Lakes District

The Lakes District has a natural rugged beauty which we found very appealing. We stayed in Keswick which is a lovely little village with just a short walk through the park to the Derwent Waters. The area attracts many hikers which is not surprising but one needs to be fit! We went on several drives which took us to Windemere, Ullswater, Glenridding and surrounds, it was all delightful and Michael's camera worked overtime!

Cotswolds

We took the advice of Janie and Mick and stayed at Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds, a beautiful village with thatched roof houses and lovely old stone buildings. We were very central and enjoyed driving along the narrow roads and visiting many of the villages nearby. Everywhere was lovely,with pretty gardens, stone walls, green fields, wild flowers and old buildings with heaps of character.

Stratford upon Avon was also a nice place to visit and very interesting, especially to go and see Anne Hathaway's cottage and William Shakespeares birthplace. Bourton on the Water another pretty spot, and very popular with the tourists. Yes, we loved the Cotswolds!

Oxford

During our weekend with Janie and Mick we had a day in Oxford. Janie printed out the 'Inspector Morse walking Tour' from the internet for us to follow which proved to be a great idea, we not only saw many of the places that Morse was featured in on the programs, but also a lot of other places in Oxford. Afternoon tea which included sandwiches, scones, and a variety of tea cakes was just what we needed after our walk and was very much enjoyed by all.

Radley College

We had a super weekend with my cousin's Janie and Mick who reside on the campus of Radley College which is near Oxford. Both Janie and Mick have been teaching there for over 20 years and for some of the time as housemasters, as Radley is for boarders only.

We really enjoyed having a 'tour' of the college and the grounds, and can see that the boys get a wonderful 'all round' education.

Janie and Mick made us so welcome and it was fantastic to see them again after their visit to Australia two years ago. We also met their three cats, BB, Willow and Tatty and soon became friends.

Somerset

We had a lovely time in Somerset staying with my cousins Janice and Len who made us very welcome. We caught up with all of their family including grandchildren who we hadn't met before so that was very special for us. We were also made very welcome by Margaret and Steven my other cousins who live nearby, and again, we met up with their family and grandchildren. We have seen photographs of all the family but to actually be there and talk to them was fantastic.

We had a lovely afternoon in Bath whilst in Somerset, it is such an interesting place and very pretty with all of the hanging flower baskets and sunken gardens alongside the river Avon.

It was nice for the cousins to have lunch together at The Riverside Inn, the river Avon flows alongside and we saw several long boats passing by.

A drive to Bristol to see the Clifton Suspension Bridge was very interesting, it has a graceful appearance about it and the engineeering aspect was of particular interest to Len and Michael.

The photograph of Michael standing in the gorge of the rock was taken at Mendip Hills. It is of special interest because this is where the Rev. Augustus Toplady was inspired to write the words to the well known Hymn, 'Rock of Ages Cleft for Me'. Apparently whilst walking through the gorge he was caught in a storm and took shelter in the Cleft.

We felt sad about leaving Somerset, it was really lovely to see everyone. We left with very special memories.

Cornwall

We Love Cornwall!

These pics are all taken in Pt. Isaac (Doc Martin Country) which is a very picturesque place, and we can understand why it was chosen for the program.

Everywhere is very green and lush and the narrow roads are bordered with wildflowers. We saw lots of fishing villages
and loved all the stone buildings with their flower displays in window boxes .

After four days touring around Cornwall we travelled up to Somerset stopping in Exeter for a few hours. We enjoyed some quiet time in the beautiful Cathedral and were told the story about the ancient clock and it's unique mechanism, apparently the nursery rhyme 'Hickory Dickory Dock' originated from here.

Paris/Plymouth

Whilst in Paris it was nice to meet up with Margaret and Col, friends of ours who live in Sydney. They are staying in Paris for 3 months so they will be able to enjoy exploring the city in depth, and also practice their French which they have been learning for a couple of years.

Our journey accross to the UK on the Eurostar was great, taking only a couple of hours from Paris to London. We then changed trains and went down to Plymouth, another 3 hours on the train but most enjoyable. Keeping with English tradition we were served tea and refreshments 3 times on the journey.