Fountains Abbey - 2nd August

Fountains Abbey and grounds in North Yorkshire take a while to get around but it is worth the effort.

This is the largest monastic ruin in the UK. It was founded in 1132 and there is an interesting display in one of the smaller buildings about it's history and that of the Cistercian monks.

The walk from the abbey to the Georgian gardens is pleasant. We watched dogs roaming and swimming. It's quite a contrast between the two sections of the estate and is quite cleverly laid out.

There was an interesting Medieval re-enactment going on in the abbey grounds which added quite considerably to our time there. We watched a shooting display using bows and arrows and early guns. There was much to see in the tents and it was fun seeing the children from the re-enactment running around the ruins.

Within the buildings themselves was a group of actors doing a comedy of some kind.

We had to walk down into the abbey grounds which means ...... hiking back up at the end :)

on the road to Scotland - Bodnant Gardens, Penrhyn Castle and Preston Temple - 25 July

The Bodnant estate is a lovely place to walk around. The house is not open to the public. The gardens are split into two very distinct sections - the upper formal terraces and the lower "dell" which I think has a somewhat Mediteranian feel round the buildings. Another contrast comes into play when you look out over the Snowdonia Mountain range.The Sealed Knot was doing a Civil War re-enactment while we were there which was interesting.

Penrhyn Castle is considered to be a fantasy castle but I think it is quite exceptional. The stone work inside has been very carefully carved and there are stained glass windows in the ceilings that allow light into the interior. It is very evident that a great deal of care, time and money had been spent by the Pennant family. I loved all the little nooks and crannies that would have been great for any children given the opportunity to play hide and seek.

Church is important to us as a family and individually. Since we are having to travel on Sundays at the moment we decided to try and incorporate some kind of Sabbath observance.

Our 3rd stop off point along the way was the Preston Temple which services the saints from Scotland (amongst others). The temple is closed at the moment for maintenance, and it was raining so visit was brief but enjoyable. The grounds are gorgeous.
One of the other things we have opted to do as we travel on our Sabbath is listen to CD's by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (we brought them with us).

Stirling - 26 July

Stirling is famous for it's castle and centuries of important history.

The photos show a few of the many houses and statues located near the base of the castle.

The wooden sculpture is interesting to come across. A tree fell down on the back walk and one of the local artists decided to carve it into a sculpture of a dragon, animals and warrior.

The statue is of Rob Roy who was of some importance to the area.

My parents have lived in Stirling since 1965. I last visited 3 years ago for my brother's funeral. In that short period of time there has been some changes to the landscape. e.g. Our old high school is now a pile of dirt with the new one located in what was the old cricket field.

Balmoral - 28 July

The scenery around Balmoral is breathtaking and we enjoyed our visit to the grounds. It's a nice combination of rugged beauty and formal elegence. There is even a group of Highland Cow that you can get up close too.

We took one of the shorter walks round the grounds which took us past the working gardens and over by the river. The weather was unsettled so it made for some contrating pictures. Some turned out as if the day was glorious and others looked as if a great storm was on the way !

There is only one room open to the public, the ballroom, and while it is quite small in comparison to similar spaces in other buildings we have seen it has been given over to a very interesting display and documentary about the royal family.

Dunrobin - 29 July

Kristina wanted to visit the "white castle" and we were not sure what she meant at first. I gave her the tour book and she looked it up. Needless to say we made a point of taking a short detour and had a fabulous time. The "house" is actually light grey but photographs white. It is gorgeous on the outside and fabulous on the inside. After we toured the inside we hurried on down to the bottom garden to watch the falconry display which lasted about an hour. The Falconer was funny and informative and obviously takes great pride in "his" birds. Nikolas helped with one of the "hunt and catch" demonstrations and was given a lovely feather pen for his efforts.

Loch Ness - 29 July

It's been about 17 years since we last visited Loch Ness. This time round we opted for the 1 hour boat ride which took us out to Urquhart Castle and back. The ride out was breezy and as the boat turned around to head for home we watched the rain come in, dump on us and pass over. Very interesting phenomenon.

Leith - HMS Brittania - 30 July

HMS Brittania is not exactly docked in the prettiest of locations but is worth the visit. It was definately a working ship and reflects that in it's simplicity and compactness. Lots to see and learn. You have to go through an interesting exhibition area telling the history of Britannia and it's crew before reaching the ship itself.

After the tour we met up with Mary and David B. (friends of mine) for lunch. They had recently returned from a trip to the US and Canada.

