Category Archives: United Kingdom

Frogmore House and Gardens

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24th August 2022

We visited Frogmore House and Gardens in Windsor, part of the Royal estate, with the Berkshire branch of the Cambridge Society. Frogmore House is only open in August when the Royals are holidaying in Scotland. This year may be the last year it is open for quite a while. The house could be occupied by the staff of some of the royals. Photography is banned inside the property, so no photos. Outside it is permissible to take photographs, and here are mine. You will see the long dry season has turned the lush green grass to a dry brown colour.

We met the Cambridge group in a nearby car park and boarded a coach to be taken the short distance. Visitors must all arrive together in a coach. Once there we were divided into three groups of ten and taken on our tours around the house and gardens. Depending on the guide, you were in for a treat of art history, or royal gossip.

After the tour, we were picked up the coach and were dropped off back in Windsor, where some of us headed on to a nearby Italian restaurant, Enzo.

Mowgli Street Food

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R and I took a trip to Oxford to look at an exhibition at the Bodleian and for R to go to the Oxford Pen Company. She’d seen mention of the Mowgli Street Food restaurant in Westgate, so we thought we’d check it out. We had not seen it before, though I believe it has been there since the new Westgate centre had been completed. We used to eat at the Cinnamon Kitchen, but since lockdown that restaurant has closed for good.

Mowgli was a surprise, not expensive, and delicious food. Don’t think of an Indian restaurant with the standard range of curries, instead think of deliciously spiced food. We both went for the ‘Office Worker’ Tiffin box, which saved us having to decide on the individual dish. The waitress told us the chef would provide different dishes for us, except for the rice, so we could share the flavours between ourselves. While we waited for the food, we each had a yummy cocktail.

This was an excellent meal with fast service and little waiting after we had ordered. We will be back there the next time we are eating in Oxford.

The Lake District

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We had been invited to stay in a B&B in Keswick with friends, as part of the 70th birthday celebrations of one of the ladies. Her choice of B&B, Appletrees, was taken on the unusual selection criteria of being where a particular author and blogger stays, see Wendy Mitchell’s blog at Which Me Am I Today?

I was looking forward to the days away for multiple reasons – I have never been to the Lakes, I could go walking, and this would be the longest journey in my electric car, so I would need to charge somewhere (excitement).

Monday

We set off with a fully charged battery. On the way to Keswick, we were all meeting up at The Midland Hotel in Morecambe for an early afternoon tea.  This could be done with 1% remaining in the vehicle, but there was a BP Polar rapid charging station just off the motorway at Morecambe with several chargers. I could also get free electricity (donated by Polestar as a thank-you for being an early adopter of their car). Still 1%, and R’s range anxiety would kick in big time. So, we did a quick loo break and a small charge at Knutsford Services. Imagine our surprise to see Bill, and then Viv there.

We left and proceeded on for our lunch/tea at Morecambe. We were going to be early, so did our long charge before heading to the hotel. This was a bit fraught, most of the Polar chargers did not recognise my RFID card. The one that did recognise the card, gave up charging after a few minutes. But, eventually we were back up to 86% and headed off for our tea.

We parked at the hotel, and were soon ushered into tea, where we ate with Valerie, Norman, Bill and Viv. The hotel was built in 1933 in the Art Deco style with some interior decorations by Eric Gill. After falling into disrepair and closing in 1998, the hotel was restored to open its doors again in 2008.

After the excellent tea, Rosemary and I had a walk on to Stone Jetty, and then along the front to admire the Eric Morecambe statue with a slight detour by R to buy a couple of books in a charity shop.  Back on the road again we headed to Keswick, following the scenic route along Lake Windermere.  We arrived and parked behind the guest house, unloaded and made ourselves at home.

That evening we ate at the Thyme Bistro, I was going for the Lamb Shank, but their specials listed Pork Belly. So, Pork Belly it was. I must say it was excellent.

Tuesday

Norman, Bill, Viv and I drove in the Polestar to park at the foot of Catbells to walk to the summit and back down. The weather was very windy, the path was wet and slippery. A far more demanding walk than the hike on Kilimanjaro.

After our walk, we met with the others to sample some beers in the Dog and Gun, which soon became our regular watering hole. A Greene King pub, but thankfully having a large range of guest beers. Then some culture at the Pencil Museum. An excellent trail through pencil history along with a question sheet which made you look hard for clues. (Now we know the reason for Q’s name in the James Bond books & films.) Our answers were marked at the end, and a reward was given to us for a completely correct set of answers.

Tea at the Wild Strawberry before heading back to the B&B. The Wild Strawberry provided an excellent tea, so some of us went back to it on another day for lunch. For supper we headed out to the Dog and Gun for a pre-prandial and then to the Old Keswickian Fish & Chips Restaurant for some traditional English fare.  Outside the restaurant it was Christmas, shops decorated for Christmas, and a Christmas tree in the square.  Very festive, but surely it should be Easter? There was a film production in progress, a sequel to “The A Word”, but no actors were to be seen.

