One by one, the first weekend in July began to fill with lovely entries in our diaries. Firstly, the long-established celebration of my Hero’s birthday which always gives us an excellent focus for a treat of some kind. A few months ago, when I was thinking of plans for 2024, an invitation to a family wedding arrived for that same weekend and as I marked it in the calendar, I began to make some plans, all of which came to fruition in the last few days.

We decided to base ourselves in The Star, Alfriston for the weekend. We’d enjoyed our stay there last autumn and were happy to have an reason to return. We drove to East Sussex across country on Friday, arriving in the late afternoon with a car full of carefully thought through outfits for a variety of occasions.

We had booked the same room as last time, looking forward to a weekend in comfortable surroundings and our stay got off to an excellent start!

Our oldest friends live just up the road in Eastbourne and we enjoyed a lovely evening in their company. They had wisely booked a taxi so had no more worries about their drive home than we had about staggering upstairs at the end of the evening!

The bears didn’t wait up for us though…

It was raining when we first looked out on Saturday morning but thankfully, by the time we set off to the wedding, there was blue sky and sunshine. Still a brisk wind, though.

Our route along the A27 was slow and congested with traffic, but we’d set off in plenty of time. This is a fairly unfamiliar part of the country for both of us though, so we were surprised to see such a distinctive landmark as Lancing College over there.

Shortly after that, we caught sight of Arundel Castle too - this was quite a sightseeing trip, though time was moving on a pace, rather more quickly than the traffic at this point 🙄 Those clouds were getting a little threatening, too.

The wedding was in Fareham, north west of Portsmouth where a large fire was creating huge clouds of smoke. So that was the reason for the traffic: the motorway was closed and though we were not directly affected, it did mean that the smaller side roads were busier than normal too.

It was a good job we’d left in plenty of time!

My Hero’s niece Jo and Gemma, her wife, were the happiest couple and their wedding was lovely. These occasions are so special and we were delighted to be there to share their joy.

Thankfully the drive back to Alfriston wasn’t quite so stressful!

This weekend, I admired the summer flowers around The Star very much indeed. This is the perfect spot for a colourful vase, an assortment of silverware and a fine painting (which may or may not be by Vanessa Bell?)

On Sunday afternoon, it was time to put on our glad rags again (!) and head off to the opera at Glyndebourne, my Hero’s birthday treat.

We’d brought a picnic with us from The Star and were thankful for the abundance of trollies in the car park for transporting picnics and other assorted paraphernalia. Though we’d booked ourselves a table in one of the picnic marquees, many bring along tables, chairs and yes, candelabras for their picnic!

In view of the weather, we were glad of a relatively warm and dry place to dine!

When the sun put in a short appearance however, we took the opportunity for a stroll around the gardens.

Very English, this picnicking tradition, too! Whatever the weather, we are there dressed in our finery (black tie for the gentlemen, the ladies dressed in colourful summer frocks) enjoying our sandwiches, salads and a glass or three of something nice!

In each little corner, there was a table set up with everything ready for dinner later; a bottle of something on ice and the hamper filled with good things.

Timings were clearly noted: first curtain up at 4pm. A short interval ending at 5.15pm and the long, “dining” interval at 6.20pm. Last curtain up at 7.50pm and the performance ends at 9pm. We’d timed our nibbles, aperitif and main course accordingly!

We were here to see The Merry Widow and were looking forward to a fun packed evening having read the reviews. The Director, Cal Mc Crystal’s work was already familiar to us, from Giffords Circus and the Paddington films and this show had barely begun before we recognised his hallmark silliness!

We returned from each interval feeling “comfortably stuffed” and I was glad to catch sight of one of Henry Moore’s “Old Flo” sculptures (Draped Seated Woman) on long term loan from the Tate in the garden.

By the end of the evening, we’d laughed and felt like we’d waltzed around the ballroom a few times, not to mention enjoyed a CanCan chez Maxim and of course, we’d recycled our corks.

It was still (almost) light as we drove back to The Star, in good spirits with heads full of colour, music and laughter. What a great evening!

We were a quiet pair the following morning then, when the time came to drive home. There was time to make a brief stop at the Rathfinny Cellar Door though, to collect a drop of the good stuff to take home with us. The birthday celebrations will continue through next weekend too when the youngest member of the family comes to stay.