A day in port - Lapworth

We had dinner Tuesday night at The Boot Inn.  It's just beside lock 14 facing the road, not the canal.  What a great meal we had.... up there with the best we've had in the UK.  The pub itself is lovely.  It's full of character and has a very nice outdoor area too.

We were greeted by a Sydney girl who was quite enthusiastic to be chatting to fellow Aussies.  She'd been in the UK just 6 weeks and was living above the pub and working there.  We all enjoyed our dinner and Mick enjoyed chatting to all and sundry... starting with a couple who were in the pub with their 1 year old labrador and finishing with a fellow builder.  All in all, it was a good night.

We woke to a mist yesterday morning (Wednesday).  It turned into a lovely day.  In fact, in the afternoon it was quite warm.

The morning was spent sorting photos, setting up Jen's ipad and drinking cups of coffee.  We had lunch on the boat and then got in the car to visit a nearby National Trust property called Packwood House.  We actually have our National Trust cards now!  We really enjoyed the visit, especially the gardens.  There was an amazing kitchen garden with vegies flourishing.  We picked up some zucchini and cucumber to bring back with us.  They had a donation box to contribute for the produce.

The house had fabulous timberwork.  The floors were wide boards and the ceilings very decorative.  Most of the walls were lined in dark timber which made the rooms extremely dark.  It would almost have been a depressive place to live and I imagine extremely cold.   There was a garden of yew trees all shaped into columns.  At the end of a walk lined with them was a spiral hedge that wound up to a mound with a tree perched on top.  It would have made a fantastic garden for kids to romp.

On the way back we called into the largest Tesco I've ever seen.  Our visitors found it all rather overwhelming I think.  Being our neighbours back home, they too come from a tiny town of 1000 people.  We have nothing like it!  It was an added bonus to be able to buy a few heavy things so next time we won't have to lug them back to the boat.  Mick was in disgrace when we returned.  He'd left the keys dangling in the stern door of the boat!

Last night we had be a boat dinner with a bottle of red as Jen and Jude are off to France today.  They needed to check in for their flights online and had booked with Ryanair.  What an annoying check in procedure it was!  We walked them to their car and said farewell until June.  It's been lovely to see you guys!!