Gardens of England and Wales -Top Attractions at RHS Wisley

In my previous post I explained how we had set off for our two day adventure in Surrey and visited Painshill Park. We had secured a great deal for an overnight stay at the Premier Inn in Cobham which, I have to say, was lovely and quiet and had pleasant surroundings.
Refreshed we set off the next day to visit the Royal Horticultural Garden at Wisley in Surrey.

As previously mentioned we joined the RHS back in November 2023 and have found it to be a worthwhile annual membership both in order to get free access to their own five gardens situated throughout the UK and also to get discounted entry into over 200 partner gardens. The sun was starting to peak out from behind the clouds and we arrived fairly early at 10 am in the hope that we would not get too caught up in the crowds.

History:
The garden was founded in 1878 by Victorian businessman George Ferguson Wilson, who established the “Oakwood Experimental Garden” on the site. Purchased in 1903 by Sir Thomas Hanbury it was then gifted by him to the RHS.  
It is one of the UK’s most visited gardens, attracting around one million visitors annually and covers some 240 acres. The gardens feature some renowned plant collections, glasshouses, and RHS Hilltop which was opened in the summer of 2021. This is the Home of Gardening Science, a state-of-the-art science building surrounded by three spectacular new gardens that embrace the latest ideas in horticulture.

Finding Your Way Around:
Armed with the official garden map the first thing we did was to grab a coffee and a seat and decide on the best route to follow to successfully circumnavigate the gardens ensuring we saw everything we were interested in.

Old Laboratory and Jellicoe Canal
We began our exploration here with the beautiful Grade II-listed Old Laboratory building which was purpose built, as a training hub for horticultural students, back in 1907. The exterior of the building has been recently repaired and the new landscape to the front of the building certainly filled me with a great first impression. From here you can also see the beautiful Jellicoe Canal which houses the second largest collection of water lily cultivars.

The Wisteria Walk and Mixed Borders:
Catching sight of the Wisteria Walk it was hard not to be tempted to stroll across the Conifer Lawn and under the beckoning archways. Obviously we had missed the actual blooming of the wisteria but even so the borders alongside were resplendent with colour.
Open since May 2018, the Wisteria Walk is 245ft long and 10 ft wide and linked us to the impressive Mixed Borders.

Strolling along the Broadwalk with flowers of all colours and hues filling the borders, on our left, you cannot help but be reminded of more historical times when walking on a sunny Summer’s day was seen as a great pleasure. It proceeded television and computers and was beautiful in it’s simplicity.

Battleston Hill:
The walk slopes upwards towards Battleston Hill and the 420 ft long horticultural wonder is broken up by simple pieces of sculpture, finally reaching the magnificent horse’s head at the top. The sculpture is changed every two years but acts as a wonderful focal point as you walk ever closer.

Whilst we didn’t wander through the woodland garden the winding paths do allow you to explore plants from far-off climes. It is planted to provide year-round interest from the colour splash of camellias, magnolias, rhododendrons and azaleas in the Spring to the agapanthus, lillies and hostas in the summer months. Autumn sees wonderful foliage not least that of the delightful acers and then even in the winter wondrous barks and winter flowers abound. 

We made our way back down the Broadwalk diverting off to our left to explore the Exotic Garden.

Exotic Garden:
Created and opened in 2017, this garden was actually designed by the on site Garden Team showcasing plants that have a tropical look and feel, but still flourish outdoors in a typical UK summer.
It certainly adds something different to a traditional English landscape with large leaf palms, bright colourful flowers and bananas existing alongside vibrant dahlias and gingers. During the Winter months many of the plants remain in situ with thick mulch protecting the gingers and a protective layer of straw being placed around the bananas, for example, to stop their stems freezing.
I’m a sucker for a waterfall or fountain and particularly liked this one in the centre of this unique garden.

Moving further along we then explored the Cottage Garden, again on our left.

The Cottage Garden:
Laid out in the early 1990’s by Penelope Hobhouse, the Cottage Garden has quite a formal layout but maintains an English cottage garden feel and certainly inspires ideas to take back home.
I particularly liked the central water feature and the eight 10ft tall pergolas which support climbing plants, a great way to section off areas within your own garden. An avenue of sixteen cherry trees flank both sides of this garden that is full of herbaceous perennials, shrubs and bulbs ensuring that every season has some colour to offer.

From here we headed away from the Broadwalk and into the rose garden.

The Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden:
I have to admit I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to rose gardens. I love to wander around borders crammed with rose bushes displaying an array of colours and that all too familiar exotic scent.
This rose garden, which began life in 2007, has more of a contemporary design, with roses flowering amongst an array of herbaceous plants, bulbs, perennials and evergreen shrubs. Blue agapanthus caught my attention but I still felt starved of quintessential roses.

The Viewing Mound:
With tummies starting to rumble we headed uphill from here to the Viewing Mound. A great vista is revealed from walking to its summit alongside the colourful butterflies floating above the lavender and the constant buzz of the bees enjoying the nectar.
A winding path takes you back down the other side through the Oudolf Landscape.
This new, redesigned landscape opened in May of this year, allowing visitors to wander through borders of flowers and foliage whilst descending ever forward to the Glasshouse clearly visible on the horizon.

The Glasshouse:
We took a break before entering the Glasshouse and bought lunch in the adjacent cafe enjoying the luxury of being able to sit outside in the sunshine.
A Glasshouse is always a must do in any large garden and this is no exception. With three different climates all under one roof from the heat of the topics to the moist temperate cloud forest and finally the dry semi-arid and desert environment.

This huge cathedral-like Glasshouse, covers an area equivalent to ten tennis courts and rises to 40ft in height. With many difficult to grow, rare and endangered species available to view alongside tree ferns, tall palms, creepers and wonderful flower displays your senses are certainly awakened.

The East side is shadier, heated to 8–12°C and kept humid which allows the growth of a range of species native to the southern hemisphere. Australasian tree ferns, South American climbers, pitcher plants from North American bogs, South African lilies and Asian gingers all abound. The impressive waterfall is not to be missed and adds to the subtropical feel whilst also creating a moist, cloud-forest atmosphere.

The Dry temperate zone is not as richly planted but still offers a diverse range of tough, slow-growing, often prickly plants such as desert cacti and succulents adapted to conserve every drop of moisture. Species from Chile to South Africa, Madagascar to Australia all thrive alongside each other..

The Tropical zone is needless to say hot and steamy with plenty of lush plants including bananas, bromeliads, palm trees and fast-growing climbers. Alongside these are familiar houseplants growing to their natural sizes, such as the Swiss cheese plant and fiddle-leaf fig. This area is full of huge leaves, extravagant flowers and fast growth – in fact, plants here need regular pruning to keep them to size!
There is also a warm jungle pool with tropical waterlilies and other aquatic and wetland plants which thrive in this environment.
Above you is a viewing platform which you can climb in order to admire this wonderful display before moving onto the Orchid House.

I’m a massive fan of orchids, often rescuing those left to wither and being discarded by friends and family. My oldest orchid was given to me as a present in 2005! A visit to an orchid house is, therefore, something I’m not likely to miss.
Wisley has a collection of over 3,000 orchids which they have been collating since the 1980’s. Many familiar “supermarket” favourites live alongside more rare species such as the large orchids standing at an impressive 2.5 m tall which have been in the collection since 1991!

The Rock Garden:
Leaving the Glasshouse behind we wandered back towards the exit stopping at the Rock Garden en route. Attracted by the twisting pathways and little pools linked by streams and cascades I was intrigued to explore.

This is actually one of Wisley’s oldest features. It was constructed between 1910 and 1912 and showcases a wide range of alpines and other plants that flourish in alpine conditions, alongside small weeping trees and dwarf conifers. Some of the Rock Garden’s original features still exist, including a grotto where ferns such as the ostrich fern and cinnamon fern still flourish.

Leaving the Rock Garden behind it was time for us to depart and drive home. We really enjoyed our day and there is definitely more to explore. It’s one of those gardens where every revisit would highlight another marvel that you will have missed before.
One of the key highlights of any RHS garden that I love is that you can ask the staff on duty about the various plants or seek advice from them when you are a fairly inexperienced gardener, like myself, just starting out on your quest to create your own unique and wondrous garden space at home.
There is so much inspiration I always leave with a mountain of photos and feeling relaxed and happy having spent a glorious day in such a beautiful space.

NB:
This is my fifth post in a series about Gardens in England and Wales, why not check out the other four that I’ve previously posted and share with me on the comments any that you would recommend for us.

Gardens of England and Wales – Discovering Painshill Park, A Hidden Gem in Surrey

As traffic to my blog increases I’m aware that a lot of my visitors/readers are not resident in the UK. I feel it is important, therefore, to write about quick trips that we have taken here which might perhaps be added to an itinerary on a future visit to these islands. I am also going to try and include ideas to decrease cost when I’ve used them.

This particular two day trip stemmed from firstly our Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) annual membership and secondly an offer that The Premier Inn Hotel brand sent me via email which advertised reduced rates for Sunday Evenings.
The RHS annual membership was purchased back in November last year for the reduced rate of £53.25. It has allowed me and hubby to enter the five RHS sites free of charge and to choose additional partner gardens to visit. There are over 200 to choose from, where I have free admission and hubby gets in either free, for a reduced amount or occasionally for full price.
Membership also gives you priority access to tickets for any of their famous annual Garden Shows, for example, the Chelsea Flower Show. See my previous post: https://amidlifeadventure.org/2024/05/31/top-events-to-attend-in-the-uk-chelsea-flower-show/

We booked the Premier Inn in Cobham for a Sunday in late August for £45, which to be frank is around the same price as a lunchtime meal these days and less than an evening out. Luckily the sun was shining as we left and made our way to the county of Surrey. With about 110 miles to cover it took us about 2.5 hours and we were soon parking up at our first destination at about noon.

Painshill

This astoundingly beautiful park created during the 18th century by Charles Hamilton is, for me, a real gem of a place to visit. Imagine ladies and gentlemen dressed in their long, Regency finery strolling the lakes. The ladies with their delicate lace parasols protecting them from the heat of the day and together with their male companion unpacking mouth watering picnics on the grass and you will start to understand what this 160 acre park has to offer. I’m not surprised it was used for the famous Netflix Bridgerton series.

Admission:
Parking is free, from where entry is just across the bridge over the River Mole. We paid for our tickets (aged 60+ concession) on line, in advance, which reduced the cost to £10 each. We were not able to utilise our RHS membership here but did use it on day two which I will write about and post next.
There are toilets directly inside along with Mr Hamilton’s Tea Room and the Gift Shop. Picnics are also permitted, which we had checked prior to arrival, and so armed with a coffee each we made our way to the covered picnic area. There was a small jazz band setting up their instruments as we took our seats and it wasn’t long before this area became quite busy.
You are issued with a map which allows you to decide upon the route you might want to take. There is an Accessible Route (approx 1.5 miles) marked on the map alongside the Historic Route ( 2.5 miles).

We began by following the accessible route to the south of the lake. Strolling alongside this serpentine lake was a lovely introduction to Painshill Park which is a leading example of the English Landscape Movement.

The building you can see on the right of the photo is the Ruined Abbey which stands next to the rows of vines which were replanted in 1992. When Hamilton prepared the landscape he placed buildings strategically throughout the park which were designed to be seen from different angles.

The Ruined Abbey:
Designed as a ruin and built in 1772, Hamilton wanted to add an element of history, reminding the visitor of the past. Back in the eighteenth century, monasteries and abbeys would often produce wine so the architecture complements the vineyard planted next to it.

