Week in Nottinghamshire

After leaving Big Sis's house by the sea near Blackpool, and armed with toasted bacon, brie and cranberry sandwiches, lest we fade away, (Yumm yumm by the way) KISA and I drove to Heathrow airport and returned the hire car and checked into the Holiday Inn, where for an exorbitant rate, we could sleep beside the runway, and hopefully avoid any traffic disasters the next morning as KISA had a morning flight. This we did, and only paid 10 pounds for a 2 minute drive to Terminal Three. (Insert sarcasm icon here)

Once there we checked in his bag, and shared breakfast at a cafe in the terminal. After he went through security, I was left alone in the UK. I should explain, that we changed my flight home, as though KISA had to return to work due to some minor deadline or other for some software thingy, I had no such deadline and it was a good opportunity to spend some quality time with my English in-laws and get to know them a bit. First up however, I was going to Nottinghamshire, so I made my way to the bus station. Unbeknownst to me there is a university in Nottingham, and it was about to begin its academic year, and everyone wanted to go there. So I had to wait 4 hours for a seat. Lucky I had a good book. So by mid afternoon, my numb bum and I climbed on the bus and drove to Nottingham.

I was spending a week with Lord Mallory and his long suffering staff of two. You may remember our Resident Backpacker from last Christmas? Well, she and her Mum are the long suffering staff of two. Lord Mallory is pictured below. He was none too happy about the invasion either, I can tell you, and it is only because he sleeps about 20 hours out of 24 that he permitted this to happen in the first place. He was well pleased to see the back of me when I left, I think! Lord Mallory's Staff (LMS) and I had a wonderful week, catching up on each others news, and doing a lot of walking in the countryside, a common interest. The English countryside is beautiful, the weather was pretty good for the UK, considering what a moist place it usually is, and it is nearly autumn. I have already mentioned that I love oak trees and quaint wonky houses, and also I love moss and dry stone walls. This area has all in spades.

LMS has a life pass to the National Trust, so has free parking and entry to these places. First up was Clumber Park. The photo below is not of Clumber Park, but I put it in by accident and when KISA gets home I will fix it, as blogger hates me and likes him, so will not do as I ask but fawns all over him.

There are lots of walks to do, all wide flat tracks, easy strolling, through the woodlands with the bright greens, and red leaf carpet on the ground.

Just makes you want to hold hands and go skippety skip!

This place was owned by a Lord even more grander and lordier than Lord Mallory. He built his own cathederal, because, you know, it was such a bother going to the local church.

I saw this squirrel. He was so cute and I got so excited. Our squirrels over here are so much bigger and jump all over the place. Some are six feet tall, especially the red ones. This one looks like a red one, but he may be a grey one reflecting the red floor and I had the sunset setting on the camera as well.

The drive in had this avenue of birches, that went for a couple of miles. Avenues are lovely when the trees are full grown arent they? We lived in an avenue for 15 years, but there was only one tree in the street. I always wondered why it was an avenue! Now THIS is an avenue!

Another day we went to another National Trust Estate, Longshaw Estate in Derbyshire. It was a beautiful day and it was in the Peak District in Derbyshire. This shot was in the car park, where even there, the grass was soft and green and the trees lovely.

As you can see, lots of peaks, lots of sheep and not many tall trees. Lots of heather that was starting to flower as well. Sunny, breathtaking. Not hot and not humid.

We had to stop for refreshment of the coffee and cake kind, we had walked a whole 800 metres and were exhausted. We watched these little birds at the bird feeder. I am shamefully ignorant of all birds non australian, so don't know their names, but they were very chirpy and entertaining.

Next stop was the duck pond, lots of ducks of course, odd swan here and there. On the way back, there was a large, wet, very very happy labrador retriever as well. Glad he wasn't going in our car!

The walking tracks were very arduous, steep and rocky.

There were babbling brooks

And sun dappled forests of oaks and other knarly, knobbly trees.

And quaint stone houses beside babbling brooks. With ivy that was almost a shade of hot pink!

And dear friends of course. An arched bridge over the babbling brook near the stone house..

Then we found the dry stone wall with the velvety moss on it. We stopped by an old church (well all churches here seem to be old, I didn't really see one that wasn't) for lunch and a cat came over and just lay down on our rucksack and jumpers and made herself comfortable! I think we walked about 8 km or so, so it was a perfect day out.

On the way home, we stopped in Bakewell, home of the Bakewell Tart. One of KISA's all time favourite foods. So we bought him one from this shop.

Street view of Bakewell, we also bought me a day pack from a hiking shop here. For some reason, my suitcase seems to be getting smaller. Must be the change of climate.

KISA is in Australia however, (an oversight on my part) so we ate the tart for him. We are good like that... I kept him the wrapper though...

