A rose, by any other name - 13 June 2009

Early June is the best time for roses, and the sun was promised to the west of London, so we set out to visit Waterperry Gardens.

These gardens, attached to a garden centre, have extensive borders, which will look stunning in a few weeks time. They still looked colourful today, and we were able to enjoy the wild and free growing roses. The most attractive section was the formal garden.

Blenheim Palace is not far from here, and their rose gardens were stunning. Blenheim Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and last year their gardens won the Christies' Garden of the Year award: both awards are well deserved. There is a variety of gardens – water gardens, formal gardens, rose gardens and a very charming secret garden; all looked stunning today.

In addition to the state rooms, the house now has a synopsis of the life of the house, from the time the foundation stone was laid to now. It was extremely well done, with various techniques, such as animated models who 'spoke' into mirrors. It was promoted as the 'untold story', which introduced us to some of the past faces at Blenheim.

Equally interesting was the parallel stories of the military career of the first Duke – John Churchill, and the more modern day leader, Winstone Churchill.

It's easy to spend a whole day at Blenheim Palace but we reserved enough time for a picnic at Minster Lovell ruins, before heading home.

Wet and wild - 7 June 2009

In contrast to last weekend's perfect weather, the forecast for today was extremely volatile, with thunder storms waking us up, and nowhere totally free of showers today. But by mid-morning it had cleared up to bright sunshine, so we decided to join the Oxfordshire MG owners for their outing at the Cotswolds Wildlife Park.

We enjoyed several hours of warm sunshine and photographed their wide range of animals, which included most of the favourites for zoos, and a few new animals we hadn't seen before, like a very 'energetic' sloth. There was also quite a good selection from NZ to remind us of home. The zoo is in the grounds of a stately home, and they had an entirely new use for a walled garden. Unlike yesterday's colourful display of flowers, they had a great display of animals including some very colourful birds. One double door enclosure contained many ring tailed lemurs. They posed very happily while photographers, fascinated by their antics, clicked away.

The MGs set off on a 30-mile run through some of the best Cotswolds' towns, just as an dark and ominous weather front moved in. So there was no chance for photos from the open top, as most drivers surrendered to the elements and put their tops up as the rain got progressively heavier and, in spite of the forecast suggesting that the rain would have moved through by 3 pm, it was on and off showers and heavy rain all the way home.

Grace and Lace - 6 June 2009

Typically one thinks that going west from London to the Cotswolds is the place to find cute stone villages however, north of London there are also some equally attractive villages.

We spent the afternoon in three lovely villages to the north, starting with Olney. This is a sizable market town with many lovely cafes and clothing shops. It was once a lace making town, and we saw one lovely old stone building which was involved in the trade.

The church has a very elegant stone steeple and tucked away in a back corner is John Newton's pulpit. Newton was the Curate-in-charge at the Parish Church and it was here that he penned his most famous hymn, Amazing Grace.

A short drive away is Turvey. This town is smaller, but equally lovely. The approach in is over a beautiful old stone bridge, and overlooking the bridge is Turvey House. This was open to the public, and we enjoyed their large colourful walled garden. The house tour was equally enjoyable, still lived in, it really appealed as a house to live in. Lots of interesting details were given, like one owner decided to make the back door into the front entrance. This left the kitchens and butler's pantry by the front carriageway, so needed to be hidden behind a wall. However that still left a problem with servants accessing tbe utility areas from across the drive so the owner built a tunnel from the outbuildings, under the new carriageway, for the servants to reach their part of the house without the guests observing them going back and forth.

In the library we were able to examine an original Captain Cook tour globe, and find New Zealand looking pretty much as we know the geography today. The globe plotted his voyages of discovery around the world.

From Turvey we drove further north to Harrold, where we had a town trail to follow. At first glance, this town does not appear as picturesque as the other two, but on the walk we discovered many interesting features. In centuries past, this was the site of about five tanneries and leather works.

Thames Path - 31 May 2009

The Thames Path provides miles of pleasant walking, level and easygoing for a hot summer day. We decided to combine a boat trip along the Thames with a return walk along the Thames Path.

Various ferry companies ply their routes along stretches of the Thames from Oxford to London. We choose an eight mile stretch starting in Abingdon and finishing in Oxford. Abingdon is well worth exploring in it's own right, but unfortunately road works held us up, so we only made it to Abingdon in time for Salters' 11.15am sailing.

The trip was delightful on such a beautiful day; there were plenty of people out having picnics, punting, rowing eights and even swimming. Oxford was relaxed in the sunlight and after a picnic lunch on the lawn at Christ College, we set out on the return walk.

The Thames Path starts and finishes on this stretch with a pub, and there are two more on the route, so there was no shortage of refreshments. We had an early dinner at the excellent pub at Sanford Lock.

A highlight of the walk was Iffley, where we visited the 12th century church. As we neared our destination in Abingdon we collected Elder flowerheads to make this summer's batch of Elderflower cordial, another British treat we have come to enjoy.

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.