Blogs from England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 8

This morning we packed our bags again to head back to Stalybridge. But, of course, we had sussed out another National Trust property that we could visit on the way! We headed down the A19 heading for Middlesbrough. As we drove south along the A19 we could see hills in the distance. I am 99 percent certain that the distinctive half-cone shaped one was Roseberry Topping that is near Great Ayton and was a popular childhood haunt of a young James Cook. If there had been anywhere suitable to stop, I would have had Bernie take a panorama of its Matterhorn-like profile! All too often there are fantastic views here, but nowhere to stop for a photograph. When we left South Shields this morning, we were bemused at some of Syri’s pronunciation. We noticed it yesterday ... read more

Today we tried to break a record for the most English Heritage/National Trust properties visited in one day! After we settled up for breakfast – same breakfast, third different price in three days (at least the price was going down not up!) – we packed up all of our gear and programmed the SatNav for Edlingham Castle which is administered by English Heritage. Edlingham Castle was built in about 1300 by Sir William Felton at a time when Northumberland was relatively peaceful. The best-preserved part of the castle that remains today is the solar tower that was added in 1340-50 by William’s son. With the advent of Anglo-Scottish hostilities William (junior) also strengthened the defences with a gate tower and stone curtain wall. After passing to the Hastings and Swinburne families the castle was abandoned in ... read more

Up 6.15 and got bags outside the door at 7 am …. Went down for breakfast and on the bus at 8am weather still wet …. Drove through farm land lush and green to Glastonbury home of the famous 5 day music festival !!!… very hippy town and an old establishment dated 1425 !!! Had a look in there …. The town is very much influenced in King Arthur legend …. Had a cuppa tea and queen vic sponge cake …. DELICIOUS!!! Back at the bus 10.45 and through to BATH around mid day and spent a good hour exploring the old Roman Baths 55 AD the Romans pretty ingenious with their plumbing and engineering… had a look around Bath town centre and back on the bus at 2.45. Had a good trip through to Cardiff ... read more

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

This morning Kath made a cooked breakfast for us all. We kept asking what we could do to help, but she insisted that she had it all under control. She did at least let Bernie juice the oranges. While we were waiting for breakfast we tried to share as many tips as we could think of about Lisbon, Sintra and Porto as Robin and Sandra are off to Portugal on Monday. They are doing a tour but are travelling to Sintra independently and may have some free time in Lisbon and Porto. Hopefully we have given them some information that may prove useful to them. After breakfast we packed out bags to head off to Northumberland for a few days. We are trying to wring the last little bit out of our holiday before we fly ... read more