Author: Susie

This morning we left Charlotte ‘s lovely flat at Portishead and drove north to Ledbury. Spent the afternoon eating, exploring the parish church for Peter Skipp’s ancestors, drinking in local pubs, strolling main street, then eating dinner back at our home pub. We’re ready for bed. Spring blooming has us hacking and blowing our noses. Big hot shower and nice big bed. Have to get up by 8:30 as breakfast stops at 9 am. Onward a little bit north tomorrow for more English adventure. Ta ta for now. God bless you.

Chuck took us over across the way for a light meal at H &W pub. Today Charlotte took us to Tyntesfield a Great house and gardens that started allergy attacks in me and Charlotte. After sniffing a lot of flowers, my nose started running and is still stuffed up. Charlotte advises that pollin counts are rising. Thanks for that mother nature. We are closing the evening quietly after a light meal and will head for Ledbury tomorrow. If I can’t find a WiFi hotspot, I will save info and write on Thursday when we get to Bude. Please pray for our friend who lives in Bude. Whom we have known and loved for many years. He is ill and we pray for his health and well being. God bless you Mervyn.

When I wrote this we were in the H&W pub in bright sunshine… Now mother nature has taken a nose dive again. Anyway… Sunday morning at H&W with cappuccinos with well as Chuck says, "something something something on a shortbread." We are feeling old as we continuously ask, "what? Pardon me? What did you say? I didn’t hear you." we’re not hearing the lilting English accents. That range is gone from our old ears. So the other day the soup was something and tomato. OK. Mystery soup, mystery pastry with a layer of caramel sugar. My teeth hurt from the sugar and candy. Royal news is full of whether Tony Blair should have gone into Iraq and a 10 year old report that isn’t published yet… War cost too much…Blair didn’t have support of gov’t etc etc. My advice is"give it up dear British cousins. Forget the 10 year old report. You are going to repeat your mistakes. We all do that. Fortunately there is an excellent generation of English young people coming up. Charlotte is out running and swimming this morning, and many young people come and go outside in the sunshine with little ones. Chuck and I were walking along the pier and looking down into the water wondering if this is a good place to raise small children as there is no barrier to falling into the water. A father carrying a tiny child and bike came by and we asked him. "This is my 3 year old’s bike. He falls into the water, it’s cold, he cries, but he can swim." Chuck and I shuddered at the thought, but we see a lot of small blond children. These Britain’s are tough in tee shirts while I’m in two jackets and a scarf. Cunard sent an email that we are to board the QMII early as we will get a fly by. The RAF Red Arrows will fly over at 3 pm and the Irish Guard will play on the upper deck before we leave Southhampton. In Liverpool, we will be bussed to the Liverpool Cathedral for a 1 1/2 hour concert "triumph of a great tradition." On 4 July we will celebrate 175 years of transatlantic sailing by Cunard. What a great holiday this is. I have complained due to Chuck’s cough and my own sick head cold and lest we forget, mother nature’s snootiness, but watching people and being taken care of by such nice people is wonderful. God bless you.

We strolled through the marina, over the lock, and to the end of the pier to an excellent Italian restaurant called La Marina where we sat at a corner table on the window and I watched the moored sailboats drop into the mud. They are outside the lock at moorings and they settle into the mud when the tide goes out. We dined sumptuouslly and tomorrow Charlotte will swim and run before we go to Tyntesfield. I will sip cappuccino at what we now familiarly refer to as H&W pub. Sumptuously I bid you goodnight. God bless you.

Lest I seem grumbly let me say our visit to see our English friends has been heavensent. We are in portishead near Wales in a beautiful marina that has a lock to let boats in and out. The first day was sunny! Then mother nature took a nose dive. Meanwhile Chuck and I both have colds and unfortunately he hacks and coughs during the night and he says I snore. As I said…lest I seem grumbly. We go for cappuccinos in the morning and then do pub lunch and then I take a nap. But tomorrow we will be back out again to visit Tyntesfield near here. Charlotte will join us and we will have another authentic English guide. We will have dinner with Charlotte tonight. She has been exercising, running and swimming preparing for a half marathon. So she is surprised when I suggest a nap. God bless you.

We are back in jackets and scarves as we wait for summer… On June 7 we had turned in our car so we rode with Bill and Sally down to Bristol to visit Harriet, Rob and Isaac age 18months. Rob is on business in Boston and Harriet has been working long hours but we had nice dinners with her. Chuck and I have been sleeping in the 3rd floor loft with is roof tops view! On this portion of our holiday we have visited old town Bristol and taken a cruise of the port and water front, looked at much new building since WWII except a few bombed out churches that are memorials. It continued cool and windy as we pegged laundry and read books on our day in while Sally and Bill took Isaac to the zoo. Today was fun with visits to two houses. One of the great houses called Dyrham Park is under a total renovation and a giant tent is over scaffolding that visitors are allowed to walk around on and look in. So it was like standing above the roof and looking down on the gargoyles! Then we walked through the deer park and took photos of the deer for Dave and Chuck. Mature deer are speckled here. I forgot to mention that these houses are built in about 1650s and are still standing and used. The second home was in disrepair so two gentlemen from Texas who fell in love with England in WWII got a repair lease and lived in the house for 30 years repairing and renovating. All in all the drive through the Cotswolds today was fun and narrow roads were interesting in Bill’s camper van. Tonight Harriet took us to Pie Minister and we ate pies such as steak and kidney or chicken with amazing vegetables. My pants are finally getting tight. I think that is because I just washed them. Tomorrow we are moving on to Portishead (the mouth of the river severn) to stay with Charlotte for two days and then on to Ledbury which is north and on the Welsh border. We are going to a look for a church that houses the bones of some of Pete Skipp’s ancestors and try to stay at the pub near the church. I might not have access so trace us on the map and I’ll write when I can! God bless you.

