A Family Extravaganza 2025
- Rhoda Phillippo Harrington
- Oct 9
- 15 min read
Photos courtesy of @THarrington and @AdilYouri
This trip started in April with a visit to the home of my sister Joey’s family, the Hall-Palmers and a tour of their school, Christ’s Hospital – it really was like visiting a film set for Harry Potter and Hogwarts – a wonderful facility and it was great to see how enthusiastic hubby Paddy and nieces Aurelia and Sibella were about the education and opportunities they have there. Christ's Hospital, founded in 1552, is one of the original Royal Hospitals of London and a pioneering institution in social welfare. It was established to care for and educate destitute children of the City of London, providing shelter, nourishment, and learning opportunities. The school was inspired by a sermon from Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, which moved King Edward VI to action. Christ's Hospital moved to Horsham, Sussex in 1902 and today has over 2000 students.
Following a week in Rome (see blog Rome in a Week) we returned to Suffolk to spend Easter with the family. We had a pleasant surprise on picking up our hire car from Sixt – a beautiful new blue mini cooper for the week.
Our Air BnB for the week was called Stables Barn in the village of Horringer just a few km’s from son Jack and his wife Megan’s home in Bury St Edmunds. With four bedrooms and bathrooms and in a lovely setting, it was perfect for our extended family get together. After a supermarket trip (to what we later discovered was a “dodgy” bit of Bury) we headed over to Jack and Megan’s for a lovely dinner and to play with Magnus, our gorgeous grandson.
Jack and Megan have a membership at the new David Lloyd club so Tim and Jack had a date to play paddle then Jack and I took Magnus swimming while Tim used the gym. Magnus swimming is quite exhausting as he is on the go constantly and has no fear of the water! Tim and I were going to use the sauna, spa and jacuzzi facilities, however Tim had a senior moment and thought he had locked himself out of his locker – luckily realising he was trying to get into the wrong locker just before the bolt cutters were called in! We had a nice lunch at the club then headed back to welcome Joey and family including Paddy’s mum Barbie to Stables Barn. I set off to drive to Peterborough to collect step mum Jan while the rest of the family settled in and played with Magnus. Tim did chicken one pot for dinner and we had a lovely evening.
The weather was still bright and sunny the next morning – Jan, Tim, Joey and I headed up to Ickworth National Trust Park for a walk around the stunning grounds. Traceable back to the Doomsday Book of 1086 the Italienate style rotunda and gardens have a fascinating history. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/ickworth-estate/history-of-ickworth and are believed to be the earliest garden of Italian influence remaining in the UK. We were glad we had gone early as by the time we left the queue at the gates was very long.
Jan stayed at Stables Barn to watch Aberdeen FC win in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and the rest of us went to Jack and Megan’s for a bbq lunch. Megan and I headed to the butcher to get enough meat to feed a large crowd. We were introduced to the game of Kubb amid much competitiveness and hilarity. Magnus enjoyed playing with everyone and being the star of the show.
We headed back to the Barn to paint Easter Eggs – a real tradition for the Hall-Palmers and Barbie has a real gift for it as do Aurelia and Megan – the creative ones in the whanau. It was Aurelia’s turn to cook dinner and we were treated to a wonderful salmon and teriyaki sauce meal. Magnus discovered that he fitted into the cupboard and passed a happy play hour getting in and out.
To celebrate Easter Sunday, Joey took Jan to church and then we all headed to Cambridge. We wandered past Queens College where Josh studied all those years ago (how much has happened since then!) and took photos of the Mathematical Bridge so called because of its unique construction using straight timbers to create an arched shape. This design, known as tangential and radial trussing, is considered sophisticated and mathematically elegant.
Lunch was booked at Dishoom https://www.permitroom.co.uk/locations/cambridge/ - it was delicious and the table just right for all of us. Sibella chose the prawns and found out her limit for hot spicy food! To walk off our excess food we wandered around the food market and bought some bits for a chacuterie dinner later. Joey and co went to see if they could go punting while the rest of us went back to the mathematical bridge and sat on the lawn enjoying a beer and people watching.
Back at the barn we had the Kubb world championship decider as well as egg painting judging which Megan won. Megan had bought the game Murdle with her so the crew played this while Tim rustled up dinner and I played with Magnus.
On Easter Monday, Joey and co headed home and Tim and I drove Jan to visit her cousin Deb in Capel St Mary. We pushed on to Flatford Mill and the Constable exhibition there – a trip down memory lane as this was where Rob lived at Flatford Farm back in 1992. Tim photographed The Mill at Flatford, from the famous John Constable painting.
