School's Out For Summer

Hello hello, thank you for calling in.  I am exhausted after a couple of days away camping with my favourite people to celebrate a birthday, a wedding anniversary and the start of the school summer holidays here in Shropshire.  Although our children are no longer of school age, the Best Beloved and The Teacher are both, well, teachers and so our lives are still tied to the rhythm of the school year. 

 

We didn't go far away, just here to The Green in the Onny Valley in South Shropshire.  We have been coming to this site for sixteen years and it's our go-to campsite for a night or two away.  It's a beautiful, well-maintained site in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and, very importantly, it has a large block of proper loos and hot showers!  Do you fancy a look at the site?  Here you are -

 

 

Behind those trees flows the River East Onny, shallow enough here for children to play in -

 

 

 

And play they did - the jelly shoes and fishing net belong to The Mathematician, aged nineteen!

 

 

 The water is very clear, but she didn't catch any fish.  I did, though...with my camera!

 

 

 I caught some other creatures, too: a Comma...

 

 

...and this chap, who's going to be a Peacock when he grows up -

 

 

Here are a couple of views from the site (with obligatory sheep) -

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it's very green and very lovely.  There is no on-site entertainment, just a small playground for children, fifteen acres of space and the river, but there is a pub next door, which our young people visited, and another up the hill in the centre of the village.  We didn't leave the site for two days and felt ourselves gradually unwinding in the  sunshine with books, newspapers, bats and a ball, racquets and a shuttlecock, a Frisbee and the happy sounds made by children playing.  FABULOUS.  I can't help myself, I'll have to show you another picture of the River East Onny (The Mathematician took this one) -

I had a precious "moment" on Saturday evening: I was inside the tent, cooking our dinner, while the others were sat around the table outside, chatting together and laughing in the sunshine.  As I listened to them I realised that I felt utterly content, just at that moment, in a beautiful place, in beautiful weather, with my beautiful girls and their boys, and my Best Beloved, and that they were all together, enjoying themselves.  There was no sign of tension or stress, just freedom and happiness and love.  I shall tuck that moment away and treasure it.

So I shall leave you with a couple of pictures of the sky.  There is a lot of sky here in this place which fills me with awe and wonder -

See you soon.

Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x