A family walk: A trip to Kent

A few weekends ago we headed out on our first long cross country trip to visit my sister in Kent for her birthday. She'd just moved house and we were excited to see her new place, as well as meet the newest edition to her family, her puppy Ida!

We had a lazy weekend spent mostly in the garden and countryside around her little cottage, out in the middle of nowhere but not too far from Canterbury. I think it's safe to say Theo fell head over heels in love with the pup and wanted to hold her lead or carry her everywhere! On Saturday my sister, Theo and I took them for a walk over the fields by the house and down to the river that runs at the bottom of the valley. I always forget how beautiful this part of the country is, and I think that if you had to imagine somewhere to portray the typical English countryside, then this place would be it. Rolling fields of crops, a forest on the crest of a hill, the hills on the horizon and a bubbling river at the bottom with a big old Oak tree standing tall in the middle of a meadow. We walked through the rapeseed field watching the dogs lose themselves in the undergrowth before crossing a small bridge over to the river bank.

It was there where quite the accident happened. My sister's other dog Edie had jumped in the river but couldn't get out at the steep bank where she was trying, so we walked over to a shallower part and was calling her to come out. Then quite suddenly, but also in slow motion my sister slipped on the muddy bank and sort of somersaulted her way into the river! There was a split second of checking to a) see if she was hurt (she wasn't) and b) see if she was laughing (she was) before I started uncontrollably laughing. My sister was waist deep, fully clothed in the river and completely soaked. I laughed so much I had tears and my face hurt. She eventually made her way out (I couldn't really help as I had Rohan on my front in a carrier!) and we made our way back over the fields to home, trying to hide from the scout camp who were enjoying their lunch in the field by the river. We laughed pretty much the whole way home, and visions of it kept coming back to me for the rest of the day!

That night we lit a fire in the garden and sat outside in the warm evening chatting until it was time for bed. The next day we spent close to home once more, having a bbq and relaxing in the garden and celebrating my sister's birthday! It was such a lovely weekend.