China 2009

Just a very quick post on our return from China to point you to the gallery which now has the first few days of images uploaded. All in all there were more than 1600 photographs to sort through and process from their RAW format so I'll tackle them a day at a time in an attempt to hold off temporary insanity. How was the trip your asking. Well it was certainly an experience with many high points and quite a few frustrations which are to be expected in this country. More on those later but for now here's that link.

Click here for China Trip photos

Photographs

The sun came out today so it was a great opportunity to get some photos. The subjects are the local town hall and the view from the new deck in the garden. Both should expand with a simple click on the pictures.


Now its time to get ready to face the flight to Shanghai. The plan is (take a deep breath) to start in London, watch Wicked again as a treat, fly to Shanghai for a couple of days, get the train to Suzhou, head north to Beijing for a few days then go to X'ian followed by Chengdu and Sichuan then move to Guilin and finally end up in Hong Kong for a more relaxing break. I'm sure I have missed something out..

Crash Test Bunnies

Probably not looking very "crash test" in this picture but their usual pursuit is to spring round and bounce like a new born lamb. These siblings are now 12 weeks old and being spoiled rotten. So introducing Stitch (grey) and Mushu (Moosh for short) to the blog.

Garden Visitors

There was an article on the radio a few days ago about the sudden drop in numbers of Longtailed Tits from British gardens this winter due to the cold spell we have had. Just snapped this earlier this afternoon as a family of six tucked into some fat high peanuts. What a noisy bunch they were, perhaps they were screaming for a refill.

Newchurch in Pendle

Had a walk around Pendle and Newchurch looking at property for a friend but was both shocked and dismayed to find the Lamb Inn is no longer a pub but has been tranfsormed into a B&B (yes its been a while since we have been here). How on earth can you have a village without a village pub. Still it was one of the first sunny days this year so I spent the time well and managed to get some pictures of the village church. I wonder if thats going to shut soon as well.

Christmas In London

We left for London from the station on Christmas Eve and after changing at Leeds found ourselves in the City just over two hours later. The trip was made all the better by some lovely Christmas sandwiches and a bottle of Bucks Fizz and Wine we had taken to start celebrating with. We quickly checked in to the hotel in Covent Garden, changed for dinner and then set off for the Albert Hall.
Here we had a Christmas Eve dinner in the newer restaurant "Coda" which I don't think was here last time we came for the Proms, then we ate in the "Elgar". The food was quite delicious and before we knew it, it was time to go into the Hall for the Christmas Carol evening. This was great fun and an absolutely beautiful way to start off the Christmas celebrations.

The following day was Christmas Day of course so we set off for Trafalgar square and joined in with a London Walks group based around the life and times of Samuel Pepys. The guide was both entertaining and informative and we fully enjoyed this interesting couple of hours (to be cont)

Click here for Christmas in London pictures

Marillion Manchester Academy Nov 2008

Its been a long time since I have seen a band greeted so warmly by the crowd on there arrival. For a moment the whole band seemed quite stunned as they walked onto the stage into the the wall of sound that greeted them. (to be cont)

Click here for more Marillion photos

London and Porcupine Tree

Quick trip down to London in 2 hours on the East Coast Main Line. Great food and wine on the way down then a little sight seeing before heading over in the evening to the Indigo club at the 02 Millenium dome. It was fun approaching the dome using the Thames clippers. The main reason for the trip was of for Porcupine Trees only UK concert of the year and what an exceptional gig it was.The following day lunch in the nice restaurant in the Sainsbury wing of the National Gallery (great food but really lousy service. A smooth trip back again in 2 hours flat. Virgin Trains take note, your West Coast route is becoming a farce.

Click here for more London photos

Click here for more Porcupine Tree photos

Stonehenge

Stopped off at the National Heritage site/car park that is Stonehenge.. Actually plans are afoot to move the main roads underground and create vast new visitors centers a respectable distance away that may give the site the respect it deserves. Lovely weather again but a long drive back. Catering consisted of a cornish pasty in the car park.

Click here for more Stonehenge Photos

Cot Valley Cornwall

Superb weather for a full week in Cornwall, who would have thought... Fantastic food in restaurants where the fish is so fresh it was dropped off the same morning from the local harbour... An absolute dream of a Holiday...

The Cot valley is about as far west as you can go, about 5 miles from Lands End near the town of St Just its a lovely little isolated place with three or 4 houses down a lane. One of these has a bungalow which can be rented out and its here we took ourselves for a week in September. As you can probably guess from the first paragraph we enjoyed it rather a lot.

Here's a link to many more pictures which Jackie has labelled up.

More Cornwall Photos

Disneyland Paris July 08

Just a very quick post as I play catch up on the blog . Earlier in July we were back in DLP seeing the park (unusually for us) in the heat of summer. The park was in full bloom and looking fantastic.



All the usual favourites were visited. One new highlight had to be the Early Entry 2 hours before the normal gate time for pass holders and being there just in time for the first trial run of implementing fast pass for the Crush Coaster. With regard to the Early Entry system though its just a pity this can't be extended to mix and match over the two parks or different areas on different days.

