Tony and Clare Visit Weymouth.

WARNING: This post contains material sponsored by Len Boyd.

Last weekend Sarah's brother Tony and his wife Clare visited us for the weekend. They arrived on Friday night. The children were all very excited and kept on asking Sarah all afternoon "When are Tony and Clare arriving". There was mild panic when they called Sarah to say that they would be an hour late but in the end they arrived at the expected time. After a lovely roast dinner we went for a walk down to the local castle - Sandsfoot.

Ella had turned the house into a hotel for the guests and with Sarah's help they were served breakfast in bed at the specified time on Saturday morning. Tony and Clare had filled in their food requests the night before. We then walked into town, with a stop off to show the where the school is.

That's the school the children go to. Thornlow Prep

Everyone in front of the school

Along the way to add some culture I also pointed out to Tony,  Weymouth's oldest pub The Boot.

Everyone in front of the boot

The town bridge was open to allow the sailing boats in the marina to sail out to the outer harbour and ocean. Bit like the spit bridge but without the traffic.

Tony (the shopaholic) had purchased a collection of pre WWII Punch magazines that were too heavy to travel with, so a trip was made to the post office. The children didn't complain too much because there is an ice cream shop in the post office. Nothing like an ice cream for a healthy morning tea. It was a beautiful sunny day and we then headed over to the Esplanade and beach. For Australians it was sunny but not that warm but for the English it was beach weather. We all lay on the beach - (which has sand not pebbles - the sand was imported)

Sarah took the children on a pedal boat to keep them busy.

We had a nice lunch in a pizza restaurant overlooking the harbour. The lunch was partially sponsored by a generous grant from Len Boyd.

After lunch we walked home for everyone to have a rest and Ella to go to a party. In the evening we went to visit Clare's cousin Andy who lives in Lyme Regis about an hour away. The kids loved it. Andy had a collection of big boy's toys which he showed the kids.

In your dreams Simon!

Andy taking the kids for joy rides around the field

It was quite a late night. We only started dinner around 8PM and it was still light then. At about 9PM Ella lay on the couch next to the dinner table and asked people to be quiet and then promptly fell asleep. In the end we only got home at about 11 after a great evening.

On Sunday morning, the hotel staff were tired and the guests were left to fend for themselves. Sarah then took Tony and Clare to explore Portland (for some Ella-free time).

Walking in Portland

When the explorers returned we headed off to lunch at the Smuggler's Inn at Osmington Mills, which is a little village outside of Weymouth along the coast.

After a lovely lunch once again made possible from the generous grant from our sponsor we went for a walk to look at the beach.

Tony found the fossilised finger from a long gone smuggler.

In the afternoon, the Boyd-Harris family all had a rest and got ready for the next week. Tony and Clare went off for more exploring. Tony found a real English beach - Chesil beach - about 30km of pebbles.

Everyone had a great weekend and the children loved seeing the Aunt and Uncle. We all enjoyed meeting Clare's cousins.

On the Monday, Sarah drove up to Wimborne to see Clare's Granny's old house where Clare had spent several happy holidays. We also visited the lovely old Wimborne Minster which is a church dating from the 1300s. Wimborne is a lovely town and we did a bit of shopping and had a nice morning tea there. Then Clare and Tony drove off to Cambridge en route to visiting more of Clare's relatives.