SOUTH KENSINGTON – LONDON – Lunch with George and Lorna

Out with Grahams Uncle George for lunch at Thames Ditton.

In a nice pub by the river.

Now we are at the apartment in London and expecting Mum and Dad to arrive tomorrow.

They’ll be in the air now..

Until next time, Kim

DORKING – SURREY– A day out with every man and his dog!

Today is the August Bank Holiday Monday (Public Holiday).

People are out everywhere, and everyone seems to have a dog with them.

I think you should be able to hire a dog for the day so we don’t felt left out.

 

We went off to visit some National Trust and English Heritage places.

First stop was Polesden Lacey.

All the volunteers were dressed up in beautiful costumes as they were having a special Edwardian day,

with Punch & Judy etc. Feel like we’ve walked into a period costume drama. (Very Downton Abbey!)

 

Polestone Lacey isn’t a very old house, built in the early 1900’s for a rich socialite Mrs Greville it was a very modern house for its era.

With ensuites, and a elevator.

The rich, famous and royal have all been entertained here.

Mrs Greville was a renowned hostess, and threw countless house parties.

ABOVE: Can you spot Graham and I in this creative shot?

He’s checking the time on the clock is right, not wanting me to hurry up!

 

Next we went off to Down House for lunch.

Despite the best efforts of Nav Girl (GPS) to lead us up the garden path , literally. We have now ditched her and are using Nav Kim with a map made of paper…..

Down House is the home of Charles Darwin, and had an interesting museum

with displays on his trip on the Beagle, his books and family.

 

 

Finally, off to Lullingstone Roman Villa, which was uncovered between the 1940s – 1960s

and has a nearly complete mosaic floor.

Tomorrow, we are off to visit George and Lorna then to Kensington.

 

Until next time, Kim

DORKING – SURREY– ‘Baby you can drive my car….’

More boy stuff!

Well, its not quite that bad and here is a girly shot complete with Bumble Bee to start this post!

Today we went off to Beaulieu. (pronounced Bewly)

Beaulieu is an estate owned by the Montague family.

They started with a small display of classic cars in 1952 and gradually added to the collection.

Beaulieu is now the home of the National Motor Museum.

Not only does it contain  section of vintage and classic cars it also has some ‘celebrity’ cars,

Such as the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the car from Back to the Future.

and they also have some serious cars such as the Bluebird…

and they had some silly cars, such as the James Bond cars

 

and some very, very silly cars….

… which are from the Top Gear Challenges.

I took a gazillion photos! so I have just included the best in the photo album.

Beaulieu VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Tonight we are at Dorking and are staying at the Mecure White Horse.

This is an old coaching inn and apparently was mentioned in Dickens' Pickwick Papers

Until next time, Kim

FERNDOWN – SURREY - Visiting Stella

 

We have spent today with Graham’s Aunt.

She is doing remarkably well, considering she fractured her femur 6 weeks ago.

And we do appreciate the time away from living in hotels!

Until next time, Kim

SALSIBURY– WILTSHIRE - Motorway Mayhem

Long drive today on the Friday before a long weekend.

But first we had a look around Ironbridge.

Then had lunch in Shrewsbury which has a crazy one way system

and took us ages to negotiate our way out of town.

Mr Navman has now really changed his personality

as we changed his voice to the female English accent!

We thought this would improve his mood…..

Now we are calling her Nav Girl.

 

Here we are in a tailback at Stonehenge….

 

Staying tonight at Salisbury.

We won’t have time to look around (we have been here before).

Heading South to visit Grahams Aunt Stella tomorrow.

Until next time, Kim

IRONBRIDGE–A short visit to Wales and then we head south

Today we left Chester and took the short drive across the border into Wales.

We went as for as Llandudno and had a walk on the pier.

The grass in Wales is so green it hurts your eyes!

and, they don’t use many vowels in their placenames, he, he,,, – most of which I can’t pronounce anyway.

We then travelled back into England.

Looked unsuccessfully for somewhere to stay in Telford (oh Yuck).

We ended up at nearby Ironbridge gorge.

Ironbridge was the birthplace of the industrial revolution 300 years ago.

It is named after the worlds first cast iron bridge that was built over the River Severn in 1779

We walked into a innocent looking pub looking for a room for the night.

The landlady showed us two rooms…

The first was the Pink Room (hot pink, Grahams face went green!)

We chose the calmer White Room!

 

They also had the Jade, Red and Blue rooms!

http://www.themalthouseironbridge.co.uk/index.php?id=47

Until next time, Kim