Freddy enjoys the great weather!

Yesterday Freddy was the boy to have his pictures taken on a walk.  He has a nice new T-shirt for the summer and he is very happy.

We started at the Lakeside Hotel in Wooton, where they serve great coffee with great views of Wooton Creek.

Outside the hotel Freddy found some lavender.  He smelt lovely after sitting there.

The walk was very varied with woods and ...

fields!!

On the wooded path Freddy came across this ice house.  It made us think the area we were walking in must have been grounds of a big house once.

The next excitement was coming to the Isle of Wight steam railway.  Freddy read the warning signs carefully before we crossed the rails.

There was no train coming so we were safe.

After walking a bit further we came across this sundial and flowers.  Freddy had a rest.

Hey look at this!! How cool is this farm sign.  Freddy had to climb up and see it more closely.

It was a hot day and a long walk so afterwards we went home and put our paws up!!

Thank you for reading.

Ernest goes for a walk

Hi the weather has been great on our island and we have got out and about as much as possible.  Yesterday Ernest went for a walk.  We didn't get many photos because there was a run going on and we hardly got any space without runners, but we got a few.  We started at Freshwater and climbed the downs.

When we got up to the Tennyson monument Ernest wanted to remind people that sunscreen is important for them in this weather.  Of course baboons don't need it, so this was a public service announcement.

It was a long climb up to the monument and we had further to go, so Ernest had a bit of a rest.

Yes Ernest is a baboon so he wanted to do some climbing.  Those tall baboons like him love to swing in trees.

We walked on to the Needles, at the west end of the island, and back.  Ernest took a couple of rests along the way.

We could not get more photos without getting in the way of the runners, but Ernest had a great time and says he can't wait to go out again.  With the weather as it is he sure will be out an about again.

Thank you for reading.

George finds spring flowers

Two weeks ago George wanted to find flowers.  The winter has been long so we were very happy to see some good weather.

We drove to Bembridge, in the east of the island and start our walk there.

We start at the Lifeboat shop as we always support them.

Even in the car park George found some flowers.  He felt this was a good start.

There was plenty of hawthorn blossom.  We did not stop there long as it makes my person sneeze.

On the cliff path George found bluebells,

whitebells,

primroses

and buttercups.

We walked down the cliff path, and back, by which time we needed a sit down and coffee

at the Crab and Lobster pub!!

We walked back a little bit further to the car park.  At the Bembridge Coast hotel we found narcissus

and palm trees.  George enjoyed the walk and finding flowers.  The weather is better now, lets hope it stays that way!

Thank you for reading.

Jimmy does the Christmas Shopping

Hello, its been a while since we blogged.  When the people are working we don't do so much.  However, last week we were joined at Baboon HQ by an orangutan called Jimmy.  He is proud to be the Baboon HQ orangutan.  Every year somebody needs to go with the people to get the Christmas dinner.  Last year Harry Baboon went, this year Jimmy Orangutan offered to go.

Christmas dinner shopping day always starts with a treat, breakfast at the Bembridge Bakery.  Jimmy started by admiring their Christmas decorations.

They had done a good job as always.  But that wasn't the main point of going there, it was for breakfast.

Jimmy stuck to the Baboon HQ tradition, by having toast and marmalade with tea.  It was delicious, as always.

Next they had to go to Newport, to pick up the main part of the Christmas dinner.  Jimmy decided to check out what else was on offer.  Chocolates and wine seemed to attract his attention.

He had been told that sprouts were traditional Christmas food, although baboons don't eat them.  Jimmy checked them out, but decided he didn't fancy them.

He liked the Christmas crackers, they were quite pretty.

He found the things that he was looking for, bananas!!  Orangutans share the baboons' love of bananas.

They picked up the Christmas dinner, its not a turkey, as we are vegetarians at Baboon HQ, its a mushroom wellington, from Marks and Spencer.  The vegetables came from the fantastic Barrow Boys in Ryde.  Great vegetables and friendly service, with good advice.  They told Jimmy to get Maris Piper potatoes for roasting.  So we will be having mushroom wellington, roast potatoes and roasted root vegetables.  Jimmy did a good job, but that wasn't the end of his excitement.

Jimmy had fancied the strudel at the Bembridge Bakery, so he brought some home for all of us.  It was not the traditional apple strudel, it was a Christmas version, with mixed dried fruit.  It was delicious.

