So it’s been nearly 3 years since last visiting England, thanks to good old covid, to see our son, daughter-in-law and 3 grandkids living in London, so time to take the plunge, don our masks and take that long flight.
We learned quickly we were no longer ‘match fit’ for international travel with many little planning items we almost forgot to check but not including double checking any covid related actions required when transiting or entering other countries.
For unknown reasons, we were also a little anxious!
Thanks to a tip from a friend, this time we carried extra carry on items in case our main bags went missing during the flights as airlines and airports ramp up, find then train new staff to meet growing demand. Thankfully our checked bags did arrive into Heathrow but we did have Apple AirTags in them just in case.
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| You know your'e in London when sitting back on the Tube |
Our time in England consists of two parts, family time in London and personal tourist time.
The family came first and after the 3 year hiatus when unable to attend in person, our son and daughter-in-laws respective 40th birthdays, our granddaughter had doubled in age. Last time we saw the twin boys they were just trying to stand and now they were running, climbing and talking… a lot!
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| It was simply great to be able to visit our family in the UK again |
For half the game had no real idea what was going on but with the help of the others, started to understand it more. A few beers may have helped and at the end and with only 2 secs on the clock, the Saints had a chance to level the scores to force extra time but fell just short.
Thoroughly enjoyed the whole ‘event’ because that’s what it was, an entertainment spectacle with things happening all the time to keep everyone having non stop enjoyment.
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| NFL at Tottenham Hotspurs stadium |
We had decided to have 2 tourist destinations within England, the first one involving 5 full days in the Cotswolds about 2 hrs west of London staying at a delightful village called Burton-on-the-Water, yes… interesting name but there are so many more quaint names.
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| Generally where the Cotswolds are located |
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| General driving route within the Cotswolds but not all villages shown |
In 2007 we dipped our toes into the Cotswolds located about 100 kms NW of London, and its beauty motivated us to return and do a more detailed tour through this part of England.
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| The beautiful village of Castle Combe once the location of a Roman Fort |
Our base was a lovely Airbnb not too far from the River Windrush running through its centre earning this village the nickname of ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’. The river can be crossed using 5 stone arched bridges built between 1654 to 1953
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| One of the old stone bridges in Burton-on-the-Water |
Over the next 5 days we visited a variety of towns and villages using a multiplicity of road styles ranging from freeways, normal single lane roads and then laneways which were the most interesting and exciting.
Laneways keep you on your toes because they are typically single lane for all traffic to use and either high hedging or dense tree line close to the side of the lanes. All this simply means that every time we came to a blind corner screened by ‘stuff’, we had to be very careful due to potential oncoming traffic.
We were greeted by not just cars but delivery vans, trucks and large farm tractors typically towing trailers, all of which had to be negotiated with. At times there were areas off the side to the ‘roads’ we could use for passing, but often it was simply get as for to the side as possible and slowly squeeze by. Fun!
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| One of the larger roads engulfed by foliage |
Each town or village we visited in the Cotswolds, apart from typically interesting names, had something sort of unique about or in them they were known for, for example:
- Lower Slaughter - working waterwheel
- Upper Slaughter - town square which is actually a triangle and a ford
- Chipping Campden - thatched roofs and Broadway Tower Folly
- Stow-on-the-Wold - oldest operating inn in England circa 947 AD and an ancient stock
- Bibury - 17th century Arlington Row of whole weavers cottages
- All Alone - its all alone
- Fairford - church from 1490’s with oldest set of medieval stained-glass windows, it took 15-20 yrs to install them
- Burford - church circa 1170 with great oak roof
- Winchcombe - castle nearby and row of Almnhouses
- Tetbury - 15th & 16th century small buildings
- Castle Combe - started as a Roman hill fort and now with beautiful houses
Hopefully from some of the photos you get a sense of how beautiful and interesting these locations were throughout the Cotswolds.
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| The onset of autumn was bringing a lovely change of colour |
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| Lower Slaughters working waterwheel |
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| The Broadway Tower folly by design and nature |
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| Porch House... the oldest working Inn in England, circa 947 AD |
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| Very low ceilings in the inn |
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| Arlington Row of weavers cottages in Bibury |
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| Burford church's beautiful oak timber ceiling |
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| Ancient stocks used for public punishment in town square |
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| Amusing village safety sign |
Back in London it was time to ‘child mind’ 3 active grandkids whilst the parents had their turn to go to a NFL game, again at Tottenham. It was recommended to visit Syon Park with 56.6 hectares, the current home of the Duke of Northumberland and a location where Princess Victoria spent considerable time in preparation to becoming Queen.
