“So Cath…er…tell me….do you live here…or do you just have the honour of working here?” September 24, 2009

Yesterday, Daniel and I took a trip to Stoneleigh Abbey. To see the Jane Austen tour. Jane Austen had a connection with Stoneleigh Abbey…some of her extended family owned it and consequently her staying there had some influence on her novels, such as Mansfield Park (especially the bit about the chapel…it’s the exact chapel that’s in Stoneleigh Abbey) and Persuasion, based on the story behind a painting. Anywho. The day trip.

We caught the bus there, with a lovely bus driver who looked like Frankie Boyle. Daniel was very worried we would miss our stop, seeing as we didn’t actually know where to get off. I found the prospect really amusing. I knew we were to get off at Stoneleigh Park as the map had showed me it was right next to the Abbey. What I didn’t realise was that Stoneleigh Park was not a nice kind of park, it was like an industrial estate, for farmers, selling cows and horses and other such things. So we got off and found ourselves here:

There were no signs for the Abbey or of the Abbey. We had no map. We were indeed, lost. So I phoned my mother to check on a map. Firstly she told me to head West. As if I had a compass. Then she told me how lovely the Abbey looked on the map. Not helpful seeing as we couldn’t get there. She then informed us that we were actually at the wrong side of the park and would have to walk all the way through it. It was quite possibly the most dull place to walk and the walk took forever.

My mother had informed me there would be a gate at the other end, we were to walk through the gate and head left, which would lead us straight to the Abbey. We got to the gate and found it to be locked. The only solution was to go down the gravel track that took us right, leading us to a fishing hut and a big field with uncut grass. The field would at least take us in the right direction, so we took the field route. We trampled through the long grass, getting really quite filthy as we did so, I twisted my ankle many a time. We reached a small fence and realised we probably weren’t allowed to be in the field and it was probably not allowed to just hop over the fence onto what looked like the Abbey grounds. But we had no alternative, so we did. We had seen a huge ornamental bridge, we headed for it, walking more and more. We saw two buildings at the end of the looooooong driveway and found that we had indeed found the Abbey but were walking out of the exit. So we had to walk all the way back up the drive.

But finally, after many miles of walking, we found the entrance to the Abbey, in which sat a lovely woman Daniel named Cath.

After paying we were allowed to have a  wander before the tour actually began. Upon entering the Abbey grounds, I exclaimed “Wow!” and Cath agreed, saying “Yes, it is very wow.” Daniel and I got to thinking that maybe Cath owned the Abbey, so throughout our walk around Daniel rehearsed how to ask her, trying to make it sound as natural as possible by adding in some stutterings and “ers” Turns out we didn’t need to ask and she didn’t own the Abbey. Go figure.

We took a wander through the woods on the estate, having been informed by Cath that we would reach a pet cemetary and would be able to go no further than that. She was right. The pet cemetary amused me a little, no ‘cos of the dead animal aspect, but the names the people had given their pets. In particular, the name “Freak” for a cat. They liked this name so much they also had a Freak the 2nd.

After wandering we went on the tour. The other people in the group were rather annoying, especially an older gentleman who seemed to be very sexist and a bit of a loudmouth. But the tour itself was amazing. Inside, the state rooms were so posh and lovely. I took no photos. The tour guide lady was lovely.

After this, we went to the tea rooms, had tea and cake and then went on another wander, before leaving to look at the stables etc. We were supposed to be catching the bus back, however the next one was due in over 2 hours, so to kill the time we played the name game, Pooh sticks in the river and went on another wander. As if our legs and feet didn’t hurt enough already. When the bus showed up, I was delighted at the fact it was the same bus driver who had dropped us off. All in all, a good day, with too much getting lost, too much walking but lots of Jane Austen fun.

Warwick Castle….it’s finally here. August 25, 2009

On Friday we went to visit the marvellous Warwick Castle. Rosie, Daniel and I had all been twice before together, but Joy accompanied us this year on her first ever visit.

9am was when I was supposed to meet Joy. I received a text from her telling me she had slept through her alarm. Cue chaotic morning times trying to re-organise everything. All was well though, she met us at the station just after 10. I went to Tescos to get some food before meeting Rosie and Dan, being served by a man with a very strong accent. “I like your bag,” I thought he said. “Thanks,” I mumbled. “I like your bag,” I thought he said again, “er thanks,” came my reply. Turns out he was actually asking me if I wanted a bag. Oops.

We departed at 10.25. I can’t actually remember when we arrived in Warwick. Around 11. Not that it matters.

