As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with 40 wives.

Hullo! Before I say anything else I would just like to mention that we can't say Stonehenge without adopting the accent and tone of voice used in Spinal Tap. For those of you in the know - best scene ever is the 12 inch Stonhenge lowered behind the band while they sing Stonehenge on stage. Hilarious!

Anyway, so we are on our holidays in St Ives in Cornwall at the very far South West corner of the UK. Its a mega long drive from Glasgow so we decided to take two days to do it and make a few stops.

First day we stopped near Birmingham at Drayton Manor theme park where they have a special kids area dedicated to Thomas the Tank Engine. Beth likes Thomas and she really enjoyed her wee day out there. We stayed in Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Sutton Coalfield and it was excellent. For £69 we got a huge family suite with two bedrooms and breakfast was included. We also received complimentary use of all the sports facilities and we were able to go swimming with small chunks (Beth) and keep her occupied for a few hours.

Second day we drove all the way down to Bournemouth on the South coast of England to visit our gorgeous friend Johnnie and his lovely partner Simon. On the way we stopped at a place called Marlborough - a little market town in Wiltshire, and then took a slight detour past Stonehenge. We were so excited as Stonehenge has been on our LIST for yonks and we just haven't ever got round to going. Here's a little link to Stonehenge information page. They write the info better than me - its half nine on Sat night and I've had a glass of wine so I would prob write a lot of rubbish anyway.

Stonehenge Information

Forgot to take any photos at Johnnies which is a shame. Went to Bournemouth beach at Boscombe on Sat morning and it was lovely and quiet - so traditional looking too with lots of tiny beach huts in various bright colours lined up beyond the sand. Johnnie made us an amazing Thai curry and Simon entertained us with 3 hours of 80s music where we had to guess the artist. Blast from the past - Shaz loved it and got 99% of all bands and song titles correct. Hurrah!! The guys have got Kate Bush Hounds of Love as doorbell tune. LOVED it. Thanks for having us guys - we'll be back very soon!

The weather looks set to be good for the week here in Cornwall and we have a few places we want to visit - not least Padstow where we plan to eat ten portions of fish and chips at Rick Steins chippy! Other things we are thinking about doing:

Eden Project
Tate St Ives
Penzance
Tintagel
St Michael's Mount
Cardiff (on way home)
Gloucester (on way home)
Bath (on way home)


See you again before the weeks out,
Shaz, Al & Betharoony. xxxx

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