Painshill was requisitioned during World War II and, as a result, Hamilton’s design was lost and the park fell into decay with many of the “follies” falling into ruin. Painshill Park Trust was formed in 1981 to restore the landscape to it’s 18th century design and Painshill was given Grade I listed status as a garden of international importance.The Ruined Abbey was actually the first building to be restored . More information about the park’s history is available on their website.

Continuing on our walk we strolled past the Chinese Bridge which was visible on our right and is currently under restoration, followed by the Woollett Bridge, pictured above, which was restored and reopened in December 2022. Hamilton certainly had a knack of placing his bridges at points where the water reflected the image back to you.
From here you can meander along past the Ruined Roman Arch on your left which still awaits restoration.

Five Arch Bridge:
Further along, on your right, this bridge is known by modern visitors as the “Bridgerton Bridge” due to it being a location in the hit show. This, in turn, means it’s quite hard to get a good photo due to the amount of visitors who want a photo taken on it. I was fortunate, however, later in the afternoon when numbers decreased to manage to snap it from afar. It definitely adds an element of romance to the landscape.

Water Wheel:
At this point we moved onto the Historic Trail and made our way past the end of the lake to the Water Wheel. The 14 acre lake we have just walked past is filled by raising water from the adjacent River Mole. This water flows out of the wheel entering the lake at the cascade.
The wheel was originally constructed by Hamilton from timber and his plans are on display inside. It was then replaced in the 1830s with the Bramah Wheel, made in cast iron and at 10.6 metres in diameter, it is one of the largest working wheels in the UK. In 1987 the Bramah Wheel was repaired and the pump house, which had been neglected while Painshill was lost, was rebuilt.

Gothic Tower:
Walking on through the Alpine Valley you reach a fork in the path. If you take the left turn you meander up through the Hermitage until you reach the Gothic Tower, poking above the Alpine wood of evergreens and standing proudly in front of you.
You are now at the park’s highest point and can climb to the top up the narrow 99-step circular staircase.
Built in the 1750’s, in the style of a medieval watch tower, it is 27 meters tall. Hamilton hoped to create a fairy-tale castle emerging from the trees below. On a clear day four different counties can be viewed from the top and sometimes even Canary Wharf and Windsor Castle. 

Leaving the tower behind we descended down the path whence we had come and at the first junction turned left following the path through the Elysian Plains. Still following the Historic Route you are now heading back on the opposite side of the lake.

Temple of Bacchus:
The Temple of Bacchus was originally designed and built in the style of classical architecture in 1762 and housed Hamilton’s collection of antiques along with the statue of Bacchus and twelve busts of Caesar. The Statue of Bacchus, which stood on a pedestal in the centre of the room, had been brought back by Hamilton from his Grand Tour. The ceiling was originally decorated with motifs of vines to highlight Bacchus as the God of Wine.
The contents of the temple were sold in 1797 and the temple was left to ruins with only the footprint remaining surrounded by thick undergrowth.

This beautiful building which has now been restored externally with the interior still being worked upon sits atop the hill allowing you to marvel at the vista of the Surrey Hills. The flower borders have also been restored and strategically placed seats allow you to savour the scents.

The Turkish Tent:
Following the path you soon come upon the Turkish Tent, possibly the oddest structure, in my opinion, created by Hamilton. Built in 1760 and originally built from brick, wood, canvas and papier mache, this was originally the final spot on the historic route. 18th century guests would have finished here at the Turkish Tent and stopped to admire the view.
Hamilton was keen to ensure that his guests and visitors were given the best possible opportunity to admire the landscape or living painting in front of them regardless of the time of day or season. It was said to be his favourite vista at Painshill and he even pondered upon the idea of building a house here although he apparently changed his mind.

All that remained after the estate dissolved into rack and ruin was the brick floor. The building was restored in the 90’s and is made of brick, wood and fibre glass to ensure it continues to survive.

From here we made our way down to the Arch Bridge, where you can then continue on the Accessible Route back along this left hand side of the lake. We, however, crossed over the bridge and retraced our steps to the Woollett Bridge in order to access the grotto.

The Crystal Grotto:
For the majority of visitors this is undoubtedly a highlight of any day out at Painshill. The Crystal Grotto is included in your entry but is sometimes closed for maintenance so it is worth double checking before embarking on a trip here.

To wander through here and actually take on board that nothing you are viewing is actually real is quite awe inspiring, it is an incredible man-made feature.
We were fortunate to visit towards the end of the afternoon and so there were very few people around which made it even more special. It felt very serene and quite magical with bubbling water, a very natural looking cave and stalactites covered in sparkling crystals. Imagine what Hamilton’s 18th century visitors must have thought!
It was so cleverly designed that on a sunny day, shafts of light pierce the interior through carefully placed openings in the ceiling. The light then bounces off the coral pools and lake water making the crystals sparkle.

Following the path we left the grotto behind and made our way across the Chinese Bridge, which is currently under restoration and uphill through the trees.

The Gothic Temple:
Back in Hamilton’s day this was the first stop on his walking circuit for visitors so not surprisingly it offers one of the best views in Painshill. Made originally from wood and rendered to look like stone this is exactly how it was restored.
Cleverly designed this ten-sided folly has five sides panelled in order to direct your eye to the open archways. They, in turn, frame the view including many of the features we have seen today including the lake, the Grotto, the Turkish Tent and the Five Arch Bridge.

Whilst this had been Hamilton’s first stop, for us today it was the final point at which to look back and admire everything that he had designed. What an astoundingly creative and imaginative man he must have been. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and left feeling as if we had walked back through history.

NB:
Since my visit last year to Keukenof in Holland

https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/05/12/keukenhof-beauty-imagination-and-inspiration/


it has sparked an interest in me to visit other beautiful spaces. As hubby loves to photograph flowers, bees, birds and just nature as a whole it gives us an opportunity to take some time out and just appreciate the calm that such spaces can give you.
This is my fourth post in a series about Gardens in England and Wales, why not check out the other three that I’ve previously posted and share with me on the comments any that you would recommend for us.

Exploring Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare’s Birthplace on the Edge of The Cotswolds

Where travelling further afield isn’t currently possible for us it’s nice just to get away for an overnight stay which is what hubby and I decided to do this week.
We firstly travelled to Evesham before a bargain overnight stay at the Premier Inn at Evesham Country Park and then moving on to Stratford-upon-Avon on the second day.
Whilst the town of Stratford-upon-Avon isn’t officially in the Cotswolds it sits on the northern most edge so I have chosen to include it in my series about this wonderful area.

Parking:
I merely researched parking on Google Maps and discovered that it is uniformly priced. Preferring to avoid multi storey car parks given that some have entrances too low for a truck I opted for the Arden Street Car Park next to the Hospital. We paid by card but you can also use the Ringo App.
From here it was only a five minute stroll to the starting point of our walk.

GPSmyCity App:
We have used this app on many occasions in order to take an informative walk around a city or town. On this occasion it offered three different walks:
City Introduction Walk – 10 sights
Tudor History Walk – 8 sights
Shakespeare Tour – 8 sights

The app has many other useful facilities including creating your own walk but to date I have been happy to use the predetermined options. They offer an opportunity to explore a town or city with as little or as much expense as you want. You will often come across what I would describe as hidden gems which you would otherwise not necessarily have found.

As the sun shone down on an autumnal morning we opted for the first walk which began at:
The American Fountain or Shakespeare Memorial Fountain.
Immediately I was side tracked by the presence of a small and unexpected market. Further research shows this to be the Rother Street Market held every Friday and Saturday. Tarpaulin covered stalls offer locally grown fruit and veg, gifts, clothes and crafts. I enjoyed a wander around, keeping my eyes peeled for possible Christmas gifts before examining the monument properly.

It’s a lovely decorative piece created to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, as well as to Shakespeare and to the relationship between the USA and England. Looking closely you can see it is heavily decorated with quotations and sculptural details which enforce these messages.
Gifted by an American newspaper publisher and philanthropist George Childs who was known for his deep love of England and its writers. He had erected other memorials to authors such as William Cowper, George Herbert, John Milton, and a monument to the great critic Leigh Hunt.

The fountain was started on 20th June 1887 and unveiled less than four months later on 17th October by the actor Henry Irving. The fountain and clock-tower are Victorian gothic in style and contain many lovely details such as tudor roses, floral roundels, grotesque imps and even an owl.
When it was first created it had horse-troughs on each side to provide water for horses and other animals but these are now filled with flowers. Unfortunately the fountain also no longer provides water but the clock was restored in 2022 and thus now works with its bell gently chiming.

I was most amused by this tiny door on one side of the fountain that looks like it’s been constructed for someone from Tolkien’s “Middle Earth”!

From the fountain we walked about five minutes to Henley Street and the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s Birthplace
It is said that William Shakespeare was born in this restored 16th-century, half-timbered house in 1564 and that he spent his childhood years here.
The house itself is relatively simple, but for the late 16th century it would have been considered quite a substantial dwelling. William’s father, John Shakespeare was a glove maker and wool dealer, and the house was originally divided into two parts to allow him to carry out his business from the same premises.

The house remained within the Shakespeare family until 1806. Under the terms of his will, the ownership of the whole property passed to his elder daughter, Susanna. In 1649 it passed to her only child, Elizabeth and then in 1670 to Thomas Hart who was the descendant of Shakespeare’s sister, Joan.
It is now a small museum which is open to the public and a popular visitor attraction, owned and managed by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Cost of entry for the combined ticket to this, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shakespeare’s New Place (open seasonally) and the Shakespeare Centre are currently £18 per adult. Alternatively you can buy individual tickets for each place.
We chose not to do this as today, for us, was all about exploring the town rather than expending money.

Wandering in and out of various independent retailers we made our way down to the river front.

Bancroft Gardens:
It was lovely to arrive at the river amidst the sunshine and autumnal gold of the trees. This was originally an area of land where the townspeople grazed their animals, and the Canal Basin was the end of the Stratford-to-Birmingham canal, completed in 1816. 

We initially seated ourselves on a bench adjacent to the Swan Fountain admiring its filigree swans with water cascading down. Made for the 800th Celebration of the granting of the Charter for Market Rights by King Richard I in 1196, the fountain was designed and created by the sculptor Christine Lee. Made of stainless steel and brass it was opened by Queen Elizabeth in November 1996. I have to say I personally quite like it but then I have an affiliation, for some reason, with water. Whatever the format it brings me peace and calm.

Moving on we walked to the water’s edge noticing the boats touting for trade to take tourists on a river cruise before doubling back on ourselves to cross over the canal basin and lock. We were hoping to find another bridge a bit further down to allow us to avoid turning back but this wasn’t the case. The grassy expanses on this side offer an opportunity for a riverside picnic during more warmer weather.

Returning to the other side we branched right and wandered into the flower garden where you can find the Gower Memorial. This Grade 2 listed monument was erected in 1888 and was created by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower. I quite like sculpture, definitely preferring it most of the time over paintings. The centrepiece of this statue features a seated bronze sculpture of William Shakespeare. Detached from the main statue are smaller pieces on pedestals representing four characters from Shakespeare’s plays: Lady Macbeth, Hamlet, Falstaff and Prince Hal.

The gardens were still quite bright and cheerful despite the current change of seasons and there are places to sit, take a breathe or even contemplate what this area would have looked like back in the day of the bard.
Leaving the gardens behind us we headed to our next landmark….

Tudor World
Less than a five minute walk along Sheep Street is this living, historical museum. Admission for adults is from £9 depending upon which activity you wish to book.
The museum, housed in a beautiful 16th century Grade 2 listed building, offers visitors the opportunity to experience Tudor England through historical settings. They also offer Walking tours with William Shakespeare and ghost tours allowing you an opportunity to experience the more sinister side of Stratford-upon-Avon!!!

