Rainy Days are here again!

Another rainy morning this morning, but we had a lovely sleep in and got some washing done before heading out for a few hours in Bath. We wandered down to Bath late in the morning, and started at the Fashion Museum, which was good – its interesting how each period in fashion builds on and makes slight changes to previous periods.

It had stopped raining, so we spent some time wandering around the town, and wandered up to the Royal Crescent, and decided not to go in to the Georgian Terrace that is open, but head back towards town and to the Jane Austin museum. Unfortunately, this didn’t live up to the expectation (or the 6.50 entry fee).

We had decided already to have lunch here, and, although the museum was disappointing, the lunch was lovely!

It was raining when we came out of the museum, so we decided against walking along the river, and instead, headed back to Margaret & Ted’s for a quiet afternoon/evening.

(Alison)

Royalty and the ‘Upper Crust’

Alas, our run of good weather appeared over this morning, as it was drizzling when we got up. We decided to brave it and go for a walk anyway, to take some more photos of the sights Cambridge has to offer. The rain steadily got heavier, until we were almost back at the B&B, and the sun shone through – of course we were wet through by then!

The rest of the day was fine though (apart from one shower as soon as we got to Windsor, but that passed quickly), so we were able to spend lots of time at Windsor and the Windsor Castle in comfort. The Castle complex is a lot larger than we expected, although it does house a military troupe, as well as the state apartments, Queens private apartments and many offices. It is the Queens ‘home’ so our guide told us to keep an eye out for the flag to change some time in the afternoon, as she usually comes in late on a Friday afternoon to spend the weekend.

Although there were people wandering in and out of the private apartments, she didn’t arrive while we were there, so couldn’t say hello! We did tour around the dolls house – an amazing structure, complete with real china, real wine in the bottles, original paintings etc, and fully wired with electricity. Then went on to the State Apartments, which were much grander than any others we had seen, as expected I suppose. It was a beautiful day, so after spending quite a bit of time at the Castle, we headed across the river to Eton and Eton College.

Eton is a lovely little town, although you do get the feeling it is a bit snobby! Eton College had just finished for the Summer holidays, so there weren’t any students around – bit of a shame really, it would have been good to see them in their tails (yes, the uniform really is bow tie and tails with pin stripe trousers). The school is very proud of their history, and having taught many high ranking politicians, civil servants and royalty, its not really surprising. We didn’t get to see inside much of the school, it has expanded significantly, taking up a large number of the buildings at the far end of the main street and now educates around 1300 students a year – at 25000 pounds a student, they are not doing too badly. We did get to see the original school building, chapel and quadrangles though.

From here it was back to Margaret and Teds, Andrew got straight in to setting up their internet, the bits and pieces arrived while we were touring around, and soon enough it was off to bed.

(Alison)

Cambridge

This morning we started the day by going to the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Company, followed by Bloomers Original Bakewell Puddings. After our purchases, we headed out of town and meandered our way to Derby and the Royal Crown Derby China.

We had a really fascinating factory tour, showing us everything from pouring the moulds, to completing the gold edging. Seeing the plates ‘pressed’ through to the complete, fired product was really interesting (really, it was just great to see something other than a castle or house!). The products in the shop were lovely, but very expensive!

From here, we continued on to Cambridge, and arrived much earlier than we originally expected to. We had a lovely time wandering around the grounds of Kings College, then along to look at the other colleges. Unfortunately, most were closed, as it is graduation week, but we did get to see a procession for one of the colleges. Each student belongs to a college, as well as the University, and it looks like they graduate from both! It was very interesting to see how it worked.

We were in Cambridge at 5pm, so thought we would like up and stay for Evensong in the Kings College Chapel. It was a wonderful experience. The acoustics in the chapel are amazing! We were certainly glad we were able to experience it.

From here it was off to the B&B to book in. Booking on the internet, your not always sure of what you will get or where you will be. We found that the B&B was only about a mile from where we parked – right near the centre of town! So once settled in, we walked back to town for a yummy dinner at a Turkish restaurant, then wandered back again in time for the fireworks over some of the colleges graduating today. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the camera with us, so its up early for a walk tomorrow before breakfast.

(Alison)

Views around Castleton

Today we headed from York down to Bakewell where we will stay for one night before heading to Cambridge. The day was looking pretty stormy when we went for a walk, but there were only a few sprinkles during the day, quite surprising.

Our first stop of the day was Chesterfield, where we parked in the shopping centre and then walked around from there. The main attraction of Chesterfield is the church, or more specifically the church’s spire. Its not quite straight, well it’s not really straight at all. You could see it coming into town, and it does make quite a sight.

From Chesterfield we headed for the main attraction of the day Chatsworth House, another day, another house and garden to look through. We started with the garden, which was enormous. While it was all very impressive the maze was the most fun and took some time to get through. After a while exploring the gardens we looked to the house. We purchased an audio tour, and made our way in. The house had a large number of rooms open, and the audio tour covered just the right balance of history and details of the furniture etc. Overall Chatsworth was one of the better houses that we have visited.

