1. We feel very sad to be leaving the large and beautiful house we have been staying in. It has large rooms with dark oak floorboards and carved stairways, vast beds, long sofas and more towels than you can imagine.
2. I go in the opposite direction to check out a pub and the bridge that I think must be at the end of this road. A flash of blue catches my eye. A kingfisher? No, far too big. Two kingfishers sitting on top of each other? It's a macaw, turquoise and egg-yolk yellow, climbing about the rail, apparently belonging to the man washing cars in a yard by the river. While I'm staring, startled, a walker coming the other way smiles at me and stops for a selfie with the bird. I call the others over and they come and marvel, too. THEN, a little myna bird flies over and starts chattering away. THEN, I spot a pile of kittens playing in the garage, four or five black, and one that -- strangely -- is red and green and yellow. We spot the mother cat, who is similarly coloured. The car wash man doesn't want to catch my eye when I go to ask, so I just thank him for the wonders.
3. The owner of our accommodation told us that there is a place by the river with a mill and a gravel beach where people like to go. We come upon it rather by chance, and it is lovely -- one of the millennium greens, it says.