Then we drove to Orford, a beautiful village on the tip of Suffolk and had lunch in the Jolly Sailor a very quaint pub with low ceilings and lots of style. https://www.jollysailororford.co.uk/. We wandered up to Orford Castle which has a unique polygonal tower keep https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/orford-castle/. On the way back we spotted the Unruly Pub, the UK’s top gastropub which we were to visit with Jack and Megan in the coming weeks. We drove through Rendlesham forest and collected Jan from her cousin’s and were treated to a lovely meal by Jan at the Weeping Willow in the village of Barrow that evening. https://www.theweepingwillow.co.uk/
Tuesday saw us meet at Megan’s and walked to Bury Cathedral or St Edmundsbury Cathedral as it is known. It has a rich history rooted in both a Benedictine abbey and the former parish church of St. James. The site has been a place of worship and pilgrimage for over 1,000 years, initially centred around the remains of St. Edmund, the martyred King of the East Angles. We had lunch in the café there – Magnus ate a huge baked potato with beans! After a play in the gardens we walked back and took Jan home for a sleep. Megan treated us to a fabulous Thai meal that evening which she had somehow found time to rustle up while we were away for a couple of hours! I got to put Magnus to bed which was a very special treat.
The last day of Jan’s time with us dawned so we set off for what turned out to be a 4 hour round trip to drop her at Peterborough station – there was a huge accident on the A14 on the return leg so we came back the pretty way and stopped for a coffee in Ely. I had managed to get a hair appointment that afternoon to start preparing for Josh’s wedding so I did that with the lovely Lauren while Tim got things packed and cleaned up at the Barn. After popping in to see Magnus on the way home, we got changed and went to meet Megan and Jack for a wonderful meal at Lark https://larkrestaurant.co.uk/. This tiny restaurant tucked away in a corner of Angel Hill is very special and the combination of aperitifs, nibbles and small plates was superb.
We then set off to drive to Stansted which at night was not for the faint-hearted as there were many lane closures for motorway works. I drove three times around the same roundabout at the junction for Stansted and into the wrong carpark for the hotel but we eventually dropped off the wonderful mini and caught the free bus back to the Raddison Blue were we stayed the night before our early flight the next day to Athens (see blog A Long Weekend in Athens).
Following Athens, the next stage of our Family Extravaganza is Josh and Jihane’s wedding. This is to be held at the Beldi Country Club https://beldicountryclub.com/ with three days of celebration. On the Sunday morning people are starting to arrive for the wedding as the stag and bacherlorette have now finished. The main event today was intended to be a rehearsal dinner with the wedding party at a beautiful jazz Riad in the Medina, however unfortunately Jihane was not feeling great having eaten something that didn’t agree with her on her bachelorette weekend. The dinner is postponed until the next evening and we gather everyone up for a dinner at the hotel restaurant instead. The hotel do very well with an impromptu dinner for 16 people. We get to meet everyone – Jihane’s mum and step dad, Soraya and Bob, Soraya’s sister and husband and friend from Texas, Mac and Mior, Donny and Cam,the groomsmen and Lama, Kelly and Amanda the bridesmaids and Michael and Erin, Jihane’s brother and sister-in-law. It is a relaxed affair and perfect for everyone to get to know each other.
Tim is full of the cold on Monday. We have the wedding rehearsal this morning and Josh asks me to walk him down the aisle the next day which made me very happy.
We head back into the Medina after this to collect some washing and pick up the groomsmen suits from the cleaners which thankfully are all intact and clean! We also buy almond milk for a special part of the ceremony the next day. Back at the Country Club we walked a circuit of the whole place – it has its own souk and classes as well as tennis courts, paddle courts and many wonderful little touches everywhere. We have bought a Koru for Soraya and Bob and she gives me a beautiful blue kaftan. We head back to help Josh with some prep work and discover that the Beldi only has one iron and ironing board so make sure that Josh’s shirts are ready.
The cocktail welcome event is in the early evening at the Kosybar https://www.kosybar.com/ so we get dressed up and catch the organised minibus there – we are meant to get there early to ensure that it is all set up – there is a bit of a delay but eventually we are on our way and get there just before the first guests arrive. It is a fantastic evening and a great way to ensure everyone gets to know each other. Jihane looks absolutely stunning in a beautiful white kaftan that her mum has had made for her for this special occasion. I am reunited with my three sisters, Mackenzie and Sibella, and we share a happy occasion all together which hasn’t happened since 2015 at son Oli’s wedding! Joey and Sibella have just arrived this morning for a whirlwind trip, and they have successfully brought the caramelo koalas which will be part of the wedding gift bags. We meet all of Josh and Jihane’s friends and relatives and the sunset is stunning as we sip our cocktails. Tim heads for home after this however the rest of the wedding party head to the jazz riad restaurant Le Bistro https://www.riad-monceau.com/.
