abbey |

This post is way over due. In fact it was over 2 weeks ago that these photos were taken, but one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place was so that I could look back over time on what I was doing ‘this time last week’, ‘this time last month’, ‘this time a year ago’… so i’m still going to post them anyway.

These photos were taken on Good Friday, the day before Berkay flew back to Turkey. We spent the morning in the park, first in the playground then through the woods and ruins.

The play area was full of children (duh!) but that didn’t stop us having some fun, Berkay enjoyed himself far too much, can you tell? He nearly fell off the funny little swing and had me in fits of giggles.

After the play area we went through the woods at Lesnes Abbey, it was so beautiful. We were the only ones wandering around so it was so peaceful, there were bluebells everywhere, which although we later found out we’re not supposed to pick – Berkay did pick a bunch for me! Sorry bluebells. I love being outside and just walking through the trees and flowers – although the insects, especially wasps, are the not-so-good part. Ewww.

I love these photos of us – we just laid down in the bluebells to get a good photo – look at our happy big brown eyes, ahh. (:

Anyone who knows me knows I love the minions from despicable me, why not embrace your inner child every now and then? I bought this Minion bag a while ago but never use it for fear of looking a bit nuts, but when you’re walking through the woods with nobody else around, why the heck not eh? Hehe. We had some fun with it – sticking it on the wall next to the ‘please keep off the wall’ sign – what a naughty minion 😉

After we’d been at the park for a while, my dad, step mum, brother and sister came for a walk too, since it was good Friday and everyone was off work for the day. My sister had fun climbing the tree and posing for photos. She kept picking daisies for me and running up to give them to me, she’s so sweet.

On the way home we got some ice-cream from the ice-cream van – I chose the marshmallow one was literally what it looks like – a huge vanilla whippy icecream covered in marshmallows and strawberry sauce, it was the best icecream I’ve ever had!! Yum!

I can’t believe this was over 2 weeks ago now – it seems a lot longer. Oh how time flies.

Yesterday while I was at work Berkay text me and said we could go for a little picnic…I knew a cute little place a 15 min walk from dad’s house, so we decided to go there. I picked up some supplies from the shop after work and Berkay met me at the station when I got off the train.

We took a detour to a chip shop then walked up the hill to the park, which even though it’s literally around the corner to my house, I’d never been to before! It has ruins of an old Abbey on the grounds which makes it a really pretty looking place.

We found an empty bench, sat down and served up our picnic. Pasta, chips,crisps, bread, muffins..sunflower seeds 😉 By this time it was 6pm and everyone else in the park were just there to walk their dogs…they must’ve thought we were really strange. It reminded me of the good old days back in Turkey where we’d rock up to the beach fully clothed, pots and pans, cutlery, plates, food, blankets & salt pots in hand…while everyone else was sunbathing!

After we’d eaten we went for a wander around the park, through the ruins, which made for some good funny-photo opportunities 😉

I had no idea how old these ruins were before – but according to google, Lesnes Abbey was built in 1178 … That makes them pretty old!!

It was such a lovely place to just have a walk around – I think I’ll be going for a little wander around there myself once Berkay has gone back – so peaceful, yet popular with dog walkers and children on bikes. The weather was really good – Berkay has been lucky this time. Last April when we were both over, it snowed. He’s never seen England so sunny as it’s been these past 3 weeks, so we’ve been trying to make the most of it.

There were some really lovely trees and flowers around the park too – this being one very old tree – I can imagine it’s very popular with kids trying to climb it in summer, we just about resisted temptation to attempt to climb it ourselves, and instead settled for funny poses. Look at Berkay’s cool pose – all he’s missing is an Efes in hand ha!

We had a lovely 2 hours and it really made me feel like the whole day hadn’t been wasted at work as we’d had quality time together too. Only 3 more days before he goes back…