Blogs from Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Days 22-26 We left Cockermouth headed for Muncaster Castle on the western coast of Lake District National Park, however on arrival we discovered it did not open till midday, lack of planning on my part, so we kept driving to Holker Hall & Gardens on the southern end of the Park. This was a terrific find, the old mansion & gardens are immaculate, hosting many Queen's, Lord's & Lady's through the 17th Century, a lovely morning tea of scones & tea before leaving for our next destination of Sedbergh & Hawes (again) through the top half of Yorkshire Dales National Park, once again, narrow country lanes across the top of the mountain with plenty of roadside sheep & cattle to dodge. Fought the traffic into Ripon and onto Harrogate for the night. A Friday night in ... read more

July 13 Today , after breakfast, we left our favorite home away from home, The Balmoral House Hotel. We love the people there. They treat us like we are family. We met a young man, Flavio, when we were there in 2019. We were so hoping that he would still be there….he was. He remembered us when we checked in and we hated to say goodbye when we left today. We got to know another lady who works there that is also quite fond of Flavio. Audi was her name. We got to spend some time talking with her. We know she cooks for Flavio as we smell her cooking. We always wished we could get a dinner invite because everything smells so good! The Balmoral House has small rooms, small showers but is very clean ... read more

A birthday experience gift voucher from last year meant we could book accommodation and spend a couple of nights away. The options where we can stay are limited but a pub with standard B&B rooms caught our attention in Alcester, Warwickshire and we discover that the local area has links to William Shakespeare. The trip is only an hour and half drive from where we live and seemed a good fit. After our drive up to Warwickshire, we first head to our accommodation to check-in, driving through Alcester high street, which has a mixture of shops and buildings with Medieval, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian architecture influence. This market town originates back to the Roman time and has a wealth of history. Our accommodation is quite basic but adequate. The bed, however, is hard and feels like ... read more

http://www.heygo.com 1st February- Warwickshire Stratford-upon Avon a market town with more than 800 years of history. The Straford-upon-Avon canal was built between 1793 and 1816, it runs for 25.5 miles in total, and consists of two sections. Following acquisition by a railway company in 1856, it gradually declined, the southern section being un-navigable by 1945, and the northern section little better. The southern section was restored by the National Trust between 1961 and 1964, after an attempt to close it was thwarted. The revived canal was re-opened by HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and responsibility for it was transferred to British Waterways in 1988. We viewed the Gower monument, constructed in Paris over a 12 year period between 1876-1888 by Lord Ronald Gower and various associates and craftsman. It was unveiled a... read more

Well I should have been in a villa in Portugal but hey ho even though Portugal on the 22nd August was given a travel corridor pass and I booked it then lovely Boris decided to take it off the corridor so thank god I booked everything through Trailfinders as they sorted everything out and, guess what, already we have been reimbursed! Go trailfinders!! So where would we go was my thought and as since lockdown I am now a walker I thought the Cotswold Way. Mike came to the rescue and found the Crowne Plaza at a brilliant price so off we went. With guide in hand we started from Chipping Campden to Stanton. Well all started well and the first part of the walk to Broadway is very picturesque and we met a couple of ... read more