Next Day!....

We returned to David's home the next day.  This is a photo taken from their sunroom.

This is a picture taken at the back of the yard - behind the fence you can see in the first picture.  These large cows were not afraid of us at all.

Also living in the back yard was this adorable rabbit - the picture is not that great - but I didn't want to scare him - isn't he cute?!

 It seemed that Allison spent a lot of time in the kitchen concocting delicious meals..... and always smiling while she did it!  She has a knack for it - that's for sure - I think we both gained weight!

Poppa was doing the same thing he does at home....sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper!

The Cottage

The next day we went to "the cottage".  Well - that is what David and Allison call it!  I called it......

... the Mini-Castle.  We saw lots of castles on our tour.  They were all made of this lovely rock and I loved every one of them.  This "colltage" reminded me of those castles from the minute I laid eyes on it!  Just imagine this being your cottage!  Here it is......

.... the front entrance up close - isn't it wonderful?!  The interior....

.... is just as charming!  This is the front entrance from inside - you can see the second inner glass-paned door on the left of the picture - it kept out the draft when the outer door was opened.  Of course, David and Allison have it all fixed up now - so the draft is no more significant than it would be in our homes.

This is the formal living room - see the exposed beam in the ceiling?  It was delightful!

And - featured this beautiful original fireplace - which now has a small (more efficient) wood-burning heater in place - but the beauty of the original is still in much evidence, as you can see!

Out the windows at the front you can see the large lawn area (and the charm of the windows themselves!).

This was "our" room at the mini-castle.  Up some narrow steep stairs, just like the big castles - except, thankfully - not winding, to the second floor.  Poppa loved the wing chair and just sat to rest and admire everything.

I snuck in and took a photo of the master bedroom - just to give you a peek.  We stayed the night there and the next morning I went downstairs before everyone else.  The kitchen in the mini-castle is huge and very modern...

.... as you can see in this picture, and....

.... the other angle....

..... the table was huge and had a beautiful view of the outdoors (and the island is to die for!).

Yes - I'm still in the kitchen.  I sat on this two-seater and did some knitting while I waited for the others to join me.  The whole place is delightful and I really didn't want to leave!  But - before we left.....

.... I took a photo of our kind and generous host and hostess....may I present..... Allison and David our beloved friends in the UK!

Chapter Two!

After another long bus ride home, we arrived back at the hotel in time to get some supper at a local Italian restaurant - excellent service and good food - then returned to our hotel to chill out and retire for a good night's rest.....
...because, in the morning, we had to be up and packed and ready to hail a cab to get to the train station!  I have to pause for a moment and talk to you about cabs in the UK!  We tend to avoid taking a taxi here.  They are never overly clean, the driver is frequently somewhat unkempt, and sometime I have to tell them how to get to where I want to go.  However, hailing a cab in the UK became our favourite means of getting from place to place during the times when we had "free time" to go exploring.  The drivers have to pass a rather intense course - not just in driving, but also information about local sight-seeing favourites, in depth study of the city where they will be driving - and I think they must take a course in being gentile and polite as well!  The whole time we were riding along, we were also being given a crash course/rundown on everything interesting along the way!  It was delightful.  Hence, of course, we arrived at the train station in good time.  Now about the "why" we were taking a train.  We got on the train in London and got off at Birmingham Station.  My camera finger was itching the whole time, but there were lots of people on the bus and we were travelling rather fast and I was constantly watching people, scenery and activities - and before I knew it, the time had arrived for us to disembark.  Our friend David (we rent his house in Florida - he lives in the UK!) was there to pick us up and again there is a serious lack of pictures!  But - it was lovely to see him after all those days of strangers - a friendly, familiar face.  The second chapter of our trip was about to begin!

We arrived at David and Allison's house - which is absolutely lovely - more photos later.

 Here is Poppa with Oliver (David & Allison's grandsom) - this photo sure makes me remember Poppa and Munchie - when Munchie was much younger.  Oliver and Poppa got along very well!

 This end of the room also reminded me very much of our house when Munchie would come to stay with us. (You can see how lovely their house is - underneath the toys.  Warm, comfortable and homey after all those days and nights travelling!

Allison is also a knitter and we spent the evening at our favourite past-time while Clare (Oliver's Mum and their daughter) had a rest and the men chatted.  

How Many People Were on the Bus!

This is a group photo of all our travel-mates in front of that large country home where we had dinner!  Luckily the home had three (yes 3!) dining rooms and lots of staff to prepare a meal for all of us!

 H

Here we all are - at the entrance to Cardiff Castle.

And all of us again at Edinburgh Castle.

And finally at Hadrian's Wall.  They were a wonderful bunch of people and we had a great time travelling with them.  I have some new e-mail friends - and so far, none have contracted the COVID illness.

Now Heading South....

When we reboarded the bus  .....

 .... to leave Hadrian's Wall, we were handed the itinerary for the following day...

 ......... and headed south...

 .... and stopped at this impressive home...

.....the grounds were meticulously kept and were very attractive...

.... the whole gang of us went inside and were treated to dinner at this home.  The owners were extremely cordial and very correctly British!  We were asked to abstain from taking pictures of the interior - so you'll just have to take my word for the loveliness of the interior.  It was definitely an unexpected treat as part of our tour!

Needless to say, we weren't too fussy about keeping our hotel room tidy that night - we dropped our stuff and crashed!

 We each had a bed this size..

..... and there was lots of space for watching TV and checking my e-mail!

.....and like many of the places we stayed.....

... there were wonderful views out the windows...

We were heading for Stratford-on-Avon - as I'm sure you all know - the home of William Shakespeare!  The house above is typical for the area - isn't it lovely?

This one in particular, seemed to me to be typical of Shakespearian architecture.   

But, I thought this building was definitely worthy of a picture too!

And - guess where we got off the bus!

James gave us a little talk on how to conduct ourselves inside, including an admonishment not to touch anything or enter any roped off areas.  Other than that we could take as long as we wanted.

Oh - how I loved this!  I'll just share some pictures so you get the idea - they are mostly self-explanatory.

This is the parlour.

Shakespeare's family was not wealthy and after all the opulent castles introduced us to the lifestyles of the ordinary folk.

The wall of fame.

Squirrels - shot and eaten and the hides were sold - I want a squirrel hat!

More Shakespearian-era architecture!

The master bedroom.

Shakespeare's sister?  No - a tour guide - they were friendly and had a lot of information regarding one of England's most well-known poets/playwrights.

The children's bedroom - I wonder who got to sleep on the trundle!

Another one of the charming hostesses available to answer any questions (and I loved the period costumes!)

The flower beds outside Shakespeare's home were beautiful and Poppa had to stop to see what kind of flowers were growing there.

He took his time and checked out any he thought he would like in our flower beds in the spring in Canada.

I liked this one!

Evenutally he finished browsing....

.... while I went to the small adjoining area where actors were performing some of the famous stories woven by William.

I quite enjoyed it!

When we were finished, it was supper time and we had free rein to wander around and choose a place to eat.  They had a McDonald's and a few other familiar signs - but we could get that in Canada, so we chose this small cafe.  I didn't have the presence of mind to note the name!  

But it was charming and quite busy.  The menu was decidely British for us Canadian, but it was yummy! (Especially the desserts - which I am partial to!)