I’m greeting you on a sunny, breezy afternoon. We are sunburned and full of laughter and fun. Yesterday after visiting the Workhouse (substitute the word poor house where paupers can go to get a meal and a place to sleep… taken out of use in England in the 20th century) then we ate a great pub lunch in Southwell and visited the Minster. A beautiful cathedral that goes from Norman to Gothic as you walk down the aisle. On Saturday (today) I woke up about 4am to the most amazing chorus of happy birdies and daylight. I thought I will just wait until I hear the house stirring and then get up… So I lay there and waited and finally Chuck heaved a big sigh and rolled over. Is it about 8am? I asked. Closer to 5:20 he replied. Yikes… After a little while I realized those happy birdies are not shutting up and so I got up and warmed up the shower. We went to return the rental car and I left my glasses in the car so had to walk across the airport to get it. Got a good exercise. Off finally to picnic at a great house called Wollaton which has been turned into a natural history museum. It was windy and cool when the sun wasn’t shining. We reviewed our history with the Trewin family… They first came to America when Sally was celebrating her 30th birthday. Harriet was 6, Emily was 8, and Charlotte was 10. Now Emily is 34 with 2 little ones aged 19 months and 1 month. It seems we go through a lot of nappies… We then traveled to the Tollerton Village Event and got a big surprise – the commemoration of D-Day with a living history group that wears the gear and drives the jeeps etc all of the 82nd Air Borne in an absolutely amazing reinactment. Of course Bill and Chuck found them and I joined them to talk about the Americans and the Brits and D-Day. My camera battery quit so two of the gentlemen took our photos with the group and will email them to us. Today was another great day. The baby and the 18 month old have been absolutely grand in behavior and potty habits! As i said, we go through a lot of nappies!!! God bless you.

We arrived at Bunny, near Nottingham, and found our friends Bill and Sally in their RV next door.. Emily got home and we began the baby changing and feeding and playing! Slept well after a great lamb dinner ("baaaaaa… eat mor chicken" didn’t work for that lamb) Then we went to the pub named Radcliffe Arms and then… off to bed. This morning I met little Henry age 18 months in the hallway and he and I climbed back into bed to play with bunnies and teddies! Emily’s children are very cute. We are off to a National Trust Workhouse to visit how "the other side" lived and then we made plans to change the rental car … which makes Chuck real nervous but for some reason I got a refund of $100…. so with no questions I made the change (bigger car for the luggage, change the pick up and drop off date). On this weekend to Harriet’s in Bristol and her little one named Isaac. Busy busy!!!!! Off to the National Trust house and a pub on a river. Love and God bless you!

Yesterday Liz took us to a pub called the Barrisford Arms pub for a drink then on to Wallington for a gentle walk to the formal gardens and the big house. We saw such amazing art, oddities and collections of beautiful things and indeed I have 2 plates like ones I saw there.  We drifted away from there to come home and find Nick and head out to steak dinner at a pub where the guys were playing Quirts outside. Steak was locally produced from farm to table here in rural North of England. Liz shops at a market where she knows the farm lady who produces the lamb… they can visit the farm and see the lambs.. "baaaaa… eat mor chicken."  and then we closed the night with the Red Lion Pub.  I think we are getting fat.  I’ve switched to lime with soda rather than pint shandys (not all the time, but it cuts back on my beer intake! Chuck has not cut back.)  Today we leave the Northumberland nest and head south for Bunny which is a little village or hamlet south of Nottingham.  Thank you Liz and Nick!  God bless you!

Today dawned bright, sunny and clear (well, dawned is a loose term since I get up at 9 ish).  The boys were sitting and chatting and Liz was at work.  Laundry was already in the washer…  After a cup of tea, Chuck and I pegged the laundry and I sat out side in the sunshine and painted Liz’s garden while the laundry dried.  We pegged a second load and headed out to the north to Cragside a stately home and gardens built high up on rocks and cliffs.  We climbed up and up steps and paths and saw the gardens and the house… ate soup and a cheese scone (oh and had a pint at a pub)… Arrived back home to find the laundry we left hanging still damp from rain…. oh dear. No problem we will just peg it again tomorrow morning.  We are off to dinner at a local pub/restaurant in Carts Bog Inn in the countryside outside Hexham.  I just told Liz it is like riding around with Hugh Grant as Nick is tall, thin, light haired with blue eyes and a funny way of joking like Hugh Grant does!  Sometimes when he says things I find myself smiling…  Time to go eat! God bless you!