Kent Cruising - 30 May 2009

Rochester's Restoration House, the finest pre-Civil War town house in England, is only open to the public one Saturday a year, on the day of the Rochester Dickens' Festival.

We parked in the nearby town of Stroud and walked the short distance over the Medway bridge, and entered Rochester on foot. It seemed as if the whole town was out in their Dickens' finery, thoroughly entering into the spirit of the occasion.

Restoration House is still a private dwelling, and the name dates from the era of Charles II and the restoration of the monarchy. Charles stayed as a guest here, before being crowned King of England.

The house is probably better known as Satis House in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, the home of Miss Havisham. We saw 'her' in the high street, which was probably why she wasn't home when we visited.

The house is amazing. It just exudes history and has a real charm of long gone eras. Very old wood panelling, narrow winding staircases, nooks and crannies, all asking posing unanswered questions about why they are there, who has climbed them and so on.

The garden is wonderful, with an old brick wall dividing it in half, but a formal pond runs underneath the wall uniting the two halves.

We followed this lovely garden with two other garden visits; it really was the perfect summer day for it. Ephraim Gardens spread over 10 acres, and Belmont Gardens, which comprises two walled gardens. Both were looking lovely, as were the attractive villages we encountered on the way.

We also visited some market towns and the effects of the recession were so evident in these small centres with at least ¼ of the shops empty or boarded up.

Herrenhausen Garten - 25 May 2009

We had time for another wander around Goslar to see houses that were in shade last night, now bathed in the early morning sun. The Kaiserpfalz was open so we had a look through as it is reportedly “the largest and most impressive Romanesque royal palace to have survived anywhere in Europe”. We left, somewhat under-whelmed and after a quick look at the Henry Moore sculpture hidden away behind the Kaiserpfalz we began our return journey.



Arriving in Hanover, we made our way to the Herrenhausen Garten, or the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen. Laid out at the beginning of the 18thC it is a wonderful example of a Baroque formal garden with a huge parterre and, apparently, 27km of hedges to trim. The Herrenhausen Palace was destroyed in WWII and the interior of the grotto has been given a modern makeover that is absolutely stunning but, apart from that, the gardens are much the same as they were originally conceived.

Across the road are the botanical gardens, with one of the best orchid collections in the world and a lime avenue leading to the Royal House of Hanover mausoleum; final resting place of a number of English Kings and their descendants.

The main fountain, which plays for restricted periods of the day, is claimed in the guide books to be the tallest fountain in Europe at 82m, but the one in Lake Geneva is taller (140m), as is the 91m one at Stanway Gardens in England (but perhaps England is not in Europe?) Although we did not check the entire 27km of hedges, the garden is almost 1km x 0.5km so it takes a fair time to cover the various different sections.

It was no great hardship, then, to head off to the airport and sit for a while reflecting on a German weekend that had been “einfach wunderbar.” Unfortunately, once we were on the plane we sat for another 80 minutes waiting for a thunderstorm over the English Channel to move out of our way. (It was only a 60 minute flight!) As it was, we still flew out of our way to get around the southern edge of the storm.

Hann.-Munden & Goslar - 24 May 2009

Leaving Hameln we followed the Wesser Renaissance trail along the Wesser River valley to Hannoversch-Munden passing through a number of attractive half-timbered towns.

The guide-book had tempted us to this area with a lovely double-page spread photo looking down on a beautiful old city centre; unfortunately the scene was not identified. On arriving at Hannoversch-Munden we saw a belvedere overlooking the town and discovered that it was very easy to access this, by car, if you knew how. [Head for the Hospital, then the follow the signs to the Parking Platze, drive to end and then walk along the trail that leads from the car park. Along the way follow the signs to Tillyschanze and after about 15 minutes you arrive at a cafe at the foot of the tower.] The cafe will open the door to the tower for €1.10 per person and the view is simply stunning. We had found the scene from the guide-book.

It was time to head back north and hour or so later we arrived at Goslar. This beautiful town comprises 1500 old houses (more than any other town in Germany) with 168 from before 1550. The locals painted red crosses on the roofs during WWII an so escaped the Allied bombers. What a treasure trove this little town is with half-timbered houses interspersed with houses entirely clad in slate made into a myriad of decorative patterns.

Goslar was founded on the mineral wealth discovered in the hills around the town and at one time was known a the treasure chest of the Holy Roman Empire. Silver was the first metal discovered but other minerals contributed to the town's fortunes until the last mine closed in 1988. Now it is the tourists who are mined for their money.

