With Oliver away on a skiing trip in France, it was the perfect weekend for Roger and Jane to spend the weekend with us. In fact, it was the first time they’d been away – just the two of them – for around 11 years!
First port of call was Stamford. It was a trouble-free journey getting there, but on arrival, the familiar game of ‘hunt-the-parking-space’ began as we did the normal Saturday thing in Stamford, and circled the pay-and-display near the river. I guess we were lucky, and after only about 10 minutes, we were parked!
Our first shop was the Adnam’s shop and two ale glasses and a zester later, we’d made our mark on the local economy, before letting the girls run amok in the various clothes shops. Bizarrely, every other shop seemed to be suffering from a power-cut, so that speeded-up the process! Then, it was off to The Crown for a light lunch. As usual, they were packed, but they found us a table for four upstairs. Lunch was fab – my slow roast rib of beef was literally melt-in-the-mouth.
Suitably stuffed, we finished our shopping spree in the main pedestrianised area, before heading back to the car and then home.
We ate-in with Ann, doing her normal miracles in the kitchen, this time, in the shape of the Mary Berry Fish Pie recipe followed by homemade Cherry Clafoutis. As expected, it all went down a treat!!
In between the cooking we watched the film: Django Unchained – courtesy of Amazon Prime. It wasn’t exactly family viewing, but Roger and I enjoyed it!!!
Django Unchained - Your Granny wouldn’t like it!
A cheese-board, some liqueurs and one violent film later, at 11.15, we were all done for the day, and we retired or the night.
Sunday began with a lazy lay-in, followed by e a light breakfast. It was then off to see Lee for elevenses before dropping the car off at home and walking (honest!) down to The Vines. The restaurant was in top form – excellent lunch and excellent service. We managed to get through all three courses (just!), and were feeling well-and-truly stuffed by the time we left – the walk home did us good!
But she probably would have enjoyed the Vines… and the Guinness!
Then it was a quick cuppa, before we said our goodbyes and Roger and Jane headed home.
It’s been great weekend, and good to catch-up with family!
