Although My Birthday Was Yesterday The 14th,

we are celebrating it today the 15th as it is Diana's day off,

firstly many thanks to everyone for the cards and birthday wishes by telephone, SMS and emails, I should also say that there will only be one post today, as there are lots of photographs,

as we knew the bluebells were in flower we decided on a walk,

stopping off,

at some of the young cherry trees,

'Ah!'

I pointed out the first bluebells on our walk to Diana,

a quick pose,

that is where we are going,

and where we have come from,

I was most surprised to see no cars here, I thought with it being a bank holiday and really warm the road would be full of cars, 

and there they are,

just by Diana,

a nice stand of bluebells for Diana to photograph,

we started up Crab Hill,

it was a glorious day,

we passed the hawthorn bushes,

time for a sit down,

and a pose,

that was not there yesterday,

up in the tree,

the end of kite flying for yesterday or today,

down the other side of Crab Hill,

and into the woodland where the bluebells are,

so many,

so it was time for a pose,

or two,

lovely flowers, it is a pity they do not last longer,

we started our walk through the woodland,

I visited this area yesterday,

but Diana had not been to this part before,

another few poses,

as we continued through the wood,

as I mentioned before considering how nice the day was and it was a bank holiday, we had the place to ourselves,

one from myself,

onward!

Diana decided to try and climb this tree,

with absolutely no success!

this one a lot easier,

the large tree I mentioned yesterday,

all we could see were bluebells and all we could hear were the birds,

we started our walk to the lake,

which we knew was near by,

turn left,

but first one from myself,

as we walked closer to it, we could now hear screams of laughter,

and this was why, a group of children being shown how to paddle a kayak,

it looked great fun,

as Diana looked on,

in the distance swimmers were entering and leaving the lake,

the bar-b-q area was in full use,

it made us both feel quite hungry,

I had to photograph these through the wire, if you go swimming here you must wear one of these floats,

up the hill towards the formal garden and café,

stopping off to admire the cherry blossom,

a nice blue sky with just a few clouds, coming out of the shade of the wood we did not appreciate until now how warm it really was,

by now we were a bit thirsty,

so we made our way to the bar,

past the garden,

and here we are, there is not normally a queue here as they just serve drinks here, the big queues in the courtyard are for food,

we found a bench, 'Cheers!' from Diana,

and one from myself,

well two!

it was glorious sitting here in the sun,

a second drink, the first went down so quickly,

but this time a mini bottle of bubbly,

carefully does it,

expertly poured,

'Cheers!',

what could be better on a warm sunny afternoon?

and Diana had a little sip,

next stop the courtyard, but it was not to be, the queues were long and not going down quickly,

we decided to make a move for home, and started walking towards the mansion, where we parted ways, I said it would be quicker to walk around the back of the building, Diana said it would be quicker to walk around the front, so that was it, off we went our separate ways,

what were the fairways when this was a golf course now covered with couples and families,

enjoying the sunshine,

looking back to the mansion, 

then looking forward,

there she was!, I am sure Diana ran some of the way, my other excuse was that I stopped to take photographs, but Diana was having none of it, going around the front of the mansion was quicker, so that was that!

we passed the locked gates for cars,

a quick pose at the snail mail box and we were home, where after a wash, brush up and change,

we were out again, Diana had bought me a birthday present of a meal at a new restaurant in town, the Paloma,

a bottle of white,

and a cocktail for Diana,

Diana made a short video,

our starters arrived, calamari for Diana,

grilled garlic prawns for myself,

'Cheers!' from Diana,

before our main course arrived,

we had decided on a shared main course, a 12 ounce Argentinian sirloin steak, with a thin skirt steak, baked chorizo sausages and lamb cutlets with a chimichurri sauce, as our sides broccoli and chips,

it looked and was delicious,

a quick 'Cheers!', before we cut the steaks,

and then it was time to tuck in,

this was a half of the main course we had each, there was so much of it, we were full, but after a long break, we weaken when we looked at the dessert menu,

another 'Cheers!',

for dessert Diana chose a baked caramelized cheesecake,

for myself,

a crème brûlée with a passion fruit and soft fruit mix on top,

what a wonderful birthday present,

thank you so much Diana, if you decide to visit the Paloma remember to book a table, the place was packed and turning customers away, this is defiantly the new 'in' place to be in Beckenham, we arrived home and as it was a Friday it was feet up for a nightcap, and a New Tricks before we were off to bed.