After Chatsworth we headed for the hills, and the village of Eyam. When we arrived Eyam Hall was closed, but we had a look around the streets and read some of the history of the town. Including lovely places like Plague Cottages…

To end the days site seeing we went to Castleton, and walked from the town up to Peveril Castle. The hill was very steep, and we had a few stops on the way up, but it was all worth it for the view. The castle is a ruin and it wasn’t that interesting, but the views really were spectacular. From here it was back to Bakewell, and our B&B for the evening. Bakewell has 2 ‘Original Bakewell Tart’ companies, so we had to try it for dinner – it took a few goes to find a restaurant that was serving dinner, at a reasonable price, and had the tart for dessert, but we found one and it was yummy!

(Andrew)

York and surrounds

After a big sleep in this morning we headed out to wander the streets of York. We purchased our engagement ring here on our first trip in 2001, so thought it might be worth checking out the jewellery shop again! Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything we liked, that was within the price range… maybe next trip.

We headed out to Castle Howard, hoping it hadn’t been flooded out. It wasn’t, and we were able to spend quite a bit of time wandering around the castle grounds, because – amazingly, it wasn’t raining!!! It was cold, but not wet, so we were happy… The Castle has a lovely, manicured garden, with lots of statues, fountains etc to look at. The house tour was shorter than expected, as they are currently filming “Brideshead Revisited” – which was actually quite exciting.

From here, we wandered along to Harewood House, near Leeds. This was another large property, which was lovely to wander around. We spent lots of time at both properties today, I think because it was such fine weather. The house was very well presented, with the Earl of Harewood presenting the audio commentary, which gave it a personal touch. He was able to talk about the house and furnishings much more personally than other commentaries we have heard.

Following this, we headed to Otley, Shipley and Bradford, where Alison’s family is from. Alisons Great-Grandparents were from Otley, and spent time in Shipley, and Grandfather was born in Bradford. Quite an industrial area, the houses and streets looked comfortable and friendly.

We soon wandered back to York, to turn on the news and see more footage of the horrendous floods in Sheffield and surrounding areas. Roads have been cut, including the M1 motorway, and a reservoir wall is threatening to burst its banks – the surrounding town have been evacuated. Here in York, the waters are still rising, and driving around, there is water everywhere. Hopefully the next few days are clear, like today, so the water can wash out to sea before any more rain.

Heading South

A big travelling day today – Edinburgh to York, around 250 miles (400km). There were a few places we wanted to visit along the way, so we headed off early (and were caught up in the early morning school run!), and were soon on the motorway.

First stop was Berwick-upon-Tweed. Unusually, it was not raining, but given it is on the coast, it was VERY windy! And cold. So we didn’t stay long.

Next up was Alnwick Castle, which was Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies (although a lot of editing has been done). It was a lovely place (and still not raining), so we spent a bit of time wandering around the castle grounds, and went on a guided tour which pointed out the locations for Harry Potter, as well as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (with Kevin Costner), and Black Adder (the opening scene of Rowan Atkinson chasing the horse is down by the river next to the castle). The castle gateway is used in all of these movies!

Not long after we left Alnwick castle, it started raining (it couldn’t last all day!), but we thought Fountains abbey and Water Garden was going to be worth getting wet for, so we headed there anyway. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the power had been cut due to flooding, and most of the water garden paths were, in fact, under water (they had flooded the week before, water had gone down, everything cleaned up, and now its all flooded again). So they had closed until further notice. It was very disappointing.

Given the impending flooding, and road closures that had already started, we thought it might be best to get to York. We were only an hour or so away anyway, so we headed off. The river in York is almost breaking the banks, but we are told the rain should pass overnight and tomorrow will be much finer – the barometer in the B&B seems to confirm this. Keeping our fingers crossed!

(Alison)

Battle of Bannockburn

Today we didn’t have much on our list. We started by setting the GPS to navigate us to Stirling Castle. Yes… another castle, they seem to have a few around here, and they are on our Great British Pass making them free. When we arrived at Stirling castle it was bright and sunny, we wish! Yes it was raining, and quite heavily. We started the visit to the castle with a guided tour. The tour was quick but interesting, which really helped. They were creating a tapestry on the grounds, and will finish it on Tuesday after having taken over three years to get to this point. The tapestry was really fantastic, a great work of art.

From Stirling Castle we headed to the Wallace Monument. It wasn’t on the GPS, and we were already in Stirling so we just headed north and hoped for the best. It all worked really well and we made it to the monument with ease. The monument was not on our pass, so we didn’t go in. We did walk to the top of the mountain and have a look around before heading to Bannockburn.

Bannockburn was the most interesting site of the day. Today was the anniversary of the second day of the battle of Bannockburn. The site was housing a re-enactment of the battle. It was quite different to walk around the site with people dressed in battle gear. Unfortunately it was really cold and windy. We managed to stay for about an hour and a half before we needed to move on.

We ended the day with a walk down the Royal Mile, and a really great dinner at an Italian restaurant need the B&B. We had a really great day, even if we are getting a little tired.

