Today we drove to Hale for a hearty picnic.
Travelling via the lanes of Nomansland we lost our way for a while, although the route was a pretty one.
Sitting on a bench in silence save for the soughing of the chill breeze in the woodland behind us, we hugged our sides in efforts to keep warm until a woman shouted in vain to call her Labrador away from sniffing round our food. We were wondering whether the only signs of
life were to be lost walkers and their animals when the advancing
thudding of a troop of ponies revealed the animals to be on a training run. The last five of the pictures in this gallery are by Jackie, who also
photographed the diminutive creature which had clearly been setting the pace rolling in the grass and nuzzling its larger companion –
a pairing I had also witnessed.
Jackie also photographed the thatched cottages, the millennium memorial sculpture, and the cricket pitch rollers that don’t seem to have been in service yet this season.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s tasty liver and bacon casserole; boiled potatoes; crunchy carrots and firm broccoli with which I drank Chilean Malbec reserva privada 2022.