Food was excellent as usual with and ended in an evening in the California Grill where the menu has been tweaked and refined a little more since our last visit at Christmas.. The Lobster was divine..

I'll leave you with a link to the full gallery.

More DLP Photos

Purton Green (cont)

The following day had us waking rather late, after a nice breakfast we set off for the village of Clare, where we climbed to the top of the Castle, checked out the village Church and had a lovely tea and scone break.

Purton Green cont.

After a 4 hour plus drive we found ourselves driving down the small lane, crossing the ford and finally parking up. It was a hot evening and we can only hope this weather will continue for the rest of the week. The two wheelbarrows are waiting at the entrance to the path but from here there is no sign at all of the Hall, just fields of crops and areas of woodland. The wheelbarrows are loaded (clanging with rather a lot of wine) and with Minky perched in his cage on top we must look like the most eccentric of travellers. The instructions say to simply follow the path keeping the hedge to the right for about 400yards and that you will not see Purton Green until you are almost upon it as its surrounded by woodland. Its a hot sticky walk with Minky singing away in tune with the squeaky wheelbarrow I seem to have. Eventually we turn a final corner and there is our home for the rest of the week, nestling in the shadow of a walnut tree.

Once installed we explore every inch. The Great Hall is lovely and cool whilst the rest of the building is cosy and more traditional. Wine is quickly opened, the deck chairs placed under the walnut tree and all our cares quickly evaporate. That evening we cook fantastic fillet steaks and eat at the long table in the Great Hall watching the sun go down beyond the large oak door and listening to Porcupine tree on the small hi fi we brought along (Music being the one thing we could not go without for the week)

Click on pictures for the full size versions.

Purton Green

Just back from a wonderful break at Purton Green, an isolated Landmark Trust property in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. One or two pictures for now but lots more details to come soon about the trip and the property itself. Just a few details here from the Landmark Trust's own description:

Purton Green is one of the many lost villages of Suffolk, where generations spent their lives, but which are now just patches of lime and fragments in the plough. It lies on an old road running south from Bury St Edmunds, today hardly a path. All that remains is this house. Inside its late medieval walls survives a hall of 1250 – a great rarity.



Aisled on both sides, with scissor-braced trusses and a highly ornamental arcade at the low end, it must once have been an important place.When we bought it in 1969 it was little more than a ruin. As with almost all medieval houses, a floor and central chimney stack had later been inserted, but these additions were so derelict that we felt justified in removing them, to return the hall to its original open state. Part of the house – the high end – was rebuilt in about 1600 and this part we have turned into living quarters. These can only be reached through the hall, which you must cross and recross if you stay here, as your predecessors have done for 700 years.



The house now stands surrounded by fields, with unchanging Suffolk countryside in all directions. After crossing a ford, you leave your car 400 yards from the house; but we provide a wheelbarrow for the rest of the journey. Purton Green Continued.

Ightenhill to the "Bay Horse Inn" Fence

Looking from our garden towards Pendle

Whilst the weather still attempts to hold onto Spring and remains dry we decided it was time to pull out the Ordnance Survey Explorer Map for our area, see if we could walk across the footpath that cuts across the back field and find our way successfully across country to the "Bay Horse Inn" Fence. We set off mid afternoon and stepped into the field immediately sinking up to our ankles in a bog. Not a great start but we headed on, crossing to the footbridge across the Calder and up a shingle lane that passes by Pendle Hall farmhouse.

Looking back at our route from Pendle Hall after crossing the River Calder

From here we had to locate a path heading east and finding this we headed off in the direction of a copse of woodland sticking out of a valley which was clearly marked on the map. Apart from a few cows who moved rather reluctantly out of our way as they had done the sensible thing and lay down against the gale force winds that have struck up this weekend not a single person was seen all day.

The hidden valley at Moor Isles Clough

Arriving at a stile above this valley or mini gorge and checking the map that we were still on the right path we discovered the place is called Moor Isles Clough. The path leads down into a lovely leafy steeply sided gorge with a small brook gurgling through at the bottom. A fantastic location right on our doorstep that we did not even know existed. Absolutely full of the sounds of birds and wildlife and with wild garlic growing profusely on the banks of the stream.

Wild Garlic in Moor Isles Clough

Crossing the stream by the footbridge ad climbing to the other side we continued towards the village of Fence. Soon the white building of the Bay Horse could be seen and we arrived slightly muddy but rather hungry. This used to be a favourite restaurant of ours when the previous owners Carl and Marie ran the place. Food especially the fish was always excellent even if the service was best described as erratic. Carl and Marie have finally moved on and the new owners have elected to run the place with an almost identical menu. As Carl himself did much of the cooking we found it odd on our first visit after the change of hands to find the menu unchanged. I would have liked the new owners to try to introduce something fresh and new to make their own stamp on the restaurant, so we left disappointed last time. Perhaps it was all the fresh air from the walk and the great wine but this time everything was rather good.

Dinner at the Bay Horse Fence