ENGLAND (No. 2 of UK Visit)

So from our few days on Wilton Farm we drove into the English countryside to Bath a city steeped in Roman history.  

The crew is very impressed with the Roman Baths and indeed with the delightful streets of Bath and with the numbers of visitors here we decide to ‘Park and Ride’ – a carpark about 10 minutes out of town where the double-decker buses pick you up and drop you back for only 3 GBP as carparking is very hard to find and expensive.  The Roman Baths are amazing and still being excavated.  Hot water at a temperature of 460°C rises here at the rate of 1,170,000 litres every day and has been doing so for thousands of years.  Lead pipe that the Romans fashioned is still embedded into the stonework of the floor to carry the water to various pools.  

After Bath we visit Bristol and the SS Great Britain exhibition – without doubt one of the very best exhibitions we have ever seen.  Keep a watch for a separate page on the blog for this.   We are also able to visit some cousins -  this a highlight for the crew as she has not met this cousin before.  We are welcomed and instantly feel at home and enjoy their company and that of the puppies they are fostering, their own dogs, cats, geese and horses and take pleasure in home grown vegetables and fruit.  YUM. We discover this cousin also enjoys sailing and so we spend time recounting our trip up the east coast of Australia and through Indonesia for them.  We are chauffeured around the coastal towns of Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover to enjoy the marinas and different styles of houses and buildings.  In one hotel at lunch time as we were enjoying our drinks awaiting lunch a funny little man wandered in the door near where we sat and rabbited on about nothing much, rolling our eyes we turned to try to ignore the rantings and after he departed we discovered he had pinched the pint of beer from a lady at a nearby table and scarpered.  Cheeky bugger!

Pubs get the summer treatment of flower baskets

The south of England is just lovely and again we were both in awe of the lovely cottages and properties we saw while driving around.   The villages are just as picturesque as in Wales and a little further north the Lake District is reminiscent of quaint alpine villages seen in travel brochures.  Again, we encounter very good and varied accommodation and enjoy strolling through cobbled streets past houses, paddocks and around churches in the long twilight of the English summer.  The crew also has the chance to visit the family's old homes and the church where her parents were married. 

An evening stroll around the village

From the south we travel to Northampton to visit the Spencer family home Althorp House.  If we don't do this one daughter will not be happy with us as she is a big Princess Diana fan.  So off we go, walking around the grounds – the crew venturing inside the family home – the skipper strolling outside and finally we both walked through the  gardens to the small island where Diana is laid to rest.  How lovely, the surrounds are so serene and pretty.  A few ducks waddle up to us quacking quietly as we sit and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.  Apparently Diana and her brother moved to Althorp after their father inherited the title and property from his predecessor while they were still children although they were both born at Park House in Sandringham.  Of course, her brother is now the current (9^th) Earl Spencer and so lives on the property with his new wife. 

Althorp house

Princess Diana's peaceful resting place

Now it's on up to Manchester and Liverpool to visit the Beatles old stomping grounds.  I have to tell you Liverpool and Manchester are not the most beautiful areas in England  but we did encounter very friendly people many of whom have a story to tell about someone they know in Australia.  We also visit Oldham where the Skipper was born (yep, he’s a POM if you didn’t know) on our way to Scotland via Blackpool and the glorious Lake District.