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Sunday 29 June 2014

Life in an English city, part 2




Summer is here and the next part of our adventure begins, so the frequency of posts on this blog will increase! Firstly though, it is time for a recap of recent events in England. As we moved into spring we had more outings, mainly due to meeting up with a network of ex-pat Kiwis, many who are based in this region. Most are in their 50s and 60s and working and living on large estates.

Christine and Vicki in the fireplace ...
We firstly met up with Tony and Christine (who coordinates this network) and they kindly took us for a tour around Oxfordshire, with a stop at one of those ancient pubs that is so small that Vicki and Christine had to sit in the fireplace. Then off to dinner at their lovely cottage on an estate in a very pretty village. A good day out indeed, and a chance to socialise after a fairly quiet period by ourselves.

Our next outing was with Alain and Anne who live at an exclusive private school where Anne is a matron of one of the boarding houses. Almost the entire village is now part of the school as the facilities are so extensive. There is even a pub for the older school students!

Our third visit was for a BBQ with a dozen of this network at one of their homes – that is, a very large home belonging to the estate owner. Once again plenty of glorious food, good NZ wine and great company. And a brilliant hot day which has been a rarity of late.

These trips out have been a good opportunity to see the local countryside, which we have only otherwise seen from train or local bus windows. We have had a go at cycling around the area but our bikes are really uncomfortable so we are disinclined to venture further. Pity though as the lanes are very pretty, except for the excess of cars. So our solution has been to hire a car.

Starting the climb at Caen Hill
We had a big day out with Izzie when we drove down to Salisbury and had a look around the cathedral there. Big, old and very interesting, including seeing a copy of the Magna Carta. Some interesting medieval buildings around too but we had to race off to get to Stonehenge. These days you have to book a time-slot in which to arrive so they can even out the influx of tourists. A brand new visitor centre has been built with a bus to take you to the actual site. Though you can only walk around the periphery of the stones – along with hundreds of others - you can see them very well. Next stop was the Wiltshire town of Devizes and the amazing sequence of locks on the canal nearby at Caen Hill. Twenty-nine locks in a row to get the boats uphill, or down, can take the best part of a day to get through. We continued on our way to Bradford on Avon, a very pretty town that looks like a mini-Bath. Highly recommended. So, with a final stop for a walk around the standing stones at Avebury, we toddled home.

Standing stones at Avebury
At Bradford on Avon







Our next big day out was taking the train to Bath and meeting up with my sister Gail and brother-in-law Janos for a drive around the area. Bath is as beautiful as its numerous tourists would imply. The warm stone is attractive even on a damp morning, and there are lots of little alleyways and shops to explore. We drove onto Wells which is a charming market town and famous as my birthplace. We were lucky enough to see the inauguration of the new bishop, which unfortunately meant the cathedral was closed. Wells has a beautiful “Bishop’s Palace” (no wonder he was smiling a lot) which looks more like a castle surrounded by a moat. It also has a 14th C street (supposedly the oldest continuously inhabited residential street in Europe).  Luckily, after a drive through the local villages we returned for dinner and a look through the re-opened cathedral.
The moat at Bishop's Palace - Wells

Royal Crescent - Bath
Vicars in 14th century Vicars Close - Wells


Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
We made one further excursion and that was to the Cotswolds courtesy of Brian Lee, the programme director at the Witney Photo Group. Some time ago Vicki had a couple of her images accepted in the Cheltenham International Photo salon. She found that the nearest place the exhibition of the winning entries would be displayed was at Witney, so emailed them to find out the details. Brian kindly offered to spend the day with us prior to the show and duly did so, starting with a visit to the grounds of Blenheim Palace, then a meander through the Cotswolds for lunch at Bourton-on-the-Water.  An idyllic stone village only spoilt by the throngs of tourists. We were treated to a quick ride around the outskirts of the village in Brian’s Aston Martin DB9 (!) followed by the presentation of the winning images from the competition at the Photo Club evening. They kindly included Vicki’s accepted entries so there was a big round of applause. Another wonderful day out due to the generosity of Brian – thank you!



Poppy field in the Cotswolds

Leaving Reading was difficult for me as I was leaving my daughter Izzie who had to find a job and somewhere to live. It was also a little sad leaving the two cats that Vicki had become very attached to (ok, so maybe I will miss them too!). But it was a relief to start the next stage of our journey after a long hiatus.
We spent four nights with our friends Tim and Linda down in Petersfield where we traded some gardening work for wonderful food and great company. Again sad to say goodbye but we know we’ll be catching up with them again, partly due to leaving a huge bag of our overflow in their loft!

Our final day in England started with a delightful rail journey through the English countryside down to Southampton airport and the flight to Nantes in France ….