(Andrew)

Whisky in Scotland

After a rough nights sleep we had breakfast before heading off to catch the bus. We had a list of sites to visit, and we got going quite early. Our first stop was the Palace of Hollyroodhouse and the Queen’s Gallery. The gallery is currently housing an exhibition on natural history. The audio guide was really enlightening on what you were looking at. From the gallery we walked through the palace, and quickly looked through the gardens. It would have been nice to spend some more time, but the rain is quite constant.

From Holyroodhouse we caught the bus to Ocean Terminal to see the Royal Yacht Britannia. The rain had eased a little and looking around the yacht was a little easier. It was smaller than we had expected, but still a great experience. Afterward we wandered through the Ocean Terminal shopping centre.

Next we were off to Edinburgh Castle. We caught one of the busses, but it was detoured and the trip took significantly longer than expected. We stuck with it, and eventually made it to the castle. The castle grounds were huge. We used the audio tour, but after a while the rooms all started to look very… well castle like.

To finish the day we went on the Scottish Whisky Experience. A series of small films showing the making of Whisky, followed by a ride in a whisky barrel. While a little corny, it was good fun. We got a dram of whisky, and a whisky glass so it was all worth it.

(Andrew)

Onward north to Scotland

This morning we continued our travels northward towards Scotland. It wasn’t long after leaving Ambleside that we headed into the border country and Hadrians Wall. We had seen a glimpse of the wall on our last visit, and wanted to find out a bit more, so off we went in search of some of the Roman Forts that had been excavated. On our way through the hills we heard a rumbling behind us then all of a sudden a there were two fighter planes dog fighting at low altitude through the valley – it felt like they were right on top of us. Unfortunately we weren’t quick enough with the camera – they were out of sight almost before we realised what was going on!

We continued on our way towards Birdsowald Roman Fort on Hadrians wall. There is a long line of the wall still visible here, along with the foundations of a number of the buildings that would have been in the fort. The wall would certainly have been impressive when it was complete. Unfortunately now most of the stones have been taken to build the houses and sheds for the farms in the area, so the wall is not even visible in some places.

From here we moved in to the Scottish Borderlands, and Hermitage Castle. A few people had told us about their driving experiences in Scotland – the single lane roads with passing points every few hundred yards –and we thought they were talking about the roads in the highlands. We soon discovered these roads are all around Scotland – in the border country as well! The roads were pretty quiet, so it wasn’t a problem but I would hate to be driving through in the peak tourist season! Not long after we got into Scotland and it started raining. Hermitage Castle, which we were going to visit, is another ruin – no roof. It was only raining lightly, so we continued on our way. By the time we were wandering around the castle, the rain had really set in and was quite heavy! The hills we had driven through were no longer visible. There is a saying about Scotland – if you can see the hills, its about to rain, if you cant see the hills, it is raining! I really do believe this!

We ran back to the car and continued to Floors Castle – this one is lived in, so we hoped it would provide good shelter, as well as being an interesting place to look around. And it was. The castle is the home to the Duke and Duchess of Roxborough, and is a beautiful place. The garden was a bit soggy (it had stopped raining by the time we finished looking through the house), so we didn’t spend much time there, and continued along towards Edinburgh.

On our way in to Edinburgh, we stopped at Rosslyn Chapel (made famous by The Da Vinci Code). It is currently undergoing a major restoration, and so is covered by an ugly tin roof and scaffolding. This does allow a more close up view of the outside of the chapel, but does ruin photos! The work that went into creating this chapel is amazing, every section is elaborately carved, and all windows, ceiling sections, wall adornments etc are different. Everything has a story as well, such as the colums carved by the master and his apprentice – the master carved the first one, then went to France for inspiration for the second. While he was away the apprentice carved the second colum, and when the Master returned, he was so angry that he murdered the apprentice. The apprentice did a wonderful job – more elaborate than his master, which wes probably his downfall!

We finally finished looking around the chapel, and were on our way to find our B&B in Edinburgh. It was much easier than we expected, so we wandered into the Royal Mile before long. We were near the Castle when we heard a band playing. There were quite a few soldiers around, so we kept going, and found that the stadium seating was all up ready for the Tattoo in August, and that there was, in fact, a band playing. We had arrived in time to see the ceremony to install the new Governor of the Edinburgh Castle. It was really good! Thank goodness the rain held off for this, and till we walked back to our B&B!

(Alison)

Is summer always this wet in England? (or, It rained again today!)

This morning we were up early to make the most of our time in this beautiful location. We started with a 3 mile wander along the Rothay, behind Rydal Hall and back into Ambleside. It was a lovely morning – cool, but the sun was (almost) shining and the dark clouds had moved on.

Back with a big appetite for breakfast, we then enjoyed the company of our hosts, George and Ann, before setting out for the day. We started with the Beatrix Potter Gallery in nearby Hawkshead. This tiny gallery is located in Beatrix’s husbands original solicitors office and displays originals of her pictures for a number of her stories. They are wonderful, the reproduction in the books is amazing – particularly considering a lot of the books were originally printed in the very early 1900’s.

