Around Tewkesbury

Today we spent our time in Tewkesbury.  First a visit to the John Moore Countryside Museum housed in one of a row of Tudor houses.  We walked around and up two flights of very steep stairs and looked at the flora and fauna of the area and the life of John Moore, a naturalist and writer.   Then we were taken by the volunteer a few doors up to see a restored Tudor home which also doubled as a shop.

Tudor hallway

Smoke goes straight up!

Serious reader of information

Steep stairs! 

Then we explored a 'secret' garden nearby before going into the Abbey tea room for coffee before looking at the Abbey and its great Norman pillars.  There were only three of the misericords on view, and one of them was rather odd!  

Misericord, Tewkesbury Abbey

We had lunch back at the flat and then set off for the only other museum, just up the road in another fine building.  Again the museum was run by volunteers and rather quirky.  There was a great model of a fair ground with moving parts and upstairs several tableau depicting the last battle of the Wars of the Roses which took place in Tewkesbury.  I spotted a grammatical error/spelling mistake in one of the information panels and I'm ashamed to say I couldn't stop myself pointing it out.  They seemed grateful!! 

We ate at the Abbot's Table in the evening.  Peter's rib eye steak was good and my duck breast was passable!   

Tewkesbury

A day out from Tewkesbury today.  After breakfast we collected the car from the now less flooded car park and headed south to Dyrham Park, another National Trust stately pile.   The house is set in a valley and the car park is at the top of the hill and a winding path takes you down through woodland past rushing streams.  A small group of deer were seen running in the distance.  

The house is in the baroque style and was the home of William Blathwayt, a courtier to William and Mary and a man who made a lot of money as the king's accountant, collecting money from the colonies.  Slavery contributed to his wealth, a fact openly acknowledged in the house.  The interior was lovely and very interesting as were the grounds and gardens.  There were a least three 'films' projected on to walls telling the story of William and the house and excellent information is all the rooms.   

Dyrham Park

Tranquil view across a lake

As usual we started with coffee and later had lunch.  Fortunately, they run a shuttle bus back up the steep hill to the car park.  

On the way back we stopped at Gloucester services and fast charged the car to 100% while we had a cup of tea and a bun! 

Italian restaurant tonight - much better than the first Italian restaurant.  Not a lot of choice in Tewkesbury! 

Tewkesbury and the joys of travel by electric car!! 21st October 2024

Charlecote House

We set off from Norwich at 9.00 on Monday 21st October for 4 nights in the Fish Loft in Tewkesbury - with a fully charged car.   When we reached a loo/coffee stop at Cambridge services, we plugged in for a quick top up.  We stopped for lunch at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire, a magnificent house.  Charlecote car park had a whole row of chargers, so we plugged in again!! 

Peter was impressed with the inside of the house (only the downstairs rooms open) but I found it a bit heavy and dark.  Still a great history to the house with the family still in residence and having come over with William the Conqueror! 

Then on to Tewkesbury only to find the car park near the flat, for which the owner had a permit lined up for us, was flooded!  Peter eventually located another car park and despite a message in the car that we had a permit for a flooded car park, we returned to find a Penalty Notice!  Paul the very helpful owner of the apartment, sorted that out for us.  Earlier we had visited the Tourist information place and had leaflets for walks round the ancient buildings and alley ways.  We spent some time locating a roll of sellotape of just the right width for a return parcel that Peter had with him and chased a non-existent kerb side charger and eventually ended up for coffee in the oldest pub in Gloucestershire.  Then we searched the various maps for a charger to top up the car before going off on Wednesday to another National Trust property. We headed for one which was further outside Tewkesbury that anticipated only to find we could not make it work.  On to the next charger which was in a pub car park.  We plugged in and went inside for some food - very mediocre!  We spotted a bus stop outside the pub and left the car and came back to the flat and collapsed!   A recce told us that the car park near the flat was just about accessible now and so we boarded a bus back to the pub and collected the car.  We managed to get the car into the car park without going through deep water and then did one of the walks round Tewkesbury that we had collected the previous day.  Saw some very interesting buildings and alleys. 

A restored 1400 house

Large windows for stocking weavers

A view of the Abbey

The old Baptist Chapel and burying ground

We couldn't go into the Abbey because they were doing a ticketed Son et Lumiere event so we went and bought some crisps and a bottle of wine with which to wash down the evening news! 

And then to an Indian restaurant for some of the tastiest curry we've had in a long time. 

Girona, Spain

 We flew to Girona from Stanstead on 13th May 2024. There was no problem finding the street we were directed to by the rental company, Flatelli, or opening two key safes to obtain the flat keys, but finding no. 7 was more difficult.  One guarded the bags while the other went up and down the road checking house numbers.  No. 7 proved illusive until the man in the book shop suggested we look round the corner in the next street.  Lo and behold!  The second challenge was to open the front door which took several goes every tine we went out and came back.  Despite these small niggles, the flat was very good and so was the location.   

