Monday 27 October

Spent last night trying to work out what chateaus we wanted to view as there are so many. We also want to not be too rushed. That is an understatement as we didn't manage to get away till 1040. Thought we would go into Loche only 20 mins away and just have a stroll. 3 local peasants walking up the street !

 Loche was first founded as a priory 900AD but didn't become established till 6th century!! Just like OZ.

It is a lovely town surrounded by the river

                                                                    We were able to explore it without problems as nothing was open! Suppose the upshot of that is I didn't spend any money!

  

So after walking around the town we headed of to Chenonceau chateau

                                             

                          This is the walk to the chateau.. They really know how to impress. We were all starving so thought  it would be ok to eat at the restaurant. It was cold outside so we waited for a table inside, dog eat dog! School holidays And 48 euros later !! Learnt a lesson with this one.

This chateau was built in the 16th century. It was a sparse place with very little furniture and lots of tapestries. It was built around the Loire.

                                                          And yes there were a lot of fish

                       . We got 1audio so Tim decided to be the auditor but it was an iPhone haha 

 Needless to say that didn't last long and LInda took over the commentary.

On the way home we stopped at a hypermarket .i got excited when I saw all the things for sale including  toys. i finally got  lexi her  barbie doctor .  I Didn't buy anything else except food and that was a challenge,but fun.really into this cheese, pâté and bread thing.

             

                                                  

Sunday 26 October

4.30 start, lucky it was the beginning of daylight saving so we gained an hour. It took 2 1/12 hours to Dover port. We paid an extra £10 to be virtually first in line therefore first off, with a 6 hour drive the other end, anything is a bonus.

 The priority was breakfast and Linda being a hardened French traveller she took off to get a table as usually the boat is full but this trip it was only a 1/3 full.  here are the troops Having  a full English breakfast before we have left the walls of Dover !! Haha

                                                                    We took the route via Rouen avoiding Paris. We had to have a few loo stops and get petrol. We didn't have enough coins for the motorways so we had to buy goodies so we could get coffee as well.  Coffe is boufht from machines on the wall!!Linda packed some goodies. So we stopped and had a car lunch

 Not a good look so Tim told me take a photo of the motorway in the background, not much of an improvement haha , but you can at least see the truck in the background. The photos are courtesy of Tom and Nic who have lent me their camera.

                                                       

We drove and drove and drove. It was lucky as Linda had a sat nav otherwise we would have been in trouble. I called her Maude after the bottle of coke I bought Linda, but she didn't like that so our travel buddy remains unamed.

The sun was setting as we arrived at  the gite too late to take a photo of the outside, so here is Tim lighting the obligatory fire even though I am outside gasping  for some cold air!  Have 2 cold frogs with us . 

                                                                          

It is a very comfortable 2 storey place. June is downstairs and we are upstairs. There are 4 other bites with other  English staying. We are in the heart of the Loire valley, but after travelling the UK we didn't realise the distance. As a result everything is an hour or so away.

Saturday 25 October

 Busy morning getting things ready for the trip to France tomorrow. We have to have a GB sticker light dimmers and an alcohol testing kit!

We drove down in convoy to Bournemouth to see Tom and Nics new house. The traffic was awful and we moved from one motorway parking lot to another and ended up > 1 hour late, not that it mattered.

Had a lovely lunch that was cooked by Tom and Nic and had lots of laughs.

 June giving Tim a lecture

                                                                        

 The boys jibing Linda 

 

                                               Think I will have to sack Nic as well for photography. 

                                                                               

Went for a walk along the shore front  in Poole and they all had  a '99'a soft ice cream with a flake.

1800 hope the trip back is better than the one down as we having a very long  trip ahead of us tomorrow with our trip to France.

Friday 24 October

Up and out by 8 as we had to go to the dentist in alfreton again as still having crown issues,

$100 later I have a new temp  crown already for France.

Stopped at a great pub on the way through called chequers . Had to duck the head to go through the door but couldn't take a photo as don't have a camera!

Arrived at reading  and had to look at fannys antiques luckily nothing much there.

Sam is here for the weekend so had a great chat and Linda did a lovely meal.

Tim and Linda  working out the  best route to France and timetables. 

Thursday 23 October

 Sleeping well as it doesn't get dark till 7am. It was nice to see the house in day light. Quite a lovely old house, now I know why we chose it. Farlands cottage

  The view from the house.

          

                           

Today was going to be a day of little driving. We did a circuit of Hayfield to Glossop where we did the obligatory charity shops and Tim found a bookshop where he got a bargain of 6  books on 19 century colonial books  with a £10  discount as the prices were marked wrongly.

Next stop was Buxton. It was similar to the other towns in the area ,all made of stone. Sadly the antique shops were closed, but June managed to buy herself a skirt and some dog treats.

Back in Hayfield our home town  it was a different scenario,  as you can see,

                                                                  You may well ask! It's a butter churn, just what we always needed. Tim says he is going to make butter, so watch this space.

We got home in time for a walk as it gets dark abut 6. We walked into town down a very narrow roadside and we came  across the house where Arthur Lowe from dads army was born.

                               

 It's a lovely village and it is the backdrop for the series "the village" which hasn't been shown in oz yet. 

We waked back along the river 

                                                                        

Looking for more famous signs when I came across this one on the front of the house and took a photo, when I zoomed in this is what It was. haha.

                                                 We did find a nice pub though where we stopped for a beer, walking is thirsty work .

Sadly this is the last photo of the day, as Tim tripped and dropped my camera and it has broken the lens ! Needless to say I was a bit upset and have been trying to work out where I can get another one before we go to France.