Alongside the museum there are other fine examples of Tudor buildings before you double back to walk to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

The RST
My last visit to this theatre was way back when hubby and I knew each other the first time so about 40 years ago. It’s definitely changed since then!
This newer theatre with it’s 1040 seats was officially opened in March 2011 by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip and is referred to as a ‘one room’ theatre allowing the audience and actors to be close together in the same room, giving a more intimate experience as it was in Shakespeare’s day.
In addition to the theatre, itself, there is a Rooftop Restaurant and Riverside Cafe and Terrace and to the right you will see the 118 feet tall tower which allows for fantastic views of the town and countryside.

Walking past the theatre and then turning right into Chapel Lane, you walk to the end and then turn right into Chapel Street. Immediately on this corner you will find….

Shakespeare’s New Place
Shakespeare moved here in 1597 and it became the new family home. He remained here until his death in 1616 but unfortunately the house was demolished in 1759 by the then owner -Reverend Francis Gastrell. It was said it was an action of spite after Gastrell had upset the people of Stratford-upon- Avon who described certain actions of his as “cultural vandalism. His wife, for example, had cut down a mulberry tree in the garden that was said to have been planted by Shakespeare. He, himself, was irritated by the constant tourists coming to visit the house and garden and invading his privacy. He was also in dispute with local officials over taxes and the extension he had made to the garden. He was ultimately forced to move out of town and the demolition was in effect seen as his revenge!

As a result in place of the house there is now a registered garden that has been designed here to commemorate the importance of the site and allow visitors to make their own personal connection with Shakespeare.
The re-imagined site gives an impression of the scale of New Place and its relationship to the surrounding buildings, such as the neighbouring King Edward VI School and the Guild Chapel. Both of which would have been familiar to the young William Shakespeare.
To the rear of where the house once stood, you can discover the Great Garden. Once part of Shakespeare’s estate, this tranquil and beautiful garden displays sculptures inspired by Shakespeare’s writing.
The admission charge is £14.50 per adult.

Across the road from these gardens is the Guild Chapel which is still in use and provides services for the adjoining King Edward VI School. Hugh Clapton, a former owner of New Place, prior to Shakespeare, presented murals to the chapel which ironically William’s father -John was paid to whitewash away. These murals are now being restored in particular the mural of Doom over the chancel arch.

Shakespeare’s Schoolroom and Guildhall
This building is adjacent to the Guild Chapel and open daily, Entry into this beautiful 16th century building allows visitors to explore Shakespeare’s childhood. This building played an important role in William’s life. You are able to sit in the very room that William Shakespeare sat as a pupil in the 1570s. It would have been here that he first acquired an interest in literature that possibly led him on to become the world’s greatest playwright. 

The museum claims to provide an interactive and engaging visitor experience as well as the Guildhall playing host to a series of rare medieval wall paintings and over 400 years of civic history of Stratford.
Admission tickets cost £13.50 per adult

Personally I was totally enamoured with the beautiful black and white timber framed exterior and length of this building. This is an era of history that I studied back in my senior school days and I enjoy looking at the architecture of this period.

Leaving this behind we walked on down Chapel Street and took the next left into Old Town. As you walk down this road you will come across Halls Croft on your left. This was the home of William’s daughter, Susanna Hall and her husband, physician John Hall. The oldest part of the existing house was constructed in 1613, and therefore would have been newly built when the Hall’s took up residence. They only lived here for three years from 1613-1616 at which point, on the death of her father William, they moved.

Holy Trinity Church
From Susanna’s home it is only a five minute walk down the road to this church where the family attended services. This is the final destination on the walk we undertook and fittingly the place where William chose to have his grave. He died on his 52nd birthday -23rd April 1616.

This was a period of history when relic hunting was very popular and, therefore, aware of his status as a leading writer he feared his bones would be dug up by one of the hunters. As a result Shakespeare insisted on having a curse as an epitaph on his gravestone which he himself wrote. The curse reads as follows:

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones
And cursed be he that moves my bones

In addition it was unusual for anyone to be buried inside the church (rather than in the surrounding graveyard), but Shakespeare managed this by buying a tithe deed for £440 which gave him the right to have a grave in the chancel of the church and thus to also have his final resting place alongside other family members.
Five years after his death his son-in-law commissioned The Holy Trinity Bust – a monument to The Bard made by Gerard Jansen which stands above Shakespeare’s grave in the church. It was made while Shakespeare’s wife was still alive, so is generally thought that it is a good likeness of the great Bard.
There is a charge to view the grave of £5.

And thus ends our wonderful walk around Stratford. We had a lovely day and whilst we didn’t spend time and money in all the Shakespeare museums etc we left having fully appreciated this wonderful town that certainly holds its most famous resident in high esteem.

NB: This is the twelfth post in my series about the wonderful “Cotswolds”. This is an area of England that you really shouldn’t miss out on visiting if you are coming to the UK.
It’s full of olde world charm, history going back to the Roman era and beautiful architecture.

Check out previous posts in this series. Please don’t forget to comment and/or like.
Thank you



Discover Frampton-On-Severn, A Hidden Cotswolds Gem

This post isn’t solely for those of us who have been lucky enough to retire, it’s an ode to a small Cotswold village that up until recently I’ve somewhat overlooked.
A small village that quite frankly has it all, in terms of the natural environment with places to walk, fantastic local food, hobbies to pursue and just good old English charm.

Frampton on Severn or just Frampton as it’s known locally, sits south of Gloucester city, alongside two rivers (The Frome and the Severn) and the Gloucester -Sharpness canal. It is also just a fifteen minute drive from the world renowned World Wetland Trust at Slimbridge.

Our exploration of this area began with the Gloucester Walks app and Facebook group:
https://www.localwalks.co.uk/gloucestershire-walks
Despite living locally we had never known about the two walks offered on the app and then, as a result of exploring these, discovered another walk equally as pleasurable.

Walking in Frampton:
On a lovely Summer’s afternoon, with my son for company, I parked up at the designated car park and turning left we made our way onto the main thoroughfare that passes through the village. This first walk is the shorter of the two on the app but both walks, however, begin in the same manner by taking a left here. We wandered past some beautiful traditional Cotswold homes. It’s a wonderful village and the old houses just enhance this. There are over 70 listed buildings here with timber framed houses and traditional thatched cottages to admire.

The walk takes you off to the right and you wander along a central path between an avenue of trees before coming upon the local church.

The church of St Mary the Virgin dates way back to 1228 although it was consecrated in 1315 with the oldest part of the present-day church being the Romanesque font. Just standing outside, admiring it from the fields, you cannot help but let your mind wander to the days of yore. How different life would have been then. It would have been such a focal part of the community with families filling the pews for Sunday worship from the very rich to the hard working poor.

Gloucester-Sharpness Canal:
Following the footpath you soon arrive on the canal, turning left and crossing the nearby bridge in order to double back on yourself and walk along the other side of the canal. This is the Gloucester -Sharpness Canal and was once the broadest and deepest canal in the world. The canal is 16.5 miles long stretching between the city of Gloucester and the docks at Sharpness where craft can pass out into the River Severn. You can walk the whole of the canal, as hubby and I did some time ago. We split the walk over a weekend rather than completing it in just one day.
As you join the canal path it is really worth taking a minute to marvel at the beautiful canal boats moored alongside, the family of swans gracefully gliding across the water and off to your left the mighty River Severn dividing England from Wales.

As you make your way alongside the canal you have the choice of how far you wish to walk. On this particular afternoon we followed Walk 1 but hubby and I recently completed Walk 2 on a beautiful Autumn morning in September. This takes you further along the towpath to Saul Junction. Both walks then cross you back over the canal and take you back to the village.
So forgive me, at this point, if I now take you with me on this second walk, ignoring the place I had crossed with my son on the first occasion. What is so great about these walks is the flat ground so if you aren’t in the mood for a typical uphill Cotswold hike you can still enjoy nature at its best and also bring your dog.

As you meander along the bank look out for the paddle boarders and kayak lovers on the water or the fishermen nestled alongside the bank patiently awaiting a nibble. Before long you will then arrive at The Stables Cafe. Opened in September 2008 it is a lovely place to take a break if you are looking for breakfast, lunch, coffee, snacks or homemade cake, this café offers a great choice. You can sit outside on the terrace or in colder weather snuggle up indoors.
The Cafe gets its name from when the building was a stable for horses that towed vessels up and down the canal. As retirees we quite often enjoy getting up early on a sunny morning and walking here from Frampton to enjoy a good old English breakfast with quite often just the boats and birds on the canal to keep us company.

Saul Junction:
Returning to the towpath you soon reach Saul Junction which is popular with boaters and nearby is both the Visitor Centre and the Marina, where if you are inclined you can peruse the boats for sale. You are now at the point where the Gloucester to Sharpness Canal meets the River Frome also known as the Stroudwater Canal. It is the only such flat crossing between two different canal companies anywhere in the world.

The walk takes you down the left hand side of the River Frome before crossing you back over a bridge to follow a narrow country lane back to the outer edge of the marina and ultimately back onto the opposite canal tow path to where you have previously walked. As the canal path peters out you will pass a few canal boats that appear to be lived in full time, where the boating folk have mowed the grass outside of their boats, stacked up their winter log supply or even planted a few flowers. Passing by with a friendly greeting to those sat on chairs alongside their craft sipping on a hot cup of coffee or tea you turn left onto a footpath. The walk meanders across a couple of fields before taking you back onto the gravel path that runs alongside the village. You turn right here to head back to the car park.

Alternatively you can go left and do a circular walk back to the car park around the village green.

The Village Green:
Apparently the longest village green in England, it covers 22 acres and has some fishing ponds that are havens for wildlife. If you are a bird spotter you may already have caught a glimpse of not just ducks or swans on the canal but hopefully other waterside birds and these ponds can also hopefully allow you to spot more of the same or maybe even something different.

Cricket is still played on the village green during the summer months and as you walk to far left corner of the green, past the village shop, you will arrive at The Bell.

Eating Out:
There are three places to eat in Frampton and The Bell is now a regular haunt of ours. Owned by the Quality Inn group, where the ethos seems to be very much about each of the pubs in their portfolio standing alone in its own unique environment, The Bell has a warm welcome. It’s a local pub and restaurant serving great, locally sourced food from the main menu alongside an ever changing “Specials Board” which often includes fresh fish and seasonal game. Staff have always been friendly and helpful but it is worth booking if you are going in the evening. In the daytime, particularly in the Summer months it is a really great spot to sit outside as the beer garden overlooks the village green so you can view the cricket, catch up over a chat or just watch the world go by.
Dogs are welcome in the outside areas and the bar but not in the restaurant. They also offer a choice of accommodation if you are looking for somewhere to base yourself whilst exploring the Cotswolds further.

If you had turned right at the end of your walk you would walk past The Three Horseshoes. Check their website for opening hours as they aren’t open all day, every day. Friendly dogs are welcome in the bar but they also offer a large, comfortable, dog-free lounge and a beer garden to the rear Alongside typical pub fayre you can also savour one of their famous 3 Shu pies. Each pie is made up of three different sections. The first is bubbling cauliflower/broccoli cheese, the middle is made of creamy mashed potato with vegetables folded in and the final section is a choice of one of their delicious fillings all topped with a golden puff pastry lid. Their menu is on the website. We’ve not eaten here as yet but it’s definitely on our list.

