Santa Run #2

The Old Mill is situated very conveniently for a pleasant stroll into the Salisbury City centre, across the meadows made famous by John Constable. So after a hearty breakfast yesterday, off we set.  I needed some bits and pieces before we headed off to Winchester. It was a lovely walk to start the day.

Then we hopped in the car and took ourselves off to Winchester, via the Salisbury Waitrose so I could post the last of the calendars.  The Waitrose car park was absolute bedlam!  I am hoping to go this morning to do the last of the Christmas food shopping.  We need to get there well before half past ten that we were there for yesterday morning!

And so to Winchester, where we met up with The Builder's other two granddaughters, their mother and her partner, and little Freddie who will be one on Christmas Eve.  We haven't met Freddie before (we don't get to Winchester very often) and he is a real cutie.  To say that he hadn't met either of us before, he was remarkably friendly and happy to play with us.  We had a nice cup of tea and exchanged presents.  Then we went for a wander around Winchester before hopping in the car and heading back to Salisbury for a spot of lunch.  Which we had in the Boathouse which sits beside the Avon, at the side of the super enormous central car park.  Neither of us has ever been in there before and it was more than acceptable.

We dropped by to visit Gwen, but she wasn't feeling at her brightest and best so we headed back to The Old Mill for a quiet end to a lovely day.  We had an entirely unnecessary dinner in the restaurant.  Not that food was unnecessary, but I think we could probably have done with a sandwich and soup rather than the scampi that The Builder had and the stuffed chicken breast that I had.  I few we are going to have to go on a starvation diet when I go back to work in January.  :-D

Freddie and his mum Chloe

There are new people at The Old Mill and they have opened up the water race in the ancient building that houses the restaurant and which it is thought was once a cloth mill and then was later a paper mill.  It's very beautiful

It's ok, you won't fall in. They've covered it with perspex

Breakfast Builder

And we collected a rather nice bridge while we were in Salisbury yesterday morning

Right.  Time to griddle our  lions and brave the frenzy that is likely to be Waitrose.  Wish us luck!