Lloyd Rowling

Today, Jen, Fi, Ollie and myself all went to Ryde on the Isle of Wight to enjoy the sunny weather on the beach.

As the water at Ryde is very shallow, the ferry lands at the end of a pier which is 2,234 feet long. There is also a hovercraft service from Southsea which goes straight into Ryde, but getting to the ferry is easier for us plus we enjoy the walk along the pier into town.

Ollie and Ffion enjoyed playing in the sand, digging holes, paddling and chasing each other and Fi loved being buried. Ollie did her a hairstyle with seaweed.

We watched as a boat ran aground in the shallow waters and the crew had to get out, turn it round and push it back out to sea. Oops!

After the beach we went to a fair where Ffion had a go on the waterballs, helter skelter, crazy golf and a scarey ride that span her and Ollie upside down!

Video of Ffion on the Waterballs

We had a drink and a sandwich then strolled back to the ferry for the journey home.

We all had a great day… and seem to have come home with half of the beach in our shoes!

After dinner this evening, Jen, Fi, Richard and I went to Lee for a walk and an ice cream.

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Phew, what a scorcher!

I’m coming to the end of some leave I’ve taken over Easter and feel like I’ve had a summer holiday! The weather has been as good as a hot summer and I hope this continues for some time yet.

I took Ffion to see the new Winnie the Pooh film this morning which she thoroughly enjoyed. Then after Jen came home from work, we headed off to the beach.

Jen and Fi went for a paddle.

We then buried Fi in the shingle which she thought was great!

The schools re-open tomorrow and I’m back at work on Wednesday, but we all certainly feel like we’ve had a break!

Today, Jen, Ffion and I went to Earnley Butterflies, Birds and Beasts near Chichester.

We both enjoy photographing butterflies in particular so this promised to be a real treat. We were not disappointed, and in fact were quite impressed with the whole place as it also had a large area of free flying birds, one of which was rather cheeky, a reptile rescue centre, a selection of farmyard animals plus various exhibits to look at.

This bird was trouble!

After landing on Jen’s feet, he proceeded to explore my foot and then set about tearing chunks of leather off of my sandles!

Click to watch a short video

It then pearched on Jen’s arm for a while, much to Ffion’s amusement!

After this, we explored the rest of the centre. They had hundreds of tortoises!

The farmyard animals were popular with the children.

These two were getting quite grumpy with each other:-

And then there were the talking birds. This fellow was as cheeky as he looks!

And then of course there were the beautiful butterflies:-

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Jen was at work this morning, so I asked the children where they would like to go and Ffion excitedly asked for Portchester Castle.

This was originally a Roman fort which developed into a mediaeval castle, a royal palace and finally a Napoleonic prison. It lays claim to being the best preserved Roman fort north of The Alps.

We took the bus there which didn’t take long and as soon as we arrived Ffion wanted to climb to the top of the keep. This is accessed using a rather scary spiral staircase. There are some magnificent views from the top of Portsmouth Harbour.

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We had some cold pizza and an ice cream at the bottom and finally wandered around the church before catching the bus home.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and no doubt will be heading there again soon… if Ffion has her way!