From here it was a couple of miles down the road to Hill Top Farm, the first farm Beatrix Potter purchased with the proceeds from her books. It has a lovely little cottage – quite comfortable. The house is as it was left to the National Trust by Beatrix. She left a number of properties to the National Trust. As an avid conservationist, Beatrix purchased a number of large farms in the Lake District to preserve the area, and bequested them to the National Trust. Some of these are open, like Hill Top, and others are run as working farms.

A number of pieces of furtniture, and part of the house and landscape have been used in various books of Beatrix’s. The house has some of these books, with the relevant page open, to look at as you wander through – it is really interesting to see how it is incorporated and where the inspiration came from.

After Hill Top, we headed north to the Derwent Pencil Museum, which, in all honesty, was pretty boring! And then on to the Castlerigg Stone Circle. It was the Summer Solstice today, and Castlerigg Stone Circle is a particularly important place, so there were a lot of people there – many of which had been there all night, ready to celebrate the dawn at around 4:30am, and since that time had been celebrating and welcoming other visitors to the circle. The location was amazing, the views were really breathtaking.

We then wandered back through to Ambleside, and on to the Grizedale Forest. This had been advertised as a great place to walk, with wonderful sculptures along the forest trails. The forest is not what we expected – essentially it is mostly a pine plantation – but the walking track was pretty good. That was until it rained. We decided to tackle two walks – neither of them very long (1.5 miles and 3 miles) and it was as we set out on the 3 mile walk that the rain started – lightly at first, and then quite a bit stronger. So of the 4.5 miles we walked in total, it would have rained for about half! Luckily we had our rain jackets, but they only help so much!

We are beginning to wonder if they ever have sunny weather in the UK. Since we have been here, we have driven and walked through rain ourselves, other parts of the country have suffered from torrential downpours and flooding – are we going to see the sun at all before we head home for ‘winter’!

(Alison)

Lakes District

We had another long trip today from North Wales to the lakes district. The trip went quite quickly, and so we decided to detour into Blackpool, and to visit one of my dad’s (John) old homes. Blackpool was very interesting. After finding dad’s old house we drove down the promenade, and then headed for Levens Hall just south of Kendal.

The garden at Levens Hall was just as described in the Lonely Planet, “Like stepping into Alice in Wonderland”. The various hedges are cut into some quite amazing shapes. We spent a good amount of time wandering through the garden, enjoying the various sights.

From Levens Hall we travelled to Sizergh Castle, another large castle run by the National Trust. Approaching the castle we were confronted with a high, almost skyscraper, covered scaffolding. The castle was packed up for the wint… I mean summer. The castle was still open, just there was no view from the outside, other than that of the covers. The inside was interesting, and a talk on the roof restoration, the real reason for the covers, was also interesting.

Kendal was our next stop, a great little town with an equally great chocolate shop. We grabbed a quick cake and sandwich before walking around the town and then heading to Ambleside. After checking in, and carrying the bags up to the room, we decided to go for a walk. We had purchased a set of small walks around Ambleside, and the weather was looking ok. By the time we had chosen a walk there was a loud clap of thunder, and the skies opened up to… is it really summer? Fortunately within a few minutes the rain had passed and we headed off on the walk.

The walk went up past the Stock Ghyll waterfall, and then followed along some small lanes and public footpaths. We got a little lost at a few points, but in general it was a really good walk. We got a glimpse of a deer in the distance, and the waterfall was quite spectacular. At the end of the walk we were back in town, and grabbed a salad and some rolls from a shop before heading down to the lake for a quick picnic dinner.

(Andrew)

North Wales (sorry, cant pronounce the actual names!)

Today we said goodbye to Margaret and Ted for the moment, and started our journey north. Over the next few days we are planning on travelling up to Edinburgh, and then back to Margaret and Ted’s via York and Cambridge. This first part of our trip involves heading to North Wales, stopping the night at Betws-y-Coed.

We started early and drove to Conwy, a little north of Betws-y-Coed. At Conwy we visited the castle, and walked around the town. The castle was impressive, but then again they are starting to all look very similar. The good this about Conwy Castle was that you could climb up all of the towers, giving great views of the surrounding area. The town was also very interesting; it has a large wall that surrounds most if it, which you are also allowed to walk around. In Conwy itself we visited Plas Mawr, a large house built in 1756 if I remember correctly.

From Conwy we made our way to Caernarfon, to ride on the Welsh Highland Railway. We caught the steam train from Caernarfon to Rhyd Ddu. The trip was not as scenic as we had hoped, but it was an interesting change from seeing castles.

We got back from Rhyd Ddu an hour before Caernarfon Castle closed, so we had a quick look around the castle and at the Welsh Fusiliers museum that is housed there. One of the great things about Caernarfon Castle is that many of the towers, rooms, and walkways are still accessible. The puzzle of corridors, rooms, and stairways made exploring the castle really enjoyable.

