John - Archived Entries for 2018 / 5

Try to pretend you don't want one of these tweed caps.

Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

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Recent Entries:: Large Padron Collider
Oliveto and Science Evening
Murger Han
Garden
Monday
Whitstable
Playgrounds and Party
Friday
Wine Tasting
Ingredients
Andrew's Birthday
Fizzy Cola Bottles
Sunday
Berkhamstead and Frithsden Vineyard
Friday
Thursday
The Angel
Tuesday
Lunch at the River Cottage then a Long Boring Drive Back Home
Lyme Regis and Charmouth
London to Shute
Chie's Birthday
Thursday
Oxo Tower
Erika in a Party Hat
Tuesday

Large Padron Collider: [Friday 25th May 2018]
Paella and padron peppers for dinner.
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Oliveto and Science Evening: [Thursday 24th May 2018]
Lunch at Oliveto, and in the evening a science event at Erika's school.
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Murger Han: [Wednesday 23rd May 2018]
Went to Murger Han again for lunch.
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Garden: [Tuesday 22nd May 2018]
Some pictures out in the garden.
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Monday: [Monday 21st May]
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Whitstable: [Sunday 20th May 2018]
Went to Whitstable for Leon's Birthday, and failed any photos other than my train ticket.
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Playgrounds and Party: [Saturday 19th May 2018]
Spent the day with Erika in a series of playgrounds and then at her friend's birthday party.
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Friday: [Friday 18th May]
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Wine Tasting: [Thursday 17th May 2018]
Held a Gevrey Chambertin wine tasting / dinner at home. Only managed to take one picture - of the aftermath.
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Ingredients: [Wednesday 16th May 2018]
Ingredients arrived ahead of the following evening's wine tasting / gourmet dinner.
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Andrew's Birthday: [Tuesday 15th May 2018]
Down to Deptford in the evening for Andrew's birthday.
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Fizzy Cola Bottles: [Monday 14th May 2018]
Just one random picture.
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Sunday: [Sunday 13th May 2018]
Went for dim sum at our usual haunt with friends for lunch then pottered fairly aimlessly about for the remainder of the afternoon.
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Berkhamstead and Frithsden Vineyard: [Saturday 12th May 2018]
Was granted some free time in the daytime today and decided to go for another of my walks. This time I decided to head to Berkhamstead - mainly because it wasn't too far from Euston station, an easy station to get to, and on the map the surrounding area looked quite green.

On most of these walks I've been glad to be able to get out of whatever town I start the walk in as quickly possible and get into something resembling countryside. Berkhamstead however was a pleasant surprise, not wholly unpleasant and and of itself, and my walk commenced with a nice stretch along the canal which runs through the centre of the town, lined for the most part with pretty gardens, and occasionally a moderately picturesque dwelling, plus the occasional canalside pub.

After leaving the canal I joined the Hertfordshire way, which to begin with followed a country lane. Although I'm usually less keen on walking along roads, this was actually one of the nicest stretches of the walk, when I suddenly experienced a wonderful feeling of isolation - apart from the odd passing car I had that delightful sense that there was nobody for miles around, such a welcome contrast to being so hemmed in on all sides in London. Recently on these walks those moments have been quite euphoric.

I then reached Potten End, where I'd considered stopping for lunch at one of two possible pubs there, but the first I could tell at a glance was far to gastropubby for me, and the second, much more of a local's pub feel, looked like it might be OK, but I decided instead to press on for Frithsden Vineyard.

This must be one of the closest vineyards to London, and quite possibly the closest to home, in North London, as most of them tend to be down South. It's on a very small scale, a sort of pet project of the owners who had a house with a bit of spare land, but nice nonetheless. I had timed it quite well by chance today as they were having an open day, and had a barbecue going. Alas they don't have any sparkling wine at the moment, so I tried their (still) white and rose, both of which were pleasant enough, but neither exactly my cup of tea. As it turned out the vineyard is actually for sale, but at £1.75 million with the attached house being modern and not particularly beguiling I don't think I'll be putting in an offer. Still, a nice spot and a nice feature of my day out.

From there I broadly headed back in the direction of Berkhamstead again, albeit this time a different route, initially through a very pleasant little bit of woodland, where I enjoyed possibly the last of the bluebells of the season, and then across the golf course and finally through meadows filled with buttercups and back into Berkhamstead. Caught a bit of rain en route, but felt blissfully unconcerned.
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Friday: [Friday 11th May]
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Thursday: [Thursday 10th May]
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The Angel: [Wednesday 9th May 2018]
Went to the Angel to meet the usual suspects, and decided on a whim to try and photograph pretty much everything along my walk from Blackfriars station to there.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 8th May]
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Lunch at the River Cottage then a Long Boring Drive Back Home: [Monday 7th May 2018]
Spent the morning exploring in and around the gatehouse before heading to Axminster for lunch at the River Cottage, then the long boring drive back to London.
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Lyme Regis and Charmouth: [Sunday 6th May 2018]
Lunch in Lyme Regis then went to the beach for a Spot of fossil hunting in charmouth later in the afternoon. Later on dinner back at the gatehouse.
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London to Shute: [Saturday 5th May 2018]
As always seems to be the case whenever we decide to drive anywhere it took far longer than we thought it would, but eventually by early evening we made it to Shute, and were met there by Dad and Janie. We then had a picnic dinner out on the lawn in front of the gatehouse.
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Chie's Birthday: [Friday 4th May 2018]
Chie went to see a show in the evening. I stayed home to look after Erika, who insisted on going into the garden to look for woodlice.
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Thursday: [Thursday 3rd May 2018]
Some shopping errands and a pub lunch in the centre of town. Out in the garden for a bit with Erika later on in the afternoon.
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Oxo Tower: [Wednesday 2nd May 2018]
Impromptu night out at the Oxo Tower with some of the usual suspects.
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Erika in a Party Hat: [Tuesday 1st May 2018]
Just one picture, of Erika in a party hat.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 1st May]
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