10th August 2025

 

           Dear All,

 

Highlight this week has undoubtedly been the visit of Esther, Emma, Amelie & Albert. They arrived Sunday evening and were only here until Tuesday evening but they packed quite a lot in. The weather was not promising on Monday so we were home based. Albert helped return the show boards to Rampton then helped pick Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Runner and French Beans, Courgettes and Raspberries. After we planted lettuce and resowed them. We then invented a new game on the Green involving the Zip Line and a football. Meanwhile Amelie was finishing off the drawings for a cartoon book which is fantastic and could easily be taken for a professional job.

 

 

Albert Zipping

 

 

Amelie Composing

 

On Tuesday we took the Guided Bus to Cambridge starting at Weatherspoon’s for lunch then off to the river for a punting session. Hiring a boat and a punter has risen to £250 for an hour! So we did our own thing which was an adventure as it is about 40 years since I last punted and the river was very busy.

 

 

Punting Adventure!

 

 

Better

 

 

Alright for Some!

 

 

Amelie, Albert, Mike, Kate, Esther & Emma at the Allotment

 

The official Thursday walk was from Thaxted which is an hour away for us so we did a local recce round the ever changing scene at Northstowe. We discovered the allotments, sports facilities and the new scenic lakes. After we planned to look at the historic features in Willingham church but it was locked up so we retired to the new café opposite which I christened spectacularly by knocking my Latte over the table, wall and floor!

 

 

Northstowe New Community Centre

 

 

Northstowe Little Boxes!

 

 

Northstowe Lakes

 

My craft activity this week was painting the garden table green to match the seat.

 

 

While Kate has turned some of our excess Tomato crop into soup.

 

 

Tomato Soup

 

Saturday evening we were invited to join a vast gathering at Over Community Centre to celebrate Peter and Carol Smith’s 50^th Wedding Anniversary. Peter was cricket captain, rugby coach and school teacher so knew many people and most of them turned up for the celebration. I met several folk that I had not seen for 20 years or more.

 

Best wishes

Mike & Kate