Sandringham - 8th August

Fabulous does not come close enough to describing our visit to this royal abode. The grounds are gorgeous. The interiors have a very feminine feel to them which made a refreshing change to some of the more sober houses we had visited. The museum is great with the cars polished to a high gloss.

It was nice to see so many people enjoying the grounds. We saw games of football, tag, sunbathing, and picnicing going on. Juliet reckons that the only thing still needed is a maze.

I treated all of us to lunch and it was quite reasonably priced.Nik had to retreat indoors because the wasps made a bee-line for his jam !!!

There is a very pretty butterfly garden interspersed with formal hedge rooms. The butterflies and bees were very much in evidence much to the delight of one of the local ladies.

Cromer - 8th August

The drive from Sandringham to Cromer is quite pretty. A couple of villages looked interesting but we did not have time to stop. I definately like this side of East Anglia the best thus far.

We quite enjoyed this beach. Pebbly like Great Yarmouth but a lot fresher and less commecialised. I had a good time sitting on a towel watching a group of kids create a pool in front of me by digging up the wet sand and letting it fill up. Dogs abounded and did much racing around.

John, Juliet and Nikolas walked further along the beach and found a sandy spot with no rocks. Nik went swimming in his clothes :)

On our way back to the van we picked up some trays of freshly cooked chips and savoured every bite. A lovely end to a great day.

The end is fast approaching - 9th August

We have enjoyed our visit to Britain. Seen a variety of sights both man made and natural. Visited with family and friends both old and new.

We went to church in Chelmsford. John served the last 6 months of his mission there. Turns out a good friend of mine from when I lived in London now lives there so we had a good time catching up at church and over dinner at her home. John did meet some people that he knew which was nice for him.

On the drive down to the airport we passed the construction site for the Olympic 2012 village. Looks like it will be quite interesting when it is complete. Certainly takes up a considerable amount of acreage. Maybe on our next visit over we will be able to spend some time there (not during the Olympics, but after).

Our vacation in Britain - week 2

Most of week two was spent visiting with relatives or in the Highlands of Scotland. We had a wonderful time doing both.

We enjoyed the beauty and ruggedness of the Cairngorms and watched the rain come rushing in over Loch Ness. Nikolas participated in a falconry display at Dunrobin. We tried seal spotting as we travelled over the Black Isle and enjoyed a brief stop over at one of the beaches along the way. We loved the grounds of Balmoral and can fully understand why it is one of the favorite places for the royal family to stay.

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).

Ecclefechan - birthplace of Thomas Carlyle - 26 July

So far this is the smallest of the historic places we have visited. Margaret, the guide, was very informative about the Carlyle family and life at that time. The house was built by Thomas father and uncle. The family lived there for about 3 years before moving to something a bit larger. There is one room down and two rooms up all very nicely furnished.

Elisabeth had fun pronouncing Ecclefechan and wants us to move there so she can use the name a lot in conversation with friends :)

For those that don't know, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was a philosopher and historian. He was hugely influenced by German literature and the life of Frederick the Great fascinated him.

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.

Inverness - 28 July

Inverness is an interesting place to visit and we stayed there as our stop off point to Loch Ness and other more northerly parts.

The castle is currently home to the Sheriff Court.It is the most recent reincarnation (1836) of castles that have been on this site for many centuries.

There was a festival going on during the time we were there so we watched a pipe band march down the street as we ate dinner and parachutists descend (rather quickly) behind the buildings overlooking the river.

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.