Category: Travel

To all the friends and family of Sharon and Paul they have arrived safely however we are successfully managing to tucker them out every day.

The weather has been stunning bar a few overcast and windy days in London. Bristol has turned on the fine weather (although we are all still wearing our jumpers through the British “summer”).

Notable things we have seen and done over the last 3 days – mastered the double decker bus system in London (far cheaper than the tube and much more interesting viewing wise), attended church at All Souls in London, took a driving tour from Bristol to investigate all the nooks and crannies of Wells Cathedral, went through Cheddar Gorge, ate a proper English Cream tea (except with coffee – does that make it an English Cream Coffee?), tried Scrumpy (traditionally made cider specific to our West region), had to try some cave matured cheddar cheese of course and finally after picking Steve up from work we had a picnic at a lookout over Bristol and the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

So far we have all travelled well, no murderous tendencies yet and really looking forward to getting to Snowdonia. Just a pity that our friends can’t stay longer as there is so much to see, do, talk about and just generally spend time with these fabulous people. Here are a few pics of what we have seen so far.

We happened upon a boot sale on the way to Longleat Estate. There was a man with a most incredible European Owl. I couldn’t resist a closer look and ended up with an encounter closer than I expected. He/she was incredibly beautiful. I could feel the warmth from the owls feathers and the warm smell as I held him/her to my cheek. Wonderful. It was an incredible honour.

Early to bed then an early rise on Saturday saw us heading to London for the day. To be correct it was a suburb of London, Kew.

Only 2 hours from Bristol, Kew Gardens are set in the lovely surrounding suburb of, surprisingly, Kew!. All the benefits of going to London for a lovely day out without actually going into the city centre.

After I had recovered from the nose bleed shock that they call the entry price (13 quid each) I can happily report that a day spent here is well worth the loss of blood. Take my advice and strongly consider the yearly membership, we are getting a joint one, which provides you free entry for the year plus tickets for 6 additional friends and access to a number of other gardens. Check their website for all the options available www.kew.org

There is so much to tell but only a short amount of time that I am likely to keep your attention, so here is Kew in a whirlwind tour. Doors open at 9.30am and close at 7.30pm with the glasshouses shutting during summer at 5.30pm. We decided to keep the glass houses to the end for some reason that doesn’t seem clear right now. We also took in our own lunch, water and snacks to keep costs down. Plenty of places to picnic but as always never any BBQ facilities supplied like back home. First off we headed to Kew Palace where we looked at the beautifully manicured box hedges, gravelled paths, kitchen garden, vine covered walkways and medicinal gardens. You have to pay extra to get into the palace so we passed on this. We then made a stop at The Orangery restaurant to have a look inside. The building is lovely with spacious ceilings and top to bottom windows that provide a wonderful environment full of light. Of course we had to purchase a coffee and cake from here (breakfast!) and eat it on the lawn. Next there is a large lake which we explored, photographed all the baby ducklings, gosslings etc and generally enjoyed the cooling and peaceful water. We then moved on to the lookout over the Thames River at the end of the park. To get to here we walked through rhododendron gardens, bamboo gardens and the largest compost heap in the UK (surprisingly did NOT smell rank).

It was getting close to lunchtime by now so we headed for Queen Charlotte’s Cottage which was built as a picnic house (seemed appropriate for our own picnic location). I can tell you now they obviously didn’t picnic like we did with our burner, toast maker, meat and cheese selections. We topped this off with a cappuccino. We can be rather civilised when we have to 🙂

The Redwood Grove was quite nice mostly to see the intense red bark of these giants. They are relatively baby trees but still impressive. Then it was on to the Japanese Gateway which to me was amazingly accurate in relation to the style and feel of the gardens I have seen in Kyoto. There is a chinese pagoda next to the Japanese exhibit but we were disappointed that you couldn’t go into it.

By this time it was now about 3pm and we still hadn’t even got to the glasshouses yet. Our feet were starting to get really sore and we were slightly dehydrated as we had drunk all our water so we stopped and filled up at a water fountain. After refilling we headed to the glasshouses before we were no longer able to continue walking!