Finally if you walk past The Three Horseshoes you will reach the local cafe –Ley Bistro. It’s a fairly small cafe where we have had both coffee and cake sat outside in the Autumn sunshine and a hearty breakfast after our canal walk. They also have a lunchtime menu but seating is limited and so they cannot really cope with large walking parties.

Frampton Court:
The area surrounding the village green has been designated a Conservation Area due to the historic architecture of the buildings surrounding it not least of these being the Frampton Court Estate.
As you walk around the village green and leave The Bell behind you but continue to walk in a circular fashion you will find the entrance to the estate on your left. This was the location for our third and final walk around Frampton.
The Estate has been in the Clifford family for over a thousand years. Built in the 1730’s it is a stunning Georgian mansion house which overlooks the Grade I park and 50 acres of lakes. It’s worth checking out their website if you wish to take a walk around the gardens of the house which are open in the summer months or alternatively to view their options for weddings and parties or plush accomodation.

As you enter the property you will fairly quickly come across this map which enables you to plan a walk around the lakes.

Again wildlife abound and it is a pleasant walk on mainly gravelled lanes with views back to the Manor House and out across the lakes.

Frampton-on-Severn should definitely be added to your itinerary if you wish to get a feel for real country Cotswold life. It has so much to offer.

NB: This is the twelfth post in my series about the wonderful “Cotswolds”. This is an area of England that you really shouldn’t miss out on visiting if you are coming to the UK.
It’s full of olde world charm, history going back to the Roman era and beautiful architecture.

Check out previous posts in this series. Please don’t forget to comment and/or like.
Thank you



One of the main buildings to see is Frampton Court, a lovely place with grounds that are accessible for walking. A fantastic walk is the circular walks around the lake on the property.

Frampton court is a Georgian mansion in the village that dates from the 1730s. It’s a pleasant building to see. The family’s estate is big and has been in the Clifford family for over 1000 years. Thus it has a fascinating history starting after the Norman conquest.

A nice place for a circular walk is around the lake at Frampton Court. On the walk, you pass by the beautiful Frampton Court building. The trail takes you through some lovely farmland, on the banks of the lake, and through some woodland. Access to the walk is near to the Coffee House on the village green.





Exploring Buckingham Palace, The Reality and My Opinion

I initially wanted this post to be a bit like a travel log, sort of a “what to expect when you visit this Grand Palace” which stands at the centre of UK society. But my visit raised questions within me which I’ve not been able to exclude so I have included these within the text where I feel it is pertinent.

Tickets:
Tickets are limited so if you wish to visit any of the Royal Palaces in the UK it is always best to buy tickets when they are released as they often sell out really quickly. The most simple method for this is to join the Royal Collection Trust and opt into updates. The different palaces are open at specific times of the year so it is worth exploring the website to understand when each Royal accommodation is open.
In the case of Buckingham Palace this is the summer months. This may change in the future as our new King Charles III has lived at Clarance House for 20 years, where he has said he will continue to reside until renovations at the Palace are complete. At a cost of £369 million the work began back in 2017 and is estimated to take ten years.
Charles is reported to share his mother’s lack of affinity for the 775-room Palace as an actual home despite housing his private office and communications team there.

On this occasion we purchased a combined ticket to view the King’s Gallery, The Royal Mews and the State Rooms inside the palace itself back in November 2023. Our original visit was planned for July 2024 but unfortunately due to ill health I had to telephone them and delay the visit. I only mention this because the lady I spoke to was extremely helpful, understanding and courteous. There were no challenges or awkward questions. She just wanted to ensure our new date in September allowed us plenty of time, without being too exhaustive.
Each element is assigned a timed entry. It is worth ensuring you have read the information on their website prior to your visit to ensure you walk to the correct entry point. Entry is not via the big gates at the front!

The Royal Gallery:
Our entry was at 1.30 p.m. and there was no queue.
Every section of the Palace that you go into requires, not unsurprisingly, airport style security checks and each one also offers a complimentary multimedia guide. This particular guide lasts about an hour depending upon how much information you want to listen to or conversely skip.
Beautiful, clean toilets were available throughout all of the three stages of our visit.

Unfortunately due to copyright laws, photography is not allowed in this exhibition.

As stated on the website “For centuries, portraiture has played a vital role in shaping the public’s perception of the Royal Family. This exhibition charts the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day, bringing together more than 150 photographic prints, proofs and documents from the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives.”

Displayed in date order you can view portraits taken by Cecil Beaton, Annie Leibovitz, Norman Parkinson, Mario Testino and Hugh Burnand to name but a few. 
There are also explanations throughout detailing how photography has evolved through the last century.

My personal favourite was the last Royal photo taken of Princess Diana, before her untimely death, which was taken by Mario Testino.

The final photo in the exhibition is, however, of King Charles on his coronation.
I look at it and I’m afraid I don’t see the rationale for all this pomp and circumstance. I understand it is borne from centuries of tradition, servitude and dare I say public subservience but is it really needed in this day and age? Will Prince William really organise something similar to this when he succeeds to the throne? Or is he more in touch with the younger members of society?
Latest polls show 43 percent of Gen Z would choose to replace the king with an elected head of state. There is a sharp divide between the opinions of those over the age of 50, who on the whole fully support the monarchy and those under that age who are wavering from this opinion. As you progress down through the generations and ages the monarchy looses favour and this is an opinion that has not changed for several years.

The Royal Mews:
Our entry was at 2.45 pm, there was no queue and we arrived earlier but they happily allowed us in. The multimedia guide is 45 minutes and photography is allowed.

Brief Description:
This area of the Palace is the central hub of transportation whether that be by horse, carriage or car and has responsibility for all livery and harness.

The description of a Royal Mews comes from the reign of Richard Il who was the first king known to have established a permanent home for his hunting falcons and hawks at Charing Cross, one mile from the Royal Mews. The birds were kept there whilst they were mewing, or losing their feathers, which happened naturally with the changing seasons but made them temporarily unable to hunt.
In 1825 George IV, permanently moved the royal horses from Charing Cross to this current location with space for 100 horses. The buildings we see today still have space for over 70. We didn’t unfortunately get to see many horses on our visit but the State coaches are definitely something to be admired.

State Coaches:
No one, really does pageantry, pomp and ceremony like the British and the coaches on display certainly give you an insight into how this is achieved from a transport perspective.

One of the smallest carriages on display, but still worthy of a mention is the brougham which was designed in the 1830’s and only accommodates one or two passengers.
What made me smile about this small coach and why I come to mention it here is that a brougham is still used today to carry the post between Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace. I cannot imagine there is anyone else alive on the planet who receives their post in this manner!

The main exhibition begins with the Town Coach (pictured below) and then Queen Alexandra’s State Coach which since 1962 has been used during the State Opening of Parliament to carry the Imperial State Crown, the Sword of State and Cap of Maintenance in its own procession. When the Crown and regalia are travelling to Parliament, they are entitled to a Household Cavalry escort and royal salute. The Crown sits in the coach on a crimson cushion and is lit by an electric light.
Is it just me who thinks this is slightly bizarre? The words why? are you for real? and surely not? spring to mind.

The second carriage in the procession behind The King’s carriage for the State Opening of Parliament is the Glass Carriage.
This coach, however, has a far more romantic history in that it originally carried Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to Westminster Abbey for her wedding to The Duke of York (later King George VI) on 26 April 1923. Twenty four years later it then carried their daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth Il, to her wedding.
The coach has been used for several royal weddings since usually to convey the bride to the ceremony. It’s like something out of a fairytale, the young bride conveyed to her wedding by horse drawn carriage and this still resonates with some young girls today.

The newest coach in the Royal Mews is The Diamond Jubilee State Coach (pictured above) and created for Queen Elizabeth lI to commemorate this state occasion in 2012. The coach is not driven by a coachman but is instead postilion-driven which means there is a groom on each pair of horses who guide the coach in its transportation.
The interior of the coach is lined in yellow silk but what makes it truly unique is that the structure was inlaid with various historic timbers and artefacts:

  • The seat handrails are from the Royal Yacht Britannia
  • Sections of the window frames were sourced from historic structures including Caernarfon Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Henry VIlI’s flagship The Mary Rose as well as fragments from the Antarctic bases of Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton.
  • It also includes a fragment of the Stone of Scone which is the sandstone block that has sat under the Coronation Chair at all coronations since 1308
  • Also included in the build are a British lead musket ball from the battlefield at Waterloo, and a piece of metal from the casting of the Victoria Cross (the highest award for military bravery)
  • The metal comes from Russian guns captured at Sebastopol and, finally, there is a specimen Dickin Medal, which is awarded by the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) to animals who have shown great courage whilst serving in the armed services and police force.
  • The crown on the top is made in oak taken from HMS Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship, and is hollow to allow a camera to be fitted to film the crowds lining the carriage’s route.
  • And finally the frieze around the top of the carriage features the national emblems of the English rose, Scottish thistle, Irish flax and Welsh leek. It was carved in Australian beech wood and gilded.

    I really like the idea that something so new (in coach building terms) acts as protection for so many elements of the country’s history.

The piece de resistance of the carriage display, however, has to be the Gold State Coach which is displayed in it’s own separate cavernous space to allow visitors to view it as if in action complete with horses and grooms.

This is one of the most magnificent royal coaches in the world and was commissioned during the reign of George Ill.
When you stand behind the coach you can see that the rear wheels are angled outwards.

As a result each spoke hits the ground at 90 degrees which is best for taking the weight and strain of the four-ton coach. Due to its weight it can never travel faster than walking speed.

Following their coronation on May 6th 2023 The King and Queen travelled in this coach, drawn by eight Windsor Greys, from their coronation at Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
I have to ask why? Was it to draw attention to themselves? Was it Charles making a grand gesture to his new Queen and reaffirming that in his opinion Camilla was entitled to be his Queen? Was he merely having the final say on what had been a contentious issue for many years both within the royal family and amongst the public, over which he would ultimately reign?
His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, expressed in 2022 that it was her “sincere wish” that the Duchess of Cornwall becomes Queen Consort when Charles becomes King.
Camilla is not entitled (excuse the pun) to be a Queen. The constitution clearly states that a “queen consort is a woman who is married to a man who is king,” and a “queen is a woman who is born to be queen and is head of state — not the wife of a monarch.”

It makes me feel that this decision was very underhand and I don’t think the general public knew about it until the invitations to the coronation were sent out. I imagine many people don’t care either way which somewhat sums up the feelings about the monarchy amongst parts of the population. It seems like a contradiction in that someone like Charles who steadfastly aligns himself with upholding the pomp and ceremony and royal traditions then goes against everything written on the subject and just does what he wishes.

Motor Cars:
King Edward VIl was the first member of the royal family to purchase a motor car back in 1901. All the official motor cars used by the Royal Family are also housed here at the Royal Mews. They are all painted maroon and black and currently include three Rolls-Royces, two Bentleys and two green Jaguar stretched limousines for use at less formal events.
The oldest car in the collection is the 1950 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, ordered by Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh soon after their wedding.
Whilst the most recent cars are the two maroon Bentleys, one of which was presented to Queen Elizabeth Il as a Golden Jubilee gift in 2002.

Many of the cars feature modifications necessary to their unique use, such as engines which can run at three miles per hour for long distances during processions and Perspex roof fittings to enable crowds to see the occupants.
The King’s car flies the Royal Standard from the roof attachment whenever His Majesty is travelling in the vehicle.

