July 1, 2013 - Angelsey South Stack Light House and Beaumaris

Helo All,  

We were off early to head to Angelsey, The Magical Island.  The drive took about 3 hours and once again we were traveling on winding roads through some beautiful scenery.  The picture on the right was taken while we drove through Snowdonia National Park. The weather threatened rain but in the end the day turned out nice and sunny.

South Stack Lighthouse has warned passing ships of the treacherous rocks since it completion in 1809.  The lighthouse is 91 feet tall and was designed by Daniel Alexander.  The light can be seen 28 miles out at sea.  It is now fully automated and is operated by Trinity House.  It is the first beacon along the northern coast of Angelsey for east bound ships.  We explored the cliffs taking pictures of the  Irish sea and lighthouse from a distance before heading down to the island to explore the lighthouse itself.

You can see from the picture on the right the trek down to the island
is long and winding with numerous stairs carved into the cliff.  It took us a considerable amount of time to get down as we stopped to take pictures along the way.  Half way down we were able to see a flock of Puffins on a cliff ledge as well as sea gulls and other sea birds which we didn't know the name of.  We arrived at the island and it smelt a bit like dead fish; we think it was from all the gulls pooping.  Thank goodness there was a strong breeze off the ocean as I am sure it would have been over powering and make the walk around the island unpleasant.

On arriving at the lighthouse we were greeted by a guide.  He asked if we knew were the other fellow was and I let him know he was wandering around taking pictures.  Without any rest from our climb down to the island we tackled the winding stairs up to the top of the lighthouse right away.  I of course brought up the rear and I do mean the rear as I was well behind the guide and Fred.  I can hear the guide asking Fred if I am okay and Fred told him that I was slow due to my bad knees.  To top it off my sciatica was acting up but I was bound and determined to make it all the way to the top.  The view from the top of the lighthouse was spectacular and we could see another lighthouse (Skerries) off in the distance.  The guide explained that each light house has its own frequency for how often the light flashes so that ships can recognize which lighthouse is which.  The South Stack flashes twice every 10 seconds.  We chatted with the guide a good 15 minutes which gave me a chance to catch my breath and take in the the beautiful scenery from this viewpoint.  We were not lucky today as there were no seals at the base of the island.  The picture on the left is of puffins on the island.

The trip down to the bottom of the lighthouse was easier as we were allowed to go at our own pace.  After a short rest we now tackled the climb back up.  It was extremely slow going for me as I had to stop a number of times as I felt very nauseous.  Surprisingly we made it to the top in about 40 minutes.  I was sure it would take over a hour.  Fred offered to buy me an ice cream cone, however, I passed as I was still feeling a bit nauseous.  We headed back to the car and then drove off to Beaumaris, our rest stop for the night.  I have thoroughly enjoyed our exploration of South Stack even with all its challenges and it made up for the disappointment  of Aberglasney House and Gardens.

Beaumaris is a lovely little seaside town on the Strait of Menai.  Our rest spot was Ye Olde Bull's Head Inn which was built in 1472.  It is a lovely inn with many original features in the bar.
We had a wonderful dinner at the inn and enjoyed a leisurely time before heading off to our room.

Hwyl am Rwan Nawr

Sandy & Fred

June 30, 2013 - Aberglasney Gardens, South Wales

Helo All,

We headed out for a two day break to Wales.  On our way to Aberglasney Gardens we stopped in Llandovery as I was in need of a bathroom break. The statue is of Norman Llywelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan.  It reminded me of a Ring Wraith from Lord of the Rings.  There were also ruins of a castle in Llandovery.  The trip to Aberglasney Gardens, Llangathen took a good three and a half hours and we saw some beautiful countryside while traveling on narrow winding roads.  The gardens and house date back to medieval times.  Ownership has passed through various hands between the 1600's and 1902.  The house was rebuilt a number of times during this period and was commandeered during the second world war as a mobile laundry and holding station for US troops. 

As you know I am constantly after Fred to go places and Aberglasney was one that I had seen advertised and it looked awesome in online materials.  It is truly amazing what they can do with photoshop because the gardens we saw were nothing like those advertised.  The picture on the right is of a Yew Tunnel.  It looks impressive but in reality it was very small, only about 15 feet.  Over the years the gardens and home fell into a massive state of  disrepair and was vandelised until, in 1995, The Aberglasney Restoration Trust took over and restored both the house and gardens.