We finished the day be heading for the B&B in Betws-y-Coed. After a quick walk around we had a nice meal at one of the pubs. The Bara Brith and Butter Pudding with Marmalade ice cream was a great way to finish the day.

(Andrew)

Local attractions around Hereford

Today we were sticking a bit ‘closer to home’ and visiting some sites around Herefordshire. Margaret was able to come with us today, she had been wanting to visit Attingham and Barrington, so it was an ideal opportunity.

We started at Sudeley House. The house wasn’t open (is only open a couple of days each week, so we found out when we arrived!), but we were able to wander around the garden and visit the historic collection in the museum. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t that great, so we weren’t able to spend long, but did get to wander around, and got back to the car before the heavy rain started.

Next up was Attingham Park, again, the weather was a bit drizzly, so we headed straight inside the house for a wander around. It was a beautiful home, with lovely furniture and amazing ceiling decorations. The ceilings in most of these homes have very detailed plasterwork, often with paintings inlaid. The biggest surprise was the cows grazing on the front lawn! The house is surrounded by a working farm, and the cows are currently grazing in the ‘home’ field – literally!

From here, we headed back towards Peterstow, stopping at Barrington House on the way. Barrington House was similar to Attingham, but on a slightly smaller scale. Again, the House was surrounded by beautiful gardens, this time with sheep in the surrounding fields.

We headed home in time for a quick change before heading out to dinner at the local Broome Farm. The farm is primarily an apple orchard, growing apples to make cider. They brew the cider on the farm, and have tastings and sales during the day. There is also a B&B, that utilises the kitchen and dining space for a restaurant in the evenings. We had a lovely dinner, starting with drinks outside on the porch, then moving in for the Hereford Red Cheese Souffle, then mains (baked Cod fillet with herbed crumbs and tartare for Alison and Herefordshire beef fillet with tarragon and mustard sauce for Andrew) served with parmesan encrusted zucchini, new potatoes, honey and mustard seed glazed carrots, steamed broccoli and scalloped potato. This was followed by dessert (Margaret and Alison shared Chocolate Amaretto Pudding, and Andrew had Summer Pudding). We went home VERY full – it was all so delicious. Highly recommend anyone coming to Herefordshire to stop in at the Broome for dinner.

(Alison)

Castles Galore!

This morning we had a bit of a sleep in – things open later on Sundays! We started at the lovely city of Ludlow. The castle is in the middle of the town (as some are) and so we had wander through the city to get to the castle. The town is setting up for a festival, so the castle was ‘under renovation’ with a stage and set and various wardrobes and other tents to go along with the performance, so we couldn’t see the whole thing.

We soon had to get back to Margaret & Ted’s for lunch and then headed out to Wilton Castle in Ross-on-Wye. This castle is privately owned, but is being restored in consultation with (and funding from) English Heritage. It is only open a few days each year, although now that the restoration is nearly complete they are hoping to hire it as a wedding reception/function venue. Margarets grandfather researched and wrote a book about the castle in 1939, so she was quite keen to take a look! The original castle, and subsequent tudor manor house are now ruins, but are set in a spectacular English garden, complete with lilies, roses and lavender!

Following a wander around Wilton, it was a short trip down the road to Goodrich Castle. Again, we were able to spend quite a bit of time wandering around the ruins (with audio guide!) – it has wonderful views over the Wye valley. We were close to Ted’s daughter, Mary, and her husband Martin’s place, so we went to say hello before setting off home again.

Walking with Harry Potter

We planned to head off early today, but managed to sleep in so we headed off at the normal time around 8 am. Our first stop was Raglan castle, another ruined castle. Raglan is a large site, with most of the castle in ruins. The parts that were standing were quite impressive, and the internal moat was an interesting feature.

From Raglan we made our way to Berkeley Castle. This was the first disappointing site of our trip. The castle was really just set to show off old tapestries and furniture. The guided tour started many rooms with “This was never a formal dining room, but we have set it up as a dining room to show off the table and furniture” (or this sort of thing)… so after a couple of rooms, we decided to make our own way around the rest of the castle, and didn’t take long to head back to the car and on to Gloucester.

Gloucester is a wonderful village, with a huge cathedral. Initially it looks similar to Canterbury Cathedral. Inside it is similar as well, with high vaulted ceilings and wonderful stained glass windows at either end. One of the main features here is that the Cloister was used in the Harry Potter films! They have used some ‘licence’ in the movies, changing the floor and windows on the side, but the ceiling and walls look much the same as the movie.

After wandering around the cathedral and taking a quick look at the town, we headed back to Margaret and Ted’s, and had a lovely afternoon wandering down to the local cider brewery for some tastings and ‘cream tea’. It was a very pleasant day!

Beautiful Wales

Today we set out early, and headed for Swansea, in search of internet, and walking maps! We found the internet, and after a quick check of the email, and phone call home, we headed to the end of the Gower Peninsula for the first of the walks of the day. It really is a beautiful place, high steep cliffs, with open sea. Apparently a great place for surfing!

