Four Bridges and an Author - 13 December 2008

Leaving London to be buffeted by heavy rain, we drove to Bath, and enjoyed the pedestrianised streets, shops, Christmas lights and the architecture that make this a World Heritage site.

Bath is beautiful at any time, but Christmas shop window displays and lights enhance any town. One feature of Bath is the Pulteney Bridge, one of only four bridges in the world with shops on both sides, albeit extremely narrow shops. Due to the heavy rain in the night, the river was very swollen and brown, not the normal picturesque river we have seen before.

Although many websites mention that the Pulteney Bridge is one of four it is extremely difficult to find the names of the four bridges. We had walked over another two of them, the Ponte Vecchio and the Rialto so that was three of four but finding the fourth was a challenge. For anyone else doing a web search the definitive list is: Pulteney Bridge, Bath (UK); Ponte Vecchio, Florence (Italy); Rialto, Venice (Italy); and Krämerbrücke, Erfurt (Germany).

We did a Jane Austen walk that we had printed off the BBC site that took us to places she visited and where Jane lived in Bath. En route we passed the cathedral, which Jane would have attended, and were invited in for an excellent Christmas Carol service.

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.