Forest of Dean - Sunday 13 May

Our hotel was near Monmouth, which we explored before setting out to join the rest of the MG club.

 The MG run started from Goodrich Castle on Sunday morning. The castle claims to be one of the best preserved medieval castles in England. The castle is on the English side of the border, guarding against the Welsh.

 The run took us around the Forest Dean, with some nice towns, lots of trees with fresh green leaves, and large pockets of bluebells. We finished at the Forest of Dean Heritage Centre.

Weekend in Wales – 12-13 May 2012

The annual MG Y Type Spring Run was based in Goodrich this year, on the border with Wales. This seemed a perfect opportunity for one last visit to Wales.

Straight off the M4 motorway is Caerleon. This small town is built among the remnants of a Roman border town. They have done a wonderful job of bringing the Roman baths back to live, with use of clever lighting, and projected swimmers using the pool.

Nearby are the remains of the Roman barracks, and an easily identified Amphitheatre.

From here, our tour took us to Abergavenny, and we had difficulty finding a park, we wondered at all the visitors. It turned out to be market day and all the neighbouring towns must have been visiting.

The town is well worth a visit too, We started with the ruins of the castle, which has a gruesome history. The founder visited in 1176, and invited all the leading locals to a Christmas banquet.. While they were enjoying his hospitality, William de Breos ordered his soldiers to kill them all. He obviously didn't have a grasp of the true meaning of Christmas!

St Mary's Church is the same age as the castle, but still complete and standing. Inside are some handsome marble tombs, but the most interesting item is the largest wooden sculpture in the UK. The reclining figure of Jessie is carved on a section of a hollow tree, and is part of what was once just the base of an even larger sculpture of the tree of Jessie.

The large indoor market was very appealing, so not surprising so many people were visiting.

Not far from here, but in a very remote spot, is White Castle. This was one of three English castles controlling the Welsh border. We really enjoyed the calm and peaceful spot, very different from the days when it was in use!

We were hoping for a cup of tea, but surprisingly, this remote attraction does not have a tea-rooms. We asked advice at the ticket office, and were recommended 'to visit the Chinaman' near the second castle of the fortified trio.

We found his tearooms, and would have loved to have stayed the night (it's also a B&B). The lovely old stone house overlooks gardens and an appealing valley view. The tea and apple scone were just perfect.

Grosmont castle is nearby, and this one has free entry, as it is slightly more ruined than White Castle. Once again, a really dramatic statement on the hillside above the town.

The last town we visited was Llanvihangel Crucorney. This boasts the oldest pub in Wales, so we had to call in for a drink. It was once a courthouse, and we checked out the holding cell, and the beam where criminals were hung. Certainly the most atmospheric place we've stopped in for a drink.

Across the main road is Llanvihangel Court. This had a sign outside advertising tours. We thought it was another courthouse, and it may have been once, but now it is a Tudor home, and so liveable and homelike, we were captivated. It is probably is the most appealing historic house we have visited. Full of wonderful period furniture, but totally delightful and felt like a home.

We were the only two on the tour, so we had a personal guided tour by the owner, who mentioned a ruined abbey up a nearby valley. We decided we had just enough time for one last visit, before the evening MG dinner.

The road up the valley was very narrow, and we were delayed by a constant stream of traffic coming the other way. When we finally reached the ruined Abbey, it turned out that the crowds had been at the Black Mountain challenge. Fortunately, by the time we made it there, the crowds had nearly left, and we were able to experience the abbey atmosphere.

Windsor – 22 April 2012

Following on the stunning bluebell walk yesterday, we drove to Bisham Woods for another bluebell treat. The 'Exploring Woodlands' guide had a tempting photo of bluebells in Bisham Woods, but how, was a mystery to us, as we couldn't find any bluebells. But we did enjoy the views over Marlow, as well as the history of the woods – they were the inspiration for the Wild Woods in Kenneth Graham's 'Wind in the Willows'.

 As this is our last spring here, a final visit to Valley Gardens during azalea flowering was a must. The 'Punch Bowl' azalea garden is stunning, and a really tranquil spot on a sunny morning.

 Around the corner is Windsor, so we made another visit to the castle on our annual pass, after first taking another look around Eton, just over the Thames. Both towns are a snap-shot of historic England.