The picture on the left is all that remains of the gate house from Tudor times.
After our visit, we headed into Swansea for the night to stay in the Mecure hotel.  As we were driving to the hotel we realised that we had stayed here previously, about a year ago.

We had a decent dinner at the hotel and hit the sack fairly early as we wanted to get an start the next day as we head to Anglesey.

Hwylam Rwan Nawr,

Sandy & Fred

May 7, 2013 - Lyme Park

Greetings All,


Wow I can't believe that I forgot to post about our visit to Lyme Park.  The land now known as Lyme Park was granted to Sir Thomas Dayners in 1346 by Edward III for his service to the Black Prince, Edward III's eldest son, in the Battle of Crecy.  The estate passed to the Leghs of Lyme by marriage in 1388.  Construction on the present day house was started in the mid 16th century.  In the latter part of the 18th century, the family fortunes declined and the the house began to deteriorate.  Under the ownership of Thomas Legh, in the early 19th century, the house was restored and many changes and additions were made.  In the early 20th century changes were made to the gardens by Thomas Legh and his wife.  Then in 1946 the home and lands were handed over to the National Trust.

On our arrival, we toured the house firstly and then did a tour of the grounds.  We were not allowed to take pictures of the interior of the house.  I have yet to understand why we are allowed to take photographs in some National Trust houses and not in others.  The furniture in the house is mostly from the 18th century and very ornate.

The gardens and grounds were beautiful.  The picture on the left is of the Dutch Garden and was in bloom with daffodils and tulips which was unusual for May.  If we had had normal spring weather the blooms would have been well done.  Our walk around the grounds took us by the deer grounds and we were able to get some shots of the deer, although they were at a distance.  As we left the grounds we spotted a family of Canadian Geese and Fred managed to get close enough to get a shot of the family. 

We hope you have enjoyed this post even if it is well over a month since our visit to Lyme Park.


Ta Ra,

Sandy & Fred

May 2, 2013 - Tatton Park, Cheshire

Greetings All,

Spring has finally arrived and we got ourselves out to a National Trust site in Knutsford, Cheshire about an hours drive away.
The estate was owned by the Stanley family by the end of the 15th century who built and lived in The Old Hall.  By the 1580's it had been expanded and was owned the Brereton family.  In 1598 the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor of England.  At the end of the 17th century John Egerton, Sir Thomas's grandson, owned the estate.  It was John who built the Mansion which we visited today. The original estate covered 251,000 acres, today it is a mere 2,000 acres.  The estate remained in the Egerton family name until 1958 when  the last Lord Egerton died without issue, that is, no heirs.  He left the house to The National Trust and the park in lieu of death duties.

Our exploration started off with a visit to the gardens.  We started off in the kitchen garden.  Already there was lettuce in bloom.  The picture in the upper right corner is of an apple tree in bloom.  All the apple trees here have been forced to grow in this peculiar manner which I guess makes apple picking very easy as the trees are not much taller the me (5'4") and the branches grow along wires that would support the fruit. The gardens consist of 50 acres with different designs

being added by each generation of the Egerton's.  The picture on the right is of the Japanese Gardens.  There is also an Italian garden, rose gardens, Arboretum, Topiary, Maze and Glass Houses.  We wandered through most of the Gardens stopping for photos.  The Magic of Beatrix Potter, an exhibition of her work, was on display at the park and there were numerous statues and poster boards of Peter Rabbit character''s throughout the gardens and mansion where one can pose for a picture.  I had a picture taken by Fred with my face against the hole in one of the poster boards.  He wanted me to stick my head through the hole but these were obviously for kids.  We had a good laugh with some other visitors.

After finishing our walk through the gardens we headed to the mansion, which was built in the Neo-classical style in the 18th century and underwent extensive alterations between 1780 and 1813. The mansion is home to the family's collection of art, furnishings, books and ceramics.  The extensive servant quarters, kitchens and layout gives us a good picture of what a well ordered and sophisticated house hold this was.

The last picture is of an owl and squirrel, Beatrix Potter characters, in the library.  In one of the bedrooms we got to see some of Potter's original art work, with drawings of her characters of the Peter Rabbit series as well as botanical drawings.  She was a very talented woman in a time trying to gain recognition for her work in a male dominated world was difficult to say the least.

We spent a good 4 hours exploring and did not see all that Tatton Park has to offer.  So a return at some point is in order to visit the Old Hall the original home, the farm and gardens when the roses are in bloom.

Ta Ra for now,

Sandy & Fred

April 14 - 15, 2013 - Fred's Birthday and Homeward Bound

Greetings All,

After breakfast we left London and headed to Nottingham for Meat Loaf's Concert "Last at Bat".  The drive up was not bad as it was early on Sunday morning and the traffic was not heavy.  Once in Nottingham we drove around a bit as the nav chick's instructions were a bit confusing.  Once we were finally parked we made the 2 minute walk to our hotel The Mercure. It was built in 1822 and is the oldest hotel in Nottingham.  It is steeped in history with medieval caves under the building that were said to be used in Robin Hoods time.  The hotel was originally called The George IV Family Hotel and Posting House and has had some notable guests, Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and now the Parkins.
Once we were checked in we headed out to wander around the town centre and to locate the arena. We were somewhat disappointed as we found Nottingham to be nothing special with no wonderful architecture or real outstanding features.  We had an early supper at La Tasca so we were not rushed and enjoyed some of our favorite dishes.  We then relaxed before heading out to the concert. Unfortunately, it really was Last at Bat as it was cancelled at the last minute due to health reasons, so we were told.  Disappointed but the man is 65 and I am sure touring must be rough on him.  I can attest that getting older is not fun at times given the crappy year I am having.  So we headed off to Sainsbury's to purchase a bottle of wine and some snacks for the room.  Outside Sainsbury's we met a couple of guys who hear us talking and asked us where we in America we were from.  I answered Liverpool but originally from Canada.  One chap was from Arkansas but now lives in Kent and suggested that we check it out.  So Fred ended up having a quiet birthday, relaxing, drinking wine and reading.

April 15th

We were off early again thanks to the fact I cannot sleep due to my leg.  We headed off to Priors Hardwick, a village in Warwickshire.  This is the village where Fred's four time great grandfather was born, in 1766, and died there in 1847.  The village is now home to some amazing properties of obvious wealth.  We located the church and cemetery St Mary's but are unable to locate a grave site as the tomb stones are so decayed and in poor shape that names are not readable.  There were also many stones under a huge pine tree that was so overgrown you couldn't get near the them.  The church was open so we went inside.  The pipe organ was very colourful and can be seen on our Flickr site or my face book page.

As we could not find a grave site we settled for a picture of the church and graveyard where we believe he was buried.  We now headed home avoiding motorways and saw some very pretty countryside in an area of the UK that we had not completely traveled in before.

We hope you have enjoyed this segment of our blog.

Cheers All,

Sandy & Fred

April 13, 2013 - A Day in London on Fred's Birthday Weekend

Cheers All,

We were up and out very early thanks to me as I could not sleep due to the pain in my hip and leg.  However, I was not going to let that get in the way of o good weekend.  We started off the day with a nice surprise, our breakfast at the Marriott, was free.

After breakfast we headed off to explore some of our favorite spots during the day before meeting up with our friends for dinner and drinks.  As I mentioned in yesterday's blog the weather has been absolutely horrible so spring is arriving very late by UK standards.  The trees are just starting to blossom as well as the daffodils, which are usually done by now.  St James's Park was already very busy with tourists, joggers and families out for some fresh air.
The picture on the left I have named Pelican Island as the pelicans had seemed to make it their resting place, sharing it with a lone Heron who landed just before I snapped the shot.

As I was taking pictures of the few flowers that were in bloom, we were lucky to see the Horse Guard's changing as we were walking through the park.  So we headed up and I got some very good shots of them.

With photos done we then headed up to Covent Gardens to explore the area and the craft stalls.  Not one of Fred's favorite things to do but he was a good sport and tagged along as I wandered around the various stalls getting gift ideas.  From here we then headed to Leicester Square to just meander around.  We stopped for a pint of bitter for Fred and 1/2 pint of cider for me at the Porcupine and also for a bit of rest for me.  Once refreshed we continued on and visited one of my favorite stores, Fortnam and Mason.  We wandered through the food area spending a good hour just checking out the variety of products and prices.