If you only had half a day and had to choose between two of the enclosed displays I would pick the Temperate House and the Princess of Wales Conservatory (with the Palm House being a very close second). The Temperate House structure is just beautiful in itself without even taking into account the displays inside. While the Princess of Wales Conservatory has a number of unique displays such as a large cactus and succulent collections and a stunning orchid collection. Each has its own unique attributes. As I was already feeling quite dehydrated I found the Palm House to be quite difficult due to the extreme humidity. It was, again, an incredible building with stunning displays of tropical plants but I think we left this too late in the day for me to truly appreciate. Hence why we have decided to get the joint membership so we can come back again and again and again.

Recently opened in the garden is the tree tops walk. Thankfully this is included in the cost of your ticket, personally if it wasn’t included I wouldn’t have paid to do it. A nice walk up to the canopy of the trees where the walkways lead you around the top of the trees so you can see what happens up there. Nice to do but not a key highlight of the day.

Finally, we did the Waterlily House. Loved it in here with the massive bright green lilly leaves. There weren’t that many lillies flowering but those that were were lovely to see.

We managed to spend 9 hours at Kew Gardens and still missed a couple of smaller areas. It is an incredible place to spend a day with the kids, family,as a couple or a day out solo just browsing, reading or generally lazing about. In bad weather you can just focus on the greenhouses or the galleries in the grounds. I would also strongly recommend the Marianne North Gallery to see all her wonderful botanical colour paintings. There is no point me trying to describe the display you just have to go in and see it to believe it. Wonderful!

If I had to pick my favourite items or particular plants from the day it would be the wonderful Atlas Cedar trees, the flowers on the Tulip Tree, listening to the sounds inside a Eculyptus tree through headphones (also inhaling the smell of the eculyptus), the intense citrusy smell of Philadelphus X Lemoinei and finally the hundreds of plants I knew and the thousands I didn’t!

Before hitting the road we found an incredible Italian restaurant called ASK Italian. This place was incredible. The food magnificent, very well priced, service was very friendly and totally focused on ensuring the customer was happy with everything (very rare in England!), there was even a visit to the table from the owner to make sure we enjoyed everything. Glasses were chilled, cutlery polished and good quality finally the desserts were dreamy! What can I say besides 9 out of 10. We will be visiting again.

It was time to hit the road as the sun dropped below the horizon bringing the end to an incredible day. Kew Gardens? Well worth every penny, and more.

Currently listening to John Butler Trio over and over at the moment. Love them, they are fab! So bummed though that JBT are touring Europe but are not coming to the UK at all. Why!!!!??? Great drums, fab guitar work, awesome lyrics, part reggae/bluesy/ndy rock, with a social and enviro consciousness that they act on not just fashionable “talk”, what further reasons do I need to love these guys! http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/

Excerpt from “Better Than” by JBT

All the time while you’re looking away
There are things you can do man
There’s things you can say
To the the ones you’re with
With whom you’re spending your day
Get your gaze off tomorrow
And let come what may

Anyhoo…It was Tony’s last weekend in England before heading back to Australia, it was a long weekend and what more do you need as an excuse to go travelling. The plan was to go to Skomer Island in Wales to see the Puffin colonies. The weather forecast was not promising but by now we realise that you have to continue with your plans and hope for the best or else you would never leave home. Of course you do always plan a number of alternative options to suit the weather conditions. Well the rain and gusting winds continued all the way down to St Martins Haven where we were due to catch the boat across to Skomer Island. I had begun to get the feeling that the boat trips were cancelled when more cars were coming towards us than heading in the same direction as us. This was confirmed by the gate attendant who also advised that the boat trips were not likely to resume the next day either. Time for Plan B.

