Got up around 7.00 am had showers and had our usual breakfast of cereal and toast. Today we are off to see Trentham Gardens and the Monkey Forest with Monika and Joseph who arrived at our Lodge about 9.15 am and we all set off in one car.

We had a little look around the beautiful quaint shops first and then headed into the Gardens (after hiring a wheel chair for me!). Unfortunately they didn't have motorized wheelchairs so poor John had to push me around (which I'm sure he loved!). We walked around some beautiful gardens bordered by a stream full of ducks and came upon what was the original house. It was a monstrous, but sadly at the moment derelict building in need of such massive repair work. The gardens were stunning and we were enjoying looking at everything we could. The lake was huge and full of ducks and white and black swans majestically swimming close to where we were. We could see rowers on the lake and we managed to walk around about half of it before we turned back to find somewhere to eat.

We walked around some beautiful shops and went into the massive Garden Centre. It was all decorated out for Christmas and there was just about every light, tinsel or decoration that you could ever imagine. What a shame my suitcase isn't twice as big or I would have been bringing heaps back.

We found a nice little restaurant called "David's Place" and enjoyed chicken and bacon Caesar salads and piri piri chicken sandwiches. David had to have some calamari too, so we were full to bursting by the time we had finished, but it was very nice.

We walked off our lunches around the shops and then headed off to the Monkey Forest. This is a very unique place where the endangered species of Monkeys (Barbary Macaque from Algeria) are free to roam amongst the tourists. They are friendly (but cannot be touched) and just walk around wherever they want. The forest is very quiet, apart from the birds and monkeys and it was a lovely peaceful tour.

After a trip through the gift shop we made our way to the car park and then headed for home where we spent the rest of the afternoon with Joseph and Monika. We fed the deer and chatted for quite some time. What a lovely day we all enjoyed.