And so on this fine Sunday morning, hubby and I set off across the Pennines to a foreign country - Welsh Wales (not to be confused with the tiny village of Wales in South Yorkshire). Its always a spectacular ride across these hills, but it was a dream early on Sunday morning with not much else on the road.

We had been invited to John's "Open Allotment Day" and being a girl who can't say no to meeting bloggy friends, off we trotted. We had a brilliant day - and I didn't take as many photos as I ought to have.

I took a photo of this poppy John in the hope that you would send me some seeds - its is a gorgeous colour.
We arrived early in the morning to give a helping hand, but John assured us that all was in hand and he sent us off to have a lovely morning at the seaside. When we returned at 1pm, I discovered that the Bric a Brac stall was in disarray, with boxes unpacked - which caused me to have to visit it several times as more and more boxes were unpacked! John at this time was rounding up errant geese - which continued to escape throughout the proceedings.
It was really lovely to meet Johns family and other animals. His twin sister Janet did a sterling job on the tea tent. They served over 500 cuppas! (that's her in the stripey top).
I can honestly say that I have never seen such a fine array of cakes and buns.
Johns allotment is a perfect little place - hubby and I loved it and were very envious of this lovely space.
It was great to meet the characters from Johns blog - I must apologise to the poor little hen that I stood on!
We had to name the pig - I don't think I won (I called her Betty - like the pig in Alan Bennetts " A Private Function". The funniest part of the day was talking to 2 lovely ladies who were willing the pigs to escape - just so they could watch John round them back up. Those Welsh ladies are wicked!
We eventually sat down with 2 very large pieces of cake. Mine was the raspberry cake - quite possibly the best cake I have ever eaten (and I wanted to bring the plate home too - John, if these blue plates are for sale - let me know).

I don't know how John kept going all day - he had worked a night shift at the hospital until 8am!
And because on his blog, John posted a photo of our ugly mugs - I thought I would get revenge....
But what really amused me - was that both John and my hubby were both sporting "surfer" tee shirts. They need to be careful - some one might mistake them for cool surfer dudes!

Seriously, John we had a great day and you raised a phenomenal amount of money. You live in a beautiful place and your family, friends, neighbours and animals are wonderful. I'm so glad that the weather was good to you. xxxxxxx (read John and Janet's versions by clicking the links)