A chocoholics dream!
I’ve had a pretty busy weekend (nothing new) this weekend. Starting off with a Park Run at the beautiful Arrow Valley Lake in Redditch, and finishing up with a Sunday roast early this evening, I’m thinking an early night might be in order.
After discovering I’d achieved a PB (Personal Best) yesterday (running 5k in 29.06 minutes) I spent the afternoon clearing out the rest of the rubbish and mud from the pigsty before taking some of my numerous grand-children to a couple of parks.
Why a couple of parks?
Because one was a standard grass park with swings, climbing frames and slides. The other a simple garden-type-of-park with no equipment, where the children pretended to be monkeys in a jungle (I love their imaginations).
After dropping them home and doing a spot of much-needed damp dusting (we are having some renovations done in the cottage just now) I then cooked dinner for my OH and my visiting daughter, then spent the evening mainly chatting before going to bed around eleven-thirty.
The sun woke me around six-o-clock this morning so I took advantage of tidying around, answering emails and posting some business posts on Facebook before setting off for a charity run in aid of St Mary’s Hospice in Bournville: picking up a couple of running buddies on the way, ‘H’ and ‘D’ did a great job of directing me through the several road closures due to the ‘Velo Birmingham and Midlands Bike Race’.
Pre-run we spent some time exploring Selly Manor; dating back to the late 15th Century, this old farmhouse was originally in Selly Oak (a superb of Birmingham). The beautiful Tudor building fell into disrepair but was ‘rescued’ in 1907 by George Cadbury who had the building moved to Bournville.
During our explorations we discovered a dressing-up room and – encouraged by ‘H’ (who is a tad crazy) we tried on hats and gowns and armour. It was great fun.
Walking over to join in with the usual pre-race warm-up we spotted Willy-Wonka and two Oompa-Loompa’s, so couldn’t resist a(nother) photo-opportunity. ‘D’, I discovered, loves a photo-opportunity!
The run began with a rather steep hill – or “a wee-slope” as one run leader, ‘E’, would say – but then flattened out in the main.
Not knowing Birmingham too well, I was really impressed with the route which took us through Bournville and Selly Oak. Bournville is a delight; chocolate-box-pretty houses and gardens, an old-fashioned parade of shops, lots of green areas, yet no pubs – which I guess is due to the areas Quaker roots…the faith of the Cadbury family.
Finishing the run in good time (about 32 minutes) ‘H’, ‘D’, and I headed over to hand in our ‘Golden Tickets’ which entitled us to a little cup of warm, melted chocolate, into which some crunchie chunks, mini-buttons, tiny marshmallows were sprinkled before the finishing touch of a Cadbury’s flake was added to the cup.
It. Was. Delicious.
Taking instruction off ‘H’ we smeared chocolate around our mouth’s before indulging in the chocolatey delight.
The slight frustration of ‘Road Closures’ which were so badly signposted most people were ignoring them (which we did on the way to the run) didn’t spoil the morning, although on the way home we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic and had to take several detours!
This afternoon consisted of a little bit of gardening and damp-dusting the ‘mid-renovations’ kitchen/dining area to which the roof lantern has now been fitted. YAY!
This (and having the kitchen/dining-room wall demolished) has made a huge difference light-wise and space-wise to the cottage. I love it!
By around quarter to five my OH and I decided we needed to eat so went out for dinner…and that’ll be another blog. I am very disillusioned with eating out just now – look out for my ‘eating out blog’ later this week!
Hugs
Leigh