All the Fun of the Fair

From Dublin it was back to London to pick up a pesky suitcase before packing off to Kent for our final weekend. The country side of Kent may be special, but we headed to Kent to spend the last weekend of our trip with the Wagstaff clan.

After catching the train up on Friday evening with Mark, we arrived to find the James, Tom, and Emma making their final preparations for the next day's village fair. James was finishing off a fruit cake while Tom was putting the final touches on his veggie sculpture.



Mark shows the croquet form that left him undefeated over the weekend.



The Wagstaff residence may look peaceful from the outside, but inside it was all systems go in readiness for the fair.

With a little guidance from Anne, it seemed the kids had 387 of the 3 billion or so categories covered, including "Strangest Potato" and best "Nut Cluster". But it was the sponge cake category that seemed to be the most hotly contested. While James produced a classic example, Emma gambled that one or two of the judges may just have a sweet tooth and lashed out on the icing sugar.

After a hectic Saturday morning it was off to the hall to submit the entries. The competiton looked tough, but the kids were confident.

We returned in the afternoon to find the Wagstaff's had cleaned up in most categories. Best of all, once back at the house we were able to eat lashings of cake!

What a fabulous way to finish outr trip; great company, terrific cake and some pretty ordinary croquet (Mark and James excluded).

Dubbers

From bustling Brissle we boarded a puddle jumper to Dublin to see our dear friend Melissa. Having dropped over to spend some time with us on the Amalfi, it was only fair that we return the visit. Melissa is our favourite brainiac and is currently teaching the good students of Trinity College the finer points of globilisation.


The inner sanctum of Trinity College.
You feel 10 IQ points smarter just walking into the quad!

It was great to see Melissa and check out Dubbers. As well as a day trip into the nearby hills, we we given a insider's tour of Trinity's hollowed halls. We were even treated to tea in the staff room. Woo hoo!!

Dublin had all the feel of a city very much on the up. Busy, thriving and diverse. And to a first timer like myself, it felt more European than English.



We celebrated our last night with a wonderful dinner in the nearby fishing point of Howth. Thank you Melissa for showing us your current home and giving up your very comfy bed for 4 nights. Great to see you as always.