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<p>The festive season is over and in some ways I'm relieved that life can go back to normal.</p>
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<p>Helene and I went to Burghley House to meet up with some of her friends, her daughters and her friends' off-spring.</p>
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<p>The grounds were open to the public so we had a walk around in a biting cold wind before heading for the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.hillbrookehotels.co.uk/the-william-cecil/" target="_blank">William Cecil Hotel</a> in Stamford where we had a very good lunch which lasted several hours. A memorable day when I made some new friends.</p>
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<p>We had a great New Year's evening hosting dinner for Dave &amp; Lucie and Val &amp; Nick which lasted until 1am. By the time we had cleared away and completed the admin it was after 2am. Needless to say we didn't get up early on New Year's day but eventually emerged to head over to the coast to see the grey seals at Donna Nook. The breeding season is virtually over but there were a couple of hundred seal pups visible. It was quite cold and wasn't the weather for standing around but I managed to get some decent photographs using my 100 - 300 mm telephoto lens.</p>
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