We then headed back to the Hotel for a bit of rest before meeting up with our friends.  We spent a good 5 hours walking around.

After an hours rest we walked along the north bank to the Blackfriars Pub to meet up with Karen and Steve, friends from Whitby Ontario.  The pub was built in 1905 on the site of a Dominican friary.  It was designed by architect H. Fuller-Clark and artist Henry Poole, both committed to free thinking of the Arts and Crafts movement of the time.  Jolly friars appear everywhere in the pub in sculptures, mosaics and reliefs.  We are lucky to still be able to be here, as this wonderful pub was saved from demolition by a campaign led by Sir John Betjeman.  The picture on the left is of the ceiling in the area where we enjoyed our time with friends.  I am quite entertained by Steve and Karen's friend Jack who with his wife Irene was traveling with them.  He asked questions about football and Liverpool Football Club and managed to make a comment about supporting Everton. There was a little guy wearing a Liverpool shirt who took exception to that comment with a look that could kill, Jack ended up apologizing profusely to the little guy.  Fred told the little guy that he would have Jack properly educated before the end of the evening, to which we all had a good laugh.  Jack was also very amazed with me because of the fact that I moved to the UK.  He felt that I gave up a lot leaving my country of birth, home and whatever.  Sad to say that while it was a nice compliment I just don't think I gave up anything and did not get where he was coming from.  I'm with the person who means the most to me and we are enjoying life.  Well on to more entertaining things.  The four of them had been on a pub crawl that afternoon and the Blackfriars was the last pub of the afternoon for them,  hence why it was picked for us to meet up for supper.  The food was very good and typical pub grub.  Steve ordered a filet of salmon that was served on what he first thought was a sheet of filo pastry.  Karen had him convinced that he should wrap his salmon and eat it like a wrap.  She then broke off a piece of the so called pastry and it turned out to be paper.  A good laugh was had by all and Steve was saved from eating paper.  After supper we headed off another pub for a night cap.  Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, just off Fleet Street.  This pub was rebuilt after the great Fire of London but there has been a pub on this site much longer than that.  The pub itself is very narrow and is made up of a series of floors with a couple of floors in the basement and it was quite busy.  We found seats but the group beside us were extremely loud.  So we fought fire with fire and win as they left and we could then chat in normal tones.  We had a great visit with friends old and new and headed off to our separate hotels.

Cheerio,

Sandy & Fred

April 12, 2013 - Fred's Birthday Weekend

Greetings All,

It has been some time since we have done any traveling at all partly due to my poor health and partly due to the terrible weather we have been having in the UK.  Fred was supposed to go to the Liverpool vs Reading football match with his brother but they were unable to get tickets.  Our visit with John and Adrienne also got cancelled as Adrienne came down with chickenpox and there was no way I was chancing anything given my health since the New Year.  As we had made arrangements to meet up with friends from Whitby who were having a short stop in London on their way to France, we stayed at the Marriott County Hall which is right by the London Eye.

On our way to London, we stopped in at The Air Force Memorial at Runnymede to get a picture of my Uncles name, which is on one of the panels at the memorial.  Flying Officer, Edward Joseph Andrews was lost in 1943 while on a mission.  Fred who is working on our family tree made the discovery of the memorial while doing his research.
The memorial, designed by Sir Edward Maufe and officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on October 17,1953, overlooks the Thames and the riverside meadow where the Magna Carta was sealed by King John in 1215.  The memorial records the names of over 20,000 air force people, by the year they were lost.  These are airmen and women who were lost without a trace and graves unknown.  There is also a shrine at the memorial with a window that is engraved with words from the 139th Psalm, sometimes called the Airman's Psalm.

If I climb up into Heaven, Thou art there;
If I go into Hell, Thou art there also.
If I take wings of the morning
And remain in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there also shall Thy hand lead me;
And Thy right hand shall hold me.

The weather for me was very appropriate as it was very overcast and grey for visting such a solemn but wonderful tribute to all those that lost their lives.
 
After our visit we headed into London and booked into our hotel for 2 nights.  Once settled, we headed off for a walk along the Southbank and then along the Strand to purchase our lottery tickets (not winners).  We then stopped for supper at Pizza Express before heading back to the hotel by tube as my leg was really acting up, and it was raining.

Cheerio,

Sandy & Fred