July 2019 – Family Holiday

At the end of July, Annie and Gerry achieved a long held ambition and enjoyed a holiday with all 6 children, their partners and the fourteen grandchildren. It was the first time we had all been together and therefore very special.

We had booked a country house for the week at Oakhampton Park. The house accommodated everyone easily and the magnificent gardens, swimming pool, croquet lawn, and many other facilities ensured there was plenty for everyone.

We had an amazing week and the sections below attempt to capture our week together.
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THE HOUSE AND GARDENS

A view of the front of the house:

and a view of the back of the house from below the Croquet Lawn

The gardens were massive and fabulous. There was a large lawn in the front of the sweeping driveway where we played Smite. Right at the back, surrounded by beautiful borders and yew hedges, there was a very popular croquet lawn. We might not have known the finesse required but none of us showed much mercy to our opponents.


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There were other lawns below the croquet lawn for relaxing and lots else to explore as Archie found.

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INSIDE THE HOUSE

The best way to appreciate the splendour of Oakhampton Park is to look at the website www.oakhamptonpark.co.uk. Suffice to say it was lovely. The children enjoyed exploring, watching TV, watching an iPad cuddled up in bed, presenting a puppet show written and produced by themselves and much else!

Although the formal dining room could have seated all the adults, the only time it was full was for the puppet shows. Some of the children ate there but for the rest of us the large kitchen table and table and chairs on the patio outside the kitchen were where we congregated, ate and played cerebral games (provided by Jon)

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SWIMMING POOL

The 50ft heated indoor swimming pool proved a tremendous success with the children whose water confidence increased incredibly during the week.

The adults may not have used the fully equipped gym or the sauna but most spent time in the pool.


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MEXICAN EVENING

One evening we enjoyed a Mexican Theme. Hannah and James produced wonderful food, James made Mojitos, Gerry made Margaritas and Annie provided a donkey piñata filled with sweets. The picture shows Felix having a bash at the donkey! You may just be able to make out the plastic bags held by children in anticipation of the sweets they’d collect. Starting with the youngest and rising in age the donkey was eventually broken open. There were indeed lots of sweets!

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BIRTHDAY PARTY

On the Wednesday we had a tea party to celebrate two birthdays; Felix was two and Callum eleven. Emma had reminded people that it was her birthday soon (15 August) so we enjoyed three birthday cakes!
Anticipation and then enjoyment.
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OUT AND ABOUT

Apart from one day with some rain, the weather was very good and various family groups got out and about.
On the first day some went to the rocky shore and cliffs at Kilve.

On another day, Putsborough Sands was a real hit with some braving the sea (very cold) and Emma needing a warm up between her parents. They also enjoyed a pub lunch


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From Left to right: Lucy, Elsie behind Emma, Sienna, Bethany, Oliver behind Ruby, Jo and Jenny. The other members of their families were elsewhere in the building!
Some also went to the stone Clapper Bridge at Tarr Steps and to the West Somerset Railway where ice creams were enjoyed.

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There was one other adventure. On the Monday afternoon 7 of us set off for a four hour sea fishing trip from Watchet Marina. The team, Gerry, Jo, Alexander, Jenny, Callum, Martin and James (Hopkins) had a great time. James caught the first fish, Gerry the most fish and Alexander the largest fish. Jenny took the lovely picture of the rest of the team so I include a picture of her with a dogfish she landed. Sea conditions were good and we had a great time and everyone had at least one fish.

What a brilliant week!

The children arranged for a professional photographer to visit us with the aim of capturing the whole family as well as the individual family groups. Once her photographs are available, we will publish another Blog entry.