Heathrow airport at noon and I am leaving to go back home to Shetland.

I am not sorry to say goodbye to England but I am very sorry to say goodbye to my parents.  Door-to-door, it was 7 hours.  I managed the start of a migraine in Aberdeen but a bottle of water sorted it out. Instead of armrest wars, I sat next to nose-pick man.  Ew.   But, as Daisy says, at least he was self-contained and recycling!

Everyone was was pleased to see me home.  Lambie is much, much bigger.  I would say he has doubled in size.

He is wearing a collar now as it makes him easier to grab as he goes on his travels off to do some wickedness.  I sense he also has an attitude too.  Perhaps we are going through the stroppy teenage phase.

Lambie still looks to BeAnne and follows her.  She is teaching him his manners but as she doesn’t have many, it is not an arduous task.

They are almost the same size now.

I briefly saw some ponies and my heart lifted.  Life, as I know it, is back to my normal.  BeAnne, though, is a little stroppy with me for going away.

Mum and I went on an expedition to a mahoosive garden centre place in Bagshot this morning.

It really was an incredible place.  Do you know you can buy flip flops that have plastic grass for the soles?  Why?  What am I missing?  There were piles of them and Mum and I laughed,

Plants everywhere and beautifully presented,. You could build an instant garden if you had enough money.

Complete with Julius Caeser!

Instead we bought plants for Mum’s garden, which she spent the afternoon planting out.

And because I love this little chap, I bought him a furry thing because every Patterdale terrier should have one.

He was very appreciative and it instantly became his best friend forever!

I am home tomorrow and I love this little chap.  He is perfection and I will miss him desperately.  Since I arrived, he waits every morning outside my bedroom door to wake up. A darling lad.

A few more horses from the family stables.

This is Bucephalus who was completely restored by my mother.

Next is another horse who lives upstairs under a huge tapestry.  He is called Valentine and is very old.  There is a sidesaddle pommel which can be removed and positioned on the other side.  He is in his original state but has a new mane and tail.

The huge tapestry that hangs above Valentine was sewn by my mother over ten years ago.  It has many family connotations like flowers representing family animals and a portrait of our thousand year old oak tree in the  park.  It was sewn in the millefleur design and has to be kept away from direct sunlight.

Lastly, Phar Lapp who my mother commissioned and designed with Alec Kinane from Legends Rocking Horses.  Phar Lapp is an Arabian horse and probably one of the best modern rocking horses still to be made.

And do you know who this is?  Yup, this is BeAnne’s ancestor.

The children in this portrait clutching their BeAnne are my great grandmother’s first cousins, Dorothy, Jeff and Polly Barnard painted by their father, Fred Barnard, who was one of Charles Dickens’ illustrators.

Dorothy and Polly also featured as the girls in “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” by John Singer Sargent who found the light in the painting so hard to capture that he renamed it “Damnation, sIlly, silly pose”!

The small, cute Lambie you all know and love is no more…

He is now a substantial (though still cute) lambie. Albeit still not as large as other lambs his age.

I’m pretty sure he thinks he is a dog. If you have visited us in the past you will remember being greeted by two boisterous dogs. Now add a lamb to your imagination and you’ve got our current situation.

Though the dogs are still quite perplexed by our new addition, they are all making an effort nonetheless. Even the cat is nice to the lamb, and that is saying something!

As a dog, Lambie goes on walks in the hill in an attempt to get rid of some of the bounciness. He prefers running around the open hill instead of the fields as the ground is less lumpy. He happily follows both dogs and people and runs to catch up.

His joints seem to have considerably improved and there is much galloping and bouncing, though this is difficult to capture on camera.

However, there is always time for a break to sniff the grass/flowers (or sheep poo).

So, that is our lambie update. As I wrote this we have cleared up lambie pee twice and rescued many a cable from his grip.

Though, in the Shetland hill, he almost looks like a real sheep!

I have spent my day photographing the horses for my mother.

Ok, they are perhaps not quite as animated as some I know, but they are still very beautiful and I remember them all and their names.

This is Cavalier.  He was from Harrods and made by Ayres in the early 20th century.  In his original condition, with removable tack but a replacement bespoke bridle.  He moves on a stand rocker.

I remember being allowed to ride him as long as we didn’t gallop too fast.  He was always kept tacked up.  Wrong, I know!

Next is a darling little unnamed chap who was originally made to be pushed along with a handle with wheels.  Both long since gone.  He was one of Mum’s first rocking horse restoration projects many years ago.

And then there is my absolute favourite.

D’Arcy.

He has been in our family since the early 19th century and has all his original paintwork with no restoration.  At both end of the bow rockers is a seat to carry an extra passenger.

Riding D’Arcy was always a special treat.

So, there are some of the horses who are stabled here.

And, then there is this life sized goat!  Just because there is!

So not really different from my usual day, is it?