For the last week have been staying in our friends house in the village of Aspley Guise about 15 minutes outside Milton Keynes.

When we arrived, our friends Gill and Andre and their children Josh (11) and Jordan (5) were in New York on holiday but thanks to lifesaving instructions left by Gill we moved in and found our way around the house, the village and the local area.

In fact we were so well settled that when Gill and Andre and family returned on Friday, they were greeted by the dogs as if they were visitors in their own home with much barking, jumping and running around.  The dogs were delighted to see our friends, however the children were not so sure about seeing the dogs.  It wasn’t helped by Daisy corralling the kids in the corner of the kitchen.

Happily that phase is over and Jordan and Poppie are, apparently, now best friends.  To a casual observer that seems to involve Jordan sitting next to Poppie stroking her with Poppie simply enjoying the added attention.  The way things are going I’m quite expecting to see Poppie dressed up in a frock, wearing lipstick and with high heels on some time in the not to distant future.

The English spring continues to develop with leaves returning to the trees in the garden and a constant supply of spring flowers popping up in the garden unannounced.  The weather, which turned cold last week, is back on track for a warm summer and it’s shorts and T shirts weather at present.

With that, it seems like time to head off to the local farmers market for a look see.