Just in case you haven't already had your fill of Easter Egg hunts (and let's face it, how many children ever say no to more chocolate?!), here are some that are taking place in the next few days around Marlow:

Cliveden

• Sunday 24th and Monday 25th April
• 11am to 4pm
• £2 per child

Hughenden Manor

• Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th and Monday 25th April
• 11am to 4pm
• £2 per child

Greys Court, Henley

• Wednesday 20th April
• 10am to 12 noon
• £1.50 per child

Runnymede, Old Windsor

• Monday 25th April
• 10am to 4pm
• £3 per participant

Happy hunting ... and munching!

And what a fun time was had by all! Sandygate was about the only Marlow school to open its doors this morning, and then it closed them again at lunchtime and let the children loose on the snow. It's amazing how little ones will carry on playing despite turning blue with cold, and it's also amazing how fast you can go on a tea tray! Although, to be fair, we actually had a proper 'sledge'. My beloved disappeared down to the shed for half an hour after lunch and came back with his very own homemade contraption that, I have to say, was really quite impressive. He was certainly very proud of it, and proceeded to tow the two girls along on it all the way to Oak Tree Avenue, where there was a perfect toboggan run across the green. Plus loads of other kids to play with. And even some well-prepared parents drinking mulled wine out of a flask! Many rides and even more snowballs later, we all stomped home, crunching our feet in the snow and craving hot chocolate and carbs to warm us up. What a fab day!

Okay, I'm not being very efficient at doing this, but here's another update on things going on in and around Marlow ...

Tuesday Jan 27th to Saturday Jan 31st
'Cinderella on Ice' by the Imperial Ice Stars at the Wycombe Swan
7.30pm plus matinees at 2.30pm (except for Tues and Fri)
Tickets from £17 to £30.50
01494 512000 or www.wycombeswan.co.uk

Tues Jan 27th
Marlow Jazz Club - The Frank Toms Trio plus three star guests
British Legion Hall Station Approach Marlow SL7 1NT
01628 486571 or email [email protected]
Tickets £7

Weds Jan 28th
Buddhist Meditation class, 8pm
Marlow Sea Cadet Hall Wethered Road Marlow SL7 3AH
01189 313444 or email [email protected]
Drop in, free but a donation to cover the cost of the hall is welcomed ... and bring a cushion!

Saturday Jan 31st
Farmers' market in Maidenhead High Street, 9am to 5pm

Sunday Feb 1st
Chinese New Year Celebrations at High Wycombe Library, Eden Place, High Wycombe
Free, drop-in activities for all

Saturday Feb 7th
'Lighter than Air' by Circo Ridiculoso - combining circus, comedy and physical theatre
Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Altwood Road, Maidenhead
11am and 3pm, for ages 4+
Tickets £6.50 all seats or £22 for a family
01628 788997 or www.nordenfarm.org

Saturday Feb 7th
NCT Nearly New Sale, 1.30 to 3pm
Great Marlow School, Bobmore Lane, Marlow
07879 297700
Entry £1 minimum donation, no pushchairs allowed in the hall

If anyone knows of anything going on in the local area or wants to promote an event that they're organising, please let me know. Thanks, and see you out and about!

There are times, lots of them actually, when it's just so lovely to live in Marlow! On Saturday, I finally got round to "taking tea" at the Compleat Angler, about five years after we moved here and over a year since I gave my mum a voucher for it for Christmas. It was quite a strategic present, seeing as we live here and she doesn't! Just as well she did decide to take me with her, otherwise my plan would have backfired on me! Anyway, she invited my fab Auntie Helen as well and so it was that we left the little ones with Daddy and trotted off in our finery to eat scones and drink Earl Grey! It was the most gorgeous blue and gold afternoon. Sat in the conservatory, looking out over the rippling River Thames, watching the trees reflecting in the water and the sunlight glowing on the houses opposite, I could practically have cried with delight. What more could any woman want on a Saturday afternoon? Much as I love my girls, it sure as hell beat pushing a swing!

Okay, who's up for fireworks?! In our house there's always a bit of a difference of opinion on this one, which reflects our respective attitudes to risk I think! My other half really doesn't 'get' fireworks at all, just thinks they're noisy, dangerous and quite boring after the first two minutes. He would far rather we steered well clear. I, on the other hand, like nothing better than standing in the freezing cold getting a crick in my neck staring up at a sizzling sky! I love the smokey bonfire smell, the whooshing, fizzing and crackling, the baked potatoes and toffee apples, the whole thing really. I never tire of 'ooohing' and 'aaahing' as the men in flame-retardant suits do the business and build up to their final crescendo! It seems that one of our little ones takes after me and watches the whole show with her face lit up in delight, whilst the other buries her face in her daddy's shoulder and whines about going home! So we have a dilemma this week. But, in case you fall into the 'loving fireworks' camp, here's where the displays are in and around Marlow ...

Foxes Piece School, Wednesday 5th November, gates open 6pm -

It's almost half term, not to mention Halloween, so here are a few things that are going on in and around Marlow ...

Saturday 25th October - Beaconsfield Farmers' Market, Windsor End, Old Town - 9am to 12.30pm

Saturday 25th October - 'Fit Family Fun Day' at Burnham Beeches - www.burnhambeechesrotary.org

Saturday 25th October - Combined Charities Fair at the Town Hall, St Ives Road, Maidenhead and Halloween Pumpkin Party in the High Street, 11am to 4pm with spooky tales, face-painting and pumpkin carving

Sunday 26th October - Halloween at the Old Shire Horse Centre, Bath Road, Littlewick Green - 10am to 3pm - www.theoldshirehorsecentre.com

Sunday 26th October to Thursday 30th October - 'Cliveden by night' at Cliveden, Taplow, 6-9pm, with the house and gardens lit up in a special new display - www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Monday 27th October and Thursday 30th October - 'Mystery and masks' half-term activities at Wycombe Museum, Priory Avenue, High Wycombe - 10.30am to 12 noon and 1.30-3pm - www.wycombe.gov.uk/museum

Tuesday 28th October to Sunday 2nd November - 'The Big Draw: Windsor Castle under siege' at Windsor Castle, 11am to 4pm daily - www.royalcollection.org.uk

Wednesday 29th October - Toad's birthday party at the River and Rowing Museum in Henley, to celebrate 100 years of 'The Wind in the Willows' - 11am to 4pm - www.rrm.co.uk

Thursday 30th October - 'Eden and Paradise: T-shirts and collage' - free drop-in creative activity at Wycombe Library (take a plain cotton T-shirt) - for children aged between 5 and 12 - from 2 to 4.30pm

Friday 31st October - the Comedy Club at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Fieldhouse Lane, Marlow - from 7pm - ring 0870 444 8940 to book

Hope you have fun!

Did you know that the name 'Marlow' is Anglo Saxon in origin and means 'land remaining after the draining of a pool'? Or that Marlow was previously called Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow? Or that it had its own MP as early as 1299?

Did you know that there has been a bridge over the River Thames at Marlow since the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377), and that the current suspension bridge was built in 1832 by William Tierney Clark as a prototype for Szechenyi Chain Bridge over the River Danube in Budapest?

Did you know that the Royal Military College (now in Sandhurst) was once located in Marlow? Or that Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley and T S Eliot used to live here? Or that Olympic rower, Sir Steve Redgrave, and chef, Heston Blumenthal, still do? Or that popstar Robbie Williams has allegedly bought a house down the road in Bisham?!

No? Well, now you do!