Donny’s partner George is there so I get to meet him which is great. The dinner at Le Bistro is superb and Cam keeps me company. There are speeches from those that won’t speak at the wedding and the restaurant staff have also written a speech and present Jihane with some flowers. It was a very fun evening and the jazz was a brilliant touch. On the way home in the minibus Mac and I dance to Come on Eileen!!
WEDDING DAY! has finally arrived. Tim is still not feeling great so relaxes by the pool to try and get himself in better shape for this evening. I tidy up Josh and Jihane’s room so that they can find everything they need today. Then the girls have hair and make-up and I hang out with them, steaming dresses and silk dressing gowns so that they will look good in the photos. I also get to hang out for a short time with Josh and the groomsmen who are drinking champagne and having some photos taken. The hairdresser has a go at my hair but it soon falls to bits – I think he is more impressed with the beautiful long dark trestles of Jihane and her bridesmaids and Soraya! While all this was going on Joey, Lydia, Sibella and Mackenzie were camel riding!
The day seems to whiz past and suddenly I only have 45 minutes to get myself ready before the ceremony. The ceremony is to be in a huge glasshouse filled with beautiful flowers. It is hard to describe how wonderful it was in words.
From the memory table outside honouring Rob, and all the grandparents who are no longer with us, the walk down the aisle, Jihane arriving in her stunning Ukrainian designed wedding dress to the beautiful music of Zina by Babylone, the celebrant’s words, Josh and Jihane’s vows, the sharing of date and milk (a Moroccan tradition) and the exchange of rings, it was beautiful from start to finish and I think I did well to keep tears of joy in check.
We threw petals at the couple as they walked down the aisle as man and wife to the strains of Zange by Bongeziwe Mabandla and headed out for photographs and then cocktails on the lawn and a chance to ensure that polaroid photos with little messages were left for the bride and groom. Jihane has planned every last detail. There are serviettes with Minuit their cat on.
Each table has been themed with one of the special places in the world that Josh and Jihane have shared on their life journey so far. Then there were fire eaters and drummers and a champagne fountain before we headed in to enjoy a beautiful meal of mezze dishes including pickled pumpkin, cucumber and tomato medley, silky eggplant caviar, slow simmered lentils, pickled cauliflower and a trio of marinated peppers all served with khubz. This was followed by a chicken tagine with braised preserved lemons and olives served with couscous and then milk pastilla for dessert. The wines are from Australia, Bordeaux, Medoc, Spain and California.
The speeches were planned for the beginning of the meal, which was a great idea. I was up second after Soraya, so didn’t eat or drink anything before this and it was extra special that both Oli and Jack had messages for Josh and Jihane played during my speech – all the speeches, Soraya’s, Mac’s, Alma’s and Josh and Jihane’s were lovely.
Josh and Jihane went to change and we moved to the dance area to see them perform their wedding dance which was really beautiful.
We danced the rest of the night away, dazzled by the “Strictly Come Dancing” moves of the Moroccan contingent and their huge Cuban cigars! Susanna and Sibella made it until 11pm and Tim until midnight. Josh and Jihane cut a truly magnificent cake which had layers of red velvet and lemon and was served with passionfruit and raspberry. It was handed around but poor Jihane never got one piece of it!
We all got sparklers to farewell them as they left for the evening. I made sure that everyone had a wedding gift bag with a beautiful fridge magnet, Caramelo koala and Moroccan sweet and that those who needed to be were on the organised minibus back to the Medina. Happy and tired I wandered back to our room with Donny, Cam, George and Mac and Mior. One of life’s very, very special days.
The final part of our UK trip followed Josh and Jihane’s wedding and started at the Clermont Hotel at Charing Cross https://www.theclermont.co.uk/charing-cross/. We have booked this through Luxury Escapes and it is a very good deal – nice room, great location even if the temperature is a few degrees cooler than we enjoyed in Marrakech. It is 8th May and, completely ignorant of the fact that if we had walked in the other direction we would have been treated to all the famous London landmarks lit up in red, white and blue for the 80thanniversary VE Day celebrations, we walked toward Convent Garden and had a lovely tapas meal at Condesa https://www.condesalondon.com/ - great food and a superb wine list.
We started the next morning with a good hard workout at the hotel gym before grabbing some brunch at Bills in Covent Garden before heading to the British Museum https://www.britishmuseum.org/. This was a fascinating visit, not least because we saw many of the things that the British had appropriated over the years from the sites we had just visited in Rome and Athens! I think our favourite was the Rosetta stone - a granodiorite stele inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. It was discovered in 1799 by French soldiers during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is crucial because it allowed scholars to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, as the text is also written in Demotic and ancient Greek. We also enjoyed the Egyptian, Ancient India and Persian displays – parts of the world we are still to visit. After a bit of window shopping in Regents Street we went for a pub meal and then a drink at the Damn Yankee Wine Bar https://damnyankee.co.uk/, which was directly opposite the Top Secret Comedy Club where we had a reservation for the late show. https://thetopsecretcomedyclub.co.uk. This no frills basement venue boasts a great line up of stars and up and coming comedians and we enjoyed a great 90 minutes of laughter – highly recommend a visit and the tickets are only 11 pounds! We saw Babatunde Aleshe – one of the biggest names on the Black British comedy circuit, Gbemi Oladipo (my favourite), Grace Campbell (daughter of Alistair Campbell, who was the strategist and spokesman for Tony Blair) and Josh Jones.
