Cheers to Colchester

Foodie moment

For the first time this trip I am giving the foodie moment to us! In order to enjoy the red wine we brought back from Bordeau for Barbabra, she decided roast lamb would be a good match. We cooked Roast Lamb on the bone in a honey, garlic, mustard, balsamic and rosemary marinate/crust. For our first attempt i thought it was quite good!

Another traditional English food is the Cornish Pastie. Although these were not probably as good as the authentic ones they were still pretty great! We had one traditional (beef, potato and onion) and one lamb and mint

Fish and chips on the beach - the haddock and scampi were great!

Cultural moment

A bit of a scary one - whilst at the pier we visited the fair. Full of rides and games we came across a selection of machines set up just like pokie machines.... but for children. The sight of the children sitting in front of the screens feeding in 2p coins from their little cups was really disturbing! Not the best habits to be establishing one would think!===

Wow moment

Our arrival back in Colchester coincided with two things: a wonderful sunny spell and the Colchester Beer festival. So many local and Belgium beers to choose from, we had to be picky or not survive the day (especially as the tastings were half pints!). We liked some, struggled with others (Stout!) but it was great day sitting sipping on beers, eating roast pork rolls in the sun......in the graveyard!

A day trip to Frinton (A beach town for mainly the retired, about 40 minutes from Barbaras) was a great way to spend a sunny Sunday. There were lots of families out enjoying the sunshine and we walked all the way along to the pier in the next town.

What we learnt today

The sun comes up at 4am!!! I woke in a panic as i thought we must have slept in but it was just 4am! You think they might want to add more hours to daylight saving to prevent this but then it would be light in the evenings till after midnight - which I can imagine would be hard for getting the kids to bed!!