Game, set and match...my day at Wimbledon and a giveaway!

Wednesday finally arrived...it was time for us to see the men's Quarter Finals at Wimbledon.

We took the train and then the tram from our local station to Wimbledon. We are really lucky that we only live a few miles away. Usually we would drive but during Wimbledon fortnight this is an absolute no no! One year we were taken to Wimbledon by one of my Hb's work clients and he parked where we thought was perfectly legal only to come back in the evening after a very pleasant meal to find the car had been towed. That was a very expensive episode which we have no desire to repeat!


Outside Wimbledon train station there is a regular bus shuttle up the hill to the famous grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club (to give it it's full title).

We really enjoy this bus trip as it is not a normal route for any bus and and it's really quick journey. We also managed to get on the open topped double decker so we had a great view for the 10 minute bus ride.

We passed the village Cath Kidston shop (above) and were able to peek into several VERY expensive homes nearby! Houses like the ones below sell at around £8-10 million.

We had packed a big picnic, enough to last for a long day of tennis and after all the usual security checks we were inside the famous grounds. We are lucky enough to have attended Wimbledon for many years but this year was the first year we had seats for Court Number 1.
We arrived just before the grounds opened (at 10.30am) so I was lucky enough to take some photos before the crowds poured in.

This is looking in towards Centre Court with the Rolex Clock.

Once we were inside our first port of call were the shops. I  L*O*V*E everything that is sold at Wimbledon. It is really high quality, if a little expensive, and the staff are so courteous.

We bought a limited edition 125 Year towel, 2 limited edition mugs, a 125 years of Wimbledon limited edition keyring and a new charm for my "Tennis" Links of London necklace.




The matches do not start until 1pm and so we had time for a "Pimms" for me and a coffee for my Hb

We also started our picnic as you are able to eat your own food both in the pavilions and even court side.
After lunch we had a wonder around taking in all the sights and also taking some photos to show you.

This is "Henmann's Hill" or perhaps "Marrays' Mount" now with all the crowds gathering to watch the giant TV screen.

This is the famous Fred Perry Statue outside Centre Court.

A view of one of the outside courts.
By 12.50pm it was time to take our seats on Court Number 1. This is the first time I have been inside this court, we had been lucky enough to get seats for Centre Court for the last 3 years. I was SO delighted though to have our seats this year as it was Men's Semi finals day and my FAVOURITE tennis player was on as the 2nd match....Rafael Nadal...swoon. Yes I know I should be shouting for Murray but I saw Nadal play in 2008 and I was well and truly hooked! He is such a joy to watch.

The first match was also a great draw. We saw Tomic Vs Djokovic. It was a very good match and although it was only 4 sets Tomic put on a good fight. Clearly though Dyokovic was a worthy winner who has gone on to tomorrow's semi finals.

There was a brief gap after this match, enough for us to get our some more of our picnic....

How could it be anything else?! I prefer the slightly healthier opinion of strawberries and grapes rather than cream and we sat and munched through these until we saw Nadal and Fish coming onto court, there was such a roar for Nadal.

Nadal has a very funny ritual before he starts playing of setting out his water bottles in a specific way. He lines 3 up....it was fun watching this first hand...

The match was brilliant, despite Nadal's win again it was no walkover. The crowd treated to a spectacle of tennis magic. Nadal is left handed and has a back hand that delivers such a blow. It was such a joy to watch him play.

He was so overjoyed to win the match!

and he signed for autograph hunters as he left the court to thunderous applause.

So now Nadal goes on to meet Murray and Djokovic meets Tsonga in the semi finals tomorrow afternoon. I wonder if both may even get through to the finals? In any case we will have watched at least one of the finalists. I will be glued to my TV to watch the final matches. 

Before I leave I thought you might like to see my new charm to add to my existing "Wimbledon" necklace shown in this post. Well here it is

It is a special limited edition "Links of London" charm produced just for this special 125th Wimbledon. My dear Hb treated me again.

 I know that I am a very lucky girl so I decided that as a treat for my blog readers I would offer one lucky reader, as a  giveaway, the very special limited edition keyring I bought. I so enjoy your visits to me here and I really love reading all your comments. Even the "lurkers" ( I mean this is the very kindest possible way), yes my stats show there are many of you out there from all around the world, hello to you too! :0)

We hunted high and low for this as it had sold out everywhere in the shops around the courts last week. We managed to get the VERY last one available, which was the one on show, at one of the kiosks.You do not need to have you own blog but you do need to leave a comment at the end of this post to join in the fun. Please leave a contact email if you do not have a blog that I can contact you through, should you win. I will post world wide. There are no hoops to jump through for this; you do not need to follow me (but I really thank those of you who are) etc etc. It's just a good old fashioned gift that I would like to offer as a thank you to one of my lucky reader's. So if you are a "lurker" out there don't feel too shy to put your name in the hat, everyone is very welcome. Last day for putting your name in the hat is 8th July.

I hope you enjoyed your trip with me to this year's 125th Wimbledon and let's see who is crowned men's singles champion on Sunday. (And good luck to you all for my little give-away).

Bye for now,

Jane x

(PS Just for this post I will not respond to any of your lovely comments, so that I do not affect the numbers in the give-away).