On Tuesday, we welcomed dear Californian friends to our “beautiful” home… ! As we sat in the garden to escape the noise of the demolition, we heard the noise of another machine, appearing to come from the opposite direction. Sure enough, a bright blue tractor suddenly appeared from behind the shrubbery and we were greeted with a wave and a smile from the chap who cuts our grass! He wasn’t alone, for his colleague was there with her petrol strimmer as well. For an hour or so there really was no escape!

But of course there was. We went on a small adventure, taking our friends along the Bridle Path which we access from our garden gate. There, the wild flowers and birds were in abundance and the joys of being here in Gloucestershire on a warm, early Summer afternoon became more apparent.

We’d planned days out whilst they were here, knowing that home might get a little noisy during the day. On Wednesday I had an appointment at the hairdresser in Cirencester, so whilst I enjoyed my cut and blow dry, the others went exploring. My hairdresser smiled as she brushed my hair through prior to washing, as a bit of plant stuff fell onto the floor. “I can tell life is far from routine right now”, she observed!

After a delicious lunch at a favourite spot - my bream (above) with samphire, dauphinoise potatoes, brown shrimp and lobster bisque was delicious! - we continued up the Fosse Way to Daylesford, where we thought we’d have a wander around and a cup of tea.

That proved to be trickier than we thought. Quite why we couldn’t find somewhere to sit outdoors with a pot of tea remains a mystery, given that there were heaps of empty tables here and there and it was 3.30pm by now and well past lunchtime. Never mind…we were heading on into Cheltenham soon and we knew just the place to go.

Except.

By the time we reached Cheltenham it was 5pm or so and anywhere likely to be serving a cup of tea was closed! What is happening to this country when it proves impossible to get a cuppa at tea time!?

We had tickets for the Everyman Theatre, so we simply headed there a little earlier than planned and found what we were after in the cafe-bar there.

We had booked tickets for The Cotswold Savoyards performance of Singin’ in the Rain - very good it was too! We tapped our feet and enjoyed the show very much indeed, even if one or two of the American accents were a little dodgy!

A full day, then! Our game of spot the difference when we arrived home was easily solved, because we had the first “wall” in place! But another early start tomorrow, so there was most certainly no late night chatter and no time for any more reruns of The Repair Shop on iPlayer!

(All our American friends love The Repair Shop - any US TV executives reading might take note!)