Celle, Hildesheim & Hameln - 23 May 2009

An early morning start is the best way to leave London on a Bank Holiday weekend so we were in Hanover before 10am.

Just to the north of Hanover is Celle. This beautiful small provincial town escaped the bombing in the War, and we were able to wander around some of its 500 original 16th century houses.


From here we travelled to Hildesheim, a very different scenario in the war. This beautiful town suffered substantial bombing in the last month of the war. In the last 20 years, an amazing rebuilding programme has restored it to it's former beauty. The town square is particularly amazing, with reconstructed guildhalls; faithful replicas of the original buildings. The tourist office gave us a booklet for the town trail, called the Rose Walk, this is most worthwhile and we really enjoyed the walk which included two churches which are now UNESCO World Heritage listed.

The reason for the town trail being called the Rose Walk is because it takes you past a 1000 year-old rose bush. There is a legend about a lost prince hanging a relic on a rose bush and upon return finding the relic frozen to the bush even though it was the middle of summer; so he built a chapel there. No one knows when the current rose was planted, maybe 1000 years ago? The rose was saved during the WWII bombing by the church walls collapsing over the roots, thus protecting it from the flames. A few months later, it bloomed again and is still going strong.

Driving south, we arrived in Hameln; the destination that prompted this trip away from London. Arriving late in the afternoon is seemed that the Piper had piped all the tourists into the Wesser leaving the town for us to explore.

Bressingham - 17 May 2009

The Epping Area MG Owners Club arranged their annual outing to Bressingham Steam Museum & Gardens today. This involves a morning run from the Stansted services on the M11 with each car setting off at intervals, and following a set of instructions to reach the Steam Museum by noon.

We discovered some new (to us!) villages, and enjoyed the variety of architecture, and pastel colours so typical of Suffolk and Norfolk.

The Steam Museum itself, is a most enjoyable day out for anyone, particularly families. The entry price gave us unlimited rides on 3 narrow-gauge steam trains, 3 rides on a steam merry-go-round, as well as access to exhibitions and sheds full of trains. But an extra delightful surprise is the wonderful gardens. Even though it was still spring, the gardens were full of colour and promised to be amazing come summer. The highlight of the early summer was the fresh growth on the hundreds of conifers; all shapes, sizes and variations of green. It was the best and most extensive conifer collection we have seen, and each specimen was in perfect condition.

Blooming wonderful - 16 May 2009

Another London hidden gem we recently heard about is the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park. This is a glorious display of rhododendrons and azaleas. Sadly, they were probably at their best two weeks ago, but we managed to see them before the end of their 2009 season. Richmond Park itself is so extensive, a car (or horse) is a good way to get around.

By way of contrast, we headed out to Buckinghamshire in the afternoon, to visit Nether Winchenden House. It was, started in the 13th century, had a fair bit of Tudor work, including some wonderful chimneys and then the “new” modifications, done late 18th century to modernise it, now have the interest of antiquity. The same family have lived in it for the last 400 years, and we were fortunate to be shown around by the current owner. This made it extra interesting, as he was able and willing to show off items of furniture, one usually wishes could be opened.

We detoured home via Long Crendon and Denham, to see some magnificent wisteria we had hoped to see when flowering; both were, like the morning's blooms, just a little past their prime.

Cotswold caper - 10 May 2009

The Annual gathering of and Spring Run for MG Y Type cars was held this weekend and we intended to be there with 'Clara'. There had been a problem with rough runninng at speeds above 45 mph and after much deliberation it was decided that the issue was caused by the charging system not delivering enough amps when running off battery power alone. The regulator needed to be allowing the dynamo to charge the battery properly and it was not.

Finally, late on Friday night the garage told us the problem was fixed and so, after collecting 'Clara' we set off full of hope and enthusiasm. Just outside Oxford I noticed that the ammeter was indicating that charging had stopped and then the rough running returned.

Decision time: Did we carry on for another hour, expect to do a 1.5 hour run on Sunday and then travel 2.5 - 3 hours home with a faulty car; or did we limp home there and then and change vehicles? We chose the later.

So, instead of turning up in a 1950 MG Y Type, like all the others, we arrived in a 2009 MG TF, looking just a little out of place.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the run through the Cotswolds, starting and ending at the GWR Steam Railway at Toddington. The run was a relaxed affair with time allowed for lunch at any one of the many pubs that the run passed. We, however, had enjoyed a large full-English cooked breakfast so felt no desire to stop for lunch and instead made a detour to re-visit Sudeley Castle.

We also had time to take the steam train to Cheltenham Race-course and back before setting off back to London.