After my volunteering shift at Attingham Park it was good to be able to set off for a walk, my first opportunity for two days. On Sunday we had a lovely family gathering to celebrate my brother’s birthday and on Monday I accompanied my mum to the hospital plaster room after her recent fall.

The blooms and spring greenery are stunning at this time of year and my walk was accompanied by the music of birdsong. During my volunteering session it was lovely that several visitors, as they were leaving stopped to say how much they had enjoyed their visit.

On my walk to a local school for my weekly afternoon session listening to children read I noticed these beautiful spring blooms.

Later in the day I donned my new reversible wrap skirt to dine in a local restaurant, the Orange House. The restaurant provides a Tapas menu and we have been meaning to visit since it opened but didn’t quite get around to it until today.

The food was delicious. We will dine there again when the opportunity arises.

I am really enjoying my volunteering opportunity in Visitor Reception at Attingham Park. I work alongside some lovely people both permanent staff and volunteers.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to fulfil one of the aspirations I held when I took early retirement.

My post volunteering walks are a bonus but… I am already thinking towards autumn and pre volunteering walks.

After sorting some things out for mum I had a window of opportunity for an impromptu walk at Trench middle pool which was on my way home.

I parked my car in such a way that I needed to open the door to the full extent to avoid stepping into a puddle and half way round the walk I encountered mud. It was at this point I wished I had thought of donning the walking shoes which were in my car. I successfully negotiated the mud but as I neared my car after my walk a car pulled up next to my car. It wasn’t close but it was too close for me to open my car door wide enough to negotiate the puddle.

I lingered a while watching the car occupants feeding the birds, hoping that they didn’t go for a walk afterwards. Thankfully they didn’t and after they left, I was able to get back in my car avoiding the puddle.

Later we visited mum and took her the things she had requested, apart from the mobile phone charger. I had searched all round the house in places I thought it might be to no avail…

I have now completed my pledge to walk 150 miles between the 1st May and 19th June in support of the School Readers Charity. I will be able to add a few more miles to the total milage of all participants before the challenge ends.

I have now had my interview that will hopefully lead to me becoming a School Reader.

Schoolreaders goal is for all children, regardless of background, to leave primary school being able to read well so they can go on to access their secondary education fully and maximise their future life chances.

Established in 2013, Schoolreaders matches volunteers to local primary schools – focusing on schools with the greatest need – where they give one-to-one reading sessions.

I had a slight setback on Saturday when I had to stay at home for a parcel delivery. Mr C had once again ordered something that was due for delivery when he was out and about. The latest time for the delivery was 12.40 leaving me plenty of time to go out for lunch and a walk in Attingham Park. I waited and waited… and by the time I realised that the delivery was unlikely to arrive it was too late for my planned visit to Attingham Park.

The following day Mr C tracked the delivery and realised that it wasn’t due until Tuesday!!!

The weather was glorious so we visited Hampton Court in Hope Under Dinmore, Herefordshire. We had lunch in the orangery where I chose a Coronation Chicken sandwich before taking a guided tour of the castle. After the castle tour we enjoyed a walk around the gardens which are currently between seasons.  The maze and its hidden surprise were as enjoyable as ever and we were surprised to learn of a hidden feature next to the waterfall in the sunken garden. We enjoyed watching young children find their way behind the waterfall, get as near to the (low) edge as they dared so that they could get a soaking from the waterfall. We were sure that one of them was going to step backwards over the edge, but thankfully he didn’t.

We had hoped to walk along the river which would have enabled me to complete one of my Coronation related walking challenges but unfortunately, we realised that we had forgotten to get an all-important ingredient for our evening meal. This meant that we didn’t have enough time to complete the walk before the shops closed.

This means we will have to go back soon to walk along the river which we have not quite managed on any of our visits. By then the gardens should be starting to bloom again.