Election, a party and a country house

Since Thursday of last week life has been a bit of a whirlwind. Work on Thursday left me drained and all I wanted to do when I got home was sit and fall asleep. Instead, once I'd had a cup of tea, John and I went and voted, something I've done in every election since I was old enough to vote. In most of the country they were voting for the local elections as well as the general election but here in London we only had the general election ballot. Then it was time to head to the common to walk Scamp and Buddy. The walk woke me up and so instead of heading off to bed at 11.30ish I turned on the TV to watch the first results of the election declared. I love to stay up and watch the results come in on election night and the fact that the exit poll predicted a conservative victory whereas all the polls in the run up had predicted a hung parliament had me intrigued to see what the outcome would be. Normally the results come in very fast between 2 and 4 but this time it was quite slow so at 3.30 I decided to go to bed since I had a drive to do on Friday.

We had planned to leave home early on Friday but due to the late night we got up late. Late enough in fact to miss the morning rush hour. The journey north was uneventful and we got to the village where the party was being help with time to spare. The party was to celebrate my Uncle Terry's 50th wedding anniversary. We only really knew Yvonne and Terry at the party but it was fun and we found people we could talk with quite easily.

Here's the happy couple looking fabulous and of course there was cake.

The party was an afternoon tea and then we went back to Yvonne and Terry's house for a while. It was fun to sit and chat. We had decided to stay overnight so we could visit Lyme Park on Saturday so we had a drive to our hotel. Not knowing the area and the good places to eat is always a little difficult but we found a fabulous indian restaurant that served delicious food. 

Saturday the weather was a little unsettled with drizzle and a cold wind. Lyme Park is on the edge of the peak district so the wind was blowing quite strongly. The house was used as the exterior of Pemberley in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. 

The house is huge and we really enjoyed wandering through the rooms. You weren't allowed to take photos in the house so no interior shots I'm afraid. We walked through the gardens and I took a few photos.

Unfortunately the bulbs in the Italian garden were coming to an end but it was still pretty.

The rhododendrons were just opening so not much to see but this area of the garden was a little wild and I liked it. 

John took a rest after our walk round the garden and before we took a walk through the park. It would have been great to do their long hike but we weren't really dressed for the weather and we needed to drive back to London. As we drove away from the hills the sun came out, the drizzle stopped and the wind dropped making for a very pleasant drive home in the early evening.

On Sunday Katie and her boyfriend Olly came over and we went for a walk on Box Hill. Katie wanted to see the bluebells before they were finished for another year.  

Scamp had a grand time running around off his lead.

There were lots of forget me nots, buttercups and cowslips.

There was several steep inclines to climb up and Olly and Scamp rushed on ahead. Olly found a comfortable place to rest.

A little later Katy found her own seat

This tree was amazing as it had grafted some of its branches back onto itself.

The last part of the walk took us past houses and on either side of a gate were these characters.

I also thought this was a great use of a bicycle.

Back at home Scamp settled down for a nap with his friend Picasso on the back of the settee.

So that was last weekend, what will this weekend bring? Hopefully quite a bit of sewing as I am falling way behind. I hope you've had a good week.

Lyndsey