The next couple of weeks -

The first weekend in December, Solomon and his Spanish exchange student, Alia, came to stay. Claire and Andy went for a couple of nights to Copenhagen on the Sunday so Tony and I were in charge of the little girls - Beth would say ‘Me big girl!’ Pretty easy task. Sunday, we went to an old house nearby, Mottisfont, and then went to a pub for lunch. Dominic drove across and met us for lunch. Monday we took the girls to McDonalds for tea! A very good diet for the few days!

Not much else happened that week apart from a game of golf for Tony and a haircut for me.

Friday we drove to Woodstock for the weekend and I have told you about our trip to Blenheim Palace and our couple of days in Painswick.

A few photos and one I forgot from a previous post - a couple of Santa’s elves! And a couple of princesses.

And week 4….

We were back in Romsey for a while. Dad played golf a couple of times with Roger Lillie. I had lunch with Roger’s wife, Margaret, we went to Winchester for a day, Christmas lights were switched on Romsey after a Christmas parade through the streets, coffee with Margaret and Sue, a trip to Portsmouth, a lovely walk with the Lillie’s over Winchester way followed by lunch at a pub. One Friday was a highlight with a trip to Bristol.
Bristol was a surprise. It was a port town, pretty run down but now has been rejuvenated. It has an interestested harbour which runs through the town like a canal. One of the highlights was museum for the ship SS Great Britain. It was built in Bristol in 1843 as a liner to travel to America but it wasn’t profitable so became a lot of other things including an emigrant ship to Melbourne. It ended up sitting rusting away in the Falklands for about 40 years until someone recognised its importance to Britain and organised for its return to Bristol. Now it is a museum which includes a story of its designer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and the life of the ship. The ship itself is being returned to its former glory as a liner. The story of Brunel was so interesting, a very productive engineer considering that he died at 53 and had built bridges, railroads, aquaducts, viaducts, tunnels and many other things. Quite amazing, really.
The rest of Bristol was a mix of old and new - it had been bombed during the war so a lot of the old town was flattened. One of the interesting was the Banksy story. There were still a few of his work on the walls of buildings and the TI had put a trail together so that was a bit of a focus for me as I trailed around the town. Some photos:
there are photos of the banks of the river, the harbour, the ubiquitous Ferris wheel. The orange propellor is the thing that changes the worlds transport. It was the special thing about this particular ship as well as its size. You will notice the photo of the bridge with the locks. The last photo is the Bristol Railway Station - pretty grand!

Melbourne Christmas

Hi all

It was great to have everyone over at our place yesterday. After the extreme weather the day before it was nice to be able to sit outside comfortably. The girls get a special mention for trying to train Murph for us, he seemed pretty exhausted at the end of the day.

Onto week 3

We returned to Romsey on Sunday, 17th and on Monday 18th we we were off to London. We stayed at the ROSL for the 2 nights which was pretty handy. It is in a great spot overlooking Green Park just off Piccadilly. Our first day, we went off to organise discount tickets for a show - Come from Away. Then we both went wandering around the town. The lights in the city were beautiful. Dinner was at the ROSL.
Next day, I went to the British Library for a tour of their treasures. I loved it - there was the first stamp printing machine, Jane Austen’s writing desk, 500 year old bibles, the Magna Carta and so on. It is amazing to see the novel Mrs Dalloway written out in longhand by the author, Virginia Woolf. There are hardly any crossing outs - how did they arrange their thoughts so well.
After that, I kept walking up to Islington High Street as I wanted to go to a particular cafe run by Yotam Ottolenghi. By the time I had walked there I was pretty happy to sit down and sample his menu and it was delicious food. After that, I went off for a walk back to an area called Camden Passage looking for a wool shop. I follow the shop on Instagram but after all this time and walking it was a bit of a waste of time so I have unfollowed them! It was a disappointment! On the way though I found 2 interesting things - the house where George Orwell lived for a few years and also the house where Caroline Chisholm lived. Of course I wouldn’t have found these gems if I didn’t have Matthew’s bool, London City Secrets’ tucked under my arm. It is the best book for London. My book was last published in 2011 and I don’t think they will update it. Not that these secrets will go out of date any time soon considering how long most of them have been part of the London scene.

