One of my favourite places to visit is the local coffee shop, there is something about the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans that makes me happy. We have a wonderful coffee shop close by, it sells delicious freshly ground coffee, a vast selection of teas and the most scrumptious cakes. It is a lovely place to while away an hour or so, chatting with friends and consuming too many calories, but who’s counting?

This week we made an impromptu visit and had a glorious afternoon. We sat around the table sipping our cappuccinos, tucking into our favourite cakes, and chatting and laughing.

We have a lot going on at Layston Grove this week, it is Championing Social Care Open Week, and we are planning a wonderful event to showcase our beautiful home to our visitors. We will be hosting a dog show, we are so excited to be filling our garden with dogs, large and small and the excitement has led to some interesting conversations about our own pets, and the animals that we have loved and cared for over the years.

The dog show has been broken down into categories, the one that I am most looking forward to is the dog that looks most like it’s owner category, it is amazing how many people do have pets that bear a striking resemblance to them, it is very funny to see. We’ll post an update about the dog show on our website, and we’ll share the photographs on our Facebook page.

I really enjoy the big family events that we hold here but I have to say that sitting in that coffee shop, drinking my favourite coffee, surrounded by good friends swapping stories about runaway hamsters and cats with attitude was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. It’s good to have a balance.