Glorious autumn and fund raising dinner

After a visit to Zoutkamp and Nijmegen in the camper van, we spent another lovely few days with Hannah and Pieter before setting off for the ferry over to England to have a catch up with our close family and attend a very special dinner.

We drove to Calais and spent the night in a camper van spot a short drive away from the ferry terminal so we could catch the ferry mid-morning after a quick stock up of French wine.

It was a rather a grey and drizzly day but the sea was very calm and in less than two hours after boarding we had arrived at Dover and were disembarking.

The weather cleared up within half an hour and soon we were driving along in perfect autumn weather. The autumn in The Netherlands and England this year has been absolutely glorious with more sunny days than not and the trees putting on a fabulous show of every shade of yellow, orange and red.

Autumn this year has been absolutely glorious

Our first stop was in Suffolk at the home of Jonathan’s brother Simon.

Another autumn display – Virginia Creeper on Simon’s house

A different colour but still gorgeous at the back of the house

Unfortunately Simon’s partner Ruth was away for a few days but we still had a great time, enjoying walks in beautiful forests and around the local paddocks with their beautiful black Labrador Nero.

So good to be walking in such a glorious place

We saw lots of these magical toadstools (and below)

We also made a trip to a nearby 17th Century pub for lunch.

Two of Simon and Ruth’s gorgeous cats (above and below)

Next stop was Cambridge to the home of my sister Sarah and her husband Martin, just in time to help out for a special social event – a dinner party to raise funds for two families who have managed to flee to Egypt after experiencing the most unimaginable trauma and horror in Gaza.

Sarah hard at work preparing the Middle Eastern dinner

Sarah had invited 24 friends and relations to the three-course middle eastern vegetarian dinner and asked each one to make a donation of £25 (or less if that was not affordable). She and Martin paid for the cost of the food so all the funds raised were shared between the two Go-Fund-Me groups.

Juicy and fragrant Middle Eastern salads

We arrived to help, along with my other sister Julia, the day before the dinner.There was much chopping and slicing of ingredients and we pre-cooked what we could.

We prepared everything we could the day before

While Sarah, Julia and I were busy preparing food, Martin and Jonathan did sterling work moving furniture, dusting off garden furniture and putting up enough tables and chairs for 25 plus people. Meanwhile, tantalising smells wafted around the house.

The dinner was a great success – not only did everyone there enjoy a fabulous meal but more than £1,000 was raised to help the desperate families – both known personally by members of my family from the time they themselves spent in Gaza, and from working with an organisation that brought Palestinian teachers to the UK for professional work experience (see below for their stories).

One of the main courses ready for serving

There were three tables and we all swapped seats for the desserts

From Cambridge we drove to Beckenham for a couple of wonderful days with my other sister Julia. While there we went Christmas shopping in the splendid London high-end department store – Liberty’s in Great Marlborough Street.

Built in 1924 this beautiful building was constructed using the timbers of two ancient ‘three-decker’ battle ships – HMS Impregnable (launched on 1 August 1810) and HMS Hindustan. (Launched in 1841) More than 24,000 cubic feet of ships’ timbers were used and when you walk on the floors or climb the stairs it is still reminiscent of walking on the deck of an ancient timber ship.

More than 24,000 cubic feet of ships’ timbers were used to build Liberty’s

HMS Impregnable – her timbers were used to build the high-end store, Liberty’s

As always, the Christmas display was absolutely dazzling!

Just a tiny section of the dazzling Christmas display

We always love a visit to the oriental carpet section

From Julia’s we drove to Dover and after a very calm crossing arrived in Calais and completed the three and half hour drive to Pijnacker in The Netherlands without too many hold ups.

We arrived back to unseasonably warm weather and were able to enjoy being outdoors.

Amazing to see so many flowers on display

A couple of days after our arrival we drove to an apple orchard in Lisserbroek where we had hoped to do some apple picking.

Unfortunately the orchard was only open to private groups that day but we thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the gorgeous grounds, the fabulous workshops and on-site craft shops. Of course we stopped for some delicious apple pie made from the orchard’s own apples.

The Apple tart was delicious but very expensive

The weather continued to be glorious so we made the best use of it – going for wonderful walks in amongst the autumn colours and stopping for hot chocolates in cosy cafes.