Great Fosters

The last day of our British holiday. And yet another incredible hotel, Great Fosters in Egham, not far from Heathrow. This was actually used by Henry VIII and then Elizabeth I as a hunting lodge. As their brochure says, "Its past is evident in the mullioned windows, tall chimneys and brick finials...fine oak beams and Jacobean fireplaces..." I'm in the "Italian Room", all damask walls and gilt carvings. The bathroom is the size of my living room at home! Well, we are going out in style. It was my sister's birthday yesterday and the only evening I got really dressed up for dinner. Carried that pretty dress all the way just for that night. Sigh.

Today the wonderful staff prepared a hamper for our lunchtime picnic. They are all so polite without being stuffy, so friendly and helpful. Stanley, who is from South Africa, carried it out for us, set up blankets on the grass by the lake, poured a red wine, and set out a spread of small sandwiches, Stilton cheese, chutney and fruit. What elegance! We watched the ducks and swan on the lake, drank in the peace and admired the beautiful brick hotel from a distance. I could get used to this. Soon back to reality, but I don't mind cause I love where I live and I miss my Cadbury!

Back in the 16th Century

Just left a three-day stay in the most incredible place, Dolbelydr, a Landmark Trust property in North Wales. I wish more Americans would know about the Landmark. They rescue historical properties that have fallen into decay and open them to the paying public to help with the upkeep. It's a rare experience to actually live in one of these houses, have it all to yourself. Dolbelydr was the home of a Mr. Salesbury who actually took the magical but difficult language of Welsh and wrote a dictionary. He seems to have belonged to a family of the landed gentry. His house appeared to me like a giant cottage, a simple 3-storied white-washed stone house with tall chimneys at either end. All the Landmark properties are self-catering, so you cook your own meals. We ate ours either at the long dark kitchen table or upstairs in the sitting room by a huge fireplace. My sister is the master fire starter but had trouble with this one since the wood seemed to be a bit green, and she had to use coal too, but she eventually got it going. Magical, sitting there by fire and candle light, drinking our g&t's and trying to pretend it was a few centuries ago!

It's always tea time

I hope to catch up with my blog later tonight. We have either been way out in the countryside where there is no wifi, or else I am all tired out after a day full of sight-seeing and walking. But wow, have we seen a lot. Small villages, ancient pubs, fresh cider and beer, sheep sheep and more sheep, potsfull of tea, crumbling castles, roundabouts that Linda has navigated really well, and all around us those fun English and Welsh accents. People here have been so nice and helpful. And so many rosy cheeks. If I lived here, would I get rosy cheeks?!
And of course Britain does have its problems, but I'll go into those later. Its teatime. Having a cuppa in my hotel room in Conwy, north coast of Wales.

Stony Stratford

We had a whirlwind visit in London, only stayed two days because we are always anxious to get out in to the green, wet and wonderful English countryside. Mostly we just shopped and visited friends. Met my old friend Bernard who does research in black holes in space at Queen Mary College, and teaches-he used to work with Stephen Hawking. Got a tour of his school then met his Japanese wife Mari for an East Indian meal. Took the tube back to our fabulous hotel where I felt like royalty, whew, what a change from my usual motel world.

Tuesday we started off with a snafu from Hertz (as in Hertz Hurts), they "lost" our car rental reservation so we went with a different company, that lost us 3 hours of time. But soon my brave sis got us thru the crazy London traffic. She's amazing. Driving on the wrong side of the street, thru many more traffic circle than Taos will ever see, and finally out into the countryside. Bill and I are too chicken to try. Eventually we arrived at our destination of Stony Stratford, I love these English village names! Stone and brick houses, old old inns, cozy pubs, spooky graveyards, churches, and lots of East Indian restaurants. We stayed at The Cock Inn, right next door to the Bull Inn, and really, this is where the term "a cock and bull story" originated. This village was a main coach stop from London, and travellers would hoist a pint and tell stories of their travels. I hoisted a pint myself, of hard cider, my favorite drink, and we found an inn dating from 1609 where we had dinner. I don't care what people say, I love English food: jacket potatoes, fish and chips, lots of peas, rich and wonderful cheeses, salmon and scrambled eggs, all washed down with pots of tea, brewed to perfection.

London!!!

Almost a month since my last entry, but I'd been sick and tired with the cold that wouldn't quit. Then I had to get ready for my big trip to England and Wales. I got a great house/cat sitter at the last minute, threw my dog in the car and took off on Hwy 40 to California. We spent a night at the Hilltop Motel on Rte 66 in Kingman, a fun old motel from the 1950's (at least from the outside-the inside was pretty bare bones.) It's nice to have Cadbury along because then I really do have to stop every now and then to give him a break.

So I, my sis Linda and bro-in-law Bill flew out to London today. The 10-hour trip didn't seem too bad. (Well, it was first class, more about that later!) I had a great new book to read, thanks to my librarian friend Deb Webb. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", a novel about the folks of Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, who were occupied for 5 years during WWII.

London was sunny and warm when we arrived but soon morphed into its usual grey clouds, cold and rain. We don't mind, it's so very British. Makes you want tea and scones all the more. We were determined not to take naps, since none of us slept well on the plane. So we headed out to a traditional dinner of roast beef, Yorkshire Pudding, and sticky pudding for dessert (Linda's favorite). The funniest thing was the Yorkshire Pudding-it was huge like a giant puffy tortilla, not at all like the more flat and juicy ones we had had before. This was at Rules, a very old and traditional restaurant. But all three of us kept yawning through the meal and decided we'd better go to bed early. We walked through the busy, windy streets looking for a tube station. I had forgot how purposeful people look in big cities, all in a hurry to get somewhere, amazing. It's always fun to ride the tube though, and easy to follow the line maps. Now I'm listening to some Beethoven and will soon hit the sack.