Great day out!

Yesterday i went on one of my favorite days out - Badminton Horse Trials - i will add its not just horses!!!

Badminton house (above) is a beautiful country house set in amazing grounds in the middle of lovely countryside - the drive down takes you through some stunning little villages - so even though you have to queue there is something nice to look at! And queue you certainly do - especially if, like me, you go onthe Saturday which is cross country day. Apparently there are more people who come to this event than anything else throughout the UK in the year! This time hubby came with me and was amazed at how big it was and how many people there were. There are also dogs, of all shapes and sizes everywhere!!! We didn't take ours as Lilly is a bit too old and Molly is so neurotic!!! The funniest thing i saw was a man with two Pyrannean Mountain Dogs - why he bought them i do not know as he could hardly hang on to them and at one point was whisked off his feet when one of them wanted to go see another dog - i wish i could have taken a pic but i was soo close i didn't think he'd be very impressed!!!

As i said its not only watching the riders go cross country there's lots and lots of shopping!!! Some people come only to shop - i like to do both!!! First we decided to walk the course and watch the competitors tackle the huge jumps -

this is a mahoosive table and chairs. Its brilliant to watch horse and rider tackle it like its nothing at all!!!
I won't bore you with all my pics, but you get the idea! I did see Zara Phillips in the warm up arena on her beautiful horse Toytown - Princess Anne was there watching her.

After walking around for a few hours my stomach told me it was time for lunch so we went over to the trade stands - there are soo many foodie things you are spoilt for choice but i soon went for one of these

I love Pimms and it was sooo nice as i wasn't driving home!!! So this was then followed by these

a bacon bap and a cuppa!!! Its amazing how hungry you get out in the fresh air!!!

So after suitable rest we went and had a look at the shopping

i was very restrained and just bought myself and Em a couple of tops - but i did have to buy this and hubby agreed (we have a couple of these beautiful paintings by the same artitist)

its just stunning.

We also fantasized about having one of these in the garden

So after another cuppa and a crepe,we wandered back to the wagon and headed home. I was shattered so it was a lovely surprise when our son and his girlfriend had decided to make us all dinner - so we had this

a gorgeous pasta dish with peppers and toms and onions - and these with it

toasted mini pizza muffins with feta - this pic from the cook book as we didn't have the courgettes on top as son doesn't like them!!

A perfect end to a lovely day!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

xxxx