Soon, though, we were off to Aberdulais Falls, which still runs a hydro electric power station. The site started as a Copper factory, before being transformed into a flour mill, and finally, in the 1800’s, an Tin Plating factory. Looks like hard work! The water wheel used in the tin plating factory is still there, and is used in the hydro plant. They generate enough power to feed back into the grid and raise money for the restoration of the area.

Next, we went to Caerphilly Castle, which was pretty impressive – it is huge, 2nd or 3rd biggest castle in Britain. Like a lot of these castles, it is a ruin, so it was a pity it rained for most of the time we were there! They have restored the Great Hall, and it would have been very impressive when the castle was habited.

Finally, we found our way to Newport and the Caerleon Roman Ruins. They are the only above ground roman barracks in all of Europe, and only 4 of the 60 barracks remain (the rest are under the surrounding fields and school). After this, it was getting pretty late, so we headed back to Monmouth and wandered around the town to find something to eat. Monmouth is a very pretty little town, only a few miles from Margaret & Ted’s, so very handy.

A day for relaxing

We are now staying at friends of Alison’s family, so today was washing day. We spent the morning catching up with Margaret and Ted, doing our washing, cleaning the rubbish out of the car etc – general housekeeping! We only headed off after lunch, making our way from Peterstow to Kilpeck where we walked around the church, looking at the magnificent stonework. The roof of the church is lined with a number of carved faces and figures. There was also a Norman fort near the church, so we walked around what remains of that before heading off.

Our next stop was the town of Hay-on-Wye, a bookshop town. It was raining quite a bit while we were there, so we hopped quickly from shop to shop. Alison found a few books that will add some weight to our bags…

On the way to Hay we passed a sign to Arthur’s Stone. With plenty of time left in the day we plugged this into the GPS and made our way down some very small alleys to the stone on top of a hill. The site was very peaceful, and is a bit off the beaten path.

Finally, we went into Hereford to try and get an internet connection, but it was not to be! We will try a library tomorrow and see if we have more luck there.

A long walk along the gorge

With many of our sites in the South of England visited, we headed north from Portwrinkle to Peterstow in Herefordshire. Along the way we decided to visit Cotehele, another fascinating old building. Many of the rooms were decorated with old tapestries, and there was a large collection of old weapons and armour on display. The weather was a cloudy and there were some showers, so we only quickly looked through the gardens.

From Cotehele we made our way north again to Lydford Gorge. The gorge had a 3 mile walk, which we decided to brave regardless of the rain. The views were spectacular, and the walk had some heart pounding moments and was quite challenging. The path was cut into the rockface at many spots, and with the rain the rocks were quite slippery. Standing on the edge of cliff, taking photos was an interesting task. Overall the walk and views were really great, well worth doing regardless of the rain.

Our next stop was quite a way north at Glastonbury. We were too late for the bus to the Tor, so we had a quick Somerset Tea (tea, and scone with cream and jam), and then walked around the town for a few minutes before heading to a pub “of great historical significance*”, the Puritan Inn. Dinner was really tasty, and large. After dinner we finished the trip to Peterstow just in time to catch a TV show on the Wye Valley, a part of which was filmed just down the road from where we were staying.

*The Puriton Inn used to be owned by Andrews Great Uncle, and his Mum lived and worked in the pub when she lived in England.

A big day out

We wanted to make the most of our time in the South West, so headed down to St Michaels Mount. It is a very impressive location, about 100 meters off the coast is the island. It was low tide when we got there, so we were able to walk across. By the time we had wandered around, the tide had come in, and the island was cut off from the mainland, and we had to catch a boat back!

From here, we started heading back north, and went to Trerice. We were able to have our picnic today in the grounds, as the rain had passed, and really enjoyed the gardens there. The local primary school are now looking after the medieval vegetable gardens that were recovered only a few years ago.

After looking through the house (which has lots of ‘hands on’ exhibits, including some interesting musical instruments), we drove about 20miles to Lanhydrock House. We had been advised to make sure we had lots of time to spend here, and once we arrived, we could see why. It took over an hour just to wander through the house. The kitchens, with separate rooms for dairy, meat cellar, fish cellar, etc, were huge, but needed to be to cater for up to 17 in the Earls household, 50 staff and many guests. We then wandered around the gardens, which are quite extensive.

It as around 5:30 by the time we finished in the garden, and missed out on a couple of castles we had thought we might get to. One of Andrews colleagues had suggested to go to Polperro, a little fishing village. We looked it up on the map, and it was on our way back to Portwrinkle, so off we went.

It is a lovely little village, tiny little port, but self-sustaining, which is great. We were recommended to a restaurant, and headed in for dinner. The chef at The Cottage Restaurant used to be head chef at the Waldorf Hotel, and it showed. Using local seafood, we had a delicious dinner, Andrew a whole baked fish, and Alison, mixed seafood sautéed in garlic with a chilli sauce. Scrumptious!

