England
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Legends, Kings & Storms in Wet and Wild Cornwall
With just a couple of weeks left before our travels we take one more trip down to Cornwall. We arrive at the tail end of Storm Brendan battering the UK, the Cornish coast is being buffeted by the strong winds and the Atlantic is crashing in making a dramatic scene. The Atlantic is in an angry mood. So after reacquainting ourselves with some of the Padstow pubs on our first evening, we spend the first full day here battling the elements at Tintagel, Boscastle and Port Isaac. Tintagel is of course the legendary site of King Arthur’s castle, with its wonderful tales of Merlin, Arthur and the Knights of the…
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Dover Castle – The defender of England
As we wait for our travel date to arrive we continue our exploration of our local area. One major site which has been on our list for some time is Dover Castle, a familiar site majestically standing proud atop the white cliffs of Dover, keeping watch over the English Channel across to mainland Europe, keeping England safe through the ages, a myriad of underground tunnels holding secrets of days gone by. This site has been occupied in some form since Roman times, the Castle in its present form built by King Henry II and has played a key part in England’s defences throughout many wars, not least of course the…
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Canterbury: A cradle of Christianity
The countdown to the start of our amazing adventures and trips around the world is well underway, with just three weeks to go until our departure on January 29th. From that point on, the next chapter of our lives begins. So currently we are doing our best to shake off the extra pounds put on over Christmas and get quite a bit fitter before the adventures begin. The New Year has to date seen a stroll around the so-called lost waterways of London, following the trail of the River Fleet, a tributary of the Thames now mostly buried underground, and a delightful walk around the picturesque villages just south east…
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Michaela on tour – week two continued- Stratford upon Avon
The town of Stratford-upon-Avon is known across much of the World as William Shakespeare’s birthplace, and remains a major destination for tourism, with good reason. Of course, the town milks the Shakespeare theme to the limit, but in its own right it is one of the best preserved old towns in all of England, with many stunning ancient properties and a wonderfully quaint character. It simply oozes charm. The town dates from a charter granted in 1196, but it was of course Shakespeare who changed the course of history here, culminating now in a town which has less than 30,000 inhabitants yet welcomes 2.5 million visitors per year. It loses…
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Michaela on tour- week two
Week two of my retirement and I head off to visit family in South Birmingham in the Midlands, another week of eating, drinking and fun. Although I am from Birmingham originally, I haven’t lived here for many years so today I take a solitary tour around a number of special childhood places and a trip down memory lane centred around the village of Bournville and the home of Cadbury’s chocolate. Maybe I am biased but in my opinion Cadbury’s is the best chocolate in the world!! My family has a long history with Cadbury’s, my Nan was an original Cadbury girl starting work there at the age of 14 back…
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Michaela on tour- week one continued
Up bright and early this morning for the hour long bus ride into the city of Norwich. 24 miles North-West of Lowestoft, Norwich is the most complete medieval city in England and the only city in England located in a national park, the Norfolk Broads Quick facts about Norwich: Norwich Cathedral has the second tallest spire in England after Salisbury Cathedral Norwich claims to have the largest open air market in the UK It was said that Norwich had a church for every week of the year and a pub for every day of the year! Unfortunately there aren’t that many pubs now! Today we leave the shops behind and…
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Michaela on tour – week one
Well it’s finally arrived, I (Michaela) have retired! As of Friday 29 November I am now a lady of leisure and doing final preparations before starting out on our travels to South East Asia. Phil doesn’t retire until 20th December so in the meantime I am on tour spending quality time with family in various parts of England. So while Phil is busy finishing up at work I am on the first part of my tour, in Lowestoft with my Mum and will be out and about in Suffolk and Norfolk for a few days. Today we visit Beccles, a small market town just 7 miles inland from Lowestoft nestled in the…
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Kew Gardens, Glass Sculptures…And The Rain
A timely visit to Kew Gardens to see the Chihuly glass sculpture exhibition
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Padstow & The Camel Estuary
A visit to Padstow, one of our favourite places and probably the last time before our epic journey around the world
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The Suffolk Coast: Heathland, Waterways And A Vanishing City
Reaching the end of September means that we are now precisely four months away from starting our trips of a lifetime; retirement is coming soon, the first trip starts at the end of January. Over the next few weeks we’ll be taking in some of our favourite corners of our home country of England before we leave our shores long term. So this weekend sees us visit a picturesque part of the Suffolk coast, both dodging the showers and catching the sun as the early autumn throws a mix of weather at the country. Day 1 is a walk around heathland clad in heather and bracken, small traces of the…