LMS and the Resident Backpacker took me to this delightful teahouse in a nearby village. We have been very energetic so needed fortifying with tea and accompanying delightful stuff. We discussed the necessity of a comprehensive and exhaustive guide to every teahouse in Britian and we decided we would be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to be the authors and reviewers and would therefore need to visit each and every one!

After that little treat, we went for a walk in deepest darkest Sherwood Forest, what is left, and saw lots of very knarly old oak trees. This is the oldest and knarliest. They say it is over 1000 years old and therefore was around when Robin Hood and his merry men were. It looks pretty healthy for an old bloke. Needed a few walking sticks though!

This is as close as RB and I could get. It is really big though.

A further away shot of LMS and I to give some tree size perspective.... LMS took me on a day trip to Newark and surrounds. We walked past this old castle ruin that was destroyed after the civil war. Charles the first was garrisoned here. It dates back to saxon times.

Some more ornately carved timber shop fronts, next door to 1960's brick ugliness. I can see why Prince Charles (the current one)gets his shorts in a knot about this.

Newark market square. As you can see it was a glorious day. We stopped in a deli and bought some Stinking Bishop cheese. It was so delicious but certainly earned its name! In fact Lord Mallory actually got quite affectionate when I had it on my hands. On one side of the square, was this amazingly beautiful church. I took a couple of shots before I found out you were not allowed to.The ceiling is lovely.

Then, tucked in an alley just near the square was this little tea house in the quaintest wonkiest house you have ever seen. Isn't it lovely???

On the way back to the car, the weather got very very cold. So we had a quick lap of the castle ruins but another visit is really needed when it isn't so perishing. Always good to leave things for another visit!!

You can see the remainsof a spiral staircase here.What I wouldn't give for a trip in a time machine to observe life during the times this castle would have been in use. While we were mooching around the area, we called into Southwell Minister. This is the seat of the bishop of Nottingham. It has the most beautiful and ornately carved interior and is absolutely massive. No photos allowed of course. It is amazing to think what our ancestors did with a wooden hammer and chisel. And for it to have survived so long. There is a lot of detail in the Wikipedia link.

We also called into Cresswell Crags. This is an area containing caves that our cave dwelling

ancestors once lived in and left their marks in the form of paintings on the walls. This swan family lived on the lake that runs through the middle of the caves.The young ones are the ones with the grey feathers, though they are probably more like teenagers! They are the same size as their parents. The caves are on either side of the lakes in the cliffs. Apparantly, the rich man who owned this area during the time they were expanding the railways, deliberately flooded this area to create the lake, as the rail company wanted to take the train through the middle. This would have destroyed the caves, so thank goodness for an early days environmentalist. There are tours that take you into the caves but a cold wet day and lack of time meant this is also for another day. We walked around the lake though. One of the caves, they are barred so silly people don't go losing themselves in there and damaging the paintings, which are rare and fragile I would imagine. Must be Christmas soon! Saw this holly and berries in the car park... During my stay in Nottingham, we drove the RB to her uni room in Nottingham. After moving her stuff in, which entailed 4 of us making a few trips up 6 flights of stairs, we headed off into the Nottingham city centre for dinner and a show! We ate at a Tex Mex style of place which was yummy, and took in Stomp! which was fantastic. So many thanks to Lord Mallory for allowing that to happen!

Had a wonderful week, and am looking forward to a return visit.

First 10 days in the UK

After receiving the news about Phil, we travelled to the UK on the 8th September to attend the funeral. It was our 9th wedding anniversary. Because we travelled with the day, it was the 8th all the way for over 36 hours. We picked up a hire car at Heathrow and headed off to Wales straight away. We got lost, of course, and it was dark, wet and foggy. No signposts to where we were going. We made it eventually though.
The best sunsets are seen from a plane. This was on the way to Brisbane at the start of the trip.

We stayed in Llandrindod Wells, a victorian spa town in the centre of Wales. It is a beautiful place and has a lake surrounded by woods, just a short walk from town. The lake has a resident monster.

I love oak tress and there are lots of oak trees in this country. We were about a month too early for the autumnal colours which was a shame. Autumn is my very favourite season.The funeral was held a couple of days after we arrived. One of the things about funerals is that you see people that you hardly ever see otherwise. People had travelled from far and wide to attend Phil's funeral.

We caught up with KISA's brother and his partner.

And also his auntie and cousins and, of course, sisters too.

A rare family shot as it is not often everyone gets together.

One day we went for a drive to the next village called Builth Wells. It doesn't matter how I say it, I say it wrong! Pretty place, alonside the River Wye.

We helped KISA's sister harvest some carrots. They were very yummy that night for dinner.

