All is looking goood on the house hunt front. In the meantime we have been spending our time getting to know the local area. A couple of National Trust properties, a Rufus stone, a Winchester, and a Salisbury later, we feel we are doing the right thing in moving and starting a new adventure. Here are a few photos from our exploits.
Another ballsy week was spent in the New Forest at Sandy Balls. The walks are lovely here with beautiful Autumn colours, the occasional mushroom, and a tree carved with a face which we found rather amusing.
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After a day trip to Old Sarum we are now having a couple of days in Winchester. Yesterday was spent wandering around the cathedral christmas market with my M & S ‘no visible panty line’ undies draped underneath each buttock due to the extremely slippery fabric. Thank heavens for the gusset is all I can say.
At The Roebuck pub (where we stayed in the car park last night – thank you Britstops and cousin Tracey for the recommendation) we met one of the chaps with a market stall. It costs £5,000 to rent a stall for 36 days!! Good grief. Hugo tried to attack the pub dog, Floyd, who is a giant Briard, and a cockerpoo puppy called Tessa. Thankfully we restrained him from his planned assault on the Doberman at the bar. Despite Hugo’s unpleasantness the owners remained extremely friendly and it was great to have somewhere so close to town where we could stay over and have good food and a fab atmosphere.
Off to HInton Ampner today for yet another walk in the woods. Mr Fluffy hates towns so he feels that if he lets me have one day walking around shops that makes up for the other 364 days a year he makes me go for a walk. Hmmm.
There’s been some positive news regarding our house hunt but I won’t say too much in case all is jinxed.
Mr Fluffy is currently unbearable as he has just had an article published in the December issue of Motorhome Monthly Magazine. The article ‘offers some useful advice on using and emptying a cassette toilet’. Charming. He is very excited as I am supposed to be having two articles published in the same magazine but he has beaten me to it. Sigh. Hopefully mine will be in next month’s issue.
We popped off to Shepton Mallet to the home building and renovation show yesterday. It was ok. We got a few ideas and lots of brochures for our new house whenever we find one. Then on to The Benett Arms in Semly near Salisbury. It’s a Britstops pub so Motorhomes can stay overnight. The food in this 16th century pub was pretty good and the village was lovely and peaceful. Hugo even behaved himself. Mr Fluffy wasn’t too impressed with the to reception. There wasn’t any. This was a disaaaaaaaster as Strictly was on and it was Blackpool night so he kindly offered to brace Storm Angus and get the satellite out in the pouring rain. Time to get a self seeking roof-mounted satellite dish.
Salisbury and its cathedral was today’s destination. We usually have a race to see who is the first to spot a green man but neither of us saw one. I bit the bullet and asked a guide who said ‘ oh yes there are loads in here’. She kindly took us around to point out the ones we had missed. There were loads and our mistake was looking up instead of down. We saw one on the central part of the roof but others were on the base of a column, on a memorial to a handsome moustachioed chap, and others were around a door. The most interesting part of the cathedral was the oldest part of the building dedicated to the Virgin Mary. An ancient wooden statue of Madonna and child stands in an alcove. Hugo was allowed in as well.
We won a trip to Sandy Balls in The New Forest back in Septemeber and we’re now back for a few days to catch up on washing and chill out for a while. Despite the amusing name the setting is lovely; ancient woodland,open fields, and free jacuzzis. It’s also very cheap in this low season so we are totally loving that as well.
Our househunting is going well and there are one or two possibilities but more on that when we know for sure. We’re looking around Hengitsbury Head which has lovely beaches, a stunning river, and is close to Christchurch and Southbourne. Unfortunately the pub situation is a little sparse with only a Harvester close by. It is on the river though so has lovely views. It also has cheap wine which is also a plus. Just a 10 to 20 minute walk further would take us into some lovely pubs and restaurants in either Christchurch or Southbourne so we can walk off the booze after a big night out.
Mr Fluffy refused to join me for a jacuzzi yesterday as last time we were here there was a rather unsavoury man doing something unpleasant in it ( I won’t say what). Thankfully I had it to myself yesterday and felt very chuffed that I managed 20 laps of the pool. It’s not Olympic sized, I hasten to add, but it’s a fair size. I left when an extremely cute 4 year old in a minions t shirt and hilarious goggles informed me it was time for his swimming lessons. The thought of dozens of similarly-clad children splashing around would have led to a cuteness overload I would not have been able to cope with.
Tomorrow we are having a meet-up with a structural engineer on one house and checking out another one we’ve been wanting to see for ages but the owner has not been available. Fingers crossed. Then on to Shelton Mallet for the home builders show – who knows.
I’m unable to load photos at present due to the lack of Sandy Ball wee fee action so will put some on at a later date.
After spending the day in Lymington, Graham realised his kayak may be a little outclassed by the super yachts in the harbour so we will not be moving there. As lovely as it is it’s not the place for us. Rather excitingly we found a discarded Nicole Fahri hat in a field so it’s coming home for a good wash for future wearing action.
We moved on to Lyndhurst in the New Forest which had a ferrari dealership on one corner of the High Street and a Maserati dealer on the other. Once again we felt a little outdone and our humble Rav 4 and Fiat 500 would not passs muster so this town is also off the list. There is a great antique centre though and they were very keen on Hugo.
The first time we went to Lulworth Cove a naked man with a gigantic penis emerged from the sea. It was December and the freezing rain and wind did nothing to cause the usual shrinkage that chaps experience in cold weather. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a photo as by the time I had regained consciousness he’d draped a towel around the offending article.
This time, yesterday, we met a film crew. Not quite as eye-popping but rather fabulous as they are making a movie of the book ‘On Chesil Beach’. All that emerged from the sea was a rather attractive cameraman in a figure hugging wetsuit, fresh from filming on a rather attractive sailboat.
Gather No Moss 
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