Wednesday

Today the weather looked stormy, patches of sun breaking through the clouds, heavy intermittent showers, and a strong wind. We all went on a boat trip around Derwentwater, slightly delayed while the boat owners checked the lake was suitable for a cruise. Good to be on the water, and luckily in a cabin as the rain came down.

After this trip, we walked back to Appletrees, where Bill, Viv and I prepared ourselves for a walk, rushing out to catch the bus to Borrowdale, to walk back. These OAP bus passes are useful. We did indeed walk back to Appletrees, stopping for a beer at the Grange Café in Grange. The walk was14.5 km and took us 4 hours 9 minutes, of which 40 minutes was relaxing with a beer each. We were lucky with the weather. All the rain fell while we were on the bus on the way to the start. Nothing significant fell while we walked.

Back to Appletrees, and then out to the Dog and Gun for a libation. Tonight, we ate at an Italian, Casa Bella. R suggested a bottle of prosecco which was duly ordered. When the bottle arrived, none of us had seen a prosecco bottle like it before with its an old-fashioned ginger beer type cap.

Thursday

Bill and I headed out on the bus to Buttermere. The bus took us on the west side of Derwentwater, through Borrowdale, Seatoller, Honister Slate mine and down the Honister Pass which has a gradient in some parts of 25%. All the roads were narrow. There is a bus which does the reverse route, ours had enough problems getting up some of the roads. The driver even stopped at one stage to let the engine cool down. At Buttermere we dismounted and started our walk up to Red Pike. This starts with an unrelenting path straight up the hill, levels, and then climbs again until it reaches a small lake, Bleaberry Tarn. We then headed on up towards Red Pike. We gave up when the weather came down. Cloud made visibility poor, the snow was like hail and blown hard into our faces, it was uncomfortable. We made it to 681m, which was short by 74m of the peak at 755m of Red Pike. We headed down on a slippery path, in the cold and snow, then rain as we descended. Both of us at one stage unceremoniously fell on our arses.

At the bottom, there was just time for a coffee before the bus arrived, on-time of course, to take us to Keswick. Back at Appletrees, I dried off, recovered and rested before we went out for dinner at the Merienda. The Merienda is a small restaurant. Our waiter, or the waiter for the upstairs, was from the Czech Republic and very amusing. His English was extremely good. He would correct himself and debate different words he should be using. I ate Devilled Whitebait, followed by a Classic Falafel.  All particularly good.

Friday

After breakfast (we ate a cooked breakfast every day, a good choice pre-ordered the day before), we said our goodbyes and left for home. We stopped just outside of Keswick at the Castlerigg Stone Circle. Here I took some photographs of the circle and the snow dusted hills in the background on a bright sunny morning.

On the way home we stopped at the famous Tebay Services where we bought lunch. Lo and behold we bumped into Valerie and Norman. Next stop was at Morecambe to charge the car again. This journey should only require one charge, we could have delayed it for many more miles. Additionally, we were going to stop in Manchester to say hello to one of Rosemarys friends. The opportunity of a free charge at the Polar charger at Morecambe was too much to ignore. We charged up to 80 plus and headed off to Manchester. Disaster, there was an accident on the M61, Google rerouted us, and this added many miles to the trip. We made it to our appointment for a light lunch. Chatted for over two hours and headed off. Good for Rosemary & Judy to meet up.

I must admit the traffic on the M6 was not bad, our trip North and South had no delays, other than the M61 accident which closed the motorway. Google in the car, coming to the rescue and rerouting us before we were anywhere near to the chaos. Heading into Birmingham, we took the toll road and elected to do a quick charge at the services station there. The charge was quick, we needed only a few percent to see us home, but the wait was interminable. We need more chargers. We were there an hour, most of the time waiting to get connected. Presently everyone is polite. When it’s your turn, but you are not at the correct charger, everyone moves around to allow you your turn.

Thorington Hall

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We had booked Thorington Hall, a National Trust holiday house in Suffolk, for the week. We’d originally booked it for 2020, but….. We headed over there on Monday afternoon, unloaded and moved in. The house was bordered on one side by a host of golden daffodils.

The Hall has Tudor origins, wonderfully sloping floors, large rooms and a quirky layout. Some doors were locked; we suspected this was cos stairs were just too uneven for safety. Previous owners had left their mark in graffiti on one window’s panes and witches marks on the nearby staircase. A magical place to daydream.

The weather was amazing – wall to wall sunshine every day. You could look up at fantastic blue skies and then be quite astonished at the lack of leaves on the trees. Was this to be the summer of 2020??

The next day, first thing, we headed to Tesco in Colchester for a big shop. I dropped off Rosemary and Selina there, while I went over to a BP garage to charge the car. (I was at 40% but wanted a charged car for trips during the week.) It was reported back to me that this was the largest Tesco Rosemary has ever been in, with a whole section in one aisle dedicated to grated cheese! After lunch we took a walk along the river and across fields to Stoke-by-Nayland, returning to Thorington Hall to welcome our first guests.

