Clouds Hill

We are still in Dorset and the campsite is still nice and quiet, mornings are peaceful because we are prepared for our journey's out the evening before with swimmers hanging out to dry, bags packed and filling water bottles the only thing left to do.
Me insisting on being this organised only causes the smallest of huffing on G's part.

Today I think is the Wednesday (it's July) and we are heading to Monkey World but stopping at
Clouds Hill first.

This is the retreat of T.E. Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia as you can see he doesn't look a thing like Peter O' Toole.

I am determined to get through that film, one day when I can get the family out the house for long enough. I've seen it before, I think.

This is the kind of place and life style my dad would have lived. Awfully thought out and functional.

There is no light as such in the house so the photos are grainy.

Can you see how the rope handrail is housed? 

The front door mat is cut so that the door can swing freely.

Cork tiles, love it. No products or clutter here.

These silver leaf sconces might have made me hyperventilate. 

There is a story to the metal work, is it Morris? I can't remember, the door knocker looks like it.

There is a hike trail but our time was short so we headed off. 

Then something happened that made G's day!

Oh my! is that a real life tank coming our way???

A happy boy scout we had again.

CM

Kingston Lacy.

Still Dorset way, we set off on what must have been the hottest day of the year by far.

Kingston Lacy The House is closed on a Tuesday.
The lady on the door said, it's rubbish inside and that we weren't missing anything and the gardens are much better!
P said that they were probably doing the dusting, the lady agreed.

The Laundry is open. FMH and I like a bit of linen. I took these for her but there was no reception to send so here they are now.

It really was unbelievably hot. Round the back the lawns roll away from you and we headed for deckchairs under the trees. As these chairs had wheels the girls we happy to move them around whilst I tried to resume a normal body temperature.

We decided to walk the big loop and take in the kitchen gardens and allotments. The girls cooled off in the sprinklers and then we headed for the sheds.

I like it when things are stored correctly.
It really was a long walk. The kids rightly insisted on den building, which is of course and excellent thing to do, but G and I had very little enthusiasm to join in just because it was so hot. Might still feel a little guilt over that one.

I loved what happened next and I think that was because we felt like we had the place to ourselves. It's no biggy just a family memory that if they read this will know was one of my favourites.

The tree at the top of the path looked like the one in the movie Shawshank Redemption.
But in this family that meant who was gonna get there first.

I wasn't running anywhere.
We took the best family photo on this fallen tree and then they were off again to see who could make it to the obelisk memorial first.

This race had to be abandoned because there was one of those 6ft anti cattle ditches at the end of the grass field so we made our way back to the path.
P didn't like it one bit, it was prickly and she had to be hand held out of it.
Really lovely and quiet except for the sound of crickets and bugs n stuff.

It was a day of walking, att least 3 miles I am sure.
So we finished the day of again at one of the Studland beaches. Shell Bay

The water was so warm, I must have walked into a bush with lady birds because I kept brushing them out of my hair and the girls again in competition each tried to collect the most.

Not too many pics of P as she had chucked all her clothes before we got out the car and I know
New Jersey frowns on me posting naked pis of them on the blawg. Rightly so.

P found this jelly fish that just lost it's being to a passing ferry. It was huge.
Thank goodness she didn't pick it up I had a minor freak that she had touched it when she found it.

Before we knew it it was getting close to bedtime and we headed back to camp ready for another full day ahead.

A very happy day had.

CM

Brownsea Island and Knoll Beach

You take the Sandbanks ferry from the Studland leaving your car at the Shell Bay car park, which you don't pay for if you are members of the National Trust
The ferry takes less than 10 minutes and costs a couple of pounds if you travel by foot.

Immediately on the Sandbanks sides is the Ferry to Brownsea Island this costs more than a couple of pounds.
The ferry broke down but they had a spare, but they didn't have a spare crew so with the heat the elderly ladies were reaching for their angina sprays while we were all waiting.

Brownsea Island is run by the National Trust so is free with membership except for the bit that is rumored to be owned by Waitrose, there is no store there so we took a picnic.

This tree is c. 1687 but came down in Jan 2014 and there are plenty of trees to play on.

I love that P is trying to tell T something important and she is doing her best to listen.

We walk all the way to the other side of the island to the Baden-Powell Outdoor Center and Trading Post. At the campsite G wanders off to get some feathers for the girls and they were beyond in love with him for it.

We made our way down onto the beach when G realised he had lost his Ray Bans.
Very upsetting as this was the first bit of genuine man gear he had purchased post university and had looked after them very carefully all this time. He headed back to Scout Headquarters for a look.
I walked further down the beach where the girls got stuck into making clay pots.
If I wasn't carrying so much crap I would have made on myself but G came back empty handed.

We left Brownsea late afternoon and caught a couple of hours at Knoll Beach
Again free parking if you are NT members, really expensive if you are not.
At this point in the summer there beach had a deep skirt of seaweed, which annoyed me but didn't seem to bother the girls.

G was in a slump. I cheered him up by suggesting that maybe a nerdy young scout might come across his sunglasses and have the coolest camp ever and might even get to snog a girl guide because of it, a kind of legacy from one scout to another.
I think that might have done the trick.

T never went anywhere without her snorkel mask and P never really went anywhere without a gun.

Back to camp and an early night for all. Finally.

We we came home and looked through the photos, the last place G had the sunglasses was at the feathers. Thieving cocks.

CM