Blogs from Ellesmere, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Sion work early this morning as he had a plan and I was invited along . He probably should have realised that he needed to invite me as I was the driver . Without me he was going nowhere. He had a plan. He had received a message about meeting his friend Woolly Mammoth and his carer Jo for a walk, a chat and lunch out. Well even if Sion had decided not to meet up I was going . Sion got ready and found his way to my bag where he would sit for the journey to Ellesmere. Woolly had been doing his research and found the Sculpture Park which surrounds the mere at Ellesmere . A 15 minute drive away from home . We had been before but there was still a large part ... read more

So the teaser yesterday was about the connection between the Ice Age, artificial insemination and Eglantyne Jebb. We did not bother setting the sat nag for Ellesmere. I had travelled this road many times before . Sometimes for a trip out to see the ducks with the children. At other times it was for work. The roads were quiet and we arrived at the Mereside parking with plenty of space to park Ziggy. It would not have been good enough for Gabby. Our girl is a touch too wide for the spaces alongside the road . In the summer the walk alongside the Mere would have been heaving . Ducks everywhere . Canadian Geese , youngsters going out for walk with their parents just as I did with mine all those years ago. Pushchairs , buggies ... read more

I am not the biggest Harry Potter fan, in fact I have not finished reading the series of books (I think I am up to Number 5) but I have seen all of the movies. However, Narelle is a major fan and has read the books more than once and watched the movies on multiple occasions. So when she bought us tickets to the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour I was not exactly doing cartwheels with enthusiasm but took the opportunity to go – and as it is near London NLS needed a driver. It was an early morning trip down the M40 to Leavesdon near Watford, which is where the movie set for HP was for the ten years of filming. Warner Bros. have left the set as it was ... read more

We are having the best time catching up with friends in Shropshire. It is amazing how quickly the seven year gap has just faded away. Conversations appear to begin as they left off and the laughter seems to arrive just as freely as it always did. As one person put it; “it’s as if you just went out to get milk”. Well, seven years to get a pint of milk might be stretching it a bit but it is a comfortable and familiar environment to be back in. So far so good with the car – we certainly like it and I can only recommend Peugeot Eurolease NZ. They took all the hard work and made the process very easy and the Peugeot 308 is nice to drive. It took a bit of getting used to ... read more

We spent a wet week in June, 2010, boating on the Llangollen Canal on board the Lyneal Trust's 70' narrowboat 'Shropshire Lass II', travelling from the boat's base at Lyneal, near Ellesmere in Shropshire, to LLangollen in Wales. Then back and on to Whitechurch for a day returning to the base at Lyneal. The Lyneal Trust is a charity whose aim is to enable disabled people with their families and friends to enjoy canal and narrowboating holidays from their base at Lyneal. The Lyneal Trust offer:- - an 8-berth wheelchair accessible narrowboat cruiser - 'Shropshire Lass II' ; - a 12 seat, wheelchair accessible, 'day' narrowboat – ‘The Shropshire Lad'; - two, wheelchair accessible dormitory buildings sleeping 6 people in each; and - a Victorian canal-workers cottage offering 2 single beds on the top floor but ... read more