Magnificent magnolias were spotted on our walks, but we never saw the rumoured otter in the v local river. It did not look like otter country. Perhaps it had been a mink?

The kitchen was well equipped and suitably large with two dishwashers, fridges and freezers and four ovens. The 6-slice toaster came into its own very early on. We didn’t however use all the kettles, nor the urn. Steve served a cooked breakfast every morning, bar our last. Each couple cooked one evening meal during their stay. Standards were very high, and tummies very full!

The Wednesday activity for the walkers was an eight-mile walk to Stoke-by-Nayland, then down to Nayland with lunch at the Anchor Inn and back to Thorington Hall. Those electing to stay in the Hall settled for chatting over a quick lunch of snackrells & a bottle of Cava.

Thursday was the turn of Dedham where we dropped a car off, so that those not wanting to walk the whole route would be able to drive back to Thorington Hall. The walkers split into two groups, the fast and the slow (ie Rosemary & her supporters). When the fast group reached Dedham, I picked up the car and drove to Stratford St Mary to pick up the slow group and delivered them to the Sun Inn in Dedham where we all had lunch. After lunch and a look around the village, the walkers returned to Thorington Hall, while I drove the others there.

Friday, we drove to Flatford Mill, where R was excited at seeing her first cowslip of the year, and from there we walked to East Bergholt for lunch at the Lion Brasserie. We managed a table outside in partial sun. The loos (along a corridor from a very impressive wine storage area) were particularly good; the men’s toilet had a showcase of old shotgun paraphernalia. After lunch it was a return walk to Flatford and then back to Thorington Hall for supper. Our doggy guest turned up with her owners so was able to open her special box of NT goodies. She thoroughly approved of them.

Saturday, we travelled to the coast, parked in Frinton and walked to Walton-on-the-Naze, where lunch was at The Victory. Walton-on-the-Naze appeared rather run down. I have also never seen so many beach huts. We walked back to Frinton and then home.

Sunday was spent driving to Shotley Gate and admiring the Marina and the container ships across the estuary at Felixstowe. There was an Evergreen container ship, the Ever Aim, the same length as the Ever Given which had become infamously stuck across the Suez Canal. If we had stayed until the early hours of Monday, we would have seen Ever Given arrive. A snack lunch was drunk and/or eaten at the Marina Cafe.

Monday, we packed up and left by10.00. The cleaners had all arrived promptly, one in her BMW. It was sad to leave a beautiful house which had given us all a great deal of pleasure.

Commemoration of Benefactors

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I was invited, with guest (so thought I should take Rosemary), to the Gonville and Caius Commemoration of Benefactors. This took place on Sunday 14th November. Because of the likelihood of flowing wine we decided to stay the night. Our first choice of the Camping and Caravan club was stymied cos they were closed. We also thought of the Caravan and Camping club which was open, but the location was not good for public transport.

So we opted for an hotel, choosing Graduate Cambridge because of its free parking and the easy walk into Caius. It used to be the Double Tree by Hilton. On the site of the Double Tree, there used to be the Garden House Hotel which was destroyed by a fire on 23 April 1972 in which two guests died and before that it was The Garden House where a riot took place in 1970. Protesters against the Greek Junta, the “Colonels’ regime”, gathered outside the hotels for several days, culminating with a crowd of several hundred – mostly Cambridge University students organised by socialist groups – demonstrating against a Greek dinner for 120 guests being held in the River Suite at the Hotel from 7:30 pm on 13 February.

The company behind the Graduate operates hotels in university cities, mainly in America. The Graduate Cambridge and the Randolph in Oxford are the only two hotels they operate in the UK. The Cambridge hotel has been completely revamped, with excellent WIFI speeds far excelling mine at home. The reception area is themed with bookcases, books & college crests. The hotel has one downside – long meandering corridors which go on and on forever.

We arrived in the afternoon, got dressed in our glad rags and walked over to Gonville and Caius for four o’clock. The events of the celebration were:

  • 4.00 pm  Tea in the Fellows’ Combination Rooms
  • 4.45 pm  Lecture from Dr Arif Ahmed in the Bateman Auditorium
  • 6.00 pm  Commemoration of Benefactors Service in the Chapel
  • 7.00 pm  Reception in the Fellows’ Combination Rooms
  • 7.30 pm  Commemoration Feast in Hall

We had a lovely time starting with tea, and an excellent, thought provoking lecture on “Freedom & Free Speech”, mainly in universities. The Caius Choir performed well. The historic (1631) sermon, “Death’s Duel” by John Donne, seemed a tad sombre & bizarre, but fascinating at the same time. The reception flowed with drink and noise in the Senior Combination rooms, where the Feast provided excellent, beautifully presented food (from the newly refurbished kitchens) matched with equally splendid wines.

We ate breakfast at the hotel the next morning, after a quick walk around town, but were rather underwhelmed with the experience. Rosemary’s egg benedict had a hard yolk, soggy toast was served & luke-warm coffee! (No idea why we didn’t say anything.) You can get a better full English at any Joe’s Café.