Scouting mission day one

After spending last night in a lovely AirBnB near Stanstead airport and getting very little sleep, we got up at silly O'clock to head to the airport.  We headed to the lounge for a leisurely (4 course for John) breakfast before dashing for our gate because John, an experienced traveler, can't seem to grasp that I can't walk as fast as he can and not being at the gate as early as possible makes me exceedingly anxious particularly when he is pushing in front of a woman with a double buggy to get there!

The flight itself was uneventful and we were unloaded quite quickly. John then immediately had to jump onto a couple of business calls so we found somewhere to sit for an hour or so. We picked up our super cheap hire car which, to John's disgust, was a Fiat Panda. He folded inside, grumbled about manual handbrake and that he was having to use gears and off we went. First stop was Wiehl to look at a rather old house but we were rather early so, after finding the house, we had a drive around the local area and stopped off for a coffee at the local supermarket (Rewe). I was thrilled that there was a little snow around in places but the steady drizzle and mist was melting it quickly.

The house itself was huge but old and in need of a lot of renovation. It was also a listed building so alterations would be awkward. The attic was massive but spooky!

We then headed towards the second house we were looking at that day and, as we did, it started getting more misty. The second house we were looking at was gorgeous (huge too) and backed onto a nature reserve and would have had beautiful views if the weather was better.  It was however on a busy road and a bit more remote. We then headed into the rather thick mist in search of our second AirBnB via a supermarket to pick up some chicken and potatoes for tea (plus chocolate etc).

Our room is lovely, a little kitchen area and a bath/shower room - perfect for the long weekend that we are here.