26 - 28 September

My holiday with Iz and Rich is drawing to a close. Ilse has to dive into her work and make up for lost impetus. So I have the luxury of time, to catch up with myself and with my blog. As usual, our day starts in the garden.









And if you look closely, you will spy Mr Fox…








The ducks are back on the river.

At 7 we walk down to the excellent local pizzeria, Pasta & Amore. What a lovely vibe! Raffaele serves us personally and his pizzas are ….. judge for yourself!











Scrabble, sleep, wake up, coffee in bed, visit garden…







Then we go food shopping in Twickenham’s M&S, a lovely ride through the villa neighbourhood of Richmond, over Twickenham Bridge, around Richmond Green and now look out for a parking spot. Izzie loves Doris Day style parking, and it never fails!









Autumn is definitely here.






Richmond Theatre

We walk past the wellknown Danieli’s ice cream shop, through narrow alleyways and onto the high street to get to M&S, work through our list, buy at self-service, and return to the car.


































This posting box has a crocheted beret













London is full of barbers.

Another feature of London is its Wisterias. In springtime those lovely creepers charm the socks off you! Here we found an ancient Wisteria.


Looking up
Looking down

The whole plant









The local pub’s flower pots and hanging baskets are magnificent, rather unbelievably lush.














Back through the alleys to Richmond Green, and the lovely drive through Twickenham, Isleworth and St Margaret’s to 165 Haliburton Road.














It is a day of rest and packing. At night, after a wonderful meal, we play a round of Scrabble, and then turn in.

Sunday! My last day. It starts as usual in the garden. It gives me such pleasure to see how much they love their little paradise!


Middle Kingdom









Richard wants to turn this braai room into a gym






















Then Izzie and I drive to Richmond Park for a last walk in one of London’s finest open spaces. We pop into the church on the corner - it is Sunday and it is open.















In Richmond Park there are loads of hikers, but also lots of bikers.


















Here it started to drizzle, blown along by the wind, so this couple sat sheltering under the tree, but in hindsight they got wet in any case, because this drizzle never let up!


































We found this newly chopped down tree, and wondered what it was. We could see it was no oak. I guessed a kind of maple, acer, and that was right, according to Izzie’s research.













Richmond Park is famous for its fallow deer and stags. It is rutting season, and we’re hoping to see them. After one hour in the rain, nothing! And then they started appearing.






We saw herds of deer and quite a number of stags, young and old, and that really made my day! Despite being drenched on all sides (at least my head was dry!), I was super happy to have braved real London weather and done a hike of two hours in the rain!
Here are a few more images of what I loved in Richmond Park: a green woodpecker’s ‘nest’,



a hollowed-out tree,


Dewed-up spider’s webs
Autumn leaves




And as we were driving out, we encountered this juvenile stag.



Now it’s time for a nice late lunch before I tackle my flight back home. I have been so overwhelmed with kindness and bederf during my stay! I love you dearly, IznRich!

Izzie takes me to the airport, drops me, hugs me goodbye and off I go.



I’m deeply grateful for a most wonder-filled and love-filled time in the UK! Au revoir until my next travel!



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