KISA dug up the potatoes. This was a first for me, as I have never grown potatoes before, nor ever dug them up. We ate some of the little ones at dinner and they were so good.

He was working so hard..check out that frown!

Phil was a prolific gardener, he had tomatoes for the whole of Wales! Imagine what you would pay for these here in Oz at about $10 a kilo!

KISA and I visited with those who are no longer with us and who are sorely missed. This was in North Wales.

We drove up to the Wirral, where KISA used to live. We had a picnic at Parkgate. It used to be beside the river estuary, but the river went away. It is all marshy there now. It was a beautiful day.

At the very end of the esplanade at Park gate was a house. It is called Far End. Tickled my funny bone. I know - I am strange.

We went on a bit of a memory trip and visited all the significant houses in the area. This was KISA's mum's house.

This house used to belong to KISA. It is very nice inside, or it used to be when he lived there..

We also spent a night in Chester. It is a very old place, the Romans were here, and the city wall they built is still standing. We went for a walk around it. I was taken with this restuarant, we ate there that night and it was good.

Love, love, love the old buildings of the tudor era. All just a bit wonky, so quaint.

Loved this row of houses we saw on our wall walk. They are 17th century according to the blue plaque.

Some buildings the Romans left behind, the remains of a hypocast. Pretty smart they had central heating!

This seemed like an English street straight off the telly! Complete with a pub on the corner.

More ornate, slightly wonky buidings. Amazing they have survived so long and are still being used for everyday trading and living.

Before we left the area, we took a plant to Mark and Dorothy. Hope it survives the next couple of months.

We took a family history tour through Birkenhead. This time it was for me. My great grandfather emigrated from here in the late 1800s. His father (or grandfather - need to check)used to own one of these houses in Hamilton Square. I think it was the second or third chimney.
They are all offices now, the first one is Barclay's Bank.

My great great grandfather also owned a big house in Birkenhead. KISA and I went for a drive to try and find it. It is a very long road and we didn't have a number, just a house name and an old blurry photo from the 1930s, that my great grandfather took on a return visit in his senior years.

Not only did we find it, but we inadvertantly parked the car right outside it! We intended to walk the street to look for it and by chance just parked in front! I was so excited to find it not only still standing, but still used as a family home.

The owner was outside, repointing the chimney, and asked us if he could help when he saw us standing in the gateway, looking at the house. When we explained we were from Australia, and showed him the photo and told him the story, he invited us in! He took us into the kitchen and made us a cup of tea. He permitted us to take photos inside, though I was wary of breaching his privacy, so only took a couple of the kitchen and the outside.

The house is huge! It is still in its original condition, the kitchen was much the same as it would have been when my great grandfather was a boy! Check out the wood burning stove!

The ceilings are very high and I would need a stepladder to reach the shelf in the bottom of that cupboard, never mind the top one!

This is the original belfast sink. They are back in fashion now, but this one is very old.

This corner of the house has the dining room on the bottom floor and a bedroom above. The little circular window is a folly, there is no room under the roof, the owner said and he can find no way in there. He has been there twenty years and is still finding little nooks and crannies!


The balcony above the bay windows is a folly as well. There is no door leading to the balcony and never has been! Under the high part of the roof are the old servants quarters, it has been converted into an apartment, where the owner's daughter and her family live. The upper bay window is the main bedroom and below is the main living room.

This is the front of the house. It is absolutely huge, but is still a semi-detached. The other side is the neighbours place, though they share a wall.



This is the front gate posts. It was just amazing to get to go through the house and see the interior, in virtually the same state it would have been in when my great grandfather was a boy!

Once we got to Liverpool, we stayed with KISA's aunt while we visited with KISA's other sister and brother in law. KISA also drove past his old childhood home, though it has been spruced up recently, he said.
We also stayed a couple of nights with KISA's youngest older sister in a town near Blackpool. By the beach. Where the tide comes in only once a month or so. That is so wierd! But thats how it works!

They took us to a Liverpool football game at Anfield, as her family have season tickets and we ate dinner at the stadium. They have restuarants there! They were playing a UEFA game against Bucharest. Liverpool won. The atmosphere was amazing, and I am not a sports fan usually.
They sang the "You'll never walk alone" song and everyone held up their scarves. Made me go all goosebumps.
Was a bit windy.

And a tad chilly.

Quite high up in the air. KISA and his big sis. His youngest big sis.

Big sis, her lovely hubby and beautiful daughter.
We had just been to the pub for dinner and a few drinks. I think we were all sleepy and well fed and just a tiny bit tiddly.

Must have been as we were wearing hats made out of coke tins. Very good recyclers these English folks...
Weeks two and three to come.....