We packed our bags for the weekend and set off for Julian, an old gold rush town 50 miles north east of San Diego. The entire township of Julian is a Designated Historical District. Founded by displaced confederate soldiers looking for unsettled land the town was named after Mike Julian, one of the first settlers in the area and many of the buildings date back to the post-Civil War period. In 1869, gold was discovered, and by 1934, the region had produced up to $5 million worth of the precious metal. Later the town's residents took advantage of the rich local soil to produce many different crops, and foremost among those was apples. Apparently it is the apples Julian is now famous for. Unique among Southern California communities for its cold-winter climates, Julian is ideal for ... read more

Well yesterday I had the unusual experience of moving house while on holiday. Keely was moving out of her old apartment and into her new cottage and due to a change in plans the moving date coincided with my visit. We spent the morning shifting her belongings and then went out for lunch. Lunch proved to be an interesting event. We went to a sandwich bar and as I wasn't feeling particularly hungry I tried to order a cheese sandwich. However the simple cheese sandwich turned out to be something my american friends had never heard of. The waiter looked confused and asked if I meant a grilled cheese sandwich. When I said no he asked if that meant I only wanted the bread grilled, or I only wanted the cheese grilled. I tried to describe ... read more

I woke up fairly early this morning which was very surprising. Keely took me to San Juan Capistrano where we were planning to visit the mission. It was nice to finally be alone together to catch up on news... not that we really needed to after all the epic emails we sent each other over the past year! We stopped off at Trader Joes, an organic supermarket, and bought some food. San Juan Capistrano was lovely. The historical area was home to the mission we visited as well as an old church and some 19th century houses. The mission was founded in 1776 by Father Junipero Serra and was the seventh of 21 Spanish missions built in California. We walked around the inner courtyards which were full of flowers and very beautiful. In the courtyard was ... read more

Well we set off for home this morning. On the way we visited Chartwell, the family home of Winston Churchill from 1922 until his death in 1965. The weather was gloomy again but we managed to walk through the gardens to the house before the rain started. We explored the house - most of the rooms were kept decorated as Winston's wife Clementine had arranged and the house still had a very homey feel. It was quite busy and at times we had to walk along behind a queue of other visitors. The house was bought by Churchill for his family and he worked with the architect Philip Tilden to renovate and redesign the house and gardens. We eventually left the house to explore the gardens. We visited Churchill's art studio where some 500 of his ... read more