That night Dad and I went off to see the show ‘Come From Away’ and we loved it. It was a story about the people on the planes which were diverted to Newfoundland during the time of 9/11. It was a musical with a difference. The next day we did something. I can’t remember what except that we caught the train back to Romsey.
Thursday, Tony went off to play golf with Roger Lillie while I met Roger’s wife, Margaret for lunch. The next activity was turning on the lights in Romsey which happens after a Christmas Float Parade. There is great excitement.

Not many photos:

2nd week in the UK

So now it is Monday, 11th November and Claire and I went to Winchester to see an Agatha Christie play. Just lovely in this regional theatre.

Next morning we left Romsey in a hire car to travel to Beer for a couple of nights. On the way, we stopped for the best fish and chips at a seaside kiosk in the middle of nowhere - just delicious. Although it was Tuesday lunchtime, the place was packed.

Beer was a very cute Little town on the South coast. When we arrived it was a bit miserable and wet but next morning it fined up a bit although it was pretty chilly. We went for a walk along the coast to the next town and back again. Later in the day we went for a drive to Lyme Regis, a rather large town on the coast. It was of interest to me as it featured in one of Jane Austen’s book ‘Persuasion’

The next morning, (Thursday) we drove off to Tintinhull where we were staying with Claire et al and Dominic. The house belonged to the National Trust. It started as a small farmhouse in 1630 but was enlarged in 1722. We didn’t have use of the whole place but what we had was pretty good. Lovely big old-fashioned bedrooms and an old-fashioned kitchen with a big Aga stove and a big table in the centre of the room. Dominic arrived early Friday so he and Tony got in a game of golf before the others arrived in the evening.

Saturday, we visited another National Trust house, Montacute House, which was built around 1598. That night Andy cooked us a roast dinner on the Aga.
Some photos of Beer and our walk. They are a bit mixed up as I can’t seem to get them in the right place when I put them in the grid nor can I put a comment. You would notice a difference in the layout on the actual blog to that on the email. Not that it matters that much as I am sure you get the picture!
The photo of the countryside was a cabin park which were everywhere on this part of the coast. Lots of cabins but not a tree in sight.

Back to arrival in UK

We arrived on Friday and started celebrating with Abi’s fireworks on Sunday with Dominic and Emma. Monday we were off to London on the train with Claire and Beth for Afternoon Tea at the Berkeley- my last Year’s Christmas present from Tony.

Thursday we went to meet Dominic at Royal Tunbridge Wells where we stayed the night. Dad and Dominic went off to play golf Friday morning whilst I walked into town for a look around. Tony and I met up and went on to visit our first national Trust property - Scotney Castle. There was an old ruined castle and a ‘new’ castle which was about 250 years old - not a bad start.

Abigail’s birthday rea, the latest in birthday hats!

Royal Tunbridge Wells - the start of the Christmas lights.

Afternoon Tea.

On the second weekend, we had Abigail’s party which she shared with her best friend, Erin. It was a wet day but that didn’t matter as was held inside a hall - bouncing castle and tattles. It was a great success.

that weekend was Remembrance so that meant a trip into Romsey to watch the parade, with pipe bands etc.

A couple of houses, Pretty Painswick and Abigail’s play!

This is Sunday and we have left Claire and Andy and travelled a bit backwards to visit the country home of Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of England during Victorian times. Again, there were lots of Christmas trees but this time they were decorated to reflect post 2nd World War when decorations were made from whatever was to hand as there were such shortages after the war.

After visiting this house, we drove over to the west of the Cotswolds to Painswick which is a village where all the houses are built from the Cotswold stone. I don’t think you would call it a small town but there weren’t many shops etc there. There were 2 pubs - one of the pubs supplied coffee early in the morning - the only place open on Monday morning! We stayed 2 nights here in a very comfortable Air BnB. It was a beautiful area so we went for a long walk Out of town - lots of hills and dales - so very pretty. We also took a drive to a town called Burford which had an interesting main street.

This is a little more modest house.

and these are some photos of Painswick and our walk.

And this is Burford’s Main Street- a long street filled with old buildings like these.

on Tuesday, we drove back to Romsey via another old house. This was called Dhyram Park and belonged to a fellow called William Blathwayt who set up the War Office for James 11 at the end of the 17th century. He lived in this house from 1690 so it was over 300 years old. After this, back to Romsey , where we then went out with our friends, the Lillie’s for a Christmas dinner.