The Castle had a photo exhibition of 60 years of the Queens reign in 60 photos. Once again, we enjoyed the sumptous Semi-State Rooms, but even more the exquisite dolls' house owed by Queen Mary

Pierrefonds – 29 August 2011

BBC TV has had several series on Merlin and Prince Arthur as young men, set in a most stunning medieval castle, with amazing turrets etc. When we planned to take a week in France, we checked the Web to see where this castle might be, and discovered it was in Pierrifonds, just north-east of Paris. This seemed a good place for our last night.

We had hoped to pack up our tent after visiting the castle, which helpfully opened at 9.30am. But the grumpy 'dragon' in the camp office was adamant the the 'regulations' did not permit us leaving the tent beyond 10am. So although we would have liked a totally dry tent for our last morning, we had to make do with a nearly dry tent.

The castle is massive, originally built in the 14th century by Louis d'Orleans, it fell into disrepair until Napoleon I bought it and his nephew Napoleon III restored it in the 19th century. So a lot of flamboyant details were added, but the effect is still quite medieval. Somehow the filmmakers have avoided the more modern additions, to give a strictly medieval look.

We enjoyed our dinner beside a lake, overlooking the castle on Sunday night, so returned for a goats cheese salad for lunch, after the castle visit. Then we set of north for Calais, stopping off first at Compiegne. This town was where Joan of Arc was captured in 1430, it also has a palace designed as a summer holiday home for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon I. The town is really beautiful , full of substantial houses.

Close by is a very interesting historical spot, where the Armistice was signed, in a railway carriage on tracks running through a dense forest, at 11:00 on 11 November 1918 to end World War I. The carriage was preserved, with the table and the original chairs used by the various generals when signing the treaty. In 1940, Hitler staged a triumphant ceremony when the French surrendered to him, using the same railway carriage (at that stage a memorial in the forest clearing), sat in General Foch's seat, generally made the French eat humble-pie and took the railway carriage to Germany in triumph! Fortunately things changed five years later, but sadly, the original carriage was mostly destroyed in a fire.

The museum houses an identical carriage from the same railway company, and it is set out as it was when the WWI treaty was signed. The whole museum is very interesting, particularly the stereoscopic pictures they have, of all aspects of WWI. They must have about 50 of these, the quality off the pictures is incredible, and the photographers were not at all squeamish. To see pictures of the soldiers in trenches, medical operations, aeroplane accidents, and bombed villages made the war very real. We found the bombed village scenes very moving, as we had just driven through dozens of villages with their lovely old churches and cute houses; to be faced with such a massive rebuilding task and achieve it so successfully is amazing.

North-east of there is Noyon. This humble town boasts a huge cathedral. This one dates from 1150, but four previous cathedrals stood on this site, and this was where Charlemagne was crowned. The cathedral was a real contrast to our visit to Chartres yesterday. Not at all graceful, simple windows, in fact solid and ugly from the outside, and just plain massive inside.

There were two things of particular interest. A memorial for the allied soldiers in WWI, including a New Zealand Shield. The moving words 'To the memory of one million dead of the British Empire, of whom the greater part rest in France' really made it even more tragic. Behind the cathedral is a unique half timbered library.

From here it was north to Calais, passing by a series WWI War Cemeteries, and attractive villages. We wondered how many of these were in ruins after WWI, as we were driving right through the heart of the Somme battlefields.

24 hours of Le Mans – 27 August 2011

The morning was a total contrast to the day before, with brilliant sunshine. Our route to Le Mans went straight through the centre of the Loire Valley. We have visited here previously, but it is such a beautiful area, it was a pleasure to have a second visit. We decided to visit the gardens of Villandry again, as these were the highlight of our previous visit.

The gardens are laid out in a similar to the monk's gardens around their abbeys. All the vegetables are grown inside neatly ordered box hedges. Standard rose bushes around the gardens represent the monks at work. In front of the chateaux is a more formal box hedge garden, where each geometrical pattern tells a story – about love.

The grounds are extensive with more formal gardens behind, viewing platforms and a new gardens since we were last there – a sun garden full of gold, orange and yellow flowers; and a cloud garden with blue and silver flowers.

