Wrest Park

You may have read about the restoration of Wrest Park by English Heritage, its been on the news rather a lot. Some of the reports have been hyperbole, I read one which implied it had just opened for the first time - odd as I was there 3 years ago!

What has happened? Well the walled garden has been "restored", which means chidren play centre, tea room space etc. I wouldn't have said it had been restored per se. The research facility has gone and a few rooms of the house are open. I believe that the whole restoration is complete in 2019.

Anyway the grand re-opening was August 1st and I intended to go this weekend. Trish sent me an email about it so I sugested she may want to join me. We arived early (good idea!) and we were near the front of the queue.

Whilst others rushed to the ticket office we went to the tea room. We both commented that the serving area was badly laid out. They couldn't put a pot of tea on your tray they had to hand it to you. The cakes looked lovely but it was too early for cake. YEAH RIGHT!! We had a piece of Coffee & Walnut and Chocolate and shared them. LOVELY.

The gardens are superb they really are. I'm not going to waffle on I'll let you look at rather a lot of photos.

So we headed to lunch, and there in lies a tale. The tables weren't full but there was a huge queue!! So we decided to head off and get lunch elsewhere. There was a small drinks kiosk but there was no sign and the lady serving gave the impression it was closed. Someone walking in front of me commented that they wouldn't take much on that one!

Do visit the gardens they are stunning!

We went to Rye Meads so Trish could see the Wood Sandpiper (and 10 Green Sands) and a Black-Necked Grebe.

There'll be an alternate look at Wrest Park coming....

Weddings

As a confirmed bachelor I'm always a bit gobsmacked when I read about modern weddings.

I was reading an article on the BBC website about couples electing to avoid the traditional Saturday wedding.

One couple wanted to get married at Leez Priory, a Tudor manor house in Essex but there was a long queue. By getting married on a Monday they could jump the queue and save....

wait for it....

£7,000

I was left thinking HOW MUCH DOES THIS WEDDING COST!!

The couple "leapt at the chance. It meant that they wouldn't have to ask guests to pay for anything."

I'm sorry but you invite someone to a wedding and expect them to pay? I could imagine one of cousins inviting me and asking for £50 for my food and drink.. I'd conveniently be on holiday. Which of course in my case is highly believeable :D

I did like this comment from the couple

But what about making their friends take the day off?

"We thought that if people cared enough about us they'd take the day off. And if they didn't then we probably didn't want them there. In the end only one person couldn't come - and that was because they were on holiday."

I guess this is all part of the trend as people spend an absolute fortune on a wedding (Brides magazine say the average cost of a wedding is £24,669). I have to say this trend for relatively less well off people spending five figures on a wedding so that the bride can have "the happiest day of her life" puzzles me.

You go through University rack up £40k of debts between you add another £25k for the wedding and then think about a mortgage.

Perhaps that's why the divorce rate has gone up!! You start in luxury and a fortnight later you have no money!

I haven't been to a wedding in years last time I was best man. The couple did it on a budget and are still happily married.

On this day in History

You can't go anywhere this days without someone telling you how wonderful the armed forces are. What they mean are "our boys" out in Afhganistan and Iraq.

You will also be told of every anniversary of World War II. Turn on to the Freeview channel Yesterday and you be forgiven tfor thinking that the only history we have is WWII and the ...... Nazi's.

So it is worth pointing out the single most bloody conflict in history started 97 years ago today when Britain declared war on Germany after the later invaded Belgium.

With all respect to those in Iraq and Afhanistan I would suggest that being sent to the trenches was a significantly worse experience than being sent to Helmand province (although frankly I wouldn't want to have to do either!).

We all of us sit here on this interweb thingy enjoying standards of living our grandparents could only dream of. We worry about paying Mortgages and University debts and can we afford that trip to the costa, my grandparents worried about feeding the kids.

Before the sacrifice of the 1914-18 generation there were other conflicts where others thought so we could sit here now. I would argue that we have forgotten Waterloo, Trafalgar etc and think only today matters.

And yet we should remember a generation who endured hell.

Anthem for Doomed Youth - Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
- Only the monstruous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.