Abigail was an angel

In the school nativity play

This was our outing tonight.

Oh, What a night!

After the tour of the house, Basildon Park, we went for a walk around the estate then hopped in the car and drove to Woodstock. Dominic drove up after work and we met up with him for a meal. In the morning, Dad and Dominic went off to play golf whilst I poked around the town. When they came back Dominic and I went for a walk around Blenheim Palace which is the huge estate just outside Woodstock - we walked more than 6 kms and that was not the outermost perimeter! After the walk, Dominic drove back to Brighton and we met up with Claire and Andy and the girls. We were all there for a special event - Alice in the Palace! It was a Christmas pageant in the Palace which had been decorated in the Alice theme. Trees in every room! And so much more! After that walk through Wonderland, we had tea in one of the cafes and then went for an illuminated walk around the grounds - more amazement! I think you will all have to come for a Christmas holiday here to experience all that goes on to do with Christmas - Switching on the town lights, parades through the town, lantern parades, Christmas Carols in the town square - and the list goes on. So many of the historic houses dress the houses for Christmas and are quite spectacular.
of course, I took photos but they don’t do any of it justice but here are some of them. I haven’t added photos of the illuminated walk as they didn’t show the lights very well but it was quite spectacular.

The next morning, we met up again with Claire and Andy for brunch after which they drove home and we drove off to visit another old house!

Blenheim Palace and the lake

The end of yesterday and today

So, afterTony and I met up in Richmond, we drove back down to Brighton where we had tea at Dominic and Emma’s and stayed the night. It was a short stay but great to catch up with Emma. This morning we drove up to Reading and on to another House. called Basildon Park - national Trist again and 250 years old. We had a tour though the house admiring all the Christmas trees. All the old houses decorate for Christmas and The decorators produce amazing decorations - it is Christmas trees on steroids - and nearly every room has a tree! They definitely put my little wooden tree in the shade!

Some photos

This is Basildon Park. The builder of this house made his money through the East India Company. And here are the Christmas Trees!

And some ideas for your Christmas table!

Going Backwards

I have decided to start with we did today and see if I can catch up that way. Well, actually I will start yesterday. Tony collected a hire car and we drove to Richmond where he played 9 holes of golf at a club that had reciprocal rights with Riversdale and I visited an old house - Ham House - more value out of our National Trust membership!
The house was 400 years old from the time of Charles 1st and even though it had changed hands a couple of times, it still had features from the original era. It was a nippy day but I braved the weather and walked about in the gardens and found lots of squirrels rummaging for food.

some photos of the house

The cutest little things -

I could live in one of these houses - as long as the heating worked!

single planting is very popular here.

Not a bad entrance!

Ljubljana

And now a bus trip to the capital. The bus took us on a very scenic trip through the countryside visiting towns which were on the country roads and not on a highway. It took a bit longer but worthwhile.

We arrived in Ljubljana around 1pm and found the apartment which was a 10 minute walk from the centre of town. The area looked a bit scruffy but it was actually perfect for us - supermarket 200 metres one way and good coffee shop 200 metres the othe way. The markets were just down the road too. The apartment itself was so cosy and warm, it was lovely to come home and settle in for the night.

Ljubljana was another interesting city with great buildings and history. We went for a walk with a tour guide on the first day which gave us an overview of the city. It finished with a funicular ride to the top of the mountain where, would you believe, there was a castle.

As usual we did lots of walking. We were lucky as although it was cold it didn’t rain after the first day.

some photos:

The Town Hall

View of the river near our apartment.

Dragon Bridge

Slovenia’s greatest Poet, France Preseren.

Slovenian Parliament.

Pretty Piran

Up early to catch a bus from Bled to Ljubljana and then a bus to Piran on the very small Slovenian coastline. We did get there after a hiccup with the bus - no seats left so plan B - we caught the train and then a bus. Took a bit longer but not too bad. And Piran was another beautiful town. It is very medieval at the centre with little windy streets and houses with shuttered windows and balconies facing each other. Lots of restaurants along the seafront with all the beautiful poeople looking out to sea except they are much nicer than the usual beautiful people jangling their jewellery! It is definitely a lovely place to visit. We stayed in a hotel on the seafront- a handy place to stay and a great hotel - especially as it included a big buffet breakfast.