Plan B was generally heading in a direction we hadn’t been before (incredibly scientific and well planned theory to this style of travel). In short, it consists of looking at a map, hmmmm that looks interesting, plug it in to Suicide Susie (the GPS) and away we go. With this plan underway we made our way around the Pembrokeshire coastline stopping at a few beaches along the way. Mainly admiring them from inside the comfort of the car as neither Steve, Tony or myself really felt like getting drenched.

Driving through Wales once you get onto the B roads is great fun. Then it is off down the tiny laneways hoping no one is coming the other way as you have to figure out where you are going to park to let them get by. The alternative is reversing all the way back to a wider spot on the laneway. Not a nice task to have to do in the pouring rain.

We headed for St Davids and along the way Steve spotted a fantastic house built into the side of a hill. Actually it was more the hill had been built over the house. It looked fab. He believes it is a house that has been shown on Grand Designs (one of our favourite shows).

St Davids is a must see in Wales as it has a spectacular cathedral. After having survived through an earthquake the cathedral is drastically sloping (very evident when you go inside). It is a fabulous place with lots of artifacts to see and if anything a great, dry place for the afternoon.

We then headed off to Cardigan to look for somewhere to stay for the night. Thankfully we found a B&B that was very well priced, well situated in the town centre and very tidy. Nice little town to visit, wouldn’t want to live there.

Monday we headed off to do a tour of Welsh castles on the way home. Seriously can’t remember the names of them so I have to google them! First stop was Cilgerran Castle 3 miles outside of Cardigan. We were there all by ourselves for a while which is always a great feeling wandering through these ancient structures being able to touch the stone and in the silence of the morning imagine what has happened on this spot over the years.  Great views of the surrounding areas from this castle and a great view of the River Teifi. My favourite part of this castle was some stairs that took you up to the top of one of the walls and from here you are above the tree line. It almost feels like you are flying above everything (especially when the wind is gusting and your’e hanging on for dear life!)

The next castle was Carreg Cennan Castle near Llandelio. Sited on the top of a hill (actually it takes up the whole top of the hill) we could see this one in the distance as we approached the area. By the time we got there it was bucketing down so we decided to have lunch in the converted barn. Tony was the only keen one who decided to make a sprint for the top. Twenty minutes later he returned, drenched, while Steve and I sucked on our deliciously warm hot chocolates. Tony had managed to get some photos despite the down pour. I think we will look at returning another time as it looked well worth the sprint up the hill.

Finally, the last castle was a return to Caerphilly. Steve and I had done this one before but Tony hadn’t and it is well worth a return trip. The castle had a number of displays on so we got in there and had a go with the swords, shields, bows and arrows and most interestingly learnt a bit about the ballock knife. Use your imagination and a bit of creative letter changing to figure out what this knife was used for in battle. At one time it was even fashionable to carve the handle of the knife to be a life sized replica. Ewwwwww.

Great to spend some time with you Tony before you headed home. We had a great weekend despite the weather. Have a great trip home and see you again in Sydney sometime!

Firstly, Happy Birthday to my husband. Hope you have had a great weekend of travel. Love you tons!

This weekend as the weather was not supposed to be the greatest we decided to take the opportunity to hit the Eden Project. Located 2.5 to 3 hours away from Bristol down in Cornwall we got up early Saturday morning to hit the road. A little bit of rain on the way but in all an overcast but fine day.

The Eden Project opened its doors to the public in 2001 and is made up of a number of indoor and outdoor working, educational and research related gardens. The areas of highest intrigue are the Tropical and Mediterranean displays located inside the Biomes. I suppose you could summarise a biome down into a very large space age looking greenhouse constructed of steel frames and double thickness hextagonal shaped plastic panels that provide the insulation and consistent temperatures neeeded on the inside. They look fantastic and have an incredible feel about them on the inside. It’s like being inside a huge bee hive but filled with plants.

The gardens have been constructed inside an old china clay pit thereby putting this disaster of an area to better use. The purpose of the gardens appear to be for research and education. It is interesting to note that a large number of British children don’t know where their food comes from let along the impact humans have on their surroundings and vice versa. Not only does it focus on food production but also the large number of other uses we have for plants, their extracts, what they provide for us oxygen wise etc. For example the number of medicines, building products, oil resources etc that come from plants is quite interesting.

