Category: 2013 UK

On Saturday we made our way north towards Cheltenham. On the way we stopped at the Wells cathedral. The cathedral is beautiful and along with the amazing stonework, stained glass windows and ornate carvings, it also contains the second oldest clock in Britain still on use.

Wells cathedral bells

From here we drove to Farrington for lunch with neighbours Denise and David. They spend 6 months of the year in England living in the renovated stables at the Manor House. A quick tour of the field near the house showed the destructive work of badgers and moles.

Denise suggested we stop at the Farm Shop to buy something for dinner. The farms are owned by Prince Charles and the produce was first class. I particularly like the signs advising that the produce has 0 food miles!

The apartment in Cheltenham was spacious even if it was in the attic (4 flights of stairs). On Sunday we drove to Cirencester to visit the Roman amphitheatre (underwhelming) and the Corinium Museum (excellent).

The whole town is built over the Roman city. Every time they build a new building they uncover more artefacts. The mosaics in the museum were huge.

We also visited Wotton-under-Edge where Mum’s ancestors the Foxwells came from. Nice little town but no luck finding any evidence of ancestors.

Weather has been cold and drizzly.

Thursday we drove from Portsmouth to Exeter. Along the way we stopped at Cerne Abbas – a large chalk drawing In the hill. No one is sure if this is a prehistoric figure or a representation of Oliver Cromwell. Either way it is pretty impressive. If it wasn’t blowing 30+ knots we would have walked up the hill to get a closer look. Some of you will be more familiar with the Simpsons version of this.

It was a short drive from here we went to Sherborne Castle built by Sir Walter Raleigh. Very informative local guides helped to make this another interesting stop. Still too cold to walk outside so we missed the old castle destroyed by the Cromwell’s soldiers in the Civil War.

Friday we awoke to grey skies and showers. We spent the day trying to trace our roots in Devon. Warren’s family on his fathers side had lived in Dartmouth and Totnes while my family on Dad’s side had come from Littleham and Northam.

After visiting a number of churchyards we finally found the headstones for what I think are relatives of my Granny, the Pickards.

It is beautiful country though the lanes to some of these small villages are VERY narrow. The east coastline was very pretty even with the grey weather while what we could see of the west looked much more rugged.

We picked up our car yesterday (Tuesday) and managed to find our way out of London just missing the congestion zone. Warren drove while I navigated with the iPad.

We stopped at Lullingstone – site of a Roman villa which was built in AD 100. The exterior of the building gave away nothing of what lay within.

The remains of a large villa including a beautiful mosaic floor and many artefacts were well presented.

A short film, stories about the finds and the history of the dig made this a memorable stop. Thanks for the tip Suzanne.

Next stop was Battle Abbey and the actual site of the 1066 Battle of Hastings between Harold and William the Conqueror. No prizes for guessing who won but to stand on the top of the hill and hear how the battle unfolded was good. You can walk around the battleground although half the path was closed when we were there.

It is a small area when you consider about 7000 died here in a day. The pope instructed William to build an Abbey on the site in memory of the many dead. There is now a Grammar School here which has the Abbott’s house as part of its buildings.

Today we visited the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. First off was a harbour cruise to view the many Navy ships in port. Just as many decommissioned ships are here awaiting there fate. The old aircraft carrier Ark Royal leaves this month to be scrapped in Turkey. This site is constantly updating their displays and the next to open on 31 May is the new Mary Rose display. This ship in Henry VIII’s fleet was sunk in 1545 and raised in 1982. We saw it on our last visit in 1986 when they were spraying the hull with chilled water to conserve it. Most of the starboard side of the ship, including sailors trunks with implements and clothes was preserved in mud in the bottom of the harbour. In 1994 they changed to a polyethylene glycol which is a water soluble wax. Last week the PEG sprays were turned off and the ship will take 4 years to dry out and be fully preserved. More on this later!

HMS Victory, Nelson’s flag ship for the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and the site of his death is also on display. It is still a commissioned ship of the Royal Navy with a full crew but has been restored to as it was at the Trafalgar. You can wander the ship through the many decks that get less headroom the further down you get.

The nearby museum has an interesting multimedia display depicting the battle.
Weather today has been overcast with light showers and increasing wind. We head to the South West coast tomorrow and winds of 65 mph are expected!