A long drive South West

This morning we said goodbye to Martin and Karina from Pebble Villa, and Weymouth and were on our way to Portwrinkle, visiting a few sites along the way. Our first port of call was A la Ronde, a quaint 16-sided house built by two sisters, and based on a church in Europe. The strange building shape meant that there were some interestingly shaped rooms inside. The sisters obviously loved shells and had rooms full of them, in display cabinets and rooms decorated with them.

From A la Ronde we made our way from Exmouth back up to Exeter and then down to Powderham Castle. This is a living castle, with the Earl and his family still living in the building. As part of the entry we were able to take a guided tour of the building. The history and significance of each room were explained, making it really come to life. We only quickly looked around the gardens as it was raining, so not many photos.

After a quick lunch in the car (we had planned a picnic) we made our way to Dartmouth. The traffic was very slow, but we did eventually make it. The castle itself sits on the mouth of the Dart river, and provided defence for the town of Dartmouth. The castle itself was not that interesting, but the scenery was great and the roads “interesting”.

From here it was a short trip to Plymouth Hoe, where Sir Francis Drake was said to have been playing bowls before going out to battle, and win, against the Spanish Armada. It is a lovely area, with views over the sea, and is obviously very popular for the locals – there were lots of families out walking in the gardens, and swimming in the sea.

It was early evening when we made our way to The Bungalow in Portwrinkle, our accommodation for the next couple of nights. The Bungalow has a wonderful outlook, perched on top of the cliff, overlooking a paddock of cows and then out to the sea. We went for a wander into Portwrinkle itself – a very small village with only a few dozen houses, and of course, a golf course and pub. There were a few people in attempting to surf – crazy in the cold and rocky beach. Unfortunately the waves weren’t very big, and were breaking close to shore, so they weren’t having much luck!

A big drive tomorrow to try and get as south as we can – don’t know that we will make it to Lands End, might be a bit too far – but will try and make St Michaels Mount.

A giant of a day

Today we had a lovely breakfast out on the front porch overlooking Weymouth and Portland. What a way to start the day.

After breakfast we headed off north up to Sherbourne to see the Sherbourne Old Castle, and the Sherbourne New Castle. One the way we passed the Cerne Giant, so we stopped and took a quick photo before heading off to the castles.

The old castle is a ruin, but was really interesting to walk around and we got some really good photos. The new castle was more of a large stately home than a fortified castle, and was furnished with period furniture.

From Sherbourne we headed to Montacute house. On the way we stopped in Yeovil Where there was a market on in the main street. We purchased some bread, olives, and artichokes and then continued to Montacute house where we had a picnic lunch in the gardens.

After Montacute we headed to Dorchester and found the Dorchester circle of nine stones. From here we had a quick drive through Dorchester and then made our way to Portland castle. We only had a few minutes before closing time so it was a quick look through, but it was only a small fort so it really was enough time. To finish the day off we had a look through the Tout Sculptures in the quarry that was not overly interesting, and then to the lighthouse for a quick look around. We had a quick dinner in an Indian restaurant before heading back for the night. Tomorrow we are off to Portwrinkle…

Visiting the Nobles

This morning we left Inn on the Green and headed West to Dorset. On the way, we took the opportunity to visit the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Castle. It is an amazing place, and the current Duke, Duchess and their family live in the castle. Their butler was assisting answering questions in the formal dining room, and had photos of an official dinner held in the room. The history of the palace, and the objects in it were incredible. The Duke of Norfolk is the highest ranking nobleman outside of the Royal Family, and so receives the coronation cup – the cup used for communion at the coronation of the incoming King or Queen – as well as having an advisory role to the Queen and representation in the House of Lords.

From here we went to Winchester, and looked at the Cathedral (has been used in a number of movies including the Da Vinci Code), the Great Hall (said to have the Round Table used by King Arthur, although its authenticity is dubious) and the ruins of Wolvesy Castle.

After a quick lunch, it was off to the New Forest, where horses roam free, and finally on to Weymouth and our accommodation for the next couple of nights. We took the opportunity to look around the seaside town, before having Pizza for dinner and heading back to Pebble Villa (our B&B).

Castles and the Beach

Only having visited two of our several hundred sites we had listed, today was going to require us to visit lots of sites to get back on track. The morning started with breakfast in the Inn on the Green (although Alison chickened out of the full English, and had the continental breakfast) then we set off at about 9am.

The first site was going to be Battle Abbey, but on the way we altered the route to visit Pevensey castle first. This castle was first founded in Roman times, and has been extended many times. It is now a ruin and was an interesting site to visit. The audio tour really helped bring the site to life – the ruins were rebuilt to house Canadian and American soldiers in WWII.

After Pevensey we headed to Battle Abbey. We had a quick lunch at Battle, and used a “courtesy” wifi site to make a quick call home. After this we headed into the battle field site and followed the audio tour around the whole battle field, and then the large abbey. It was a really interesting visit, so full of history.

With Pevensey and Battle crossed off our list we made our way to Bodiam Castle, another castle ruin only a few miles from Battle. When you think of a ‘typical’ castle, turrets on each corner, surrounded by a moat, this is it. There were a number of standing towers and wall sections that allowed you to climb their very steep stairs for a view from the top. The stairs were very small, and steep, quite scary really.