The gardens are well constructed, labelled and provide a great time for kids (and big kids alike) for running around through all the displays, sculptures and adventure areas. They even have a zipline which Steve had to of course have a go on. Big kid!

My favourite display was the tropical biome. It was a great heat inside, high humidity (of course) and great displays complete with banana trees, coffee trees, paw paw, rice, rubber trees and even a waterfall. Fantastic!

To our Aussie mates – see if you recognise a certain plant in one of these photos. Discovered in the Blue Mountains of Sydney, its the Wollemi Pine! They are selling them over here in order to get as many out there as possible. You to can have a piece of Jurassic history for 80 quid!!!

First and foremost – Happy Mothers Day to our mums in NZ! As you will read below we have been away camping with no power, phones or internet (horror) hence no phone call this year.

What a glorious weekend of sunshine! I can’t believe I can write that line! The weather was absolutely beautiful for our camping weekend away in the Forest of Dean. To be truthful I believe the site was near (not in) the forest as there weren’t any towering groves of forest like growth anywhere near our tents. We went with a bunch of my work mates and had a great time stretched out in the sun, laughter around the campfire, lots of food, drink, good company and burnt marshmallows thrown in too.

We all descended on the campsite on Friday night when it was still light so we could get our tents up, fire going and get well and truly relaxed before the sun started to go down. For only the second time putting our tent up I was quite impressed as to how easy it was (read – Steve did all the work as I had no idea!). Around 10pm we noticed lightning flashes in the sky coming from all directions. However we got the full benefit of the spectacular flashes but no rain. It was a great sight.

Saturday morning I was up early as usual (not hard to do when the birds start singing at 4.30am). I was up, showered and ready for a walk, so off I went with a fellow work mate for a tour around the area to find some bread and milk. It turned out we ended up getting it from the campsite Cafe. I was really keen to go for a canoe as I had heard that it is a “must do” in the area. The others were all up for some mountain biking. Personally I am pretty slack on a bike and as it turned out one of my mates had a rather nasty spill which left her in pain for the rest of the weekend. Meanwhile, Steve and I had decided to go to a local canoe hire place at Symonds Yat. For 26 quid you get all your kit for a half day canoe down the river. Thankfully this also includes a lift up river to a launch point and you canoe back down to the hire place. I think it was about a 12 mile canoe trip in which they give you clear instructions and about 4 hours to do it in. The current was reasonably strong so unless you are a very strong canoeist taking the option of a lift up river is a must do. The instructions they provide for navigating the river make it worth going through a company that is experienced with the river themselves. The driver went through how to deal with a couple of key problem areas. Of particular note was a part of the river where some young ladies the week prior had managed to wrap their canoe around one of the bridge pillars that we pass under. See below!

That evening as we all wandered back to the campsite it was another night of campfire and laughs. However, as it was the last night and we were running low on wood anything that was able to burn was tossed on. Occassionally it was tossed on even if there was only reasonable chance of it burning. Thankfully our tents were required for the remainder of the night!

On our last day Steve and I decided to have breakfast at the campsite cafe. It was great to sit in the sunshine and not have to worry about the washing up. Finally, we all took in as much sun as we could before packing up and heading off on our own way ready to return to work tomorrow. Steve and I took a detour home through Ross on Wye which is a lovely town (reminds me of Ledbury). Then we stopped at the Royal Hotel for a drink sitting on the veranda overlooking the valley with the river running through and the occassional brilliant yellow fields. We then drove through the Wye Valley ending up at the Tintern Abbey for an ice cream along with every other man, woman and child in the area!

Anyway here are a last few shots of this weekends trip.

I think I have mentioned previously that we are going camping in May for a weekend. So at this point we are trying to lay low again and save some money to buy a tent and a decent sleeping bag for me. Hubbie already has his super-duper one that he bought in Oz for his tramping trips.