After a hard day's work, there was another treat, we had pizza.  It was Jimmy's first pizza at Baboon HQ.  He wanted to share with his friends who help to flavour our food, with salt and pepper.

Jimmy had a great day and did a good job, I think he will fit in well at Baboon HQ.  Thank you for reading about Jimmy's day.  Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and new year.

A trip away

During our holiday we have taken a couple of short trips.  You have seen our trip to Sandwich, in Kent.  This time we went for a bit longer, to Broadstairs, in Kent.  We were going to Buxton but we decided to stay a bit closer to home.  Mini-Kolo took our travelling bear Tom with him.  Tom is a Thompson's Holidays bear so travel is in his stuffing.

A road trip involves lunch on the road.  Tom is good at selecting places.  He chose the West Cornwall Food Company at Folkestone Services.  This vegetable pasty was very nice.

Broadstairs is a coastal town in Kent.  Charles Dickens had connections there and stayed there a lot.  He wrote part of Nicholas Nickelby there.  It also has a bay which, apparently, had Viking connections.

We booked into the fantastic Royal Albion Hotel in Broadstairs (highly recommended).  Mini-Kolo showed Tom how to climb on the bunk beds in the corner of the room.

After unpacking there has to be a stroll.  North Forelands lighthouse is always a good destination for an afternoon stroll.  It is automated now and the buildings are holiday cottages.

Nobody can ever go to Broadstairs without visiting the fantastic, awesome Morelli's ice cream parlour, which has been there since 1907.  Mini-Kolo is no exception to that and following the walk to and from North Forelands lighthouse, a raspberry ripple was just the thing.

We had dinner in the hotel bar, where Mini-Kolo had a view of the bay.

Some decisions are more difficult than others.  Cod and chips or scampi and chips, well hey!! Order both and have a bit of each.  These were the most awesome chips we have had in ages.

The next morning Tom was very impressed by the breakfast buffet.  What a choice!!

We went for a stroll and Mini-Kolo wasted no time in finding a fantastic bakery with nice bread and cakes.  He wrote down the address to go back later.

We walked to Ramsgate, there were no real photo opportunities on that walk, as it was a bit wet and windy.  However, Ramsgate is interesting and we had a good time and came back to the bakery for lunch.

Broadstairs is a great place for fish and Tom stopped for a chat with this very jolly fisherman.  The fish may have been a bit smelly.

After lunch we were a bit tired because of the long walk to Ramsgate and back, so we drove to Margate to have a look at Dreamland, it wasn't really operating, but Tom found that Morellis had a stall there with this giant ice cream to climb on.

In the evening Mini-Kolo got a bit excited about his pizza, the wine may have been responsible for his unstable stance.  This was at Posillipo Pizzeria in Albion Street, next to the hotel.  It was delicious.

The next day was much nicer weather and we went for a walk in the opposite direction, towards Margate.  Starting out at Viking Bay.

We walked to the next bay, Joss Bay, which was another nice sandy beach.

We carried on and soon came to this castle.  Mini-Kolo and Tom did some climbing and stopped for a rest in the sun.

We walked on further.  Mini-Kolo thought he had walked a long way, but he was quite surprised to see he had got to Botany Bay, he thought that was in Australia.  Well of course it is a different Botany Bay, and Mini-Kolo soon realised that.

We walked on to the next bay, which was called Palm Bay, the one noticeable thing about it was that there were no palms!!  We had coffee at a little beach cafe called Jet Ski World, where they hired out jet skis.  We did not get any photos there.

After lunch at the bakery it seemed necessary to go back to Morelli's for a banana split.  Mini-Kolo was amazed that it arrived in a gondola.  It was delicious and both Mini-Kolo and Tom enjoyed it very much.

After the very big ice cream they needed a stroll and they walked around the bay.  They found this boat and wondered whether they could borrow it.

Finally they were hungry again and enjoyed a very tasty Thai dinner at the Siam Kitchen in Albion Street.

Broadstairs is a lovely little town with more restaurants for its size than anywhere else we have ever been.  If you stay in the town you never have to walk far to get a nice lunch or dinner.  It is also a buzzing place with lots of exciting people from language schools.  We recommend a visit.  The Albion Hotel is lovely and there are also some great Bed and Breakfast hotels.  Some days you can even see France from the seafront.