Kent - last days

Yesterday, we had an extended lunch with Mike, Debs and Shannon and cousin John, Ashlea and the twins Kaleigh and Hannah. It was lovely to see the rellies and to see how much the girls have grown up.
Today (Monday) after sorting out washing and waiting for Shannon to finish homework, we set off with Mike driving for an adventure in Kent. Not surprised we got lost with all the abuse he was getting from Shannon and me in the back, complaining about being hungry and deciding after we had eaten my remaining three fruit gums that we may have to start eating people. After seeing the same road works and lollipop man three times and from two different angles we stopped for lunch. It was fun anyway. Tomorrow, Mike says he will have more of a plan!

Thanks Mike.

Tonight we are catching up with Tobey and Ben for dinner.

Checked BA and it seems to be ok for takeoff on Wednesday for Vancouver.

for Lizzie M

Arundel Castle! We were about to set off from our B&B just outside Chichester when our host suggested we call in to Arundel Castle on the way. He said that it was a beautiful castle...just like a Walt Disney creation. It really was.

We strolled around the grounds taking snaps and came across the family chapel....a Catholic Chapel...The Fitzalan Chapel! Thought about leaving a business card to say "we called in from Australia but you were out"

Anyway...for Lizzie Mulrennan....who was also there in Nanyuki, when we knew the family!

New Forest

A night in a B&b in the New Forest on the way back from Cornwall towards Brighton. Amazed at the ponies wandering around freely and the fact that on average, two a week are killed by traffic...usually locals as the tourists are much more careful.

Cornwall photos

Three days in Cornwall, from Perranporth, southwards as far down for views of Lands End and northwards up to Padstow (Rick Stein territory) and Port Isaac (Doc Martin's Port Wenn)

Pictured are views of St Ives, Peter and I outside Doc Martin's surgery (very quaint village)

and views of the varied Cornish coastline.

Lovely!

Photos of Longleat

Trying to catch up on blog after a whirlwind tour of Southern England....I'll do it in small posts with photos....

Longleat

We stopped at Longleat on the way from Windsor to Bristol and had a look at the animals. Have never been quite so close to a rhinoceros before...a little unnerving! Not posting photos of the lions...so bored they never lifted their heads. At least we saw some...never did in all the times we went to the game parks in Kenya!
On the way to Longleat we passed by Stonehenge and I did snap a quick photo as we drove past but as it was through a fence, not worth posting!

Cornwall

From Windsor we travelled across country (in the rain) via Longleat Safari park (great fun) to Bristol for the night. Not much to mention about Bristol other than we were not well pleased to have a room on the same floor as a bunch of rowdy hen's night 'ladies'. Already noisy at 5.30pm so we asked to move and had a good night's sleep before the long drive to Perranporth.
On the way we passed through beautiful countryside of Somerset and Devon and stopped for coffee in Cheriton Bishop (a place on my family tree) It was nice to look around and visualise how and where Mum's grandmother's family lived.
We arrived in Perranporth around 1pm to a warm welcome from old school friend Michele and her family.
Two days later, if we don't know anything about Cornwall, we must not have been paying attention!
Peter and Michele have shown us so much of their part of England. So many lovely seaside villages.....St Ives, Padstow and Port Isaac just to name a few. Photos to follow later when I get back online with Anne's trusty netbook.
We're off this morning to drive the south coast to Brighton via Lyme Regis first so more later....
A big thank you to Michele, Peter, Bonny, Ian, Jarrod and Keira for a lovely time.
xxx

UK - Part 2, Windsor

We've had two great days in Windsor, my favourite town in England.

Day 1 was spent walking around the town getting bearings and checking best position for watching the Castle Guard march up from Victoria Barracks. Did the obligatory open to bus tour and got great views of Windsor Castle and Eton College.

Day 2...walked around to the barracks but was not hopeful of catching the Irish Guards in full regalia as we had been told the RAF was mounting guard....dammit!

Sure enough, out marched a mass of blue. That's not right!!!

We walked across the road to ask the Irish Guard at the gate if it would be possible to see inside the barracks and sure enough, he called on a slightly short, Nigerian born Irish Guard to show us around. Some changes have taken place inside since 1960 (!!) but it was great to see the general area. No married quarters inside the barracks any longer.

This afternoon we did a cruise on the River Thames and got great views of some very deisrable riverfront properties....well out of reach of the average budget!

Tomorrow we head off to bath and Longleat....perhaps I'll see some lions!