The National Trust - for ever, for everyone

It’s inevitable.

As good as their Christmas presents might be, there comes a time when lying on the floor playing with whatever it is wears ever so slightly thin and tempers start to flare (I’m talking about the children, not me!!).

"Let’s go for a drive out somewhere and have a nice walk", said the savvy M.

And that’s exactly what we did; we drove out to Box Hill in picturesque Surrey on what must have been the coldest day yet.

So, absolutely numb hands and feet side (I wasn’t moaning, I wasn’t moaning), we purchased a map from a choice of 1 hour, 1 and a half hour, 3 hour and 5 hour walks (we took 1.5 hours) for the grand sum of 50p, and we were off.

It was, quite simply, stunning.

On the occasions when I stopped concentrating on willing some of my blood to my feet, I was aware of how incredibly quiet it was; even the birds twittering seemed few and far between.

We became expert trackers, discussing what animal might’ve done the various poo’s we found along the way (hey, our food reserves were running low and you’ve got to distract them somehow!) and, as beautiful and peaceful as it was, I have to admit to being thrilled at arriving back at our starting point, the small cafeteria selling hot chocolate by the mugful and flapjacks by the slice.

To top it all, we inadvertently timed out stay to just witness one of the most amazing sunsets I have seen in some time.

Naturally, I did my best to take a distinctly average photograph of it, however.

(go here for more pic's)