Dunham Massey

(December 20th)
Mom booked Ebi-kun into a bake and take kitchen experience at Dunham Massey which is a National Trust run hall and deer park. The drive over was beautiful, despite most of the country being at a stand still the roads were fine and the scenery breath taking, the snow was crystallized on the trees and the air icy clear, it was bitterly cold though.

The kids got to wash their hands first and then were introduced to the kitchen servants who told them about the kitchens and helped them put on their aprons and arm protectors.

Then they were all given some pre-prepared dough and they rolled out and cut out cookies, they made one big special one then lots of little ones with the left overs.

Whilst the cookies were in the oven the children were ushered to the butlers pantry where he gave them a lesson on etiquette for when you meet the lady of the house, once they had got the hang of how to bow and curtsy they were taken to the drawing room where they met the lady of the house. There was one little boy, who was really shy to start with but then once he started talking they couldn't shut him up, he was quite amusing.

Once they had all had a chat with the lady they returned to the butlers pantry and he showed them how to make the little boxes to put the cookies in.

It was fun but really cold in there, even in the kitchen where they had the ovens on it was cold. The staff were really funny and stayed in character but unfortunately the rest of the house was closed.

After the baking we went for a walk around the gardens, we spotted 3 little squirrels under a tree and the pond was frozen so all the ducks were getting cold bums! The trees looks lovely but we didn't stay out for long, it had been -18∘C the night before and I think that this was the coldest day. When we left the UK it was declared by the met office that it had been the coldest December on record, probably classes as moderately warm for those who live further north but extremely cold for us! Ebi-kun gave up trying to make snow balls because his hands were frozen so we popped into the stables cafe for a cup of tea and a warm up. Just as we left I spotted this little fellow, he was so fat. like a tennis ball with legs and certainly not camera shy.