Blogs from United Kingdom, Europe - page 15

Today, Renata and I got to explore the Scottish Highlands with Princess Cruises “Best of the Scottish Highlands” tour. Luss Our first stop was Luss, a picturesque village on the western shore of Loch Lomond. Luss was filled with cute cottages, gardens, and shops and had an incredible view of Loch Lomond from the pier. After our stroll in Luss, we headed to Inverary stopping to get pictures of the incredible Scottish Highlands on the way. Inveraray In Inveraray, we explored the town, bought some Scottish wool souvenirs and had a tour of Inverary Castle. The Neo-Gothic Inveraray Castle is the family home of the Duke of Argyll. It was also a filming location of the 2012 Christmas episode of Downton Abbey portraying the fictional Duneagle Castle. The Castle was an interesting place to see especially ... read more

We had some light rain overnight and woke to a cooler, fresher morning which was a relief after how muggy it has been. After breakfast we set the SatNav for Sudeley Castle. We headed off in the same direction as Saturday before going across country on a very small road from the A429 to the A40. After a couple of miles on the A40 we plunged into the hedgerows again venturing between Hazleton and Hampden before doglegging over the A436 and on past Hawling before reaching Sudeley Castle near Winchcombe. We had already purchased our tickets online this morning. It’s worth it for a 10% discount on the ticket price. When we checked in though, we discovered for £2.50 each we could join a guided introductory tour at 10.30am. So we saved ourselves some money and ... read more

Today we headed south from Cirencester on the A429. As we passed the airfield at Kemble we caught a glimpse of some seriously large aircraft. In the glimpses that we had through the hedgerows we also saw some bunkers? Large Nissan-hut shaped lumps with turfed roofs. That had us thinking that the airfield is probably a former air-force base so it probably has some long runways for BA’s larger aircraft to land on for maintenance? We arrived in Castle Combe around 10.00am so it wasn’t too busy. We parked in the public parking area above the village and walked down through a tree-shaded valley into Castle Combe. The castle that it was named for, built by Sir Walter de Dunstaville in the 13th-century, is long gone and all that remains is a pretty little village beside ... read more

I was a little early. You never can tell when you leave home just how long it will take to get to wherever it is you plan to visit. The sat nav gives you an idea as does putting the destination into an AA routemap . But none of those take into account traffic nor finding a spot to park. I had intended to park in the usual spot on the pay car park on Sherrymill Hill . However, as I drove into Whitchurch along the oddly named Chemistry I passed a free car park that I have never noticed before . How many times must I have driven past and yet never seen it ? It was hiding in clear sight . It seemed to be empty and used for visitors to the nearby childrens ... read more

Faversham was a brilliant place to catsit as we were close to many villages to explore on foot and luckily for us all had old historic pubs for us to quench our thirst at the end of the trail! We are now settled in our last catsit in Amesbury just north of Salisbury and within walking distance of Stonehenge. We have been there previously but will go again before we leave as the site just has this amazing feeling of mystery and intrigue. At the moment the UK is having yet another mini heatwave and far too hot to walk out in the midday sun! We played lawn bowls at the local club today and it was stopped at 12.30pm because of the heat. It reminds me of when we lived in Darwin! Rugby World cup ... read more