Wednesday 22 October

 On the move again and heading to the Peak District via Hardwick hall. It was a 3 hour drive down the motorway and arrived just in time for me to get my ploughmans at Hardwick Inn. Yeh, and everyone agreed it was the better option, I even got a pork pie with my ploughmans.

Yes June took this one and not sure if she made it blurry on purpose! Haha

Hardwick HAll hall was built by Bess  of Hardwick. It was designed in the  same layout inside as the  palace so that when queen ELizabeth 1 came to stay she would be familiar with it all  but the queen never got  there are she was too busy with the Amada. Just as well, as the story goes where ever  the queen went she bankrupted the estate as she took her  entourage with her and never paid .

The hall did house Mary queen of Scots for for 13 years while the queen decided what to do with her.

It was am imposing house and quite austere. It was quite a long way to the house so we hitched a ride, June chatted him up as well, I tell you,every male she comes across she chats up! Although she will deny it haha. Just being friendly.

                                                                                   

Yes June took this one as well. I think I will have to ask a passer  by next time ! Hope LInda is better at taking photos for when we go to France.

Every room was filled with tapestries from floor to roof . Bess  was a very wealthy woman after marrying 4 husbands and liked to be the centre of attention as you can by her greeting chairs.

The gardens were unremarkable except for all the little furry animals which moved so fast , this was all I could get

                                                                     

Another hour of driving through the Peak District to try and find our next home. Beautiful country side with rolling green hills and stone walls everywhere.

We had trouble finding the turn off as we are only using the large AA atlas of UK and it is hard to find some places that aren't marked on the map, even for some one like me! After many wrong turns and asking locals the way, we finally arrived at the house in the dark, burning the clutch out as the roads were so narrow and high . This was probabley the worst of the houses and quite disappointing and I nearly died when I walked in and saw the stairs and realised that June wouldn't be able to go upstairs as the loo was downstairs, didn't think this one out too well. 

                                                         Hence we made up the bed downstairs for June

                                                                               

Not sure when they did the decor but they didn't waste any money, in fact I don't think they spent any at all lol

Tuesday 21 October

 The cyclone that was to hit the west coast arrived and made its way down the east coast. We could hardly stand up when we went out the door, so there was no walking this morning.

In our travels over the last few days we have come across some lovely towns and one of them was Alnwick. One of the main attractions to Tim was one of the largest second had book shop that was called Baxter books and was built into the old Alnwick station and all the carriages were made into rooms with fires and places to sit and have coffee

It was a very pleasant spot and Tim was in heaven . 

The range was incredible but so were the prices so I am surprised that they can sell anything . Needless so say we just had a coffee in front of the fire looked around and left!

Walking  around the town was lovely with tiny side alleys of intrigue. All the houses are built in stone. There are a lot of charity shops that sell quality items and Tim was able to pick up a tweed jacket for  £5, so was very chuffed, I got a nice summer dress and a few things for the grand kids of course.

We had great discussion as to where to have lunch, I was opting for a  nice pub of which we had a choice that surrounded us but was out voted and it was agreed to have lunch at the national trust restaurant at Cragside

                                                                           Lovely spot to eat but shocking food, so I win for tomorrow! Yeh, probably won't be able to find one,I have only had 3 pub meals so very disappointing!

Cragside was built by William George Armstrong  who was a scientist and technical innovator of genius and one of the most successful industrialist of his time. It was here that water power was first used to provide electricity in 1878- the first hydro - electricity. They had 

The prince and the princess of Wales came to visit so she made this room which took 1 1/2 years

The fireplace is made out of marble 300 tons and it is all etched and imported from Italy. The prince of Wales was astonished at he lights as he was still using last s and candles.

The house was beautiful and so liveable

                                         The estate is 1000 acres and we could drive around it. There is is a river flowing through it and beautiful gardens

jUne offered to take a photo of Tim and I together but she wanted to be part of it as well, now I know where TIm gets his prowess in photography , like mother like son! Aghhh.i think there was a beautiful top floor of the building I was try to capture, oh well.

                                                                                                         

Meandered back to about little house and ventured to make a roast dinner with 2 trays, quite a challenge as it burnt the things on top . We do I do a roast in an unfamiliar oven! Still it was tasty even if it was nearly bed time by the time we ate.

Monday 20 October

Woke to a cloudy morning and not as blowy so ventured onto the beach and what a beach

It stretched for miles and miles. This is Druridge Bay..  You could think that you are in oz except for the houses.

                                                                               

Had a good hour walk and watched the sun rise although not very clearly 

                                             

  

Walking back from the beach looking back at the  house you can see we are quite isolated.

                                   

                                                                        

Today we thought we would go to Cragside which is a large estate near here, but the brochure must have been old as it was closed today so we pushed on for the next target through moorland and  Lovely gentle rolling hills

We had lunch and then wandered around Wallington )9house and gardens. It was gifted to the national trust in 1941 by SIr Charles TRevelyan who was a socialist mp and an 'illogical Englishman'. He and his wife were famous for supporting women voting and trying to abolish slums and poverty so it was an interesting house to visit

                                                              U

I had always wanted to see Hadrians wall. That was a challenge in itself as it is broken up in parts as you can imagine as it is a bit old and was blending into the other stone walls and through Iran covered windows it became a bit confusing till  after perseverance wefound large   parts of it. We didn't go to the section where you can walk quite a way along iit as it was getting too late. It gets dark at about 530 and we were told a storm was coming. Quite impressive piece of engineering of what we saw and what the historical pictures showed.