My Birthday day out

Yesterday was my birthday and we had a great family day out. My sister-in-law just happened to phone in the morning because of the postal strike and so we invited her to come along too.

We went to Blists Hill Museum near Iron Bridge in Shropshire.

It's a great place where you get to see how people lived at the turn of the century and learn a little about the coal and iron works that were so much part of that area. The little houses have been transplanted along with their history to the site and someone is there to tell the story. There are real shops selling the kind of stuff you could really have bought back then; traditional soaps, china, ribbons and pins. There's a baker selling beautiful fresh bread still warm from the oven, and a candle maker.

They have a pub with chickens kept in the garden and a cottage with lovely Tamworth pigs in the garden.

An old Clydsdale trots around pulling a cart that people can hitch a ride on and there's a tea shop where my dd and I had tea and scones while the others walked along the cut (canal) to the incline plane.

The place is just great fun.

We came home to a lovely birthday cake made by my daughter with the help of the smalls- who tested the mixture to check it was okay. I knew what the 'secret' cake was made of because they both had ample amounts of it around their faces! LOL

I had a great day and I am getting used to be year older already