The State Rooms:
Leaving the Royal Mews behind we walked back down the street to gain access to The State Rooms. There was no queue and our ticket was for 4.15 pm but again we were slightly early and were allowed in. The on line advice is to allow between 2 and 2.5 hours for this element of your visit.
Photography is not allowed. A fellow guest asked one of the admittance staff why this was the case and the answer was ” Because this ultimately is a family home”. Whilst I understand the no photography rule I have to beg to differ on this rationale but more on that later.

The State Rooms are the public rooms in the Palace where the monarch and members of the Royal Family receive and entertain their guests on State, ceremonial and official occasions. Last year, as part of a Western European tour, we visited the Palace of Versailles and came away really disappointed:

https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/04/25/adventure-a-tail-of-two-chateaus/

Buckingham Palace has everything that Versailles should have but didn’t The rooms are furnished with many of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection, including paintings by Van Dyck and Canaletto, sculpture by Canova, Sèvres porcelain, and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world.

Buckingham Palace was built in 1703, in pre-dominantly Neo-Classical design, for the Duke of Buckingham and has been the official residence of the British monarch since 1837. On your visit you enter into the Palace in the same manner as all visiting guests of the Royal family do and, therefore, you are met with the fairly immediate vision of The Grand Staircase. Sweeping up and around are a pair of red carpeted elegant stairways with bronze balustrades which are just beautiful and no doubt many other stately folk have fashioned their hallways accordingly.

As part of our tour we were able to visit the White Drawing Room which is probably one of the most beautiful rooms. Aptly named after its colour scheme of white and gold with large windows which allow in plenty of natural light, beautiful ceiling mouldings and a magnificent crystal chandelier hanging from the centre of the ceiling.
The Green Drawing Room, which is the room where guests assemble before a dinner or a banquet and the Blue Drawing Rooms were also part of the visit.
The wonderful parquet floor of The Music Room is worth a mention. Made of satinwood, rosewood, tulipwood, mahogany, holly and other woods it was completed in 1831 and has not been altered since. In more recent times this room has also staged royal christenings including that of the King when water was brought from the River Jordan.

The Picture Gallery was a stand out moment for me. Created by the architect John Nash in 1825, this 47-metre room was designed as a setting for King George IV’s picture collection. Paintings change quite regularly as the King happily lends out works of art to exhibitions both at home and abroad. The paintings on display are currently mainly 17th century Italian, Dutch and Flemish with artists including Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck and Claude.
It’s not surprising that King Charles and other members of the Royal family use this area for receptions and for recipients of honours to wait before being led into the Ballroom for their investiture.

The Ballroom with its regal red carpet, multiple chandeliers and sheer size was completed in 1855 during the reign of Queen Victoria. It’s not hard to imagine the State Banquets that take place here and the awe that invited guests must feel on entry. I found it amusing that such guests are notified in advance on their invite where they will be seated. I wonder how it feels when you are the furthest seat away from the host?

Finally I cannot finish without mentioning the Throne Room which, to be honest, reminded me of some historical movies where the big double doors are opened and the subjects are invited to make their entrance. It felt like nothing had changed.
Before them and central to the room is the pair of throne chairs which are known as Chairs of Estate. They were made for the Coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1953 and were also used for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

This was the final port of call on our visit and for me the most eye opening both in terms of the inordinate splendour and also as an insight into where the reigning monarch is suppose to live.
Whilst the Palace, no doubt, has a historical place within the country it also makes me question how anyone brought up in this environment can relate to ordinary folk. There have been many mistakes made by our current Royal family that have been splashed across the media across the years. At times these errors of judgement seem to be borne out of a life of privilege and I now feel like I understand why.
This part of the Palace is not a home! There is nothing about it that is inviting, cosy or dare I say “normal”. In fact I came away feeling that if King Charles really sees this as a home then he is even farther removed from the British people than I probably ever imagined.
It also helped me to understand the changes that are faced by those marrying into the Royal family who don’t have this type of upbringing. The steep learning curve they must endure just to “try and fit in”. The etiquette they have to learn to adopt so as not to offend.

I am a midlifer and, therefore, certainly not of the younger generation and even I wouldn’t be able to conform to the expectation, should it ever be necessary, that I am expected to bow to the King.

End of the Tour:
The tour finishes at the on site cafe which, even if I say so myself, does produce some excellent scones. Then as you take the 20 minute walk back out alongside the gardens you can stop at the gift shop which amusingly had sold out of English print copies of the official guidebook. Must be the amount of Americans who come and visit! As we discovered last year when road tripping in the US they do love our Royal family!

Discover the Secrets of Crete’s Spinalonga Island

As I said in my previous post I didn’t really do a lot of research into Crete as we were coming here on holiday primarily to relax, sunbathe and take a break from life and everything 2024 had thrown at us to date.

Having been island hopping on two previous occasions I do have the Lonely Planet Guide to the Greek Islands. I, therefore, gave Crete a quick read and decided if we went anywhere I would try to visit Knossos and/or Spinalonga. The coach company assigned to our resort offered both of these historical places of interest but the trips to Knossos were both at times during the day when I perceived there would be an avalanche of tourists and this was not something I wanted to subject us to based upon our experience of Hersonissos. Thus a half day trip to Spinalonga with a couple of additional stops seemed to fit our needs.

En route to Spinalonga we were introduced to our female guide for the excursion who was very friendly, knowledgable and welcoming. The drive down to Elounda from where our boat would depart for the island went by quite quickly with an interesting narrative given about Crete as a whole.

Crete – As An Island

Crete is not only the fifth largest of the islands in the Mediterranean Sea but is also the largest and most populated island in Greece.
It lies approximately 100 miles south of the Greek mainland and about 62 miles southwest of Turkey, surrounded by the Aegean Sea.
Because of its size and population, it is one of the most important economic zones in Greece.
The island is divided into four provinces or administrative regions running east to west across the island. These are known as Lasithi (East Crete), Heraklion (Central Crete), Rethymnon and Chania (West Crete).

The vast majority of the island is covered in mountains with some beautiful beaches along the coastline. There are several natural reserves on the island along with a tremendous amount of culture and history.
Approximately 670,000 people live on the island with the largest city being Heraklion, home to one of the two international airports and also a ferry port, from where you can travel both to mainland Greece and other islands. About a fifth of the population live in the city of Heraklion.
It is a relatively long and narrow island, stretching for 160 miles on its east-west axis which takes approx five hours to drive without stopping and varying in width from 7.5 to 37 miles wide.

In addition to the people who live on the island permanently, there are a lot of tourists who visit Crete every year. In 2023 this topped just short of five million with people visiting not just for vacations but also for archaeological and cultural exploration. Within this 5 million are around three quarters of a million Brits.
Crete has a rich history and culture that dates back thousands of years. The island was once home to the Minoan civilisation, one of the earliest civilisations in Europe.

Needless to say one of the key sections of the economy is tourism but agriculture is also important. Crete is proudly self sufficient growing a variety of crops. Olives and the resulting production of olive oil are really important but vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, peppers and courgettes also play a role. Fruits such as grapes, pomegranates, oranges and limes are also clearly visible on the island and they even grow their own bananas.
Carob beans are also grown and made into flour. Not particularly popular here in the UK, carob powder has more calcium and fiber than cacao (from which chocolate is derived). It also has lower levels of saturated fats and is caffeine-free, so it’s healthier for your body and heart.
The Cretan people are world renowned for their longevity. It is a global phenomenon that has long been the subject of numerous scientific studies over the years. All of these studies and research have concluded that they live longer for two main factors: The first is the quality of food, and the second is the way of living.

The History of Spinalonga

Spinalonga Island has a weird and wonderful history. This now uninhabited island was originally a stronghold of the Venetians, who built a massive fortress in 1579 to protect the bays of Elounda and Mirabello. Unfortunately this effort failed when in 1715 the island fell to Ottoman rule.
Fast forward to 1901, when the Cretan government passed a decree for the isolation of people affected by leprosy and with Spinalonga’s isolated location off the northern tip of the Spinalonga Peninsula they decided to establish a leprosy quarantine colony here.
Also known as Hansen’s Disease, the condition causes skin lesions, nerve damage and muscle weakness and has been around since ancient times. As many as 1000 Greeks were quarantined on Spinalonga, initially in squalid and miserable conditions. This changed, however, in 1936 with the arrival of Epaminondas Remoundakis, a law student who contracted leprosy at the age of 21, and who fought passionately for better medical care and infrastructure on the island. A cure for leprosy was finally discovered in 1948 and the last person left Spinalonga in 1957.

The island then underwent a cultural popularity resurgence with the release of Victoria Hislop’s 2005 bestselling novel The Island with a subsequent Greek TV series spin-off called “To Nici”. Thanks to Hislop’s tale about her own family’s connection to the island, interest in Spinalonga has risen expotentially and thus boats depart regularly from Elounda, Plaka and Agios Nikolaos.

Our Visit:

The ferry crossing was included in our coach ticket for the day but the cost to sail across is 14 Euros with an entrance fee onto the island of 8 euros. Subsidies are available for children and senior citizens with photographic proof.
The journey only took about ten minutes with the fortress on the hill coming ever closer and we were soon docking beside a small, pebbly beach.

Having paid our entrance fee we entered the island, as the lepers before us would have done, by walking through Dante’s Gate – a 20m-long tunnel.
If you are visiting independently you can join a guided tour. However as we were booked on a return boat back to our coach we chose to go at our own pace and followed the pathway right around the island which took about an hour.

Leprosy is an ancient disease and has been feared since biblical times when lepers were treated as ‘unclean’. Lepers were cast out by society with the disease creating unsightly deformities affecting faces and limbs. These were thought to be physical evidence of past sins. This unfortunate belief remained in place for centuries and right up to the early 20th century leprosy was considered to be a highly contagious and incurable disease. Many of Crete’s lepers used to live in caves. At least on Spinalonga there was a hospital with nurses, a caretaker and a priest, but living conditions were poor and often squalid, much of which is described in Hislop’s novel, which takes place in the last years of the leper colony in the 1950s.

The trail takes you past the main sights including the church, the disinfection room, the hospital and eventually the cemetery. These are obviously now mainly in ruins but you can still get an incredible insight and feel for those stranded here.

The remains of the Venetian fortress still stand atop the hill and at the end of the Ottoman occupation of Crete, the island became a refuge for thousands of Ottoman families. They formed their own community here in the 19th century and you can still see some of their houses, shops and workshops as you wander around the island today.
The houses were two-storey structures with inclined roofs, whitewashed inside and out. They had ornate openings and wooden door and window frames painted in bright colours. Each house had its own courtyard, surrounded by a high wall, which usually housed small ancillary buildings, such as a cooking area and a toilet. Floors were tiled and the courtyards were often pebbled. The most well-to-do houses also had their own rainwater cistern.

At the southernmost end of the main street there was a sizeable number of shops and coffee houses with large shop doors and glazed openings in their facades. Almost all of them had an ancillary room on the upper floor.
Part of a shopping street has been reconstructed to give visitors a better idea of what it would have looked like when the island was a leper colony. Despite the streets and shop buildings now being empty, if you take a minute to sit and take in the ambiance, you can still feel the sense of community that was once here. It’s nearly 70 years since the lepers were living here in Spinalonga, walking these same streets, buying bread from the shops and attending the church.
They were responsible for earning their own livelihood. They lived and fell in love on this tiny island. They cultivated land, married and had children here.

In some respects it also reminded me of Alcatraz in so much as the people living here would have been able to look out of the windows from the walls of this island prison to the clear, blue sea beyond and the mainland in the distance perhaps longing and wishing for a different life.

