Easter Sunday

Had a lovely Easter Sunday lunch with my family at Nanny's house. We all had a lot of fun and got a lot of chocolate.
That afternoon Liz and I went to look at the ducks on the river Tone.

Hestercombe Gardens

Today Caroline treated Nanny, Barbara and I to a lovely three course lunch at Hestercombe Gardens. Hestercombe is a large manor house with stables and various other buildings. It has a large formal garden with an orangery and sweeping views over the Somerset countryside. Also, 11 years ago they discovered a huge 18 century ? garden complete with a lake, waterfall, Greek temple, octagon tower, war dormitory ruins, Chinese tent, mortuary, "witches house" and other folleys. It would definitely be a wonderful place for a wedding.

In the afternoon, Caroline and I went to have a look at the new ducklings in Vivary Park. Luckily the seagulls have yet to catch one for their dinner.

Birmingham

On Good Friday Vicky and I met up in Birmingham to do a bit of shopping for Madrid (well that was our excuse). Vicky started by missing her train. We stayed at this new hostel called Hatter's. It was really clean and great value for money.

First up we hit the shops... big time. Six hours and much lighter wallets later we took a taxi back to the hostel cause our bags were so heavy. We started drinking pear cider and cherry wine and met our roommates. There were an Italian couple Valentino and Rosa and a Spanish girl Amaia. We had a great time chatting so we all went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and headed into "town".

The next day Vicky and I had lunch at a Wetherspoon's, explored the massive Waterstones in the centre of Birmingham and saw "The Boat that Rocked".

By 8pm we were both exhausted and unfortunately I had to endure a train car of teenage boys yelling and throwing things for the 2 hour ride back to Taunton.

Eden Project

Yesterday Nanny, Barbara, Caroline and I went to the Eden Project down in Cornwall.
The Eden Project is an old quarry that has been turned into a global garden. There are three "biomes" which feature plants in different climates all over the world. It was great to see such an awesome display of sustainability and green appreciation.
We had a lunch of traditional cornish pasties and home made lemonade while looking out over the spring blooms.

Exeter

Last weekend my aunt Sue and I went to Exeter for the day. Exeter is a slightly larger town and has a brand new shopping quarter and a bigger high street than Taunton.
We set out rather early and had lovely coffee at Costa's. Then we spent the next four hours browsing through the shops and (I admit) bought a few *cough* many things. We had planned to look inside the Cathedral there but it was 5 pounds and so not worth it. But we did see the Roman ruins, as pictured.
There was the CUTEST stationary shop I've seen (by FAR) so I spent quite a while looking through everything (and yes I bought things... but they were so cute). All in all it was a really good day.

Madrid Weekend

Scrap Paris. After being really stingy and scouring the Ryanair website for REALLY CHEAP flights Vicky and I decided to go to Madrid for the long-weekend instead. Well actually she said to "surprise her" and then gave me her credit card details to book everything... But I managed to get return flights and accommodation for four nights for around $330 Australian each which is a pretty cheap weekend considering we are going to SPAIN! Party capital and future WYD venue.

Lonely planet and Matador have been great resources although the Madrid metro map is quite confusing. Giving directions to zone A when there are only numbers :S

The biggest thing to watch out for are the pickpockets which are meant to be rife in Madrid. A fiver in each pocket and shoe will do.