Country Dreaming

As much as I love London - and consider myself essentially a city girl - there's something uniquely refreshing about fleeing the metropolis on a train, watching the housing developments shrink fewer and farther between and counting the increasing number of livestock in the multiplying fields on either side of the track.

There's always a funny struggle when Jon and I land at his parents' house in Suffolk: do we just hang out doing nothing but enjoying the fresh air and the cats and the Skybox, grazing from the fridge and meandering between the garden and the sitting room as the breeze wafts us; or do we tramp through the countryside, indulging in pub lunches and exploring large villages and small castles, exerting ourselves healthily?  This weekend, happily, was a bit of both.

I'm not a cat person but I'll make an exception for Topsy

We greeted Saturday with an early train out of London and, upon arrival in Suffolk, made an executive decision to vegetate all day.  It was heaven.  A barbeque was had in the evening - more family came around - as is usual on balmy summer nights here; Jon's father's birthday is coming up and so the whole thing was a bit of a celebration.

Sunday morning was coffee and the paper in the garden (and checking up on the weekend's blog activity, natch) and in the afternoon we headed to Dunwich Heath for lunch in the tearoom and a long wander along the sea.  (After a day of pure laziness, we welcomed the chance to stretch our legs!)  By the way, did you know that bird watchers are called "twitchers" here?  Must be a British thing.

We'll probably come back for a weekend in July and then another in August - Jon's parents are keen to get us out on their boat for a day or two - but, in the meantime, I'll be drinking up the memories of the tranquility of this weekend.  Aren't I lucky to have somewhere like this to escape?