A busy week this week as we headed south for a few days to London and Southampton with some other interesting places on the way.
We piled ourselves, our luggage and the indispensible satnav into the Citroen on Monday morning and drove down to Cambridge. Once we eventually found somewhere to park, we walked down to the river Cam (surviving about a million “punt ride” offers) for a nice picnic lunch.
Back in the car to our hotel in Greenwich, then Monday afternoon and most of Tuesday in London. We visited as many Monopoly places as we could find (we’ll have to find more next time) and managed to fit in a couple of hundred tube rides, a visit the Victoria and Albert Museum and a wander through Fortnum and Mason, a plush and expensive store on Piccadilly. We also got to revisit the rose garden in Hyde Park which was even more beautiful than it was back in May.
We all enjoyed being in London again and catching up with our friends the Brands for dinner and a trip to Canary Wharf on the DLR.
On Wednesday morning we set off for West Kennett Long Barrow, a Neolithic tomb which you can actually go into - after a long climb against incredibly strong winds if our experience is anything to go by! Next stop was Avebury where there is a stone henge around the town. You can walk amongst and even touch the stones, unlike that other henge on the Salisbury plain. We discovered that eating anything sweet outside at this time of year will attract loads of wasps then set off in the rain to see the Cherhill chalk horse and a quick stop at Stonehenge.
In the car again to Salisbury Cathedral, where we saw a statue commemorating the life of Evelyn Lovett, wife of Bishop Ernest Neville Lovett.
Thursday was spent at Beaulieu (pronounced “Bewlee”) near Southampton. Owned by Baron Montagu, the estate was opened to the public in the 1950s to commemorate the involvement of the previous Baron Montagu in the development of the British motoring scene. It’s now run like a theme park with the National Motor Museum, an event arena, Victorian gardens, the Palace House and Beaulieu Abbey. The highlight for Jack was the “World of Top Gear” exhibition, which included many of the wacky creations of the tv series – they truly live up to the show’s motto “Ambitious but Rubbish”.
Another highlight of Beaulieu is the falconry show. It may sound strange, but having an owl with a 6ft wingspan fly 6 inches above your head is a thrilling experience.
Beaulieu:
National Motor Museum:
World of Top Gear:
Friday saw us heading back home with a short stop in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the home of William Shakespeare. After wandering about the town we were treated to a short but heavy downpour – something to help make the visit to Stratford so memorable!
All in all, a very enjoyable trip despite the amount of bank-holiday traffic on the way home – the 90 miles of motorway and A-roads from Stratford-Upon-Avon to Lincoln took a bit over 3 hours.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment