Great Missenden - 11 March 2012

Roald Dahl books have been enjoyed by many children, including our own, so when we learnt he lived in a village just a few miles from our own, we decided to visit.

The Museum in his memory is obviously geared towards children, but we enjoyed it too. His life was certainly interesting, for instance, we had no idea his first wife was an Oscar winner or that he was a pilot in the war and lived with injuries sustained when he his plane came down in the desert. He not only wrote many children's books, but also the screen play for the James Bond film 'You Only Live Twice'.

Roald had a writing hut in his garden, the interior of which has been relocated inside the museum. All the items were as he left it, including his chair modified to provide comfort for his war injuries.

Even better than the museum, is the delicious cafe attached. They certainly know how to appeal to the child in all of us, with a very tempting array of home made cakes, as well as more healthy options.

After visiting both the museum and the cafe, we used directions in a leaflet put out by the museum to explore the town of Great Missenden, where the Dahls lived. Many of the buildings were inspiration for places or events in his books.

Roald also liked to take his children for walks in the countryside around the town, another source of inspiration for his stories; another walking leaflet gave instructions to follow their steps on a favorite walk.

The Prize – 10 March 2012

Continuing our Faberge egg hunt, we tackled Piccadilly and Mayfair; these two elite areas were great to rediscover. Not only were the eggs hidden in unexpectedly quaint alley-ways like Avery Row, there were several in the foyers of grand hotels such as The Mayfair and Claridges. We felt totally out of place in our 20 year old faithful 'Fairydown' walking jackets and sturdy shoes, walking through the front doors of these places. The Ritz and the Dorchester had an egg directly outside them.

Mayfair and Piccadilly are also home to many exclusive shopping areas. There were eggs in the Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly Arcade, New Bond Street and Fortum & Masons. It was a great tour of the area.

When we discovered that Faberge themselves were in the heart of Mayfair, that was a must to visit. As we admired the expensive eggs and works of art in the windows, we were invited in to see the winning prize the specially commissioned Diamond Jubilee Faberge Egg. After asking if we were participating in the competition, the manager offered to remove the half kilo, jewelled golden egg from it's case and let us both hold it. I imagine this will be the only time we get to hold half a kilo of solid gold!

The other unexpected treat in the day was stumbling on a Banksy in Mayfair. We saw the painting high upon the side of a building in a back street, and were convinced this could be a Banksy. Checking on the web later confirmed it is one in a new series of paintings he has recently carried out in this rather different area of London.

So, after rediscovering places like Savile Row and Berkeley Square (no nightingales though) and lunch in a very picturesque pub in the lovely Victorian Mount Street, we felt as if we were definitely mixing with the rich and famous, as we saw more Rolls Royces & Bentleys today, than we have ever previously seen in one day!

Coins and more eggs – 3 March 2012

The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths had a special exhibition in their Guildhall of a rare coin, the 1933 Double Eagle. It was a rare chance to see inside their amazing guildhall as well as see a coin which was never legal tender, was illegal to possess and is only one of 13 left after all the rest were melted down when America left the gold standard in 1933.

We carried on from here to search out some more eggs of the Faberge Easter Egg Hunt. This time the hunt took us through tourist highlights such as Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and the South Bank.

Walking to Hotel Marigold – 25 February 2012

Another glorious day, inspired us to think about walking to Harrow to see a movie. Harrow is only 8 miles away as the crow flies, but a walking route we found on the Web, suggested this would translate into 14 miles walking. A closer look at the map, showed that by walking south past the Colne Valley lakes and along Grand Union Canal, we would end up at Uxbridge. A delicious lunch at a canal side pub, helped us complete the eight mile walk.

From Uxbridge, we could easily catch a tube to Harrow in time for a spot of shopping before we collapsed into the theatre seats to enjoy watching the movie of 'The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel'. Having experienced a variety of Indian hotels just over a year ago, it was a great nostalgia trip.

Easter Egg Hunt – 24 February 2012

In this Diamond Jubilee year, London has an Easter egg hunt, the aim of which is to break the Guiness World record for the most people participating in an Easter egg hunt.

We helped boost the numbers today, by having a go ourselves. Each egg is 2.5 ft high, and hidden in plain sight in various areas in London. Each egg found gives a chance to win the competition for a Faberge Diamond Jubilee Egg.

We started in The City, where eggs were lurking around the Royal Exchange, in front of the Gherkin and many other spots.

A side trip across the Thames to Southwick Cathedral, took us to see their Easter installation of the 'Die Harder' sculpture. Made with coat hangers, it is a crucifixion sculpture with a difference.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon hunting for eggs in the Docklands area. This is one of our favorite modern parts of London, and here the eggs were hidden in various squares, as well as in the shopping centres.

Butterfly House – 19 February 2012

Wisley RHS Gardens had a special winter feature, butterflies in the glasshouse. Along with half the membership, we decided to enjoy the sunny, but cold, day there.

The gardens still had a winter look, but were still pleasant to walk around. A pub lunch nearby was a pleasant chance to continue enjoying the sunshine.

A Sparkling Walk – 11 February 2012

Despite another few centimetres of snow on Thursday night, the snow was nearly gone on the Chorleywood Common by Saturday, so we caught the train two stops further west into the Chilterns to Chesham. Here the snow was still deep in the countryside around the town.

The local council promote walking in the countryside, by making a free selection of colourful walks available at the local library. We choose a selection of appealing walks, and decided to do a 7 mile walk through the fields in a circle around the town.

This would have been pleasant, but unexciting on a normal day, but today with the fresh snow thickly covering everything, it was just magical. There was not only snow glistening with ice crystals, but long hoar frost needles were developing on fences, post tops, plants etc, and in the bright sunshine, it looked like all the diamonds in Antwerp were scattered everywhere.

Small numbers of children were out in isolated fields, having an exhilarating time whizzing down steep icy slopes. We took our walking poles and sun-glasses, both were essential.

About three-quarters of the way round we passed the Hen & Chicken pub. By this stage we were rather hungry, and glad of a rest too. The pub is a really old and one of the most appealing interiors we have seen recently. A large fireplace (originally the kitchen cookplace I suspect) had a warming fire and either side of the fire were chimney seats, tucked inside the chimney in typical inglenook fashion.

The bar area was tiled, so no need to take our boots off. They may have been wet, but after walking miles through the snow, were the cleanest they have been for a long time! The restaurant area was quaint, with old timbers and another fire. A very welcoming sight on a cold day.

Suitably refreshed we completed the circuit to the centre of Chesham and returned to real-life by filling our backpacks at the supermarket before training home.