Perfection

Today was as close to a perfect Sunday as you could hope to get. It started with a (sort of) sleep in for me and a nice one for Mirinda. After a lie in I popped up to Farnham while she rang her mum and dad. When I returned we settled down to some study before setting off for Caricola.

This is a cafe in Alresford. It serves delicious brunches – I particularly like the eggs Benedict on muffins with hollandaise sauce – and pretty good coffee. We promised ourselves this treat because Mirinda won’t be seeing me for a couple of weeks with Weasels Afloat drawing near. Afterwards we strolled down to the river for a walk along the path. It is idyllic! We saw a family of swans (7 cygnets!) standing then floating down the river, drawing admiring glances from the people who, like us, were wandering the shore like so many Georgians.

Swans in the river at Alresford

It was then off to an open garden in Farringdon. This is quite near where we used to live. In fact, we actually visited a whole slew of gardens here with Karen and Nigel quite a few years ago when the village opened most of their gardens for charity. The one we saw today (Berry Cottage) we hadn’t seen before.

It was lovely. Not too big but with lots of little rooms created by judicious planting of bushes and trees. They had the most beautiful yellow dahlias I’ve ever seen and lots of very tall phlox.

Berry Cottage garden

We had a good wander (it wasn’t very big) then popped across the road to the church.

All Saints church, Farringdon is rather cute and we figured that Jane probably visited as it’s not that far from her place. In the graveyard there’s an amazing old yew tree. The hollow inside is big enough to fit our third bedroom in!

The church is very plain inside – Mirinda reckons it looks like someone is halfway through decorating it – though light and pleasant.

All Saints Farringdon, Hampshire

We then hopped back aboard our haunted Sidney and drove home via the cottage (we haven’t seen it for a few years and, I’m glad to report, it’s still there) and spent the afternoon studying.

Sadly Chelsea lost the Charity Shield, which is now called the Community Shield, to Manchester United but I can ignore that.