Saturday we wanted to head to the Bristol library to pick up some touring books instead of buying them at the moment however we found out it is currently shut due to a fire. Sunday we did a bit of a driving tour around the Severn Beach area. Now, personally I wouldn’t call Severn Beach a beach. Normally beaches conjure up the images of sand, surf, warmth, scantily clad bodies and the heady smell of coconut oil. You would be wrong in this case. The “beach” is a strong flowing, muddy estuary with green dyke like mounds either side that appear to have flooded recently leaving large areas of unstable earth slowly slipping into the water. I wouldn’t recommend swimming there let alone fishing.

On the up side you can see Wales just across the water, the Severn bridges that span a huge area between England and Wales both look stunning and the countryside is lovely and green.

We had spotted what looked like a church perched on a hilltop when we were crossing Severn Bridge one time so we thought we would do a search for it. We stopped for lunch in Aust at the Boars Head which is a 13th century pub. Then we continued wandering the laneways until we spotted the church perched on the hilltop. It was open so we went for a bit of a wander inside. Great views of the bridge and the estuary from the rear of the church. By the time we finished looking around it was raining again so it was time to head home. A bit of a quiet day but fun all the same.

To be re-entered

As a last minute jaunt we decided to go for a trip over to Wales (only 15 minutes away) to have a look at Caldicott Castle.

On the way we stopped at the Chepstow Racecourse for their market day where we bought a load of strawberries, raspberries, apples, brocolli and some nice, hot Welsh cakes to munch on as we wandered around.

10 minutes later and we were at Caldicott having a look around the castle for only 3.25 each. It was a stunning day although still quite cool and quiet enough to have a wander without bumping into tons of other people. I have added a few pics. The daffodils are all out at the moment and Steve took some photos of his favourite variety (the ones that look like eggs in my opinion). Personally I’m a bit of a traditionalist and like my daffodils pure yellow.

Although we have been in Bristol for 10 months now and Salisbury is only 32 miles down the road we hadn’t been too focused on going to Stonehenge. I guess we figured that a pile of stones in a field couldn’t be that exciting so we didn’t bother.

As we had a spare day at the end of our Scottish holiday and the weather was a bit on the dismal side we decided to do a roadtrip down there. After about an hours drive as we motored up the road we crested the hill to suddenly see the stones laid out before us literally in a paddock complete with sheep (although the sheep are well fenced off from the stones) as are the tourists that haven’t paid to get inside to see them up close. It was quite an amazing sight.

We paid our 6.20 each (a lot cheaper than I was expecting) picked up our audio guides and went through the tunnel that takes you under the road to Stonehenge. If you really don’t want to pay the entry fee you can see the stones through the hurricane fencing but I figure for 6 quid just pay it. As we were there quite early the number of tourist buses were minimal so I would advise an early start there.

I already knew that you couldn’t walk right up to the stones so was prepared to be seeing them from a distance, but actually I felt we got close enough to understand the size and weight of them. The audio guide was quite useful although I didn’t listen to it all. I was interested to learn though that the whole area used to be covered in forest and very unlike the wide open bare plains that make up the area now. Nearby to Stonehenge is a military base so while we were doing the touristy thing we could hear explosions coming from over the hill from what sounded like a cannon, probably tank fire as we saw a number of tank signs at a later point in the day. It was rather exciting to be in the area.

Moving on from Stonehenge we decided to search for the White Horse in Westbury. It is called the Westbury or Bratton Horse as it is located near Bratton Camp which was an Iron Age hilltop fort. I didn’t realise this but there are 7 white horses carved in the hillside around the Wiltshire county. They are carved into the chalky hills (hence why they are white) and were something of a tradition at one point. There has been a white horse on this site for the past 300 years with different renditions of it being made over this time. The current one was re-designed in 1873 with the original horse apparantly facing in the opposite direction. In the last 1950’s it was thought that concreting the horse and painting it white would be cheaper and easier to manage. It was re-concreted in 1995.