The day of the plumber, woodland walks & a trip to a safari park. in The View from the Terrace

I have a lot to write about but don’t seem to have found the time to complete an entry in almost 3 weeks. The plumber came last week and our toilet soil pipe is now replaced and the nasty asbestos one gone. I stayed the night before in a b and b in Hereford. I wanted to be in town while the men were doing the work as we only have the one toilet and that would be out of action for a few hours. They were coming early morning and getting up and out on the bus if wasn’t well would have been really hard. I found and booked a really nice place, only £35 for a single room with shared bathroom. When I arrived they had had to reorganise and I ended up with a double room with en suite all to myself at no extra charge. It was the first night I have spent without Hubby for 9 years and I really enjoyed the peace and quiet. As it happened I did wake with a migraine in the early hours so I was glad I was able to relax after breakfast until the 10 am checkout time. By that time the meds had worked just leaving me with less energy. I walked to Sainsbuy’s which was only a short distance away and had coffee and a scone in their cafe and sat there reading the papers for an hour. Then I walked into town and spent the morning browsing around the charity shops. I couldn’t buy anything heavy as I would have to carry it until Hubby came to pick me up and I had no idea when that might be, but I did find a Ruth Rendell paperback that I hadn’t read and went to the card shop to buy birthday cars for the boys who will celebrate in June and July and for a friend who isn’t until October but it was something to get done. By now it was lunchtime and while having a rest on a bench I noticed people coming out of Poundland with sandwiches. I Would never have thought of buying them there but I went in and found the sandwiches were also £1 so I bought some and they tasted just as good as those you buy elsewhere for twice as much.

After lunch I walked down to the cathedral and sat in the chapter house garden in the sunshine. Hubby rang me at 2pm to say the men would be finished in half an hour and he could pick me up at 3pm. So that is a big worry off my mind and now all we have to do is pay the bill! It will probably come to about £1000 with vat.

On Saturday we went to Skirrid Mountain, a local beauty spot where Chris had told us that the woods were filled with bluebells at this time of the year. The Skirrid is only about 12 miles down the road but I have never climbed it before. The woods on the lower slopes of the mountain were beautiful but there were not many bluebells, just a few stragglers here and there. The climb was very steep and I could only manage about a third of the way. Hubby went a bit farther while I rested on a bench. While I was sitting there I heard a cuckoo. It was the first time in 2 years. We used to have one every year in the woods opposite our house but for the last 2 years he hasn’t come. It was magical to hear one again in those beautiful woodlands.

After our climb we went for a coffee and cake in a cafe nearby, a lovely little place that I didn’t know was there as I have never been down that road. They were also selling garden ornaments and I found a lovely stone statue of a fox. I have wanted one for years and since Cat bought me a Jemima Puddleduck statue for Christmas I really wanted a fox to spy on her from among the foxgloves - you will need to have read the story to understand -. The fox was £45.99, rather a lot, but Hubby said I can have him for my birthday in just over 2 weeks time.

The week before last we went away for a 3 day spring break. We stayed at a Travelodge in Kiddermister in the Wyre Forest area. For a long time I have wanted to visit the Severn Valley Railway again. It’s a steam railway that runs from Bridgnorth in Shropshire down to Kidderminster in Worcestershire. We visited it when we first moved to Herefordshire in the late 70s and hadn’t been back since. Hubby wanted to visit the West Midland Safari Park. That’s another place we went to when we first came here. We have been back once, when Chris was two. We have some funny memories of the second visit. I remember a camel came right over to the car and Chris somehow managed to wind the car window down and the camel spat at him. This was made even funnier because he used to mix up the names of camels and kangaroos and afterwards he kept telling people that we went to the safari park and a kangaroo spat at him. There was another very funny incident during that visit. Chris was out of nappies but still having the odd accident. I had changed him in the toilet and put some rather smelly pants into a carrier bag. Then we went to eat our packed lunch in the picnic area. After we had finished we got up and went to see the penguins. I suddenly remembered I had forgotten the carrier bag and went back for it. We had only been away for a few minutes but it wasn’t there, we thought it might have been stolen and we really laughed to think of what the thief thought when they opened the bag to see what was inside!

Hubby wanted to go back to the safari park to see the elephants. He said he had never seen an elephant in real life. I don’t think they had them when we went there before. He has never been to a zoo or a circus even as a child. The railway and the safari park are both in the Wyre Forest area so we decided to stay 3 days and visit both places.

We drove up on Tuesday stopping for a short walk in Queen’s Wood, another local beauty spot. We went by this beautiful cherry tree in full bloom looking glorious with the magnolia behind it.

The weather forecast had warned of thundery showers but when we woke up the next morning it seemed quite pleasant. The safari park was only about 3 miles away so we got there mid morning. We decided to do the actual safari after lunch and walk round the other exhibits first. Hubby wanted to see the Land of the Living Dinosaurs. It seemed to me that this exhibit was more for children but I humoured him and he had a great time!

Afterwards we enjoyed a lovely lunch in the Dinosaur Diner. We went round the reptile house only to come out and find it was pouring with rain, there was a covered area where talks were given so we sat there along with many others waiting for it to stop. I was in sandals as it had been sunny when we arrived and I had left my mac in the car. Eventually the rain started to give over and we made our way back to the car. We called in at the toilets before going on the drive through safari and when we came out it was tipping down again. The car was at the top of a slope and the water was pouring down. There was no question of trying to make it to the car so we sat down in another covered area behind the toilets. Eventually it stopped and I made my way back to the car stepping carefully over rivers of rain and around lakes that had suddenly appeared. The skies were clearing so we set off on the safari.
We made sure we had the windows closed when we drove by the camels!

Zebra

The highlight was The kingdom of the lions.

The white lions were magnificent.

And Hubby finally got to see his elephants.

The Severn Valley Railway runs right past the park and we were lucky enough to see a train come by. The next day we were on that train but I think I will make that a separate entry as this one is long enough.