Below Deck Challenge Update

31 Jan 2022 Upnor, Rochester, UK

Well, we did it! I’ll admit, this wasn’t exactly the most challenging, er, challenge, but it has been an interesting exercise in understanding where we can actually save money if we really needed to. The ‘laissez-faire’ days of food shopping have been and gone in the Andrews household, we’re all about planning, meal preps and sticking to a shopp... Read more

Dadblog - Two Months Old

16 Jan 2022 Upnor, Kent, UK

Nope, I haven’t abandoned the DadBlog, it is still absolutely a thing… I’d say it’s been hard to find time, but if that were true I wouldn’t have been pumping out random posts about parks in Medway, my ancestors or how we’re trying to cut down our food budget. Truth is that I’ve struggled to find a way to write down and share about Charlotte joi... Read more

Hillyfields, Gillingham

15 Jan 2022 Upnor, Kent, UK

Park #4 of The Medway Parks Challenge, is another park that I somehow didn’t know about, and our third Green Flag’er, Gillingham’s Hillfields Community Park. The park consists of three sections, each at a different level, a sizeable play park on the lower part, on Parr Ave, a flat sports field and an upper orchard. The grounds are nestled betwe... Read more

Strood Waterfront

09 Jan 2022 Upnor, Kent, UK

After visiting The Vines, we thought we’d take a walk over Rochester bridge to get some yarn for a project Victoria is working on. Charlotte and Dexter were both behaving and enjoying the walk so we thought we’d swing by Park number 3, Strood Waterfront. …Sounds like it actually might be quite nice, right? Not so much. Going to try and make thi... Read more

The Vines

09 Jan 2022 Upnor, Kent, UK

It’s been cold and rainy this week, so we’ve mostly stayed tucked up at home. Fortunately, the weather brightened up this Sunday though and we got ourselves out to park #2 of The Medway Parks Challenge, a Charles Dickens favourite, Rochester’s The Vines. This is actually the second time we visited this year, it makes for a perfect little detour... Read more

Lewis Richard Andrews - 1892

04 Jan 2022 Upnor, Rochester, UK

Writing this somewhat unusual post because I have some random pieces of information that I don’t want to lose to time… Lewis Richard Andrews, born (aprx) 1892 is my Great-Granduncle, that is, my Grandfather’s Father’s Brother. My Grandfather, Richard Andrews - 1929 and my Great Grandfather, Leslie Lawrence Andrews 1894(5?). Lewis, along with Le... Read more

The 2022 Below Deck Challenge

04 Jan 2022 Upnor, Rochester, UK

Not taking credit for the name of this one, that was all Victoria. Yes, another challenge, this is the year of all the twos after all. As regular readers will know, we use YNAB to keep track of our finances, YNAB is great and it’s a very powerful tool for budgeting the future but it is also really useful for reporting on the past. We’ve been us... Read more

Broomhill Park

03 Jan 2022 Upnor, Kent, UK

Thought we’d kick off the Medway Parks Challenge with one of Medway’s eight Green Flag Award Winning Parks, Broomhill Park in Strood. this is going to be a common phrase, but I’ve never actually been to this park before; frankly I’m a little ashamed to say that, because it was really very lovely. It’s certainly a little out of the way and becaus... Read more