Outdoor loves from Martinborough

Last weekend was spent with friends, in the beautiful countryside of the Wairarapa, at our Martinborough home.

The weekend was full of special moments in the sun, made all the better for having good friends to share it with. Our three daughters each had a friend, their age, to buddy up with – which made for incredibly easy parenting! Hubby had his friend to accompany him to the ‘BrewDay 2015’, whilst I had my dear friend, since 1997 and my early years in New Zealand, to hang out with.

Here’s some of the highlights –

• Seeing the joy on my husband’s face, after an afternoon at ‘Brewday Martinborough 2015‘. Also delighted that my oldest daughter, and her friend, cycled along to meet up with my hubby – so they could enjoy the music and fine food at the Brewday!

• Enjoying the bountiful goodies for sample and purchase at the Te Kairanga Farmers Market.

My personal highlight was watching my youngest daughter and her friend tuck into an old fashioned ‘toffee apple’ (took me back to my youth!)… I ended up eating most of it though!

Also adored the cheese, the olives, the fruit… yum, yum, yum! I was especially impressed with this steam engine ‘cooker’!

Whilst at the market we were joined by my eldest daughter and her friend (again!). They both had bicycles for the weekend and absolutely loved the freedom of exploring Martinborough independently.

They also spent a lot of time discovering a few geocache locations, as well as inspiring my middle daughter (and her friend) to do the same!

• Sharing an evening of tears, laughter and reflection, whilst watching ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel‘ with a wonderful friend, of many years, accompanied by my oldest daughter and her friend. The ‘Circus’ cinema and restaurant in Martinborough is an absolute gem. The older girls delighted in having the most divine desserts served to them on a proper plate, (with a metal fork, no less!), in the cinema theatre itself (whilst my friend and I enjoyed a lovely glass of wine each!).

• Taking our dog for a walk with my youngest daughter and laughing at the inevitable slowness of it – as she stopped to climb every single olive tree along the path (and there were a number of them!).

• Watching the children play in the hammock and the paddling pool (as well as Monsieur Cocoa, our dog!).

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and when the time came to leave, I didn’t really want to. The thought of returning to the reality of school drop offs and pick-ups, settling my youngest into school, helping my eldest with the stress of homework, and so on, wasn’t the least bit appetising!

Thankfully, this scene greeted me on my return to Wellington, of the sun setting over Wellington’s south coast (just after I’d stocked up on groceries for school lunches). Pretty good, hey?!

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