Off to the Tower - 6 December 2008

Saturday was a perfect crisp winter’s day for exploring London. We followed a walk that took us along many new (to us) narrow passageways in the City of London. It was easy to visualise these winding lanes in Dickens’s day.

Following this, we visited the Tower of London, using a ‘Palace Pass’ we purchased and which gives unlimited entry for one year to 5 royal sites, including the Tower.

The history this site has seen is amazing, and a new sculpture remembers those few who were executed within its walls; most were taken from the Tower and publicly executed on nearby Tower Hill. Only if you were particularly controversial were you executed “behind closed doors.”

The White Tower is now used for displays of historical weapons, and the Crown Jewels are housed very securely in another building in this 18-acre site.

As we left for the day, the raven master was encouraging the ravens inside their cages for the night. These are ‘royal’ birds, and lead pampered, although restricted, lives as their wings are clipped to prevent them flying over the walls. According to the legend, the kingdom will fall if the ravens ever leave the Tower.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - 5 December 2008

London at Christmas is very special. Every year a 20m+ Norwegian Spruce tree is given by the people of Norway, as a thank-you for the aid of the British people in World War II. The tree is always decorated in the Norwegian style with the lights in vertical stripes down the tree.

The Christmas lights in the various shopping streets are different every year, as are the amazing window displays of the large stores and because the sun sets so early there is plenty of time to enjoy the displays, unlike NZ where you have to wait up till late to see the Christmas lights.


This year, as an art installation, one of the Trafalgar Square lions was made to ‘talk’. A projector was used to make the lion’s mouth appear to move in sync with the words from a speaker; it was very well done.

London ‘does’ Christmas, extremely well.

(The lion is obvious, the witch is the snow witch in the F&M window and you can fill your wardrobe in Bond St.)

Inside the M25 - 30 November 2008

One tends to think that Greater London fills the area inside the M25 but it is really quite surprising how much greenbelt and countryside can be found on the inside.

One of the members of the South East Area MGF Owners Club set out to devise a “country lanes” run entirely within the M25, so that seemed an interesting way to spend a day seeing a very different area of England quite close to home.

After meeting the other drivers for a coffee at Hooley we set of meandering along lanes and country roads for nearly 50 miles until we reached the Epsom Downs Racecourse and the finish at the Rubbing Down Pub.

Although we went through a number of small settlements and villages, the route only used an ‘A’ road once, and then only for 0.7 miles: it was quite an achievement.

The rest-break stop was at a Garden Centre which just happened to be having their ‘Reindeer Day’ complete with Santa’s Grotto et al. It was surprising that there were any car parks to be had, the place was very busy with Mums, Dads and kids

Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and there were a number of small ‘lakes’ we had to negotiate in the hollows. Coupled with the mud from the overnight rain the cars were very filthy by the time we arrived at the pub.

Winter Run - 23 November 2008

Sunday dawned with snow falling, heavily enough to sit on the ground for a while before the rain came and washed it all away.

As soon as the rain started and it was safe to drive we set off towards Northampton to meet with a bunch of MG owners and to meet a couple of fellow Kiwis.

As can be seen from the photo the sun finally broke through for a time while we enjoyed a meal at The Navigation Inn in Stoke Bruerne

Banbury - 22 November 2008

Banbury is familiar from the nursery rhyme. Saturday was such a lovely day we did a circular drive from Banbury, after first exploring the town. The town has the iconic cross (although not the one that the nursery rhyme refers to), but also many other historic building. Most interesting is the Reindeer Inn, once a haunt of Roundheads and Royalists, depending on who was in control of the town. Its Globe Room has an interesting history, and was returned to the pub, after nearly being shipped to America then ‘lost’ in a warehouse for over 50 years.

The circular drive took in picturesque towns such as Bloxham & Aynho. We stopped in Croughton to see the 13th century wall paintings, then on to Chipping Warden for a great pub meal before heading home.

Anglesey Abbey - 2 November 2008

One of our favourite gardens is the Winter Garden at Anglesey Abbey. This year we decided to visit in autumn so that we could be there when the house was open to the public as well as the garden.


As it was autumn, not winter the Winter Garden was not at its spectacular best but the autumn colours in the other areas of the property more than compensated as did the chance to wander through the house left, complete with furniture, ornaments and paintings, by the man who restored it.

We made our way to Cambridgeshire via the village of Much Hadham in Hertfordshire, which was home to the sculptor Henry Moore and where the church sports two heads that are his work. It is easy to see the attraction of this picturesque village.

Oxfordshire continued - 1 November 2008

Having had our autumnal cruise through Oxfordshire cut short last weekend, we decided to finish the jaunt on Saturday. Unfortunately the weather was not as inviting this time around so the autumn colours were not displayed to their best.

Nevertheless, we discovered a few new villages and re-visited other villages on our meander through the byways.

Leaving Oxford we stopped at Stanton Harcourt for a look at the colourful tombs of the Harcourt family and then paused briefly for a photo-op at Kimber House, the MG Car Club headquarters at Abingdon, the spiritual home of the MG marque.

Sutton Courtney was another new discovery, with its half-timbered houses, before we went back to some old favourites such as Ewelme, Dorchester and Watlington.

At Ewelme we encountered some very odd behaviour from a local.
We needed to execute a u-turn and the narrow streets do not accommodate such manoeuvres so when an appropriately broad driveway appeared I attempted to reverse a little way into it in order to turn around.

Just as I began an old chap came running down the driveway; I stopped, he stopped. Having established that we had both seen one another, I waited for him to move; he didn’t. Since he was not apparently moving I pulled forward a little and began reversing into another part of the driveway at which point he jumped across behind me again. All very odd – if his driveway is that precious why does he not put a gate across it? So, if you are ever tempted to change direction while travelling along the High St in Ewelme, under no circumstances attempt it here.