Day 335 - November 30th

Today we kicked off the holiday season with a trip to 'Ashridge House Illuminated' - a light trail through the Grade II listed gardens. It was spectacular!

The Hot Cinnamon Apple Crumble and Custard in the food village at the end of the trail was delicious!

Day 334 - November 29th

I spotted these Limited Edition Pigs in Blanket Beans in Sainsburys today.

Day 333 - November 28th

This morning I had to scrape the ice off the car. The first time this season.

Day 332 - November 27th

My Mum bought me this Christmas succulent plant at the weekend. 

Day 331 - November 26th

There wads a cold and misty start to today.

Day 330 - November 25th

I decided to have a go at rock painting today and painted this cute Santa. It's not perfect but it's OK for a first attempt.

Day 329 - November 24th

Lara is enjoying mini brick model kits. She recently bought some Christmas themed kits.

Day 328 - November 23rd

On returning from a shopping trip today, we were met by a murder scene in the front garden! A sparrowhawk had caught a pigeon and brought it down into our garden. The sparrowhawk was very determined to have his fill and remained with its catch for quite some time before it eventually got spooked by us, and flew away.

Day 327 - November 22nd

The new windows and doors have all now been fitted.

Day 326 - November 21st

I was recently given a gift of a lovely orchid. Hope I can keep it alive!

Day 325 - November 20th

Another cold day.

Day 324 - November 19th

Weather wise, this week was not a good week for having work carried out on the house. This morning we woke to snow.

Day 323 - November 18th

Today the big job of replacing our windows and doors began.

Day 322 - November 17th

Tux enjoying a rare, sunny day.

Day 321 - November 16th

Today we repeated a walk which we last did in July. We drove to Marsworth in Buckinghamshire to walk round the reservoirs and waterways near Tring.

We parked at the car park in Marsworth and walked alongside the Marsworth Reservoir and then the Grand Union Canal.

On the Wendover Arm of the canal we spotted a grey heron. Initially he didn't see us and we were able to get very close to him before he flew off to the other side of the canal.

There is always so much to see alongside the canal.

This old building is Heygates' mill. There has been a flour mill on the site since 1875. Originally it was a windmill but this was demolished in 1910 to make way for a wheat silo. The Heygate family took over the business in 1945 and today mills in excess of 100,000 tonnes of wheat a year,

The restoration of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal has been ongoing for quite some time.  You can walk the entire 6.75 mile Arm along the towpath (apart from a short section along Little Tring Road). However boats are currently restricted to the first 1.5 miles. Volunteers are rebuilding and relining the canal to bring it back to life.

Soon we found ourselves back at the reservoirs before we turned again to walk along another section of the Grand Union Canal on our way back to the car.

We were fortunate to see a kingfisher dart past, before resting briefly in a nearby bush.

On our way home, we detoured to Pitstone Windmill. We have driven close to it several times, but never before stopped to look at it.

Pitstone Windmill is owned by The National Trust and is one of the oldest Post Windmills in Britain. Pitstone windmill ground flour for the local village for almost three hundred years until a freak storm in the early 1900s left it damaged beyond economic repair. Donated to the National Trust in 1937 Pitstone Windmill has been restored by a team of volunteers.