Dinner at La Simfonia

Dinner the first night was in a small restaurant called La Simfonia.  Next day we were out and about, dodging heaving rain.  We were taken aback by the crowds and then realised that they were taking the Flower Festival seriously and, armed with maps, were making the rounds of all the installations.  We started to do the same and then, to our disappointment, found that the recent drought in north east Spain had spoilt the production of flowers and some of them were PLASTIC!  We were frankly amazed!   We spent time wandering round the old city, visiting

 churches, the art museum and the Jewish Museum which was very impressive. 

We explored both sides of the river and enjoyed people watching from cafe tables.

Dinner at Draps on the second night was disappointing.  Although the menu looked good, they were only serving a 'Flower Festival Menu' and there was little choice. 

Spectcular trees in an otherwise bare park

Girona from the river

One day we took a bus to Figueras and went to the toy museum.  It was stuffed full of toys, all behind glass with nothing for a child to touch or 'do'.  Most odd. 

Toy Museum, Figueras

Dali Museum  The Dali museum was packed with tourist.  It was hard to move around or stand and look.  Every surface was covered with some 'art' work but no narrative or information.  We were not impressed and left shortly after arriving. 

Ruth in the botanic garden

Jardín Botánico Marimurtra

The best day out was to Blanes on the coast.  Again by bus.  We took a little tourist train to the exotic gardens.  It was a largely dry and warm day and the gardens were lovely.  We had lunch there and then hitched a lift back to Blanes in a taxi a German couple had managed to get when the tourist train failed to turn up! 

Peter in the botanic garden

Blue sky at last! 

Antwerp

Just thought about adding another holiday record.  There's been a long gap!  This time to Antwerp in September 2023.  We're always looking for city breaks and didn't know Antwerp at all.  Turned out to be well worth the visit.   Our Airbnb apartment was light and airy and overlooked the river. 

We visited a musical instrument museum housed in a beautiful brick built building.  There was an excellent audio guide which played music by each of the instruments on display but as we didn't have earphones with us and none were supplied, we didn't make much use of it in case we bothered other visitors. 

A bonus was a young man playing a piano in an upstairs room and we sat for a while for a free concert. 

This was an easy city to walk around.  Some great architecture and good restaurants and a spectacular art gallery by the river. 

 

To round off the visit Peter had a haircut!  We were at the supermarket and he complained about the length of his hair.  I spotted a barber across the road and we went in.  The barber was the silent type and cut Peter's hair, trimmed his eyebrows and moustache and shaved him without a word!  

We were there for about 3 days and kept busy, though we can't now recall what we did! 

Holiday at last!

 Spring Farm, Toll Lane, Cackle Street in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex

We're drawing a veil over the last few months or even longer!  Our casual weekend in Nantes, France, is on hold.  We spent 6 weeks in Southwold over the summer, but now we are on a 'real' holiday.  Just 4 nights, but in a part of the UK we don't know so well.   

On our way down we stopped off at a church with windows designed by Marc Chagall.   We had heard about the church in a recent Arts Society lecture and it was worth the detour.  Luminous colours and we had the church to ourselves.

We had a delightful Airbnb on a farm (or something that was a farm, with an oast house) in what was basically an old shed, which has been done up really well.   The first morning we went for a short from the front door, through the forest and only got lost once.  Safely returned for coffee before setting off again. 

We had lunch at the National Trust Cafe at Sheffield Park and then a long walk round the park, admiring the trees and the autumn colours.  It was warm enough to leave coats in the car.  

Then to East Grinstead for a few supplies - in particular, parmesan for the spaghetti Bolognese that Peter is cooking tonight.  

Other trips included a visit to an interesting museum devoted to the Salomon family whose house the hotel originally was, a walk round Tonbridge and a visit to Tonbridge Wells.  

7th May 2020: Coronavirus Day 53

Well, another long silence!  There's rather little to say.  We are keeping busy.  The loft is cleaner and more sorted and piles await the opening of the 'dump' and their final destination!  We will also be bombarding the charity shop when it opens.   I wonder if they have contingencies in place to cope with the overwhelming amount of stuff that is surely coming their way. 

We have had a modicum of what passes for social life.  This week friends who live at the end of the alley came and sat in the garden with us for an hour.   They brought their own tea in flasks.  They are both vulnerable health wise, Parkinson's and cancer, and have not stirred from their house and garden, so they enjoyed the change of scene.  We also celebrated a friend's birthday in another friend's garden.  There were 9 of us well spaced out on the lawn in the sun. 

We did two other things to lighten our existence.   We bought a table tennis set for the dining table.  On only our second game Peter lunged enthusiastically to reach one of my better shots and overbalanced, hitting the knob on the cellar door before crashing to the floor!  The cellar door knob was distinctly wobbly after the incident but is now repaired.  Peter's grazed arm is mending!

Our other extravagance (!) was a smart TV.  We have been trying to find out how it works.  We have been watching opera from the Royal Opera House but barely scratching the surface of what's on offer.  Abe and Saul were delighted with the news but were mortified to hear that our TV is bigger than their's!

We now have the second highest death toll from the virus in the world.  Second only to the USA.  Nothing to be proud of there.  A terrible case of hubris and mismanagement and I hope the government get their comeuppance.   Although lockdown may be lifted to some extent from next week, we shall be maintaining our isolation in case the next phase is managed badly as the first.