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Published: April 14th 2017
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So we left the swarming city of London behind in favour of long drives in a northerly direction. Wednesday 12th we packed up and headed to Stratford Upon Avon with the intention of seeing inside Shakespeare's birthplace, Anne Hathaways Cottage and any other Shakespearean experiences we could find. Instead we had brunch inside the coolest steampunk type cafe called the Boston Tea Party (a bacon bap and the first of what I am certain will be many Croque Monsier's), and we ended up waylaid inside an incredibly cool Wizard/magic shop called Magic Alley. Not just a shop but a Wizards museum - 3 floors - bottom floor sells books, wands, crystals, spells, and includes a coffee shop at the back, floor 2 and 3 are the museum , with magic numbers. stories, costumes and a puzzle to solve. Unbelievably brilliant fun. Then we walked through Stratford and looked at the reason we were there, which was still, as you would expect, tudorian and wonderful. From there we had a LONG drive to Beadnell, the place where my maternal grandparents retred and spent the last 20 years of their life, where I had holidays as a girl, and the place they are
buried. I saw their grave for the first time, which I reacted to far more emotionally than I expected. WE then went to the house where they lived, visited the church they attended (where I was once blessed by a bishop or cardinal or something...) .At the church a service had just finished, and as we entered I soke to the parishioners, when I said I was there because my grandparents used to live in the village, they asked who my grandparents were - and were delighted when I said I was Douglas and Nancy Horne's granddaughter. They were so happy we had come to visit, and said they had some Easter Eggs my grandfather had decorated ready to be out out for this Easter (he was very good at Calligraphy and painting). It was such a wonderful thing to meet these people who so fondly remembered my grandparents all those years later. Evie and I then went to thir local pub, the Craster Inn, had a drink in their honour then moved on to our accommodation for the night - The Victoria Hotel in Bamburgh. The following day we left after a good cooked brekky, and took a quick
sojourn to Craster and Dunstanborough Castle (an old ruin, which we believe is like Hogwarts -which is bewitched to look like a dilapidated castle to keep the muggles away) and then followed this with a visit to Alnwick Castle (the external location of Hogwarts for Harry 1 and 2 - think the learning to flo broomsticks scene)...then crossed the border to Scotland! The intention was to take a look around Edinburgh, the take a look around Glasgow then head to our B & B - but Edinburgh in the middle of MAJOR roadwork recnstruction which made it impossible - but looked like a perfect combination of old historical sights and modern cool shops and things - if we go again we need to NOT DRIVE. Moved on to Glasgow (only 40 mins drive away) only to be caught in peak hour AND a security incident where police had cordoned off roads, so the best thing to do was get out! So no joy there either. Within 15 minutes we found ourselves in the Scotland we imagined - sheep, mountains, little roads and lots of pubs. We found our B & B and crashed for the night, refusing to leave again
for a while. The next morning, was Good Friday, Its a top of 10 degrees and its raining on and off all day. Perfect day for a "BLOB DAY" -the day we dont have to get out of jammies, no need to go anywhere or do anything. I decided to take a trip to the local whisky distillery in the afternoon, and got to tour and taste and learn about Glengoyne Whisky (single distilled, Scottish owned) and then after a bath, we had dinner at The Old Mill, a local pub. One day to go before we fly to Dublin!
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