I was up at 5.30am to get ready & be at the Luton Airport to meet Maud to fly with her to Hungary. As we approached the airport the traffic was at a snail's crawl & Maud messaged that she was jammed in it too. Finally my niece Liesel was able to get into the lane to drive through & drop me off. I felt ridiculous in summer clothing & sandals as it was sprinkling & cool but I knew that when I stepped off the plane at the other end it was going to be nearly 40 degrees. I was reassured as I entered the airport & joined the que with Maud as many were dressed like I was. We had connected well & wasn't long before they were calling all those going to Budapest to get out of the queue & follow the attendant to a new desk. I had planned on taking just a cabin bag but Maud had asked me to take my large case as I was to take some things back for her. After checking in we scrambled with all the others to get through security, and buy some food before boarding as we were flying Wizz Airlines which is a low cost airline. We had no time for anything but to then jump into the queue to board the plane. After about 2 hrs flight we arrive in Budapest. We went to pick up a hire car Maud had booked, & on arriving at the desk she was welcomed as a regular customer. Off we set with no sightseeing in Budapest, but straight to Maud's home in Nagynyarad, some 2.5 hours drive south of Budapest. We were able to do most of the journey on a fast motorway which goes from one end of Hungary to the other, coming near to the Serbian Border.

Oh: and it is 39.9 degrees as we travel. We stop a short distance from Maud's village to pick up some food & a huge watermelon !!

I didn't know what to expect about anything on this trip but as we got to Maud's home, I immediately knew why she was eager to get there as soon as possible - it is totally dreamy. It is large, old & rambly, with original chicken coops, pig pens, barns of different sizes, and an underground cellar. It was originally a working farm, and there are still a couple of fields at the back that neighbours use, along with the frontage that used to be large vegetable gardens with the road going through it, but is now just an area of grass.

Through the window on the drive ..

One of the large tunnels we drive through.

Would you believe it's a Tesco store (there are a number of them throughout Hungary but they are not as polished as back in the UK. They are like oversized sea containers. Here there is a currency exchange kiosk, so we can change our money.

In the heat this man sells his watermelon to Maud, outside Tesco!!!

While Maud is buying the watermelon, I hear a guy pull up on his motorcycle. The noise has made me turn around - it is very old but kept in good working order. It is an early Hungarian motorcycle. Many of the cars are still in use from the communist era: they have survived as VW produced reconditioned engines for them...

Looking the length of Maud's home ... you can see the layers of original brickwork...

The gorgeous old verandah with tiles all the way until they meet the old boards outside the barn.... also printing done with rollers on the outside walls. We took an old table & chairs outside & ate all our meals outside... we also took an old cane lounge out with Maud's popular Indigo dyed cushions. We sat & unpicked cross stitch together into the evening on the cane lounge ..