As you near the end of your circumference of the island you come across the graveyard, a testament to those who arrived but never left when eventually a cure for the disease was found. Unesco describes the island as a “monument to human pain” and to be honest I could see it and feel it as I made my way around. There is an eerie silence to the place with silent bells and vegetation strewn rocks that is hard to avoid.

Returning to the start and in our case awaiting the arrival of our return boat you can pop into the small museum, with information about the various historical periods and occupations.
There is also a small café beside the water, serving drinks and snacks.

There is no doubt that the island played a significant role in the history of Crete and even Greece itself so I would truly recommend a visit. I left the island desperately needing to read Victoria’s book and wanting to transport myself back to those times I had imagined on my visit.

Holidays versus Travelling -Part 2

I have already written a post outlining our thoughts on taking a holiday versus going travelling https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/03/03/adventure-holidays-versus-travelling/
and to be honest didn’t really imagine back then I would be writing a part two but here I am sat on a sofa in an apartment in Crete doing just that!

2024 has been a tough year for us and whilst we had not originally planned to do any further travelling this year we also didn’t expect this year to unfold the way it has.
We had made the decision in September 2023 when we returned from our six months away that we would spend the next twelve months making real life decisions. Hubby retired in March 2023 when we set off so we really needed to find out:
1/ Can we live together full time now we are both retired?
2/ Can we live off the monthly pension allowance coming in every month in addition to putting money aside to continue our future travel plans?
3/ Did we want to remain in our current house or did we want to move out of the area in order to buy a property a bit more secluded and more to our ideal taste? Alternatively did we want to downsize in order to release capital from our current home and reduce our monthly bills?
4/ If we chose to stay what outlay was there going to be in order to deliver the home and garden we wanted for retirement?

The first reality check we had was the enormous and unexpected hangover we suffered when we returned from travelling. See my previous post:
https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/09/29/real-life-when-the-trip-is-over/

Christmas came and went, then on New Year’s Eve we received a telephone call at 10 p.m. which catapulted us into 2024 with a bang. This was just the beginning of what turned into a constantly changing landscape where we were dealing with the unexpected on more than one occasion. Every member of our close family was touched by one issue or another.

Crete:
We decided, in order to give us some respite from what 2024 was constantly throwing at us, we would book a holiday to Crete for two weeks. I did little or no research into where we were going as this was a holiday and the plan was to relax.

Here we are on our final night of our two week holiday and what a rollercoaster it has been. In the last six years, not withstanding the time at home due to Covid, we have spent:

8 weeks road tripping around England and Scotland
4 weeks island hopping in Greece
3 months touring Western Europe by train then
3 months road tripping in the USA

I know, compared to some, we are still fairly new to this world but in flying out to Crete to actually stay in one place, relax around a pool in the sunshine for two weeks we didn’t really give our travelling experience a second thought. We’ve been away on holiday before so what can go wrong?

Do you remember the days before the “all inclusive holiday”?
I do. I remember spending many summer holidays in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands when my children were small. The day would begin early with breakfast in our apartment, then the children would eagerly get in the pool. Happy to stay there all day, playing and making new but temporary friends I was left to switch off from work, relax, read and get a bit of a suntan.
Lunch would be back in the apartment and then in the evening we would all get showered and changed and go out for dinner. Exploring the local restaurants and cuisine was half of the fun of our holiday. My children grew up culturally more aware as a result and still happily try anything once.

We took a break from Fuerteventura in 2005 returningin 2010, as a bit of a final farewell to an island that my children saw as a second home where they fine tuned their conversational Spanish and made friends from another country.
Wow! what a difference in just a couple of years. Many of the small restaurants that had been favourite haunts had disappeared. They had fallen foul of the mass tourism, package holiday deals which were now all inclusive.
A new generation of children and teenagers were now coming through the “holiday abroad system” completely unaware of the culture of the land they were now in, as package deal hotels laid on breakfast, lunch and dinner, “eat as much as you want” at the buffet. Mum and Dad could also now drink all the local beer, wine and spirits they wanted all for one price paid in advance before you even step onto the plane!
This generation of teenagers are now parents themselves and thus the cycle continues with them bringing their children abroad on the same style of all inclusive holidays!

Whilst we are not booked on this type of holiday as we have used our holiday ownership to stay here, most of the other visitors are and it’s really quite weird watching this play out. It’s like they have transported themselves from one country to another and then just picked up their lives here. There doesn’t appear to be much interest in exploring the island, learning about ancient civilisations or understanding the Greek culture. There isn’t even much socialising.
Admittedly there are a lot more different nationalities than fifteen years ago but each family seems to remain within their own unit. I’m not seeing children playing in the pool together or making new holiday buddies. Even their parents seem to be keeping themselves to themselves. They just seem to want to exist within this bubble for a week (most only come for 7 days) and then return home showing everyone their wonderful tan and telling family and friends about their wonderful holiday.

Brits Abroad!
We arrived on a Friday and with two weeks stretching in front of us, we chilled out around the pool for a couple of days. We tried the “all you can eat” buffet” on the Friday night for dinner, the pool bar for lunch/dinner on the Saturday and then the buffet again for breakfast on the Sunday.
Our resort is high up on a hill, quite detached from humankind, with magnificent views across the nearby mountains and a free shuttle bus down to the local main town of Hersonissos running several times a day. So eager to explore we caught the bus down into town on Monday morning having no idea what to expect.

Making our way to the seafront we decided to walk along to the harbour. The narrow streets were lined with a never ending collection of bars, restaurants, tacky souvenir shops and even a couple of “ladies clubs”. Everywhere we looked signage, menus and even printed t-shirts were in English. There was absolutely no evidence of Greece. We could have been anywhere. It felt like a seaside town in England with guaranteed sunshine.

We have a term for this type of resort it’s “Brits Abroad” . Have you ever watched the film “Shirley Valentine” ? it’s a comedy/romance that came out in 1989 based upon a lady who escapes the confines of Liverpuddlian married life and takes herself off to Greece. Some of the reactions of the fellow guests in her hotel sum up for us a “Brits Abroad” mentality where fellow Brits travel to other countries and want it to be the same as at home.
This mentality still lives and breathes across Europe and the really sad part about it, other than the boards outside restaurants advertising English breakfast, is how the locals so desperate for the tourist pound change their lives and their culture to pamper to this demand.

Suddenly what was once a beautiful, quaint, town on the edge of the sea, founded 3500 years ago by the Minoans, grows into something that the older Greek generation cannot even recognise. All the authenticity is lost and you even find small Greek churches poking out from amidst this tourist chaos.

The narrow strip of sand that masquerades as a beach is absolutely heaving.

The harbour is no longer full of fishing boats returning from the morning catch but instead is overshadowed by two large imitation pirate ships loading their passengers for the “all day adventure” at sea. As they leave the harbour the drinks are already flowing, the buffet is being prepared for lunch that is a poor imitation of real greek food and the music will be playing. At some point they will drop anchor in a previously quiet bay with clear water just inviting them all to jump off and go for a dip. This whole scene is just so predictable and quite honestly as I’ve said before sad.
These people are not learning anything about the island, the Greek food or the people, they are just bringing their British culture to yet another seaside resort in the Mediterranean. This is no different to the time of the empire when as a country we happily took the British culture abroad and embedded it in countries such as India.

Our trip into town was short lived that day as we quickly made our way to the local large supermarket to pick up some supplies and then caught the bus back to solitude.

We had deliberately not chosen to hire a car on this trip as we were coming here to relax, unwind and catch our breath before going home to plan further travels. Without a car we found ourselves, at times, a little stranded.
We did manage to utilise the shuttle bus to our advantage and get off to walk through the village of Old Hersonissos with lime and pomegranate trees (see photograph above) lining the narrow road and even some grapes that we could easily have “borrowed”.
This is a small friendly village located less than two miles north of the “new” Hersonissos. It is located on the slope of Mount Charakas and from here we were also able to walk west to the villages of Piskopiano and Koutalafari where we ate at a couple of traditional family owned tavernas with more authentic Greek food.

We also took the shuttle bus down to a “sister resort” a bit further around the coast from Hersonissos at Stalis. Here we did partake in the touristic ritual of hiring a couple of sunbeds and an umbrella for the day and actually getting to spend some time on a beach. It was still pretty crowded but at least lunch wasn’t a “Brits Abroad” menu and the whole place was immaculately clean and very welcoming.
We also returned on another day and in need of some presents to take home wandered down through the shops and on out onto the coastline where we found an amazing quiet and peaceful cove to take a dip in the crystal clear blue sea and have an amazing lunch at another family owned taverna.

Our actual resort also had a list of coach trips available. Not normally our cup of tea but we thought we would give a half day tour a go and visited the island of Spinalonga which I will write about separately. Suffice to say the trip was good but being herded on and off a coach with set time frames to deliver to, isn’t us.

“Can you go on holiday when you are used to going travelling?
There is no doubt that we achieved our main aim of relaxing in the sun, recharging our batteries and refreshing our tired minds and bodies from everything 2024 has thus far chucked at us.
The view from our balcony was a welcome treat every morning when I stepped outside to have breakfast or watched the sun go down and the moon come up at night.

I also became used to the sound of the bells jangling as the local sheep and goats made their way down from higher pastures as the afternoon came to a close.

However we missed:
The solitude and the freedom of doing what we want when we want
The interaction with people. One of the loveliest parts of driving Route 66 was all the different people we met en route from locals to fellow road trippers.
The excitement of exploration. For example we will always remember driving down a winding coastal road into a small hamlet on the coast of Naxos with one taverna and a family eagerly waiting to greet us and share their culture and food at a leisurely pace.
Time standing still, being able to poodle along at our own pace, beholden to no one but ourselves
The laughter of our own shared company when the unexpected happens or things don’t go quite according to plan

For us this holiday has led to many discussions, reflections and foresights. Whilst we may well return to Crete, in the future, in order to explore it properly over a much longer period of time we have discovered that travelling provides greater stimulation and personal freedom to us than a holiday. This trip was unfortunately sorely lacking in these two areas. The answer, therefore, to the question posed at the start of this section is “No, you cannot go on holiday once you have been travelling!.

Exploring The Cotswolds: Blenheim Palace – History, Architecture, and Gardens

Back in the Spring we visited Blenheim with our annual membership and had a really enjoyable day strolling around the main gardens.
https://amidlifeadventure.org/2024/04/16/the-cotswolds-visiting-blenheim-palace/

Unfortunately on that occasion we were unable to access the house itself and so we returned this Summer to finally get a much wanted peek inside.

The History of the Palace:
Historical houses have always held a fascination for me particularly those that have lovely architectural features. Blenheim is the only non -royal, non -episcopal country house in England to hold the title of a Palace and was built in the English Baroque style.
One of England’s largest houses, it was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1987.
Queen Anne rewarded John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, with the estate for his military triumphs against France and the Bavarians in the War of the Spanish Succession which culminated in the Battle of Blenheim.
With her husband John away at war, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, oversaw the construction of Blenheim Palace which began in 1705. Sarah was a powerful woman. As Keeper of the Privy Purse, she effectively controlled the Queen’s budget. It was rare for a woman to reach such heights.
Sarah’s first choice of architect was Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St Paul’s Cathedral and later of Sarah and John’s own London home. John, however, disagreed and instead appointed Sir John Vanbrugh to create his Palace.
Previously a playwright, Vanbrugh was keen to present the palace in an opulent and decorative English Baroque style and chose only the best and most expensive materials, seeking out master craftsmen to deliver his ideas. Sarah felt he was too extravagant and ignored her instructions and soon took a dislike to the man. Their relationship eventually became so stormy that it disrupted the project.

