26th July 2010

My wonderful parents have taken my adorable children away for the first week of the holidays. They have only gone as far as Stafford and they are camping... but it's at a Bible Week which the kids really get a lot out of as well as having a lot of fun. I nurtured the idea of romantic interludes with Simon but various work and church commitments have got in the way. So I have decorated Susie's bedroom! It looks so good and, amazingly, can be done very quickly when there are no interruptions! Anyway - on the Monday of the Bible Week there is no daytime meetings so I went up and joined them for a day. We ventured out to Sudbury Hall, a National Trust property which has the National Museum of Childhood on site, and (crucially!) a National Trust tea room! (I suspect Heaven will feature National Trust tea rooms!)

Sudbury Hall
Sneaky Coffee-ers: Anna, Ethan, Naomi, Edward, Susie, Mum and Dad
Bought: Three coffees, four ice creams, three variations of cake (fruit for me, millionaires shortbread for Mum, a tea cake for Dad), then later on three mugs of coffee
Cost: Not cheap! The first round was £15.?? and the second was nearly £6.
Cafe: Typical of the genre, a converted stable block (or similar!) with light pine tables and chairs, canteen style service with unutterably tempting cakes on display!
Position: But we sat on the picnic tables outside!
And: Nice coffee BUT the cheapest option (still £1.60) was a CUP, a small cup! You can pay more for a mug or even more for a large mug but I think the cup is too small.

However - the rest of the museum and the play area are excellent and very well worth a re-visit.