Walk in Bradgate Park

Not a lot happened last week, apart from a bit of baby-
sitting, looking after Little Ava while her mum went to
one of the university libraries to read up some news on
food hygiene. (Her mum, R, is an environmental health
inspector who is about to return to work (part-time), after
a year off with maternity leave).
We heard that our eldest daughter, Em, has been successful
in getting the rented house she wanted in Beeston (which is
on west side of Nottingham, nearer the M1). She and her new
bloke are moving their stuff in over the next week or so -
Mrs C and I will be giving them a helping hand. By living
together under one roof, they will save £300 a month on rent.
The savings of (living in) sin.
Yesterday, Mrs C and I went to Leicester to spend the day
with relatives there (Mrs C's brother and his wife). They are
both keen walkers, and we all went off on a 6+ mile walk around
the local parkland at Swithland and Bradgate. There is an old
slate quarry in the centre of Swithland Park, which is now a
lake with fairly steep craggy sides to it, the rest being forest
with woodland walks going through it.

Bradgate Park contains the ruins of a Tudor manor house (Bradgate
Hall, which was Lady Jane Grey's home in the old days), surrounded
by open parkland. The weather was warm, (around 20 deg C) with a
mixture of sunshine and cloud -- ideal for walking. There were some
nice tea shops in Newton Lindley, a nearby village, where we
stopped off for a pot of tea and cakes -- delicious carrot cake,
and coffee and walnut cake. We don't normally eat such fattenning
things, but we needed some extra calories to keep us going.

The way back to the car took us past a lovely herd of deer, which
seemed to be very tame -- most deer run for it if they see anyone
approach them. These would have been sitting ducks if we were
poachers.