We head back to Suffolk the next morning, catching the Stansted Express to the airport and picking up a hire car from there to drive to Bury St Edmunds – this time we have a green mini cooper – even better than the blue one. We got to Jack and Megan’s and meet Leif Elton, the latest addition to our growing clan and the most beautiful little grandson – a few tears of joy were shed at this point. We had an hour to play with Magnus while the three of them went off for a hospital appointment and then we walked into Bury to visit the amazing Vino Gusto https://vinogusto.co.uk/ which has a fantastic selection of wines and very knowledgeable staff. After a few wrong turns we find our Air BnB for this stay – a chalet style arrangement in a holiday park that clearly was never finished. It is warm and comfortable and has a lovely spa bath on the deck. We have dinner back at the Holmes’ then I get to put Magnus to bed before we head home to try the spa out and look at the stars.
After exercising at our chalet we met up and went to the Weird and Wonderful World of Wood https://www.weirdandwonderfulwood.co.uk/ at Haughley Park. It certainly was weird and wonderful in a beautiful setting. Haughley Park https://www.haughleypark.co.uk/about/history/ - has a colourful history dating back to 1554 when Queen Mary 1 gifted the land to Sir John Sulyard for his loyalty to her and the Catholic Church. Mainly used as a wedding venue now, the grounds and lakes are beautiful with amazing glass sculptures by an American called Danny Lane – these are very similar to our glass wave sculpture back at home which was crafted in NZ.
We have a curry lunch from one of the food trucks, see an enormous “soup dragon”, browse the many stalls and watch an amusing acrobatic display from the Black Seagulls. As Magnus loves birds I buy him a ceramic bird whistle! We have invited them for dinner and just make it to the supermarket in time as we had no idea that they close at 4pm on Sundays!! We managed to buy enough to cobble something together and Magnus enjoyed the spa while Troy kept escaping!
Magnus hangs out with his Aunty Lucie on a Monday so today we set off to see a bit more of Suffolk. We meet up with Jack and Megan in Lavenham, and as Tim and I arrive first we visit the beautiful church of St Peters and St Pauls where a very friendly verger called Richard gives us an impromptu guided tour. We grab a coffee at The Nook Readers Café and Bookshop, wander past the various amazing homes including one that looks just like the Harry Potter house and buy some lovely clothes for Leif and Magnus in a very cute store called Pickles and Lillies https://picklesandlillies.co.uk/ which is full of clever local organic clothes and toys. Then we head off for the highlight of the day – a degustation lunch at the Unruly Pig in Woodbridge https://theunrulypig.co.uk/ which is the Number 1 Gastropub in the UK and it was very clear why!
We indulge in the Unruly Tasting Menu which is only 49 pounds a head. A quattro of different oysters, smoked cods roe tartlets, arancino balls, scallop crudo, goats cheese tortelloni, trout, rare breed beef with mash, panna cotta and chocolate cremosa, the whole experience was delicious sitting outside in the sun. We drove cross country back again to Bury and firmly believe that we have seen 90% of Suffolk after this visit and the Easter one.
With Magnus back on the team the next day we head to High Lodge Forest https://www.forestryengland.uk/high-lodge to hire bikes and go for a cycle around the tracks that crisscross this area. We hire ebikes and have a great hour with Magnus loving every minute of it.
Then we walk in the forest to various cleverly designed playparks – Magnus does really well as it is quite an area to cover with his little legs!! We head over to Jack and Megan’s once Magnus has had time for a sleep and enjoy playing with him in the garden – once more the weather has been superb. Megan has managed yet again to put together a tremendous meal – she is so very talented.
Our last day dawns and a special treat today is to go to Magnus’ gymnastic club with him and Megan. It is a huge area with bouncy floors, and all the gym equipment that you can imagine. Magnus literally runs full pelt for an hour and clearly loves it. Such a great thing to have locally for him at this young age.
After lunch, Tim takes some family photos of the Bury Holmes and then it is time for us to bid them a tearful farewell and head to Heathrow for our flight. Traffic on the M25 was awful so we were glad that we left early and avoided any stress!
Journey’s end – an amazing experience with so many of our family…..until next time.
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