What a busy few days I have had and what fun this weekend, celebrating Sally’s birthday and enjoying Lucy’s Birthday present!

I spent a couple of days this week in Edinburgh with work while Harvey enjoyed being in Rye. He was at the Rye Bay Beach Club where he has been swimming, catching crabs, making crab ravioli and crab sushi, beachcombing, making boxes and a film. On Friday night I went to Sally’s to celebrate her birthday.  We sat outside all evening, drinking champagne and dining on seafood, chicken and salads.  I should have taken photos earlier when it all looked so well presented but better late than never.  It was a delicious meal.  I ate vast amounts as it was all so yummy !

We all took different dishes and Michelle took the coronation chicken which was really good.  The secret ingredient was cumin powder instead of curry powder which worked really well.

After meringue and berries we had home made birthday cake; a rose flavoured sponge cake for our lovely English rose – well done girls, it was light and well flavoured.

It was a lovely evening and I was so happy to have been a part of it.

On Saturday morning we had a lovely walk along the lanes and up to the Grandstand.   Epsom is famous for being the home of the Derby and there are horses and livery yards everywhere you go.   This is the gateway to The Durdans Livery Stables, one of the most impressive.  It used to belong to Lord Rosebery and the story says he locked the gate when his son went to fight in the First World War and would only open the gate when his son returned.  Sadly he didn’t so the gate has remained locked ever since.

This is Maidstone House, a very attractive Seventeenth Century house. We had a good walk and then returned to Sally’s for breakfast. This is such a pretty area. This is one of the Philip’s juicers and it was so easy to use and the results were impressive.  We juiced (for 3 people) 4 apples, 2 pears, 1 parsnip, 1 lime, a chunk of ginger and a large bag of spinach.  When it was juiced we added the juices to the blender with one and a half avocados. Absolutely delicious. Enjoyed in the sunshine in the garden where I spotted this bee, covered in pollen from one of the stunning passionflowers. After a walk and breakfast we went with Holly to the horse stables and then on to the fields. This naughty pony had trampled down the fence to get to the richer pasture on the other side. Having surveyed the damage we all agreed the repairs were best left to someone else 🙂 The weather became rather unsettled so we based our picnic in the barn rather then risk setting up outside and being rained on. We mainly ate lots of yummy leftovers from the night before.

Green salad, rice salad, orzo salad,  coronation chicken, bread and taramasalata.  I had at least 2 helpings and then bread and cheese.  This was definitely not a weekend for losing weight! This was such a relaxing and enjoyable picnic. For dessert we had berries, watermelon. meringue and baklava. After tea, birthday cake and a snooze, we left Epsom.

Destination was The Shard in central London which you can just see in the distance from Epsom Downs.

We enjoyed dinner at Black and Blue in Borough Market.  It was warm enough to sit outside even though we didn’t get there until 10:30 pm!  Loving these mild summer evenings.

I enjoyed a blackberry and gin based cocktail. We all had steak with Bearnaise sauce, frites and salad which was very good.

After a good dinner we went to The View From The Shard for a silent disco which was our birthday present to Lucy. It takes 2 lifts to get to the 69th floor.

From the 69th floor we had amazing views across London.  This is looking from London Bridge along the River Thames and you can clearly see St.Paul’s on the North side of the river.

St Paul’s Cathedral.

Looking North to The City (financial district).

HMS Belfast
Tower Bridge and looking East. Looking straight down on to London Bridge station.

London Bridge train tracks.So what is a Silent Disco you may be wondering?  You each wear headphones so there is no music blaring out in to the room.  With the headphones on, you can choose your music and your own volume.  There were 3 DJs playing so you had a choice of 3 tracks to listen to at any one time.  When you wanted to talk, you removed your headphones and didn’t have to shout above the music which was really good.

There was so much to do!  Buy drinks, dance, take photos, admire the view, explore the Shard.  It was brilliant!

The 72nd floor is open to the elements which really took me by surprise.  I assumed the entire building was enclosed. It was quite windy up there which was refreshing as the floor below was quite warm. Looking up to the very top of the Shard. The DJs did a great job. The Silent Disco at the Shard was brilliant.

The girls had fun. Lots and lots of fun.

Thank you to Lucy and Michelle for hosting me for each night and  thank you Sally for inviting me.  It was all really enjoyable and I would do it all again 🙂