because of the sort of person his mother is), he and Miss Osc had to get some form of commercial loan to buy it and we worried about the financial burden especially when they finally found a house in this area to buy. One reason why they both work their socks off.However, although we still worry about their financial burden especially with another mortgage now, when we are there, we can see why they like it so much. It’s in a big estate with bungalows scattered around, no gardens but lovely open spaces which are nicely maintained. The children have amazing freedom, they roam around in and out of each other’s houses, make dens in the woods, go to the beach which is just across the road, cycle or scoot around the place, play tennis or golf and SIL has started football for them too. On Thursday, I watched a group of children trying to get a ball out of a very tall tree - they tried to dislodge by throwing other balls, then one lad went went off and got some kind of extendable pole which didn’t work either. A little girl trotted off and came back with a stepladder, which one of the boys used to climb up (way up
) into the tree but he couldn’t reach it either. Honestly it was like something out of the Famous Five! Eventually they did manage to dislodge it with another ball. When SIL’s parents bought it, in those days the wives would have been there with the children all summer with the husbands going down at the weekends, nowadays of course with much better roads and it being easier to work from home, the whole family can be there a lot more. We’ve stayed there on our own too and it is really peaceful. It is so nice to see children having that carefree freedom. Incidentally, Edward made a cake for us to bring down, a simple Victoria sponge with homemade raspberry jam that a friend had given us. Yesterday Miss Osc sent us a photo of Kellie and six of her friends enjoying a slice each - half of the children didn’t realise you could make a cake instead of buying one, and only Kellie and one other child knew the ingredients of a sponge cake
