March 25 - 31, 2015 - Cheltenham & Market Towns

Greetings all,

It has been some time since my last post, as we have had a rather uneventful few months outside of Christmas. On March 25 we headed off to Cheltenham to dog sit for John and Adrienne as they were taking a short break to Lisbon. We took the back roads down with me as a navigator. This route kept us off the highway, passing through small towns, villages and the country side. We stopped in Ludlow, a market town, and had a great lunch at The Rose and Crown, a former 13th century coach house. Ludlow is a very picturesque town. As we had left our cameras in the car while we walked around we decided to stop by on our return to Liverpool to take pictures.

Spring has really sprung in the south west compared to the north as you can see from the picture on the left of the daffodils. This was taken in the park right across the street from  John and Adrienne's home. On the 26th we headed off to Tewkesbury as I wanted to get
pictures of the wooden knight and horse on the roundabout into the town. Traffic was heavy but Fred did manage to find a spot to pull over so I could get out and get my pictures. We then headed into the town as I wanted to check out a store in which we had shopped at Christmas time. As the weather was rather cool I purchased a couple of sweaters for myself. I could not find what I wanted for our Grandson Paul in the shop. From Tewkesbury we decided to head off to Ledbury in Herefordshire a short 30 minute drive away.

Ledbury is a borough whose origins date to around 690 AD. As a town it was created on a bishops manor. The picture on the left is of the Market Place, a structure built in 1617.  We stopped and enjoyed some refreshment in a pub then shopped for some local beers and ciders as well as picking up a single malt scotch that has chocolate undertones. We then headed back to Cheltenham to start our dog sitting duties as J&A were heading off early to  the airport on the 27th.

After J&A were safely on their way we decided to head to Burton-on-the-Water after lunch. It is a small town in the Cotswolds. Again I am in search of a store I remembered from a trip here a number of years ago, looking for larger placemats. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of the size I wanted. We walked around the town taking some photos and then relaxed in a pub to enjoy some refreshment before heading back to tend to the dogs.

The weather was unkind to us as it turned cold, wet and very windy. We relaxed around the house with the boys for the next couple of days but did head out on Sunday for lunch at the Plough Inn in the tiny village of Cold Aston.

The picture on the left is rather unique as it warns of an amphibian crossing. Not sure if it is for frogs or toads as it was by a river that was rather fast flowing at this time of year. We enjoyed an excellent meal at the pub which really was a Sunday Roast dinner. Fred enjoyed a Gloucester Old Spot pork dinner and I had half a chicken. The portions were huge and I had enough chicken left to make sandwiches for our evening meal. The pub itself is one of the most picturesque in the area and would be a wonderful spot in the summer as there was plenty of outdoor seating.

Monday the weather was still cool and wet in the morning but did clear up so we took the boys for a walk and I was able to take more pictures of the spring flowers. We had them out for a couple of hours and I got some great shots which you can see on my Facebook wall. We had dinner duty for all of us as J&A were due to return home from their mini break. Beef and chicken kabobs with rice was the meal and Fred braved the rain to barbeque. Dessert was an apple tartin with whipped cream.

On Tuesday we headed off early as we wanted to stop in Ludlow on the way home for photos and lunch.

Ludlow is a market town located in Shropshire with the oldest part of the town founded in the late 11th century after the Norman conquest. There are nearly 500 grade listed buildings in the town which include medieval and tudor style half timbered buildings. The one pictured on the right is of the Feathers hotel. We also took time to visit the Parish Church of St Laurence, which has its origins in the 11th century. It was rebuilt and enlarged in 1199-1120 and became the parish church in 1120. It is the largest church in Shropshire The picture below and to the left is of a the ornate carvings on the bottom of seats in the choir.

We visited the Crown and Rose again for lunch and had a large meal so that we didn't have to cook once we got home. Fred had the sausage and mash which was served inside a Yorkshire pudding. The meal was huge but he managed to consume the lot. I had a very tasty burger made from local rare-breed beef. We also purchased some sausage from an award winning butcher. We did not explore all there was to see as the weather was cold and many things were closed as it is not yet the tourist season. The castle in town looks worth a visit at a future day.

The balance of our trip was uneventful and the weather held off with just the occasional rain showers.

Ta ra for now. Stay tuned for our next big trip April 9th to Aloha, Oregon to visit our Grandson Paul and the kids.

Sandy & Fred

Nov 10 - 11, 2014 - London - Blood Swept Land and Seas of Red and Paddington Bear Trail

Greetings All,

We were up at 6:30 am and out early after our breakfast to get to The Tower of London for the poppy display before the crowds. We walked to the Tower of London from our hotel (about 1.25 miles) arriving at 8:15 am. Even at that time the crowds were starting to form, but nothing like masses on Sunday. We were able to easily access the walkway to walk around the Moat and the front of the Tower. The picture on the left is from the bastion window and is The Weeping Window. It is the artist representation of a pool of blood running into the moat. The next picture on the right represents the wave of blood spilling over from

the moat and is at the front gate. We then headed over to the Tower Hill Memorial which commemorates those from the Merchant Navy and the fishing fleets who died during both world wars and have "no grave but the sea". Here we saw the wreaths that had been laid and small wooden crosses attached to the bronze columns. We located the memorial to Thomas Dawson, Fred's first cousin 3 times removed who was lost on the torpedoing of the MV Sitala in October 1940. It was a very emotional morning for me as thoughts went to my Mom who was very involved with the Legion and very much involved in the planning of Remembrance Day Services.

We now headed off to the search out the Paddington Bears and cover some of the trail. Out first stop was Horse Guard's but we saw no Bear and our second stop was The Canada Gate in Green Park again no bear. Mystified, I looked at the map Fred had printed out and discovered that not all of the bears were in place. Some were to be installed after November 11th and some still later in the month. It just shows that one should carefully read all instructions. Like I ever do as Fred frequently tells me. We continued now through Green Park and stopped at the Canadian Memorial to take pictures. On our last visit here a couple of years ago the water in the memorial was not running. Funds for the maintenance of the memorial were provided by Conrad Black, but due to his jail term they were no longer forthcoming.

The memorial is now operational and a number of wreaths had been laid around it. The Canadian Veterans, The Chamber of Commerace  as well as some personal ones. There was signage about staying off the memorial but an idiot father was letting his kids play on it. Most disrespectful with dirty looks given and comments made by a few people he finally got the message.

We continued our walk in search of the bears and walked along Piccadilly to Leicester Square, China Town, Regent Street and then Oxford Street. We stopped for lunch at a pub off Wigmore Street called the Pontefract Castle before heading to Marks and Spencer in search of s stag's head cushion I had ordered but which, the store had cancelled as it was unavailable. My thoughts being if any store had it, it would be the large store in London. We were successful thanks to Fred's alert eyes. We now decided to head back to the hotel as we had been walking for just over six hours. We took the tube back and while waiting for the train to arrive we were approached by a lady who had noticed our Canadian poppies and thanked us for wearing them. She is an expat who has lived in London a number of years and is always delighted to see fellow Canadians. We had a very short chat before our train arrived. Once back at the hotel we decided to rest for a while before heading back out. We must be getting old as we both fell asleep. Fred laid down and immediately crashes while I took a bit longer. A short nap for me I am refreshed but Fred was still out like a light.  We headed out late in the afternoon in search of the bear that was at London Bridge Station, however, he was very elusive. We walked around for about a hour before giving up but now know the area quite well and made a few new discoveries of historical sites. We stopped to purchase some wine for the room and headed back to the hotel. We headed out for supper to a pizza pasta bar but end up returning to the hotel as the bar was a self serve place and we had no desire to do buffet style eating and we were still tired and sore from our earlier walking.

November 11, we were awake early. After breakfast we had some time to kill before getting our train back to Liverpool, so we headed to St Paul's Cathedral to find Paddington bear. The location of the hotel was perfect, near South Bank and Tate Modern to be able to walk over the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral and the Bear In The Wood. We continued our walk and decide to see if we could find the ever elusive bear at London Bridge Station. London Bridge had a long line of buses crossing it we guessed due to morning rush hour. People were getting off the buses as it was faster to walk than wait for the bus to get to the stop. We finally came across our elusive

Wonders of The World (Peru) bear. Fred said no Paddington Bear was going to defeat us. We had discovered a total of 12 bears out of the fifty around London making us an Apprentice Adventurer according to the Trail map. But it has been fun and we did revisit some old familiar places as well as seeing some new ones on this visit. We came specifically for the poppies and we have really enjoyed this mini break.

Check out my Facebook page for more pictures and Fred's Flickr site which he still has to post to.

Cheers,
Sandy & Fred

November 9, 2014 - London

Greetings All,

We took a mini break to London specifically to visit the Tower of London and the Poppies that were commemorating the British and Commonwealth Soldiers who sacrificed their lives in WWI. We were up and out early on Sunday to catch our 8:40 am train arriving in London around 11:40 am. Departing Euston it was a short ride on the tube to London Bridge station which, was then a ten minute walk to our hotel. We checked in, left our bags at reception as our room was not ready for us and then headed off to explore by 12:30 pm.

We headed off to explore a new area and to check out a market, The Ropewalk, that Fred's brother had told us about. As it was Sunday we were not sure if it would be open but it gave us an opportunity to see some new sites. The market was a variety of street foods and we enjoyed a grilled steak sandwich which was delicious. With full tummies we continued our exploring, walking over to the Tower of London and the masses of people were incredible. We managed to get some pictures as for the most part people were polite; taking their pictures and then making room for others.

The crowd was just too much so we decided that we would return early on Monday morning to beat the crowd and to hopefully get better pictures without the crowd. The display is the artistic design of Paul Cummins and is titled "Blood Swept Land and Seas of Red" and it is taken from the first line of a poem written by an unknown soldier in WWI. The first poppy was planted on July 14, 2014 and the last one on November 11, 2014. There are a total of 888,246 poppies each representing a life lost.

The Paddington Trail opened in London on November 4 and runs through to December 30. It is a trail of Paddington Bear statues around the city depicting places and events that are in the Paddington Bear books. We came across our first bear in the Borough Market "Taste of Peru" as pictured on the right. As it was now late in the afternoon we stopped for some refreshment at The George Inn, a pub that dates back to 1677. The weather had been amazing and we sat outside on the patio enjoying our drinks. Thanks to the time change it now gets dark around 5:00 pm so we headed back to the hotel. Along the way we came across yet another work of art, by the artist Alex Chinneck, A Pound of Flesh for 50P. It is a house made of 8,000 wax bricks that will melt over 30 days (picture below). It is part of The Merge Festival of contemporary artists in the Bankside area.

Once back at the hotel we decided to have our dinner there rather then venture out again. We enjoyed a pre-dinner glass of wine that was recommended by maitre d' come bartender called The Chocolate Block. It is a South African wine, a blend of several grapes and was a rich full bodied red. We had a lovely dinner enjoying the special that the hotel had on offer. Fred had a salmon fishcake with lemon vinaigrette and pan fried cajun haddock for his mains, while I had a stuffed chicken breast and a dessert. While we were eating a Chinese family came in, mom, dad, kid and grandma. The demands they made on the maitre d' were unbelievable. They ordered 2 mains and two side dishes, 2 glasses of wine for the three adults and a complete kids meal. They then asked for extra plates and wine glasses and proceeded to split the meals and wine up between the three adults. I really don't know why people continue to amaze or shock me given our work and travel experiences but they do. When we left I asked the maitre d' if he would write his name down on a piece of paper for me. He promptly asked if anything was wrong and I told him there was nothing wrong, that he was a saint and when we get our usual survey about our stay I wanted to recognise him.
We headed up to our room to sort pictures and then to bed at a decent time as we wanted to be at the Tower of London very early before the crowds arrived.

Cheers,

Sandy & Fred

October 14 - 17th - Perth Scotland and Exploring The Area

Latha math All,

We headed off for a two day break to Perth, Scotland which is just south of the area area where the Mowatt Clan lived for a period according to Fred's research. Our drive was mostly highway driving as it was close to five hours to the hotel. Our first big stop was Braur House a small upscale shopping centre that Fred's cousins had told us about. The nav chick took us, what we thought, was the wrong way but as a result I was able to get a great picture of Highland cattle as pictured on the left. We headed back to the main road and drove another couple of miles further along to see if we could find the centre and did come upon it. As it turns out the nav chick was taking us in by the back way.

The picture on the right is of a war memorial for Highland Regimental
soldiers who where lost in WWI & WWII. Surprisingly, there were no kilts for sale in the various stores but a great deal of cashmere at prices well above our pocket book. After the brief stop we now headed off to our hotel which in located in Perth's town centre. It is a converted mill that was originally built in 1875. Water still runs through the lobby and is glassed in around the wheel which is not operational any longer.

After checking in we took a short walk around town in the area near us and it seemed as though they roll the sidewalks up at 5:00 pm. We did find a Sainsbury Local that was open and purchased some wine and snack for our room. We enjoyed dinner at the hotel, as the special rate we got include money towards dinner, a free drink and breakfast both mornings.

Now a bit of interesting information about the Gaelic language. The greeting above is Scottish Gaelic for good day. Modern Scottish Gaelic is made up of an 18 letter alphabet as follows,
ABCDEFGHILMNOPRSTU. We have not heard it spoken on this trip and until breakfast we had not even heard a strong Scottish accent or brogue when speaking to any of the hotel's staff.

The next day we were out early after breakfast heading to Dunnottar Castle - Dun Fhoithear which means fort on a shelving slope. It is a ruined medieval fortress.

The surviving buildings that we explored were from the 15th and 16th centuries. It was one of the best ruins we have explored to date. I loved the location a rugged landscape on the northeast coast of Scotland. It was quite a hike down and then up to the castle but an even harder one back. Dunnottar  played a prominent role in the history of Scotland with the rising of the Jacobite Rebellion. The Honours of Scotland or Scottish crown jewels were hidden here from Cromwell's invading armies in the 17th century. Once we finished exploring the castle we took a leisurely drive along the coastal route to Montrose. We took a number of back roads or roads less traveled as I like to say. We came across more highland cattle this
time there were some calves. They are very wooly even as babes as you can see from the picture on the right. We also saw some pheasants in fields that we pass by. It was nice to see some live ones as we had passed a lot of road kill on our travels. We continued along stopping in the village of Catterline looking for a church and cemetery where Fred thought some of the Mowatt's might be buried. We found one church and cemetery but there were no Mowatts buried there. There was another shell of a church with a graveyard but it was behind someones back yard and we couldn't find a way to get into it so we didn't enter.

We continue along and came to Kinneff Old Church. The church we visited was not the original building which was superseded in 1738 by the present building. The church played a very important role in Scottish history. As Cromwell's army advanced into Scotland in 1652 Parliament ordered the Honours of Scotland be removed from Dunnottar castle for safety. The Honours were snuck out of the castle by the garrisons wife and Mrs Grainger the reverends wife. They were then hidden in the church in the ground before the pulpit. They remained hidden with the Graingers digging them up every three months to preserve them from damp and injury. At the Restoration in 1660 the Honours where returned to Charles II and placed in Edinburgh Castle.

We continued along and saw some amazing scenery. The picture on the left is one of the sites we saw on our less traveled roads. We visited some lovely little villages on the coast and more sites of the Mowatt Clan. In one fishing village, Gourdon, we came across a lane that was named after the Mowatt's who are in the family tree. We have had a full day of exploring and ended it off with a visit to Pitlochry. We strolled around the town and purchased a bottle of Scotch that was distilled in the area. Edradour is a single malt whisky and the one we bought was aged in a super tuscan cask. The scotch is very smooth and yummy as we found out on our return home.

We had dinner out at the local Pizza Express and were amazed by some people who have kids. The couple behind us have a fairly newborn baby and both are busy texting on their phones ignoring the crying child. The mother finally picks up the kid then puts it down giving it a bottle but supports the bottle with a blanket and continues to text. Unbelievable some people should be neutered. I felt for the poor child.

We have had a amazing short break and will return to this area as there are other things to do in the area that we didn't have time for. Also with booking this trip last minute we were not able to purchase tickets to some of the annual events that were going on as they were sold out. For our trip home we took a longer route revisiting some of the roads we did back in 2006 with Fred's mom, aunt and uncle. We stopped at the Westmorland Farm Shop to pick up some venison sausage, wild boar sausage and game pie mix.

We hope you have enjoyed this posting. Next trip London to visit Tower of London and the see the ceramic poppies in dedication to the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI.

Sian leibh,

Sandy & Fred

Sept 7 - 23, 2014 - To Canada to Visit Family and Friends

Greetings All,

This blog will be a bit different others that I have posted, as it is about family and friends and not about new sites we have visited on our travels. We traveled to Ontario for our niece's (Amanda) wedding and to try to see as many of our friends and family as we could in the short period. Our best friends Mike and Colleen graciously provided us with a home away from home while we were in Canada. The picture on the right is of their beautiful backyard. Colleen's gardens are always beautiful and she really out did herself in their new home in Bowmanville. We arrived very handily at their new place on the 7th as Toronto Pearson Airport has finally caught up with the times. In the customs/immigration hall there are now two areas; one for Canadians and one for all others plus an electronic checkin so we were through in record time.
Mike and Colleen put on a barbecue of hamburgers and hotdogs and a super surprise. Our son Christopher his wife Meaghan and our grandson Paul arrived to have dinner with us. We were not expecting to see them until the next day.  On Monday the 8th we sett out for Ennismore for a family reunion that Josie, Meaghan's mum was hosting. Meaghan and her brother Steven did all the arranging with Steven doing all the cooking to feed 16 people. We arrived early so we could spend more time with our grandson.

Grandpa got a lot of cuddle time with Paul who is a very happy baby. Paul was tossed from pillar to post once all the family arrived and he just lapped up all the attention. Tuesday and Wednesday were days to take care of some personal business and more visits with Paul as the kids came down to visit Colleen and us. Thursday the kids followed us out to Mississauga to visit Fred's Aunt Doreen so she could get to meet Paul for the first time. Cecilia Fred's cousin was visiting Doreen from the UK so she also got a chance to meet Paul as well. We enjoyed a nice visit and lunch with Doreen and Cecilia before the kids headed back to Ennismore. Fred and I then headed to Brampton to attend Amanda's wedding rehearsal/rehearsal dinner as I am honoured to be doing one of the readings at her wedding.

The picture on the right of Amanda and me was taken at the rehearsal dinner.

As I wanted to go to the Moraviantown Reserve to see if a headstone had been placed on my mum's grave on the Friday, we stayed in the west end overnight Thursday evening as this would save a good chunk of driving time for us. The trip was informative. We returned to Mike and Colleens after a very tiring day and finally spent some quality time with them. Friday afternoon I spent time catching up with Colleen and sharing the cooking duties for dinner. I felt as though we had been taking advantage of their friendship as we had been continually on the go since we arrived from the UK and had not spent a lot of time with them. It was nonsense I know, and being that they are good friends Colleen told me so.

Saturday September 13, the big day and the main reason for our trip to Ontario. Our beautiful niece Amanda was getting married to her soul mate Mitchell. Christopher, Meaghan and Paul were driven down from Ennismore to meet up with us. We had booked two rooms at a Marriott for us as the wedding was at 4:00 pm and we had hoped Paul would have a nap before heading off to the wedding. Paul, of course, had no intentions of napping. The wedding ceremony was outside as the sun decided to come out just in time and it was a wonderful celebration, uniting such a wonderful couple. The picture on the left was of their first dance. Our grandson had been amazing, awake since 2:30 pm he was going strong until 10:30 pm with only a 15 minute power nap on Daddy's shoulder. At 10:30 pm tired finally overcame him so Meaghan and Paul headed back to the
hotel for some much needed rest. I had a fantastic time and danced the night away with family. Amanda and her hubby sure know how to throw a party. The picture on the right is of the kids and grandson in their wedding finery.

Sunday the 14th saw us, with Christopher, Meaghan and Paul, stopping off in Mississauga to have lunch with Fred's brother Keith, his wife Sandra and our nephew Nicholas. After lunch it was time to head back to Ennismore for dinner with the kids, Josie and Jim and Andrew a school friend of Christopher's who had driven in from Guelph to visit the kids.  He came with a expensive toy for the guys to play with, a drone.

We were now heading into our last week and things were still hectic with lots more visits to get done. Monday the 15th we had a restful day with Colleen and celebrated her 65th birthday by taking her and Mike out for dinner to her favourite place Swiss Chalet. Tuesday saw us having dinner with good friends Steve and Karen, Wednesday saw us back in the west end visiting a long lost Aunt of mine Nora and friend's Derek and Carol for a late lunch. Thursday we had lunch with my cousins Larry and Corrine and then another lovely dinner with Mike and Colleen.  Friday saw me doing laundry and packing for a weekend break in Etobicoke with Fred's brother Geoff and his wife Tracey. The weekend getaway also included Tracey's sister Louise and her hubby Brian and Tracey and Louise's parents Norman and Claudette. We had a fantastic time with family on our last weekend remembering old times in North Bay and creating new memories. Brian and Louise were fantastic hosts and we enjoyed  our time together with them. Saturday we explored some of our

old stomping grounds in downtown Toronto stopping for refreshment along the way. The picture on the left is of one such stop. Sunday after an amazing brunch we headed back to Bowmanville driving along the lakeshore and are amazed at the continued growth. It seems any little plot of land has high-rises being built all with crazy prices from $500,000 to $2 million Canadian, depending on location, for an apartment. There certainly has been a lot of changes in the 5 years we have been gone. Our last day was spent with Colleen relaxing and doing laundry taking full advantage of the north american washer and dryer facilities.

We cannot thank Mike and Colleen enough for their hospitality on this trip and enjoyed catching up with the family and friends that we were able to meet up with. Sadly we could not see all we would have liked to see as time was short.

Until our next trip.
Sandy & Fred

Aug 20, 2014 - 41st Anniversary Break Durham Castle

Greetings All,

We were up handily for breakfast so that we could head back into Durham to explore the castle. The picture on the left is of Redworth Hall, or at least part of it. It was a massive place with a pool, gym facilities and a spa. None which we used as we were out and about exploring the area.

We had purchased tickets for the 11:00 am tour of the castle the previous day, but when we arrived we were told that there was no tour until noon as the 11:00 am tour was a private tour. I told the guy that we purposely bought tickets for 11:00 as we had other commitments that we had to meet. He checked with someone and we were allowed to join the private group who happened to be Japanese. We comment that our son Christopher would have loved to be on this tour as he could have practiced his Japanese. The translation from English to Japanese goes very smoothly and did not impact on the tour at all.

The picture above and to the right is of the castle. It is a Norman castle, originally built in the 11th century as a projection of the Norman King's power in the north. The holder of the office of the Bishop of Durham was appointed by the King to exercise royal authority on his behalf, the castle was his seat. It remained bishops palace for the Bishop of Durham until the bishops made Auckland Castle their primary residence and the castle was converted into a college. In 1837, Bishop Edward Maltby donated the castle to the newly formed Durham College to be used as student accommodation. The keep which was now dilapidated was rebuilt from original plans and was opened in1840. The castle still houses over 100 students and as such is called a living castle. Only foreign students with good grades are allowed to live there and in the non-term months the rooms are rented out as a B&B.

The picture on the left is the Norman Chapel and it is a scan of postcard we purchased as picture taking is not permitted within the castle. It retains some of the original paintings from that time as well as carvings on the support pillars which were built around 1078. The other chapel within the castle is the Tunstall's Chapel which was built in 1540. Both chapels are still in use today, with the Tunstall's Chapel being the more widely used of the two. During the tour we were shown a portrait of Bishop Tunstall who was a very adaptable individual depending who was on the throne while he was a Bishop. In the original painting he is holding a rosary which he had painted out then in then out, depending on which religious faith the reigning monarch practiced. The painting we see shows a blank spot between his hands where the rosary would have been. We really enjoyed our visit to Durham City which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the Cathedral, Castle and Palace Green.  The last picture is of the Castle Gates.

We took the scenic route back to Liverpool, rather than doing the motorway and enjoyed a nice dinner out at Deli Fonseca with John and Adrienne who had come up for the night to pick up some their stuff that they had left with while they were on their tour of Europe. We have enjoyed our mini break and hope you have enjoyed this portion of our travels.

Next up a trip back to Ontario .

Ta ra for now.
Sandy & Fred

August 18-19th, 2014 - 41st Anniversary Break

Greetings All,

We took advantage of a 2 day special offer I found at Redworth Hall in Durham. We took a partial scenic route, driving through a portion of the Yorkshire Dales. We had never seen the Dales when the heather was in bloom and it was spectacular to see miles and miles of purple hills. The picture on the left was taken at a stopping point where two sheep decided to check us out. We stopped at Skipton for our lunch, a lovely market town that has a castle constructed in 1090, played roles in history during the English Civil War and was the site of a prisoner of war camp in WWI. It is also a mill town on the Leeds - Liverpool
canal which allowed for the transport of goods to major centres. The picture on the right is of the canal that goes through the town. We enjoyed a lovely pub lunch at the Castle Inn, and afterwards we explored the town a bit but did not get to take in castle so I think a return is in order maybe a nice overnighter in one of the inns. From here we headed off to Redworth Hall.

We checked in and were a bit disappointed in the room as it was tired and need of a update. The bathroom, however, was extremely modern with a chacqusi tub and massage shower. Our stay included two nights, a 3 course dinner with a bottle of wine and breakfasts. As well there was an afternoon tea on the second day.

We had a couple of pre-dinner drinks before having a late supper. We asked that the bottle of house wine, that comes supper, be held so we could take it to our room and in its place purchased a bottle of better quality wine as we were celebrating our anniversary. For our main meal I had duck breast and Fred had salmon. We ordered dessert and commented on how long it was taking to get a fruit tray and cheese cake since the restaurant was now fairly empty. Dessert arrived along with a special treat from the chef. Two berry tarts on a slate with a raspberry coulis and a chocolate greeting wishing us a Happy Anniversary. A nice touch! Our house wine arrived
as we were ready to leave, so we were set for the night! A nice celebration for 41 years of  marriage.

The following day we were up fairly early for breakfast which was a disappointment as it was a buffet style, although we could order hot items from a menu. The bacon was way overcooked and the sausages where tasteless and kinda pasty in texture. I guess we have been spoiled with the sausage we get from our local butcher. After breakfast we headed into Durham. The city has archaeological evidence that this was a settlement since 2000 BC but has clear evidence that the present day city dates back to AD 995. Building of the Cathedral was started in 1081 and completed in 1280. It is

said to be one of the greatest churches ever built in the Norman (Romanesque) style and completed in the Gothic style in the Chapel. The picture on the left is of the Sanctuary Knocker on the north door. During the Middle Ages people could ask for sanctuary from the law in the cathedral and could remain there for 37 days. Then they had to decide to either stand trail or leave the country.  We spent a good hour exploring the cathedral before heading off to the castle. Sadly, all the tours for the day were sold out so we purchased tickets for the next day at 11:00 am.
We headed back to the Market Square and explored the indoor Market which is a permanent feature with 50 stalls selling all sorts of items from food to toys jammed in a relatively small area. For us, it was mostly junk but there are some interesting items as well.

We next headed off to Crook Hall and Gardens a medieval manor house built in the 13th century and one of the oldest inhabited houses in Durham city. The Medieval Hall merges into a Jacobean then Georgian home and is surrounded by 6 acres of various gardens and orchards.

The flower gardens which are mostly walled are densely packed with various flowers and must be lovely when they are in full bloom. We were at the end of the season for most things but there were still enough bees and wasps around to have me ducking and dancing around as they approached. Not a great place when one is so terrified of them. The picture on the right is one of the many figures hiding around the gardens.

We headed back into the city centre for a late lunch at Market Tavern. Fred had a venison pie and I had a wild boar and pulled pork burger. The portions were very generous and tasted yummy!! Rested and full we did our last bit of exploring for the day with a walk along the River. The city had the most amazing floral displays which adds to the beauty of the old town area. It seems we had timed things perfectly as we ended our rather full day it started to rain.

The last picture, on the left, was taken on our river walk and is of one of the planters seen around the city. We stopped to pick up some snacks and wine for our room before heading back to Redworth Hall.

Ta ra for now,

Sandy & Fred