We passed a few more chateaux on our way north, before arriving at Le Mans. Murray was keen to visit the town, because of it's racing fame, but the town itself is also well worth a visit. The approach to the old town was past part of the original Roman city walls, said to be the best left in France, we were certainly impressed.

The Tourist Office staff were most helpful and gave us a map of the town, information on the 'Le Mans 24 Hour Race Circuit' and nearest camp site, 5k out of town. After admiring the old town, Cite Plantagenet, we found the campground and put up the wet shell of our tent. Unfortunately there was no food at the local village, so back to town we went.

This time, a poster on a large tower caught our eye, clearly they had buildings illuminated at night. The Tourist Office was still open, and told us it started at 9.30pm and lasted two hours. We had not paid the €20 deposit for a barrier pass at the campground, as we had expected to be home well before then, as we still had to finish setting up camp.

So while Christine researched the restaurant menus and made a selection, Murray went back to get a barrier pass. The office was most unhelpful and refused him one, saying the gate was locked at 10pm and a key did not allow entry. He tried to explain about the illuminations, but they couldn't/wouldn't understand.

Murray retuned empty handed and we set off for dinner, with the curfew time of 10pm to work to. By having time to research, we were able to avoid the obvious tourist traps, and found a small restaurant tucked away, with a good looking menu and much more reasonably priced than the tourist traps. It turned out to be another gourmet highlight. We explained our time constraint to the waiter, and he was extremely helpful in making sure we left in time. Our car was parked in front of the cathedral, so we were able to watch 5 minutes of illuminations there, before heading back to the camp ground.

As is always the way, when under pressure, we missed a turning, found the alternative road had a 'route barree' sign, then took a long way round that and got back about two minutes to ten. With the car in front of the barrier arm, there was no movement of the barrier, the office was closed, so no help there, a barrier card was clearly required for access.

We needed the car beside the tent to pump up the air-bed, so took the only option we had – manually, the barrier would lift up about 100mm, this was enough for our low sports car to sneak underneath! There are times when a lack of French can prove a problem! We discovered that at 10 pm, actual metal gates closed across the driveway, effectively locking the drive to all, including card-holders. But why she refused to sell a card, when she was about to close the office at 7.30pm, and Murray was obviously going out, is a mystery!

Field of Dreams – 9,10 July 2011

The Metro this week had a photo of a beautiful wildflower meadow in Somerset, and as we have a weakness for wildflowers, we decided to base our weekend in the area.

Only two hours from London, is the old-time seaside town of Clevedon. Unlike the beach-hut/amusement arcade style seaside town, Clevedon is delightful. With a maximum tide range of 47 feet at the Listed Pier, and an abundance of great cafes, this is an interesting place for a lunch stop.



From Clevedon we started a circular drive, through a series of small towns, which 500 years ago, were trying to outdo each other in building bigger and more ambitious churches. We inspected them all, and the monuments to the “worthies” buried in each.

On Sunday we headed south to the flower meadow, passing through the wonderful town of Wells. The town developed around the freshwater wells over 1000 years ago, and was obviously very prosperous, from the wealth of wonderful old buildings.

The wildflowers lived up to our expectations, and from the number of cameras in evidence, everyone else thought so too. There were two acres of flowers, 57 different types of seeds used, on a piece of what was waste land.

We have never really seen a display of natural wildflowers to match what others rave about, the best so far being the Alpe de Suisse. Although this field was stunning it was also unnatural as the seeds had come from various parts of the world and were planted here to create a sight that would not ever occur naturally.

Near here is Lytes Carey Manor, a restored 15th century house, where we enjoyed a different type of beautiful garden,.

Not far from here we drove past Haynes Motor Museum, and decided to include this in our day. The cars were a lifetime collection, and were a stunning visual display, especially the 'red room'. Here all the cars were red, regardless of what make or age.

We followed a circular drive back to Wells, stopping at the lovely small town of Nunney, which is dominated by the ruins if a 14th century castle.

Not far from here, but which proved difficult to find, is a Victorian Abbey, part of a school. Downside Abbey is definitely worth a detour. It is massive, yet crisp and still looks new.

The final stop of the day was another garden – Milton Lodge on a hillside above Wells. The garden was stunning as was the view, with Wells Cathedral in the sunlight dead centre of the vista, the perfect way to end the weekend.