The Marlboroughs troubles, unfortunately, didn’t stop with Vanbrugh. Their relationship with Queen Anne also broke down, and they were dismissed from their royal posts. As a result in 1712 they left England for Antwerp and the Queen ordered all building work on Blenheim to stop. This remained the case until Anne’s death in 1714 when John and Sarah were able to return to England and restart the project, this time at their own expense. The Duke died in 1722 and thus never saw his palace completed. Sarah continued with the project, completing its construction as a dedication to her much loved husband.

Following the palace’s completion, it became the home of the Churchill ( later Spencer-Churchill) family for the next 300 years, and various members of the family have made their own changes to the interiors, park and gardens. The Palace went on to become the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. There is an exhibition on site (to the right of the main Palace entrance) dedicated to this world famous head of state with photographs, letters, artefacts and excerpts from his most famous speeches.

Touring the Palace:
With our free admission we didn’t have to book our visit but did arrive early at 10.15. The gardens currently open at 10 and the Palace at 10.30. Being the school summer holidays the car park was already busy.
It’s always worth checking their website in advance of any visit because they do shut the Palace for filming (part of the latest series of Bridgerton was shot here). There is currently an additional tour that can be booked (up to September 30th) entitled The Bridgerton Trail if you are a fan!
There are also special events during the year, including weddings of the rich and famous, when the Palace isn’t open and exhibitions are scheduled which may affect your visit.
There is a map available on their website which you can utilise to plan your visit or alternatively you can pick up a leaflet on arrival.
Guided Palace State Room tours also take place daily at 12:00 and 14:00. These are included with a valid Pass or Palace day ticket, starting in the Great Hall. No need to book, you just turn up! 
If you are intending to see the Palace and explore the grounds my recommendation would be to allow up to six hours. If the weather is in your favour it’s a great place to bring a picnic or there are places to buy food from a coffee to afternoon tea (this needs to booked in advance).
To arrive at the Palace entrance you need to walk through the East Courtyard into the Great Court and the entrance is then on your left. You can download an audible tour inside but you ideally need your own headphones and plenty of phone battery.

Walking in you immediately are met with the magnificent Great Hall. This brings to mind all those stories I read as a school girl written by the Bronte sisters and films I’ve watched based around the Royal family and their ancestors. If you stand there for a moment you can just imagine the carriages drawing up to the front steps and those ladies resplendent in their gowns and jewellery making their grand entrance to a ball.
The ceiling which is 20 meters high was painted by Sir James Thornhill who also painted the dome in St Paul’s Cathedral. The entrance door is the original oak door made in 1715 with a key that weights 3.5 lbs! The arch windows above the door are beautiful letting in the summer light as we begin our tour.

If you look up you will also see a ledge around the edge of the room. During WWIl boys from Malvern College were evacuated to Blenheim Palace and during the blackouts, these boys would have to climb the staircases hidden in the columns either side and climb onto the 2ft wide ledge to close the curtains!

The tour of the State Rooms is very easy to follow and you can listen to every description of each room on the audio tour or skip if there are elements that don’t interest you. A couple of my highlights were:
The fantastic paintings of those who have lived here set amongst some beautifully decorated rooms with priceless furniture of the time.

The original tapestries lining some of the walls in place of wallpaper

The statue of Queen Anne in the library along with the astounding collection of books. Again it harps back to an era when before television and radios were invented gentle folk had to find their own pastimes and would happily spend time reading.

It is worth noting that you can buy an additional ticket in advance if you wish to visit the Upstairs or Downstairs of the Palace. Both of these tours run individually and are currently scheduled at  11.00, 12.00, 14.00 & 15.00.

When we had finished the tour of the State Rooms we made our way into the chapel. Following the death of Duchess Sarah in 1744 the Duke’s coffin was returned to Blenheim from its temporary resting place at Westminster Abbey and husband and wife were interred together. A tomb was erected and completed and Blenheim Palace then became not just a Palace and Gardens but also a mausoleum with successive family members also being placed here after death.

We spent the remainder of our day strolling the gardens. We had already visited the Formal Gardens and Water Terraces on our previous visit along with the Walled Garden and so we made our way to Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge in order to begin the Queen Pool walk. The bridge is thus named because the architect designed and created a bridge originally of such huge proportions it was reported to contain some 30 rooms!

The 4th Duke of Marlborough in 1764 employed the now famous Capability Brown to transform the landscape into something more natural. Brown is forever associated with the redevelopment of the lake here at Blenheim. This huge stretch of water was created by damming the River Glyme and enhanced by a series of cascades, where the river flows in and out, which we had previously visited. He then narrowed it at the point of Vanbrugh’s grand bridge, but the three small canal-like streams that originally trickled underneath it were completely absorbed by one river-like stretch. Brown’s greatest achievement at this point was to actually flood and submerge beneath the water level the lower stories and rooms of the bridge itself, thus reducing its great height and achieving what is regarded by many as a quintessential English landscape.

The walk was easy to follow and allows you views across to the small islands within and back across to the Palace itself.

Again your imagination can run riot and imagine those genteel folk strolling in the summer sunshine admiring the views and magnificence of this astounding Palace.

NB: This is the eleventh post in my series about the wonderful “Cotswolds”. This is an area of England that you really shouldn’t miss out on visiting if you are coming to the UK.
It’s full of olde world charm, history going back to the Roman era and beautiful architecture.

Check out previous posts in this series. Please don’t forget to comment and/or like.
Thank you


Jamie Oliver and Alex James’ Big Feastival: Midlife Adventure in the Cotswolds

What does a midlife lady do when it’s pouring with rain, on a August Bank Holiday Saturday in the Cotswolds? Go to the Big Feastival of course!
This festival held over the August Bank Holiday weekend every year takes place in Kingham. It originally began in 2012 when Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef, restauranteur and cookbook author and Alex James, bassist for Blur, decided to create a combined music and food festival. The duo initially planned to host the event in Victoria Park in London to coincide with the London Summer Olympics, however due to branding restrictions this plan was cancelled and it was moved to Alex’s farm in the Cotswolds.

Being a massive fan of Jamie Oliver I had thought about attending for many years. Not only do I have nearly every cookbook he has ever written but I love his down to earth approach, family orientated vibe and crusade to bring good, healthy food to every household.
I don’t have time for all that Michelin star “pretty food” where after three bites you’ve eaten over £100 worth of fancy cooking. I want to watch cookery programmes full of honest to goodness recipes that I can easily follow and reproduce at home with a presenter that just knows how to talk to us “normal folk”. I never miss a cookery series if Jamie is fronting it!

Alex James conversely plays in a band that I would never buy tickets to see. While Blur and Oasis were competing for the Britpop top act in the mid 90’s I was busy going to see Bon Jovi at the Milton Keynes Bowl!
Alex did, however, realise the words of his famous song Country House “Oh, he lives in a house/A very big house/In the country” when he and his new wife famously bought the farm in Kingham whilst on their honeymoon in 2003. Together they renovated the 200 acre estate and turned it into, amongst other things, a cheese farm.  

Despite the fact that Jamie left as co-host of the Festival after just five years in 2017, I felt that if I was to fulfil my ambition of actually “getting down with the kids” and attending a festival this would be the right starting point for me.
The Feastival is billed as “the place to experience music from top acts, tuck into top chef demos in the Big Kitchen and have your fill from The Menu, featuring the cream of the UK’s street food crop”
We had toyed with the idea, initially, of going all out and staying in a bell tent for the weekend. With various levels of this type of accommodation to choose from you could opt for a tent “offering top-notch facilities for ultimate relaxation and comfort. Expect everything from raised beds with memory foam mattresses, power sockets and hanging clothes storage, to hot showers and flushing toilets; plus a cinema tent to chill out with a film and some popcorn; and even a pamper tent to get yourself feeling festival fabulous.”
But with prices starting around the £750 mark we opted instead to part with £220 including parking, refund protection and a “keep sake” programme to just try it out for one day to begin with. This transpired to be the right decision for as subsequently I photographed some of the bell tents up on the hillock overlooking the feastival activities and they were so close together, there cannot of been any privacy!

And so on the day we rolled up, around 10.30 in the morning, in my 4×4 truck happily anticipating a gentle introduction to festival life having never experienced anything like this before. We put on our walking boots, raincoats, plastered a smile on our faces and stepped out into the pouring rain ready to explore this music/ food phenomenon.

And this is the point where if you are looking for a rave review of what is considered by some to be the ‘Glastonbury of the Cotswolds’, you need to put this blog post to one side and do your own research. There are many wonderful reviews of this event including a report by a site called “buildingyourownnashville.com” which will extol the virtues of the event.
We, however, didn’t get it “at all”……

We began our exploration by turning right, passing the Marks and Spencer bar and store (they are one of the main sponsors this year) and heading to the merchandise stand to pick up our very small programme incased in a plastic sleeve with a Big Feastival ribbon to hang it around your neck.
Heading across to the right we stopped at the Nespresso stand to grab a morning coffee. The covered hay bales with comfy cushions offered an early respite from the rain and gave us a chance to have a look through the programme. I then handed it over to hubby to navigate us around and thus we set off on a clockwise exploration of the Village Green.

We strolled past the M&S Cookery School where you can book to take part in an interactive cooking experience, personally this wasn’t very appealing to us. Next door is their “Little Cooks” Tent where the aim is to educate children about food whilst allowing them to get hands on in an interactive cooking class. The whole weekend is very geared around being a family festival and this was very evident throughout.

Passing the Bandstand which hadn’t opened up yet we managed to secure a seat in the “The Big Kitchen”. With a programme of daily events clearly displayed outside and also incorporated in our nifty programme we decided to sit and watch “Meliz Berg”. Having researched this lady on the internet, whilst sat awaiting her demonstration at 11.30, she is “a self-taught cook, recipe developer, and food content creator. Inspired by her Turkish-Cypriot heritage, and her experience of growing up in a household that combined both traditional Cypriot and London living, she created the blog and Instagram page Meliz Cooks”. We had never heard of her but then we are midlifers who don’t spend every waking minute attached to a phone.
To be fair she was very engaging and following her class, if that is what you call it, I did pop next door afterwards to peruse her new cookery book.

Moving on we passed the “Table Sessions” tent which again is a bookable, thirty minute experience where you can take part in a workshop or tasting session with chefs, brands and industry experts. I had perused this on line when I was sent an email, in advance, notifying me of the need to book but frankly didn’t recognise any of the names listed? Maybe that’s not the point and you are suppose to just “give it a go” but I’m afraid I didn’t feel inspired.

Heading on past The Big Top, another feature for children, we left the Village Green and headed out and left into the Udder Field. Coming across The Exchange which hosts everything from comedy to karaoke, quizzes and live podcasts we noticed the tented area filling up and on checking the programme found the next session featured live on stage “James and Clair Buckley”. We had no idea who they were but decided to find ourselves a spot to sit/stand and await their arrival on stage.

Again with Google to the rescue I discovered they are “co-hosts of the acclaimed podcast ‘In Sickness and In Health’ and the creative minds behind the hit YouTube channel ‘At Home with the Buckleys’ “.
All credit to them, having never been a fan of the “Inbetweeners” and having rarely listened to anyone’s podcast and only used Youtube for the basic enquiry they did raise a laugh or two and I was drawn into their honest, marital banter.
It highlighted to me, however, how again I don’t spend my life watching reality tv and searching endlessly for something to pique my interest every night at home.

