UK 2024
Return to more good news
We've arrived tired but safe and well. to the news that our favourite granddaughter-Jess-is engaged to Aidan! Congratulations guys!
UK 2024
UK 2024
Return
finally, our long return home. Returned hire car to Gatwick, prearranged taxi to Heathrow, interminable check in processes, taking hours , pret à manger then long walk to gate. All on time and short connection at Singapore, bit of sleep then cold Sydney and taxi to cold house in wintertime!
UK 2024
Last full day and a welcome message!
Friend Clifford came over for the day and we drove( via lots of road pot-hole repair teams) to the Plough at Cadsden, a pub used by PM's in residence at nearby Chequers. Inside is a photo of Xi Jing Ping with David Cameron having a half pint
UK 2024
Return visits
As this trip draws to a close we are considering the question people have asked "will you be coming back?" At the start of it I would have said "of course" but as the time has passed, the traffic, parking, logistics, bookings, luggage movement etc etc
UK 2024
Missenden
From Stathern we moved to Missenden. This post covers two days to today. I've always been intrigued by the sight of Missenden Abbey when we used to visit Jacqui and family in Prestwood but could never book there. This time we were lucky and found it delightful. Very
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Stathern
We visited old Coffee Pot friends Roger and Barbara at Stathern and enjoyed seeing their C18 'cottage' with innumerable rooms (Roger's never counted them beyond the three toilets in odd places) and a real Harry Potter feel about it all! They took us for lunch to
UK 2024
Rothley
A neighbour from Harrow, Lesley and husband, John, generously invited us for a couple of days, from where we were able to visit friends at at Stathern and Tollerton. We enjoyed seeing a lot of Olympic events with them on TV. Not only that, but I had misjudged my B
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Oxford
A good day in the Ashmolean (from 1683!) and Pitt Rivers Museums, plus a streetwalk amongst the colleges. We took Park and Ride from Bicester so the centre of Oxford is almost completely free of cars--just public buses and bicycles of course! Our attention was drawn to the history
UK 2024
Ascott House
Valerie drove us all there. We were fortunate to have an NT 'buggy' offered to us on arrival near the car park, so arrived at the house 'in State'. Could have done with a 'buggy' for last few outings to NT places. Originally a
UK 2024
Mottisfont
An NT property near Romsey in Hampshire, it dates from Saxon antiquity as a meeting place or 'Moot', based on a natural spring that runs up from the ground to this day. The water runs into the River Test. It became a Priory until the Black Death decimated
UK 2024
Winchester
Today did not start well at all. We knew the city had park-an-ride so we searched for one near a mill we wanted to see and found one on Chesil street. I imagined the old park and ride in a field . This was a busy multi storey, difficult
UK 2024
Totford
Leaving Vyne house, we searched for a B and B. Along country lanes we found an inn which thought they had rooms but due to being with an agency they said I'd have to look online in case someone else was booking too. We left and a customer