we have had quiet an adventurous summer. We spent all of July and August in England – Kyle has been hard at work with long hours and lots of headaches, so I’ve been spending every minute with the kids. Watching Roux grow (far too fast), watching Lulu kick off the last bits of toddler-hood and become a full fledged kid, and watching Gigi learn to read, write in cursive, and ride laps around us on her bike. It’s been a couple months full of little things, which are the best things, really. But we’ve managed to spend nearly every weekend exploring this part of the country and it makes all those long hours and headaches worth it.

By far our favorite things to do here involve our new membership to the National Trust. We joined after being prompted by a few people to do so and for our whole family it cost just £114 for a whole year. It gets us into all kind of amazing gardens, homes, free parking… the benefits are endless and there are so many incredible places we can’t wait to explore. Even if you find yourself just traveling in England for a few weeks with a rental car, it would be worth joining! Next on my list is to join the English Heritage which covers more places! Anyway, as I was saying, our favorite thing to do is to pack up a little picnic and set off to explore some place close by – the pictures really give an abbreviated version of these places as I could talk and write about them forever.

We love skipping rocks on the lake and walking the paths in Tisbury. On this particular trip Kyle was about halfway through reading the first Harry Potter book to Gigi so we collected sticks and set off through the woods casting spells and getting stung by nettles…

PINPINPINPINPINPINMy friend, Jo, brought her wonderfully silly boys over for a couple of summery picnics at the local church where we love to go for quick, easy, but still marvelously charming outings…

PINWe have passed quite a few lazy hours and days at the local u-pick gather vegetables, playing in the tire swing with paper towel telescopes, and picking/eating our weight in berries…

PINPINPINWe spend just about every weekend exploring the incredible curated gardens of England like this one at West Green House. And, even after getting caught in a really stupendous downpour on this trip, we still never remember to pack our raincoats…

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The kids and I visited Basildon Park and House which was used to “play” Netherfield Park in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. The grounds were huge, with lots of places for the kids to explore, and the house was incredible…

PINPINPINWe made a trek out to Stourhead house and gardens and were seriously in awe. We didn’t allow ourselves nearly enough time to fully explore this spectacular place. Part of the grounds and the pantheon were also used in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. We brought a picnic and ate it in the field behind the house, walked part of the trails, and headed back for a quick tour of the house before we had to leave. We will be back very soon…PINPINPINPIN