A quick detour to Romsey, Hampshire

This particular Easter holiday has been longer than the usual school term break. Translation for non parents: the kids have a higher than average chance of turning into rabid and feral animals. The solution is to unload these creatures into a large park and let them run and run and run and run and run until they drop from exhaustion. Literally.

Sir Harold Hillier Gardens cover 180 acres of land and enough variety of plants to send a keen gardener into raptures. I'm a convicted plant murderer so thanks to my friend Tara, I now know how to pronounce rho-do-den-dron. Just in case you're as clueless as I am.......I took a photo (the pink mass of blossoms) to remind myself of what they look like. As for the kids, there's a wobbly bridge, a treehouse that doubles as a slide and plenty of space to do infinite number of cartwheels.

I made Tara, aka driver aka friend screech to a halt by the side of the road so I could dash into a rapeseed field just as the sun was setting. And......promptly walked into a bush of stinging nettles. Pfffft. I tried rubbing dock leaves onto my bare ankles to neutralize the stings but what really stopped the welts from developing further (and take away the frigging pain) was the incredible paw paw ointment. This wonder drug has been a lifesaver on numerous occasions. The things we (or rather I) go through just to take a photo.