After a very wet morning in Kendall where we were soaked almost to the skin, we decided to start our travel back to Congleton for late lunch & then to Biddulph to our friends.

Arrived in Congleton & found an old renovated pub built in the 1700's. Lovely lunch together. We stepped out side & what did I spy a quaint shop (lots of quaint shops here in the U.K. !!!) that sold vintage & chic homewares. Lots of old vintage teacup sets, Chrystal & cut glass ware along with cutlery. Decorative signs & furniture filled the rooms & rooms upstairs too. I scored a couple of things then time to get to Veronica & David's.

Veronica & David had booked tickets to see a play 'Anna of the Five Towns', by Adam Bennett - it was a play at the time of the Industrial Revolution in that area concerning the potteries. We went to dinner together at the Theatre, then the play. It was one of the best plays we have been to & so well done. It was very pertinent to me with having discovered more about my family. The pictures around the back of the Theatre where we sat were impactful.

The next day - Sunday we went with Veronica & David to where they worship, which is very community oriented & is the centre of much social work in Congleton. Then we were taken on a drive to a French Restaurant in the countryside called 'La Popote Bistro' which was in renovated stables. The food, & surroundings were very English & that's why Veronica & David wanted to take us there. Next door was a church built in the 1100's. It is still used, & popular for weddings. It has been fully heated!! In the evening we were taken to their friends for coffee. A lovely end to the day.

Monday morning saw us packed ready to drive to St Albans. It was so hard leaving these special friends who had extended themselves to make sure we saw as much as possible in the short time we had with them. It is friendships like these that you know is a God encounter !!

The vintage & chic shop.

More of the little shop ...upstairs was very squashed.

The Entrance to the Play ..

The back drop to the play - enlarged photographs on a sort of fabric, of the smoke belching from the many Chimneys at the Potteries in Stoke-On-Trent.

Entering the renovated stables of 'La Popote Bistro'.

The garden outside the Bistro ...

Our Table ...inside as it was still drizzly weather.

The Church built in the 1100's & beautifully kept.

Inside the Church felt very regal.

After lunch we went on a lovely drive to 'The Castlethorpe Manor'. We had Devonshire Tea & then wandered around the grounds. It was amazing that the weekend before, the grounds had held 10,000 Christians as they gathered for 2 days to listen to bands, worship teams & testimonies with many conversions. .....called 'Big Day Out' .