All finished and on to the next adventure.

At long last I have finished my university course. I have passed my third and final exam and my portfolio of evidence has been submitted. This week has been lovely with my evenings spent cleaning and tidying that has been long neglected and weeding the garden. In the 6 months I've bene studying it's been the mundane things I've missed the most and it's great to feel that when I'm talking to the family I've been giving them my full attention.

Just a few random catch ups; we had hedgehogs in the garden, three of them in one night and as this has been a lifelong ambition of mine, I was pretty excited!

Just a quick pic of some of the guys I met through uni. We had a celebratory few drinks down the pub in Birmingham after our final exam and I felt pretty worse for wear the next day but it was great. 

Yesterday we met my mum and headed out to a National Trust nearby. She keeps telling me she's missed me, so it was high time I saw her. This summer's been particularly warm and sunny and the walk was sticky! The kids were shattered by the end but enjoyed the exercise. After the visit I surprised James and had my mum take the kids for the night, something she never usually does and took him out for a meal and the cinema to make up for lost time and let him know how much I appreciate the support he's been to me. He's done the lions share of the housework and all of the renovations. 

Talking of renovations; he has now finished fitting my roof window in the bathroom, so I can luxuriate under the stars. He's also spent time putting in the basics of plumbing for a shower and fitting aqua board onto the floor so the next plan is to plaster the room so that we can tile.

As a family we are off on our jollies and have stopped at a midway point today in one of our favourite cities to break the journey. We have been to another National trust, this one Hardwick Hall (making the most of the membership!). Beautiful country garden flower borders is one of my garden ambitions and here there is plenty of inspiration. We followed this up with a stroll round York and a quick trip to the national railway museum (not my thing but we tried), so here are a few pictures of the fun.