We travelled by car to Sydenham, an area of London, which is close to Bromley.
Deciding to take the plunge, we booked into
rooms for the first time. We were lucky to find a house that was new to the website and therefore relatively cheap. It was also spotlessly clean and although the rooms were small, they were well furnished and attractive.
Amazingly enough, our hostess gave us the run of her little house, with the exception of a couple of locked rooms. We only saw her once on our arrival.
After settling in to our lovely accommodation, we drove to Bromley, to meet up with the children's grandparents, We enjoyed a lovely meal together at Cafe Rouge. Granny had bought each of the children a pocket activity book - a cross word puzzle book for Sarah and a book of mazes for Matthew. They were inspired presents. Sarah wiled away the evening, quietly working through the puzzles and occasionally involved us in helping to solve the clues.
Matthew got us all to try the taster pot of snails on the menu, and although we were glad we went along with his idea, we all agreed that they were not at all to our taste.
The next morning we drove to the hotel to meet up with the family for breakfast.
We followed their taxi to the registry office where my husband's young cousin was to be married.
It was a bright, sunny day and the couple were duly blessed in marriage.
We squashed back into the car with a couple of extra passengers for a five minute drive to the Reception. This was held in the beautiful garden of a large house, belonging to another of Paul's cousin's. It was the perfect venue and was a relaxed and happy afternoon of celebrations.
During the speeches, we discovered to our delight, that both the Bride and Groom were home schooled. The bridegrooms mother gave a toast to home schooling families.
The next day, we wandered into Central London by tube with Paul's cousin, her husband and children. We enjoyed a picnic in Green Park, while the children took selfies by the gates of Buckingham Palace.
Matthew bought a miniature Big Ben with a working clock. We nearly missed the train, as we had to run back to the shop to get a replacement. But all was well that ended well.
We returned to our accommodation to collect our luggage, after a lovely walk through the suburbs of Bromley.
