Flint

Houses have exterior walls made of this. Pretty!

Country side U.K

We took the train to Reading and were picked up by friend's and taken to ?? Estate where Matty is working on a vegan organic farm. No animal products used at all, couldn't even dispose of Temo's biodegradable nappies on the compost! It was a very lovely place, we stayed in an old house next to this old manor in the picture. The Thames runs
in front of and we had a great view of it from our bedroom (thanks Matty). The pic down the bottom is of an old building housing a 'real tennis' court. The origin of tennis is this "real tennis' and was played on streets using shop rooves to bounce the ball off so there are verandah type roof structures incorporated into the walls of the courts used today.

Boating on the Thames

Today's major adventure was a 4 hour journey from Henley to Reading in a friend's house boat. She also lives in a 350 year old house that we had fun exploring. The 4 hour journey flew by, I was in awe at the opulance displayed either side of the river especially around Henley - (George Harrison's home, we drove past his house and probably one of Angelina Jolie's). Top left pic is "Chateau Bateau" in a lock, these are fascinating, centuries old systems for getting from one level of the river to another and we went through four of them. The houses were fun to look at, especially their water garages and how many boats were inside. It was also fun "thatchy spotting", very interesting building materials in these old houses.

I found this image by artist Bridget Riley at the Tate Modern today; unfortunately not the original, instead on postcard at the shop. She does some really great stuff too.

The one we purchased is approx. 1m square. It was made by our friend and artist Audrey Lebel. To see more of the series and Audrey's art click here.