There wasn’t really enough time for any more tourist sites, so we made our way to Rye, one of the towns on our list. Rye is an old medieval village – exactly what you would expect if you were to think of ‘Ye Olde England’. The buildings and roads were really fascinating to walk around, cobbled stone roads with medieval buildings lining the roads. From here we then made our way to Eastbourne, yet another site from our list.

Eastbourne has a classic English sea-side town feel, pebble beaches and an arcade on the pier. We had fish and chips on the beach and then started the trip back to Ockley. We passed by the Long Man at Wilmington, so we stopped in at Wilmington for a few minutes and a quick photo. Then finally back to the inn… tomorrow we head for Weymouth and Pebble Villa, our next B&B on this trip.

England has crazy roads

This morning we woke up around 4:30am local time – not bad really, considering this is 11:30am Hong Kong time (or 1:30pm Melbourne time). After our cooked English Breakfast, it was off to Canterbury to see the Cathedral. The Cathedral is certainly impressive. The complex includes a number of old buildings, as well as the Cathedral and a recently built education centre for visiting scholars and clergy.

Its pretty amazing to see the site Thomas Beckett was murdered, and where he is enshrined, as well as the many chapels dedicated to various saints and Royals.

Following this (which took the whole morning!) it was a quick lunch, and off to Leeds Castle for the afternoon. Leeds Castle is definitely worth the visit. The extensive gardens, aviary, and, of course, the castle itself takes hours to wander through. Incredible that it was occupied till the 1970’s and since then it has been used for weddings, conferences and seminars.

We had decided it was better to see the countryside by using roads other than the motorways. Little did we know that this would mean driving down roads that were just wide enough to fit our car, let alone pass other cars! This was very evident when, driving around a corner, we met a truck. Having to reverse back around a corner, completely blind to anything coming up behind us was an interesting experience! Half way around the corner, another car did appear behind, but luckily there was a driveway, so the truck could get around both of us and we were soon all on our way again – Phew!

We wont be doing that again!

Right Flight, Right Day!

After the little mistake yesterday, this morning we were finally on our way to London. We could have a bit of a sleep in, given that we were only 5 min from the airport, and definitely took advantage! The flight was uneventful, which is what you want really… On landing at Heathrow, we quickly went through passport control, collected our bags and headed to the Hertz desk to pick up the car.

We have a Ford Focus, really nice car to drive. Havent worked out the cruise control yet, but will have plenty of time to do that! Travelling out of the airport was a breeze – which we were pleased about, then it was on to the M25 on our way to Ockley, past Dorking. There was a bit of traffic for the first few miles on the ring road – it was 6pm after all! Then clear sailing for the rest of the trip. It is a lovely drive once you head out into the countryside.

Finding our accommodation was easy too! The Inn on the Green is on the main road, has a lovely atmosphere and comfortable rooms – although is quite different to the hotels we were staying in in Hong Kong! (That’s a good thing though) After a lovely dinner at ‘the Inn’ we had thought to stay for the pub trivia night, but couldn’t stay awake long enough!

Flight … what Flight?

Well, today has been quite an adventure… so where to start? Yesterday we booked our shuttle to the airport. Alarm clocks set for 5:30 we had our last nights sleep at the Cosmopolitan. Morning came quickly; we woke, dressed, and headed down to wait for the bus. After checking out the bus arrived and we eagerly boarded, ready for the long flight to the UK. About 20 minutes into the trip to the airport Alison checked the flight details… and said “Wednesday the 6th?”… woops… we were not heading off until the next day! After a few minutes of panic we settled down and checked our hotel booking… yes we had stuffed that one up. Well there was little point worrying about this now. The remaining time to the airport working out what to do next. The statement “I can’t believe…” was repeated quite frequently.

Eventually we arrived at the Airport, only 26 hours before our flight ☺. We headed down to the departures area, trying not to look too silly and took up a seat. Out came the handy MacBook and we quickly scanned the wireless networks… there was one called Free WIFI, which sounded great. Once we were on we headed to the Expermedia web site, and booked a last minute room at the Novotel in Tung Chung. The hotel had a shuttle bus, so we waited around for about ten minutes before heading off to our new hotel.

Now we had a whole day free in Hong Kong. Nothing planed, much like all the other days here. Tung Chung is a bit out of the way, and our Octopus Cards were running low so we wanted to stay in the area. We had already done the Skyrail, and well… we don’t know much else about Tung Chung. However Sunny Bay is near by, so we quickly decided to spend the day in Disneyland.

We had visited Disneyland on our last trip to Hong Kong; so much of it was the same. We hadn’t spent much time in Tomorrow Land so we headed straight there. Space Mountain was our first ride, and then the Buzz Lightyear ride that was so good we went on it twice.

Most of the day passed really quickly and we eventually headed back to the Novotel and checked into our room. The room was fantastic, a great location to stay. Bags are packed, the alarms are set, and tomorrow we will be on our way again.