The good weather continues so we make the most of it on Sunday. first off we visited the Churchill museum and War rooms. Another well presented story filled with personal accounts and rooms as they were left at the end of the war. The Churchill Museum was overwhelming with the amount of information available. A large touch table let you see what Churchill did nearly every day of his life!

From here we walked up to Buckingham House to see the changing of the Guard. Lots of tourists but still worth seeing.

Up the road then to the Royal Mews where the royal coaches are kept. The roads had barricades up ready for the opening of parliament where several of these coaches will be used.

We took in the view from the top of the Wellington Monument then on to the Royal Horse Guards Museum.

We finished day at the Jewel House near the Houses of Parliament. A new PB of 6 attractions!

We had left St Paul’s Cathedral until our last day in London and it didn’t disappoint. Highlight was going up to the Whispering Gallery under the dome and then the stone gallery. The mosaic ceilings and crypt history were also memorable.

We walked over the Millennium Bridge to our next attraction – HMS Belfast. Another audio tour explained what it was like to serve on this ship.

Our last stop was the Science Museum – best free London attraction in our opinion. But then we are both scientists at heart……

We spent Tuesday accompanying Jane to Huddersfield where she attended a meeting and we visited 3 Tesco (like Coles) stores to sort out UK SIM cards. Dinner was at a very old pub in the Derbyshire village of Ashover.

Wednesday we were on the train to London and to our home for the next 6 days at Earls Court. There is a Tesco close by so Warren is happy and the underground station is just down the road.

We haven’t stopped since we arrived. The science museum Wednesday afternoon whet our appetite to spend more time there.

Thursday saw us visiting Westminster Abbey then a Thames river cruise to Greenwich to the National Maritime museum and the Royal Observatory. Great to see London from the river and the Captain’s commentary was very informative and entertaining.

Yesterday we visited Kensington Palace, Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. The stories of these attractions told via audio guides or booklets are much more than the dry facts and help to bring the places and characters alive.

Today we decided to have a castle and church free day so we visited London Zoo and had an informative guided tour of Lords Cricket Ground. There was a game on so we couldn’t go to the members pavilion but seeing a match in progress offset this.

We purchased a London Pass before we left home which covers admission to most attractions and with the English Heritage membership we have plenty to see and do.

The weather has been great – clear blue skies most days with just the odd shower. Cold if the sun disappears or if the wind is up.

We started today with a trip to Ironbridge Gorge. The Museum here has a large model of the Gorge as it was in 1695. This is a World Heritage site because of its significance to industrialisation.

Because resources were found on both sides of the river, the bridge made life easier. It was also a great tourist attraction and showcased the iron work skills in the region. All the iron in the bridge was cast in sand and river traffic was not affected at all during construction. This area is also famous for Coalport China.

We then went to the small village of Much Wenlock which Jane had recommended. We joined English Heritage here prior to visiting Wenlock Priory.

Finally we visited another EH site – Wroxeter Roman Village. The audio tours at both EH sites were great and really bought them to life.

Fine and sunny today but still cold – bitterly cold with a strong NW wind blowing from the Arctic.

The highlight of our day at Warwick Castle was the display of falconry. Having a huge bald eagle fly a couple of metres over your head to is quite an experience.

Other highlights were the firing of a trebuchet and the displays depicting life at various times in the castles history.

Falconry Video

We landed a bit late after sitting on the runway at Dubai for nearly an hour. It was great to be met by Jane who drove us to her home in Newport. We started in bright sunshine, then some rain and finally sleet before the sun came out again. Not sure I have packed the right clothes.

Dinner at Jane’s local pub “The Fox”.

Happy Birthday to brother John!

Well after finally letting us on the plane we had a long 14 hour trip to Dubai. We both got a few hours sleep and enjoyed the onboard entertainment (including a man in business class in boxer shorts who had already stored his trousers in the overhead locker by the time we were boarding the plane). Interesting flying with crew where English is their second language. I was a bit taken back towards the end of the flight when the first officer announced that we couldn’t use the lavatories anymore because the plane was going down! We did happily land safely on time in Dubai just before dawn.

It took a while but we are now ready to board. System problem we are guessing!