Our first afternoon was a bit of a walk around getting our bearings. We had a great meal of fish in a square where you ordered your meal from a hole in the wall and waited till they called your number. It was just delicious! The next morning we had the big breakfast and went to mass in the church on top of the hill. After that, it was a walk all over the hilly town. Great place and very busy as lots of people visit on the weekend. We did visit a very interesting museum/expo thing called Mediadom Phyrani with a 3D movie and other roach screens which gave information about the town and surroundings.

Some photos

The seafront.

The church on the point.

The main Square early in the morning.

Inside a church on the square.

medieval street

Looking over Piran

On the walk

Dad with the map.

and the we moved on to Ljubljana.

One more day in Beautiful Bled

Our last day in Bled was spent on a bus trip to a nearby town, Radovljica which has a medieval centre. The weather was amazing as usual. - 22 degrees and sunny. We had a lovely trip, stopping for coffee and cake, having lunch on a balcony overlooking a valley and visiting a Bee Museum. That was interesting as Beekeeping has been a huge industry in Slovenia. There are souvenir honey shops. There were some amazing hives painted in folk art, religious scenes, saints etc. There was an interesting documentary showing the lives of bees and their habits - quite amazing that someone has sat and watched bees for so long that they have worked out Bees do a little dance to let other bees know how far away and in which direction more pollen is to be collected.

When we returned to Bled, we took a boat (Pletna) out to the island in the lake - no motor boats on the lake - there were 17 people in the Pletna rowed by a single standing man. There were plenty of people on the island which has a church, a cafe and a souvenir shop. I can’t imagine what this place would be like in summer, so many people!

some pictures

The local church

We had lunch looking out over this valley.

The bell tower on the island in the middle of Lake Bled

Self portrait by Grandma

Abi’s birthday

Birthday week is over, she had a lovely time! Thanks for the lovely presents - she loved them all. Xx

Another posh afternoon tea

Mum and I went for a fashion themed afternoon tea - very fancy but they still packed up the cakes we couldn’t eat!

Mum and Dad’s Christmas sendoff

Nothing great happens without enthusiasm and as usual Mum and Dad organised a great sendoff

Bleddy Beautiful!

We are leaving Bled today after 3 beautiful days. The weather has been helpful - 22 degrees everyday! Unbelievable! We arrived Tuesday afternoon, found the apartment then the supermarket for breakfast supplies etc. Nothing changes there. The next morning we went for the walk around the lake as is usual for visitors to Bled. We had a bit of a detour up a hill which was quite steep - we had to hold on to a steel cable in one part otherwise we would have had a bit of a fall - no mention of this in the Lonely Planet - it just mentioned it was a steep walk! Anyway, the views were amazing and the walk down was easy. You will notice we had a walking stick each. Just as well as we mightn’t have made it up the hill.

After the hike, we stopped for a drink at the rowing club and then a rest before having tea at the pub next door. Our accommodation was great. Very clean and comfortable. TV with 200 channels. Dad was able to watch some golf in a Japan and BBC News forever. There was a coffee shop as well as the pub. The Supermarket was only 200metres away and the lake was 300 metres down the road.

Nexr day was a trip to Vintgar Gorge about 5ks out of Bled. We caught a bus to the gorge, walked 1600m along a wooden walkway and then up over a hill back to Bled. The gorge was amazing except for the crowd and people stopping to take selfies on a very narrow walkway in places. The walk was through a beautiful forest with autumn leaves falling everywhere and at the top of the hill was a Church and great views down over a valley plain. The walk back to Bled continued through a couple of villages. Outside a pub a lone woman was holding a sign with Protest written on it. We asked what the protest was about and it seemed she had been married for 31 years and then her husband divorced hr and it was all over in 2 months. She lost her home and her pharmacy business to her husband who had some help from his boss who was supposed a big wheel in the community. It was quite sad but I am not sure what the protest would do to help. Here are some photos from the gorge and the walk.

After the walk we stopped at a Gostilna which is an inn / pub / restaurant. Later we walked up to the top of the castle hill and down again. The end of a lovely day.

Jury is still out on whether this ends in tears

Gabriella’s 16th

Happy Birthday Gab hope you had a lovely day!!