Rye and Hastings Again- this time with more of the Liews!

Another truly belated post but needs to be chronicled. We have been thrilled since we were given the good news that my bro-in-law had gotten the Chevening Scholarship. I have to include a photo of our guestroom that we so excitedly prepared in waiting for them. Needless to say, we couldn't sleep the night before. :) We're excited like that. Finally, they arrived fresh off the plane. I just loved seeing their expressions. It really took us back to when we first arrived too. We had a lovely lunch at a cafe nearby. The obligatory full English Breakfast with the Liew family members. 

After a homemade hearty roasted chicken dinner, we had a good night's sleep.

 As we had a few days to spare with them before they left to begin his studies, we decided immediately to go to Rye again as it is such a pretty town. We also decided to go to the beautiful heritage spot (To see this, you can click on our previous visit) and Hastings.

We found this fish bar which served such yummy cod bites. Highly recommend this.

 We dapau-ed some food from the fish bar and enjoyed it on the grounds of the famous church.  After which we took a walk around the area and had some Fro-yo on the warm autumn day. Such fun!

We set off to Hastings for the seafood bar which we tried the last time with some friends. Enjoyed the briny dishes by the sea.

We later stopped at the heritage site after dapau-ing more food from the Blue Dolphin (a Liews' must-do). I felt very tired so I didn't go down. 

It was very calming and just what everyone needed after such an exciting time for us and labour-intensive few months for my bro-in-law and his wife.

P.S: Wishing him all the best with his final exams as I am writing this! ;)

Birthday Visit and Summer Fun

Happy birthday to my dear husband! 

(A year late but in the month of May nonetheless- yes, I am on a roll with backdated posts) 

My in-laws arrived on the birthday itself. Joyous celebration with some cheesecake and gifts from afar.

We joined my boss and family for a rainy day of strawberry-picking.

Look at the size of those things! They were very yummy.

They hosted us generously in their beautiful home and celebrated the birthdays of the May babies. Our lovely friends in London also hosted us for a meal giving my mother-in-law a chance to break in her new pot. The stew was to die for.

On a sunny day, we took a trip to Rye and Hastings. This was the midway stop at the heritage spot.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...♪♫

My mother-in-law also managed to visit Charles Spurgeon's grave which was surprisingly very near our home. My in-laws gifted us with sports bands as a boost to our new fitness regime.

We watched a very tense Thomas Cup Final, after which a relaxing picnic in Dulwich Park was needed.

 Richmond Park was next on the summer agenda. We had another picnic and got upclose to the beautiful deer.

This visit, we cemented our love for Toby Carvery. The ice-cream and Yorkshire pudding are simply heavenly.

This has become a traditional celebratory place for the Liews now. :)

Rye and Hastings

On a beautiful spring weekend, we put on our walking shoes and set off to Rye. 

I had never been so thrilled at the sight of cattle grazing. Like a Fernleaf ad.

We stopped on the way to have a picnic on a beach.

I made some early birthday cupcakes for the hubby and packed them for the picnic.

Posing with their initials... :)

We had brought quite a spread as you can see. Our friend very kindly made a brioche and hard boiled eggs which as it turns out is perfect picnic food. Our other friend had managed to get very tasty sandwiches and rolls for £1 each! Brillant.

After stuffing ourselves, the boys kicked a ball around.

A yellow lab soon came along and joined in. There were cute little airplanes flying right over where we were sitting.

We drove on to a heritage spot (I don't really know what it's called) somewhere between Rye and Hastings. We parked and started walking across the stunning green. We could see windmills in a distance.

Blue and green, so calming to the eye.

The paths diverged and we chose a dark cosy hedged path which led out to a steep walk down towards the cliff overlooking the sea.

Bluebell season.

The breathtaking views from the side of the cliff.

We sat on a bench opposite this view for a while. It was silent except for the wind and movements of the water below. Surreal experience. My favourite thing to do.

We drove towards Rye and saw this gorgeous steam train chugging away in front of us. How pretty.

We arrive in Rye and took a walk through the town centre. Beautiful place with historical architecture and cobbled paths.

There was a wedding taking place in the church on the left and we saw the bridal party taking photos after the ceremony. There was a street full of interesting houses: one of them said The House with Two Front Doors (pictured below). 

There were lovely bookshops and gift shops with lovely novelty items with witty designs. We could have spent all day there. 

Upstairs of the visitor centre, there was a whole collection of old arcade games from a long time ago which used a penny each to operate. Half of them were really bizarre! The picture on the right was about spotting 9 things that moved very slightly. :)

After visiting Rye, we went on to Hastings and made it just in time before the seafood bar closed. We got calamari and crab with roe. So so delicious!

We bought a postcard featuring a famous local artist's version of this street view.

We had some lovely fish and chips for dinner by the sea and headed home to rest our weary feet.