We left Fenton House just after 12:30. We took a shortcut. We walked past New End Square, Burgh House to Well Walk. There were a couple of pubs where people were celebrating the Royal Wedding. Later on, we heard that 25 millions people watched the Royal Wedding. And, thousands of people had flocked to the West End on 29 April 2011. Thanks to this, Hampstead Heath was peaceful, and pleasant to walk. We had a picnic lunch, walked up to the Parliament Hill, rambled along the lake, and explored the woodland around Kenwood House in the afternoon. There were quite a few people with dogs and children on the Parliament Hill. It was hazy in the direction of the West End. The church bells were ringing throughout the afternoon to commemorate the Royal Wedding. It was ... read more

Thursday, 21 April was a free day for John & Mary, and they took us to Elveden and Brandon Country Park. Elveden has a lovely and exclusive shopping mall with the best selection of dairy products, seasonings, snacks, and bread, and vintage wines. They treated us to delicious cream teas in the mid morning. John recalled the time when they had Barney, telling us that they used to sit at the table outside. They bought three types of cheese including”five county cheese”. On arrival at Brandon Country Park, Mary told us that we needed to do a 3-mile walk to reduce John’s sugar level, which she thought had increased while he was eating the teacake. The 3-mile course took us to the woodland trail following the columns painted purple. The woodland was enclosed by ancient pines, ... read more

Wareham is a historic market town in the country of Dorset, which is accessible by the South Western Main Railway Line, which runs between London Waterloo and Weymouth. We stayed in Wareham at the beginning of May 2007 and visited Brownsea Island, Monkey Sanctuary, Corfe Castle, Swanage, and Jurassic Park near Lulworth Cove, as well as doing short treks around Wareham. North and South Street is on A351 road and the Quay is the centre of the town. There are a number of B&B hotels from economy to luxurious ones, restaurants, and convenience shops, original shops along the streets and off the streets. Numerous stalls selling local dairy products, vegetables, fish & seashells, and accessories etc are opened on the Quay on Thursdays and Saturdays. The street market was started in the 15th century, and it ... read more

Having had an experience of rescuing chimpanzees and monkeys who had been used and abused in laboratories or as exotic pets, photographers’ props, and circus acts, and giving them rehabilitation, Jim Cronin established the monkey sanctuary in the heart of Dorset near Wool and started running there with Alison in 1987. Having read the obituary of Jim Cronin’s death earlier in 2007, we got interested in the monkey sanctuary and decided to visit there while we were in Wareham. As it was not the half term holiday, there weren’t direct buses between Wool and Monkey Sanctuary. We walked to the destination. Approaching the destination, we could hear apes crying or moving amidst the bushes and dense foliage of the trees. As expected, there were different types of apes, e.g. gibbons, orang-utans, stump-tailed macaques, woolly monkeys, squirrel ... read more

In 1862, the Needles Old Battery, known as a Victorian fort was built and used throughout both world wars. The Parade ground has been converted to the exhibition rooms. You will find two original guns, a series of articles, photos, documents in relation to the war period as well as vivid cartoons by Geoff Campion. An underground tunnel leads you to a searchlight emplacement with dramatic views over the Needles rocks. The New Battery, further up the headland, has an exhibition on the secret British rocket test undertaken during the Cold War. Alum Bay, western coastline of Isle of Wight, is one of the most beautiful coastlines in the island. The area of the Needles rocks and multicoloured cliff has been registered as an Area of Outstanding Beauty. You can ride on the lift from the ... read more