TG did a (very) small amount of schoolwork this morning - she is so conscientious normally that we could hardly complain that she decided to take it easy on her birthday - then went out for a walk with H and her BF after lunch. One of her gifts was a FitBit so she was motivated to walk and get her step count up! After they got back, M and I went for a our walk. We drove a short way to have a change of scenery and walked round the area where I lived between the ages of 3 and 15.
One of the footpaths on our route took us past our old farm (above). In our time the house was part thatched and part tiled. When my parents bought it, the roof was fully thatched but sloped down to the right hand side in the photo, so much so that the upstairs room at the end was too low to be usable. They had building work done to raise the roof, which is why that end was tiled. Since we moved away the whole place has had a lot of money spent on it. The house has been "restored" and extended. I picked up a brochure when it was up for sale some years ago, and it is very different to how it was when we lived there - my parent's bedroom is now part of a "galleried entrance hall" for example! The original heart of the house was very old. We thought it was Tudor, but heritage records date part of the framework to the 15th century. In our day it was a working farm, with mostly old boarded outbuildings and a couple of modern barns. Now it is an equestrian centre, with modern barns and stables, and a garden courtyard in what was the farmyard. Even the name has gone up market, from simple "Hill Farm" to "Hollingdon Grange".
We walked back across fields to the village church. The cattle in this field were very curious and followed us right up to the gate. They were young bullocks and may have been hoping for food! The church is mostly 14th and 15th century. I remember there being a "squint" window looking from the one side of the aisle towards the altar, and an organ which still needed someone to pump air through it with bellows.
Birthday celebrations continued in the evening. A nearby branch of Nandos (a restaurant chain specialising in spicy chicken and a favourite of TG's) has reopened for pre-ordered takeaway and delivery, and we put in an order for dinner which the three younger members of the family went to collect. The restrictions of the last few months have made us appreciate treats like this so much more! After dinner R and her partner came over with their dog. They went for a walk with TG, H and her BF, then we all sat in the garden and chatted and played with the dog for an hour or so. This was the first time we had seen R since M's birthday back in March, so it was extra nice to catch up in person. I think we all really enjoyed today, and TG felt it had been a particularly good birthday.
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