As we made our way past the Sundown Saloon in the quest for some food there was a duo called “Two Ways Home” doing their best to entertain but they didn’t stop me in my tracks I’m afraid and we walked on by.
Beyond the Saloon are a series of food stands centred around outdoorsy food and bbq’s known as The Smokery. We decided it was time to find some lunch and having perused all the different offerings settled upon “Temper” who were shortly scheduled to do a session in The Fire Pit, another cookery style demonstration. We opted for their “Greedy Cow” meat plate at a cost of £15 each.

While hubby made the purchase I managed to squeeze onto the end of a wooden picnic bench which was undercover. The four young people already seated happily allowed us “oldies” to eat our lunch in relative comfort. Whilst we sat and ate our fairly small portion of bbq they seemed to be veterans and individually, at intervals, would pop out to a vendor and return with a plate big enough I guess to count as a starter for four in a restaurant. Thus getting to sample four different offerings between them for lunch. Perhaps this is the way you are supposed to do it?

When they departed we were joined by another two couples, more in line with our age group, who were delightedly camping for three nights. I was hoping, in chatting to them, to discover the secret to this type of event, to understand the attraction. The rain had started in the early hours of Friday morning they explained to us and not stopped since. Personally I couldn’t think of anything worse than to be under soggy canvas with wet clothes at our age but they seemed to be quite happy having come all the way up from Kent!

We finished our lunch with two fairly decent size portions of cake which we had purchased in a small tent of about six businesses before heading back out this time into a burst of sunshine and briefly returned to watch the end of an act ” Swing Patrol” at the Saloon. They had certainly managed to pull a crowd and whilst displaying their dancing techniques themselves had successfully encouraged patrons to get up on the temporary dance floor. I’ve dabbled in Ciroc some years ago and would probably have enjoyed watching their 45 minute set had I known.

Making our way past the independent retail businesses on our left, none of which really attracted us to stop, we headed back past our starting point and up towards the Main Stage. It had become evident, by this point, that real die hard festival goers come well equipped with big trollies to carry their fold up chairs, small children and relevant accoutrements.

They are easily spotted, even when not pulling a trolley, because they have glitter on their faces or silver sparkly clothes.

Three acts had already been and gone, none of which we had recognised but maybe again that’s the point. You are suppose to listen, regardless, in case you happen to see the next, currently not yet spotted, new big talent?
It was odd to see not just the normal flock of people standing up near the stage but how this then drifted quite quickly into crowds of attendees sat on their camping chairs. Some in rows but others had claimed their own space on the field forming semi or full circles of chairs. As if to say “this is our piece of the action” walk around! The majority of these folk were not listening to the music on stage but chatting, eating, drinking and generally socialising. I’m guessing they had claimed their spot for the day and were awaiting some other act due on later in the programme?

It was fairly obvious, quite quickly, that if you had intentions of watching a bigger name later such as Cat Burns who was due on at 6.30 you would be struggling to find somewhere to stand much less park a chair without being miles away from the stage.
Kate Nash was on stage, at this point and whilst I remembered her first hit single from 2007 called “Foundations” she wasn’t again someone who I necessarily wanted to listen to. This wasn’t helped, to be frank, by what appeared to be either a poor sound system or a voice that seemed to be off key at times.

Behind us, at this point, was the Alex James’ Cheese Hub which is apparently a double decker disco. It certainly looked very busy from the outside even in the afternoon.
Next door is the Roller Disco aimed at giving whole families a chance to amuse themselves and then the Street Food Circus which is billed as an immersive food dining experience with DJ’s, cocktails and performances.
We didn’t get a chance to check this out properly because the heavens opened and the rain came down in torrents and like so many others we all piled into this covered circus tent to just take refuge from the rain. There was a DJ, to be fair, playing some fairly classic 80’s tunes and another gentleman we had seen earlier making massive liquid bubbles for the enjoyment of the children. Just to prove that I’m not a complete old fogie I asked hubby to put one on my Christmas list!

Once the rain had finally taken a break we ventured back out to explore the street food sellers in this area. There was a vast selection and to be honest I’m not sure what we really expected but it just wasn’t this. They were all basically stand alone food stalls like you would see at any large event. I equated it to Badminton Horse Trials where these type of food conveyors are scattered, at intervals, throughout the course. We love this type of food but it just didn’t equate to the food trucks (actual trucks not food outlets) that we have frequented on our travels particularly in the USA. Two of which stand out still in our memories and both weirdly in Key West!

Hubby purchased some churros with an unwanted pot of melted chocolate but I was not in need of any more food and we suddenly found ourselves at about 4.30 in the afternoon looking at each other and wondering “what next?” We’d finished our exploration and thus stood and debated.
“Do we pop back to the car and take refuge for a couple of hours with the intention of returning to watch Cat Burns who we have actually heard of and enjoy?” or do we “put this Festival Experience down to exactly that -an experience and head home?”


And so it was that we waved goodbye to our Festival experience and drove away, glad to be in a 4×4 while other cars were sliding their way to the exit whilst other festival goers were still arriving. I guess at £100 a ticket to watch an evening full of entertainment and more known acts isn’t that expensive these days when you are familiar with the extortionate prices charged for a ticket to see a headliner such Ed Sheeran, Adele or Taylor Swift in concert these days!

NB: This is the tenth post in my series about the wonderful “Cotswolds”. Whilst this is a fairly one off post about the joys or otherwise of visiting a festival, the Cotswolds, as a whole, is an area that you really shouldn’t miss out on visiting if you are coming to the UK.
It’s full of olde world charm, history going back to the Roman era and beautiful architecture.

Check out previous posts in this series. Please don’t forget to comment and/or like. I’m intrigued to hear other midlife adventurers experiences of festivals, they might tempt us to try again!
Thank you

Should The Olympic Games Be Open To All Spectators?

Following on from last week’s post and as Los Angeles starts it’s four year focused preparation for 2028 I wanted to delve a little further into the games themselves and the idea of actually watching them live,
It’s definitely on my bucket list to watch the Olympics live but is that really going to be possible in my lifetime?

I decided to do a bit of research into this long held dream………………

All the photos on this post are taken from my 2023 collection when we travelled around the USA passing through nineteen states!

If we begin back in London in 2012 when 97 per cent of all tickets available were sold.
There were 8.8million tickets available of which 6.6 million were offered to the general public. 5.94 million of those tickets were priced at £100 or less of which 3.92 million were £50 or less and 2.5 million were £20 or less. Accounting for inflation, in 2024 this equates to £144, £72 and £29.

Four years later, in Brazil, approximately 3.8million tickets were offered at a cost of 70 Brazilian reals which is about £17 or less, with the cheapest ticket priced at 40 Brazilian reals (about £13). That was 1.3 million more tickets at this lower price point compared to London. With inflation, this would be £23 and £17.

Fast forward to Covid affected Tokyo. Prior to the games being postponed by a year, half of all tickets were priced at £60 or less, when converted from the yen with the cheapest general tickets priced at £19. I couldn’t actually find out how many tickets or what percentage were offered at this price though.

In Paris one million tickets were released at £20, that’s only 10 percent of the overall tickets being within a price range that locals could probably afford.

But what do you actually get to see for these low end prices?
There is no doubt that these tickets will be in the least desirable areas — predominantly the highest and furthest away from the action and will not include medal events.

Tickets for the opening ceremony in London were priced between £20.12 and £2,012 and the closing ceremony. between £20.12 to £1,500.
The most expensive tickets were for swimming, gymnastics and athletics.

In Tokyo tickets for the opening and closing ceremony cost locals more than £1,500 each, with athletics being the most expensive sport.
In Paris more tickets than ever were sold for the Olympics with the opening ceremony tickets ranging from £75 to £2300. The £75 tickets not surprisingly sold out within an hour and imagine spending money on tickets and having to watch half of it on a screen as the rest took place live but further up the river!
The closing ceremony ranged between £40 and £1360.

For those wanting to watch a qualifying match in the tennis in Paris you would have been looking at around £260 but this was the cheapest seat. Think about an auditorium in a theatre and all those seats far, far away from the stage, sometimes slightly behind a pillar or watching at an angle and this is the type of seat that £260 would have bought you.
Cheaper tickets were available for courts where lower-profile matches were being played.
The diving qualifications (not the finals) were a similar price.
The coveted ticket for the mens’ 100m final cost between £70 and £830 depending again upon your seating.

Of all the events at the Paris Olympics there were only thirteen in which you could see medals won in which tickets would cost less than £170 at their maximum.

How do families get to support their familial contestants?
The quick answer is they don’t unless they save up lots of money!
By the time you have paid for flights, accommodation and tickets in order to be there to see your family member in action you have possibly blown the family holiday budget for the next 2-3 years.
For me this really brings into question why the competitors cannot apply for up to two tickets each at a heavily discounted rate for one event they are competing in?
In this era of mega technology it would surely be fairly simple to make those tickets non transferable so the competitors couldn’t apply, buy and then attempt to resell them for an increased price.
When you have trained for four years to compete for your country surely it’s not a lot to ask that you can have familial support? After all, these are the same family members who have got up early day in, day out, driven their family member to events, forsaken other days out and holidays away for that one person to fulfil their dream. They have been there throughout. They may well be working class folk who have just supported that family member’s dream of representing their country. Why shouldn’t they be there in their finest hour?

And what about local people attending?
I’ve blown my chance of seeing the Olympics in my home country but what about those living in Los Angeles in 2028 or Brisbane in 2032?
Interestingly history has shown that hosting the Olympics tends to result in severe economic deficiencies for cities. Unless a city already has the existing infrastructure to support the excess crowds pouring in, not hosting the Olympics can often be the better option.
Given this fact the local people actually get very little if any benefit from living in an Olympic hosting city. There wasn’t even a new stadium built in Paris this year.
In fact, as was fairly well publicised this year, many Parisians moved out of the city for the fortnight of the games. They didn’t want the inconvenience of over 11,000 competitors plus their associated support teams descending upon the city, blocking roads, filling up underground trains and just generally upsetting “normal life”!
If they were lucky enough to have gained tickets through working for a company involved in sponsoring the games these tickets were often given away to family members happy to temporarily fly into Paris for the events for which tickets were intended or alternatively those ex gratia tickets were sold on!

Olympic hosting cities spend a phenomenal amount of money on hosting the Olympics. The London Olympics cost a total of £8.77 billion – three times the original budget of £2.4 billion! However the UK economy saw a trade and industry boost in excess of £14 billion following the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, beating the four year target of £11 billion in half the time. I wonder how many people in London or even the UK knew that or felt like they saw the benefit?

Surely local people in these hosting nations deserve something in return?
I think free tickets for key events, not sitting behind a pillar tickets, should be offered in a lottery.
Everybody who is willing to organise transport to get there and accommodation if necessary should get to buy a lottery ticket at a reasonable price to win two tickets. On winning, those tickets would become non transferrable, so they couldn’t be sold on and the winner would have the opportunity to pick two tickets from those made available for the key events. They might want to see the Opening Ceremony, then again they might want to be there to see the fastest man in the world cross the line.

Admittedly the chances of winning would be very low but every week people buy lottery tickets throughout the world for that one chance to strike it rich.
This would firstly generate funds that could be used to enhance the Olympic budget and also give ordinary people the chance to see the Olympics live.
America is the top gambling country in the world so come on USA let ordinary folk spend a few dollars for a chance at some decent tickets for the next Olympics!

What do you think?
Should the Olympic Games only be open to those who have lots of money to see the key events?
Would you buy a lottery ticket to win two tickets to a key event?
Is is unfair that competitors family cannot be there to support them unless they have lots of money for tickets?

Let me know your thoughts…………..

Why not read my previous post about the Paris Olympics?: https://amidlifeadventure.org/2024/08/16/paris-2024-olympics-what-did-you-think/