As I am not in the USA for the 4th of July, I thought it would be fittingly hilarious to celebrate the 4th here in London – and celebrate the day that America gained independence from the chains of Great Britain – from within Great Britain.

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We planned a picnic in our park, with Badminton, tennis and cricket.

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We wandered over with wine from the Deli and piles of dips, breads, olives, duck pate, cookies, pastas – and people started turning up with bits and pieces to add to the already towering pile of food.

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I made a rose cheesecake topped with raspberries with a ginger crust – Allie, of But First, Cake made a pile of red, white, and blue cupcakes, some marbled and others peanut butter flavoured.

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We played a few sports, little Tilly keeping score. She of course decided that the girls had won (all of the games) and we got our photo taken with the ‘trofe’ she made us!

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We stayed for hours until the sun started to go down – it doesn’t set here until about 10pm at the moment, so we are taking advantage of the long sun hours by lazing in Viccy Park for as long as possible.

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No fireworks for us though – while they are semi-legal here, it was just too light outside!