Since we got back from Download Festival, everything has been complete chaos in our house. We began renovating it last year. However, with the rewire being complete things have taken a sudden gallop forward. All the plaster on the walls was absolute rubbish, so that’s all had to be smashed off and new plaster put on. There has been a lot of dust and upheaval! The end is now nigh, with plastering due to finish this week. I’ll be glad, as it has added a lot of extra pressure to our lives. Nevertheless, last weekend we managed to get away from it all for a few hours to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary in Teston, near Maidstone in Kent.
Being skint from Download and renovations, as well as the general financial stress of the cost of living crisis, we didn’t have much money to spare. As such, many of my ideas of how to celebrate got dismissed by one or both of us! (Also, on a separate note, I have no idea how 7 years has happened. The 7 years of our non-married relationship went way slower than the past 7!)
Lunch and Cream Tea
I was talking with my mum and happened to mention I’d love to have a cream tea somewhere. She suggested going to Where Memories Meet in Wateringbury and then a walk nearby. We love Teston Bridge Country Park and were astonished to realise we hadn’t been there since before we had the children! So, it was time to change that. Fortunately, the forecast was set to be warm and sunny. We even managed to convince Autumn to not nag us about the playground too much, which was mostly effective.
Where Memories Meet is a quirky little place, with an antique and vintage shop downstairs. I had a cheese, cucumber and mango chutney sandwich on granary bread which kind of blew my mind. It wasn’t a combination I’d ever have thought of, but was delicious. My husband had a salad that he said was also really good and the children enjoyed their sandwiches. Reuben is fussy and normally doesn’t eat much of a sandwich, but he almost ate the whole thing!
I was so pleased that I had room left for a cream tea. The scones were perfect; buttery, a bit crumbly and not too dry. I can’t stand a dry scone! There were many types of tea that I’d have love to have tried, but I opted for a decaf tea to go with my scone. I didn’t know if a fruity or herbal tea might be a bit too much with the jam and cream.
Exploring Teston Bridge Country Park
Once we had all finished eating and explored some of the old treasures, we hopped into the car for the 3 minute drive to Teston Bridge Country Park. It was wonderful to just have a fairly chilled out walk with the children in the sunshine. It’s not something we get to do very often with the general melee of daily life.
We meandered through the countryside alongside the water, enjoying watching boats, kayakers and wildlife all harmoniously using the sparkling river.
Of course, we eventually made it to the playground. I believe the new playground at Teston Bridge Country Park was only opened a couple of weeks ago and we found it really good. With an 18 month old and almost 6 year old, playgrounds can be a little tricky when we go out sometimes. However, this one was suitable for children across a range of ages had a really good variety of play equipment. I had so much fun pushing them both on the swings and watching Reuben pop out of the tunnel with a big grin on his face.
It was one of those glorious days that you wish you could just bottle up and return to every time things feel a bit rubbish.