Tiger Longwing

As promised the weather was hideous, rainy and cold, so we shelved our plans to walk round Stratford and headed for the Butterfly Farm instead, which was hot and steamy, with very little light. Chris and Alex had been a little reluctant to go in, because it was rather packed with families, but in the end we all had an excellent time - it took me right back to when the boys were young. Now Chris has seen many of these species in their natural habitats!

Afterwards we headed to a pub for some Dutch courage before meeting up with all my half-siblings and their families for a boat trip along the Avon. With over thirty of us on board it was a fairly riotous event, but great fun and an excellent way to celebrate R's 80th birthday. It was great to see everybody, including some members of the family that I'd never met and others who I hadn't seen for thirty years.

In the evening a rather smaller contingent of us shared a meal at the hotel where most of them were staying. The food left a little to be desired, but the company was good and we ended up lingering in the bar till quite late. Rather bizarrely, one of Lizzy's colleagues was in Stratford that weekend, so he came and joined us - we left the younger generation to make their own way back to the cottage!