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| Duke of Northumberland's home in Syon Park, London |
The park had lovely paths to follow and explore, especially the ones between a canopy of trees which the twins loved to run through constantly. Also scattered throughout the park were large timber steps grouped together they also liked to clamber over.
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| The Great Conservatory in Syon Park |
There were large ponds to search for turtles and admire either the Egyptian geese or swans and in the very ornate Great Conservatory was a fountain housing curious goldfish trying to work out what the little faces were peering down at them.
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| Be afraid be very afraid goldfish |
By the end of the day and all the kids sleeping soundly in bed, Rob and I collapsed… a little exhausted.
We interspersed our time in England with a side trip to Norway which is covered in another post, but on returning, we visited more normal tourist locations.
The Tower Of London and surrounds - home to an the Ancient Palace, the Crown Jewels, Kings armoury and Bloody Tower, our granddaughters favourite and where they carried out torture.
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| Inside the grounds of the Tower of London |
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| Yeoman Warders or Beefeater @ Tower of London |
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| Our granddaughter was quite taken by Henry VIII's armour |
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| Thanks to Google, example of the jewels stored in the Tower of London - photos are forbidden - they were spectacular! |
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| Tower Bridge as viewed from the Tower of London precinct |
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| Walking across Tower Bridge |
The Natural History Museum - famous for all its displays of the natural world but unfortunately packed with school kids on holidays.
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| One of a few dinosaur exhibits in the museum |
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| Mammoth skeleton |
We did venture further afield including seeing a good friend for a delightful lunch in Ealing and visiting the famous Kew Gardens before taking a train and staying for 3 nights in York.
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| Where York is located in the UK |
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| Where we walked within York over 3 days |
What an interesting, enjoyable and fascinating city York is and such a great walking city. Little bit of history time with York starting in 71 AD when the Romans established a fort there.
Roman occupation ended in 400 AD and during that time, Emperor Constantius I died during his stay in York, and his son Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor by the troops based in the fortress. Constantinople which later became Istanbul was named after Constantine.
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| Part of the Roman baths used by soldiers used over 1,600 years ago |
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| There is a massive amount of history throughout York, just have to find it |
Just to add to York’s character, it is touted as potentially the most haunted city in the world with 140 ghosts and over 500 recorded hauntings and even has a single ghost shop with long queues outside it whenever its open.
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| Queue of people waiting to visit the ghost shop in the Shambles, York |
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| Some shops have interesting names even if they can;t have a name |
So during the 3 days we wandered all over the city day and night and kicked off at The Minister, York’s massive church in which we did a free tour run by a 80+ year old very humorous lady. We’re not all that into churches but this one was fascinating.
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| Very small section of the Minster seen from outside |
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| Just on section of the inside of the Minister... it is huge |
The Minster started life around 627 AD and grew from there and there were so many historical highlights we learnt about apart from the huge stained glass windows and massive structures.
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| One of the old huge stained glass windows cost over $12M to repair |
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| The Minster organ has 5,400 pipes! |
There are just so many old buildings and wonky ones to enjoy as we found little lanes and roadways to admire and enjoy. Back to the ghost reputation of York, there was a ghost sculpture display scattered throughout multiple parks and gardens through the city.
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| One of the numerous 'ghost' sculptures on display throughout York |
York is also a walled city which we walked providing yet another different perspective of the city’s internals and was yet again another enjoyable experience.
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| There were many great views whilst walking the wall around York, with the Minster dominating the skyline frequently |
To finish off our time in York, we visited their famous National Train Museum and spent a few hours viewing some very famous trains like the 1829 Stephenson’s Rocket, the world’s first early steam train, the Mallard which still holds the world steam train record from 1938 at 203 kph.
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| You are looking at a piece of history which helped industrialise the world - Stephenson's Rocket |
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| The Mallard - worlds fastest steam train |
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| Just one of the Royal carriages on display |
We had a wonderful and very nice time with our family and friends in England, along with our side tours and after around 6 weeks, boarded good old Qantas for that very long flight home with many lovely memories to keep us company before the jet-lag welcomed us again.
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| The lively and fun grandkids |
What this trip did do was get us back into the international travel saddle again so our planning is well and truly underway for 2023 and beyond.
CLICK HERE for more pics of UK 2022
So keep an eye open for the Norway post and until then…. adieu and go well!