Then we headed back to my parents and took a much needed rest for the rest of the day. We took the opportunity to write a lot of postcards.

On the road down to England - Fountains Abbey - 1 August

The ruins and grounds are huge and take a while to visit properly. There was a Medieval re-enactment going on during the time we were there.

There is a small but very informative exhibit about the history of the abbey in one of the small buildings close to the ruin.

Buckingham Palace - 20 July

Visiting Buckingham Palace is always one of those things that any visitor to London should try to do. We happened upon the tail end of a ceremony involving the Queens Guard and seeing everyone in their colorful uniforms on the elegent horses was lovely. We were not able to go into the palace because the Royal Chambers were not open yet.

The Mews - Buckingham Palace - 20 July

After enjoying the outside of the palace we went round the corner to the Queens Gallery which has a lovely display of paintings, jewely etc. We could not take photos inside.

We then proceeded to The Mews and absolutely loved it. The picture shows the post coach horses being excercised. We saw lots of the royal coaches and some of the horses in various sections.

A view from the London Eye - 20 July

The London Eye was controversial when it was built. It looks like a huge bicycle wheel and can be seen for miles in various parts of the city.

On the whole I was not impressed mainly because most of the landscape is just rooflines. There was a few interesting things to see. I did have fun watching the birds play on the support cables !!!!!

Stonehenge - 22nd July

Our first stop off outside of London, after picking up the van from Heathrow airport, was Stonehenge.

It's a hugely popular place to visit and in some ways the "mystic" no longer exists. The monument is smaller than we expected but still impressive. It was a bit breezy while we were there. I have to wonder how our distant ancestors were able to hoist those stones in the winds that blasted across the plain.

Due to some time constraints we opted not to go to Avesbury but I bought a couple of history books about the area. We drove to Devises on the way to Bath and passed our first "unusual" road sign - a picture meaning "caution tanks crossing".

We had issues in Bath regarding finding parking and road works in downtown so we scratched our plans to walk around and headed off to our hotel.

Gower Peninsula - Wales - 23 July

The literature lives up to the reality :) We totally loved this part of the Gower Peninsula - Rhossili Bay and Worms Head - even with the tide out.

There are seals out on Worms Head and some of the family spotted them from our higher viewpoint.

One of the things I really enjoyed was watching the number of dogs out and about being walked by their families. A little girl also tried talking to the sheep in one of the fields - one answered back much to her delight :)

For anyone feeling a bit jaded about life this is a great place to come and get the cob webs blowen away.

Swansea Castle - 23 July

We stayed overnight in Swansea and after our visit to the peninsula we went for a walk in Swansea center.

The castle ruin is quite a small part of what would have been a huge building. We came across it on our way to Plantasia, a small tropical plant exhibit. The Koi carp are huuuuge.

We spent part of our evening watching the new Harry Potter movie. Brilliant, but having read the book we were somewhat disappointed by the ending.

National Waterfront Museum - Swansea - 24 July

The National Waterfront Museum is a truly remarkable place to visit and we wished we could have spent all day there. It covers 300 years of Welsh industry and history. The exhibits are interactive and high tech but cozy, even I had a go at using them.

Amazingly it's free to all. What a huge gift to everyone.

Given my interest in genealogy I really enjoyed the exhibit about the 1850 census.

Here's the link http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/swansea/about/

Powis Castle - 24 July and Penryn Castle 25 July

The photograph is of Penrhyn Castle and of all the ones we visited in Wales it was by far my favorite.


Twas a longish drive to Powis Castle from Swansea but worth the visit. We drove up through the Brecon Becons to get there which is quite scenic even in the rain.

One of the first things we saw on entering the grounds was baby peacocks with mommy in pursuit :) Quite charming. Dad showed up later.

Powis is situated on the top of a steep slope and the craggy side is given over to terraces and lovely gardens.

The Clive of India exhibit inside the castle is very interesting.

A good site to visit to find out more about the history of the castle is http://www.castlewales.com/powis.html

Lyme Park - 26 July

Our time at Lyme Park was somewhat soggy and breezy but interesting. As with all National Trust properties we could take any amount of pictures out in the gardens but none inside.

It's a fairly long drive up to the house and we were given a CD to listen too as we went along. Any Jane Austen fans know that this is the location of "the pond" in Pride and Prejudice. The estate is also part of the Peak District National Park.

One of the pianos dating from the late 1600's is now located in the Entrance Hall and made available to any visitors who can play. One of the guides said it makes a huge difference to the tone of the building when someone is playing.