The first thing we did when we got inside was head straight for the Trebuchet show. On the previous occasions we had been a man who looked a lot like Bill Bailey was telling the story of the Trebuchet as it prepared to fire. This year there was some young maverick who lacked the charm and likeableness of his predecessor.

 

His speech wasn’t as funny as the Bill Bailey man either. Although he did include the “22 tonnes of whirling death” he missed out the bit about how blind people were used to wind the trebuchet up ‘cos they didn’t get the motion sickness…”equal opportunities then and now.”

When this was over we ate lunch. Joy got attacked by a million hover flies, which was actually quite hilarious. We planned what to do next. Daniel really wanted to go and see the Ballista, some replica model of a huge firing thing. Joy could never remember the name of the Ballista and so settled for calling it the Buchanan.

Dan and the Ballista

Joy spoon and the ballista

I sense a theme emerging

After this we took a stroll round to where the river was, passing Archery lessons on the way. Daniel considered them for a while, deciding he did infact want to have a go.

The archery that never was

I told him it would cost him £3, after remembering it was this price from the previous years we had been. He didn’t believe me and when he asked it turns out I was right and he did not want to part with £3 to do archery, but parted with near enough the same sum to get some waffles.

Daniel and Rosie decided to take it upon themselves to go up the huge huge tower. I have a terrible phobia of high places and so turned down this opportunity. As did Joy. I photographed their progress up to the tower.

Hiiiiigh

On the ramparts

 

Up they go...

More stairs inside...

At the top!

And they documented our progress down safely on the ground.

Joy and myself, safely on the ground.

Joy went to get a drink...

We then went to the Kingmaker, where there were loads of waxwork dummys. Daniel beat me in an arm wrestle. And everyone tried on some armour.

 

 After visiting the state rooms, we went on a very long trek to a deserted area of the castle grounds to sit and enjoy the peacefulness of the surrounding countryside and river. Rosie decided she wanted a paddle in the river whilst Daniel became a trepid explorere and disappeared for ages, wandering into some woods.

Tut

After we had sat for ages and after Rosie had randomly decided to shave her legs, we decided to go to the conservatory and peacock gardens. When we arrived Daniel proceeded to go up to a peacock saying “Hello there. Hello? I don’t suppose you’d mind giving me a feather?” A long one sided conversation ensued, much to the bemusement of other passers by. He did manage to get a feather however. But not directly from a peacock.

From this point we went home. Exhausted. But in high spirits. That night we all ewnt to Dan’s and contiued our fun.

Finally this blog is complete.

Loooong walk June 19, 2009

We did it. Berkswell to Coventry. And I was exhausted. My legs hurt so much and I’m not sure it was quite worth the effort. It was an adventure nonetheless and I had a good time until the pain set in, but I do feel fairly accomplished.

We began the day by going to the shops in Coventry to stock up on food and drink – sensible see? Then we walked to the train station and got our SINGLE ticket, not return. The train departed at 12:11 and we were off. We arrived at Berkswell station in the knowledge we were going to have to walk to the village. What no one tells you is the village is aaaaaages away from the station and probably shouldn’t be called Berkswell station at all. Anyway. We saw some familiar sights as we made our way to finding the village.

A year ago we walked here

The sign for the fishing that doesn't seem to exist

We continued walking, with no village in sight. We were amused at this seeing as we’d only just started our journey and were lost already. We came to a crossroads, we had a choice. Either carry on walking straight or turning into Park Lane. Daniel decided Park Lane was the way to go. So we walked that way. And walked. And walked. And walked a little bit more. There were no pavements so we faced death by car a few times. Things were looking bleak. Until we got to a much busier road, which then confirmed that we had indeed gone the wrong way. In fact in the opposite direction to the village.

Park Lane and Balsall Common...not where we wanted to be

And so, we walked back the way we had been. Daniel saw a sign saying “public footpath” leading into some wilderness. I protested and said I wanted to get back to the main road, but we went the wilderness way anyway. Daniel walking in front kindly kept letting go of branches in my face. We came to a dirty field and made our way through a trench thing, where something either stung or bit me. Unimpressed a moaned a little. “Oh look here are some bee hives!” Daniel informed me, pointing at boxes with many a flying creature. “Right, I’m leaving.” I replied as I marched off back the way we had been. I hate bees.

So, we came back to Park Lane. And walked all the way back to the original road. Walking and walking and walking some more we finally reached Berkswell village. Legs aching already at this point.

Finally...Berkswell!

We decided to see the church of the village. It was lovely. So pretty. And they had the crypt open, which looked pretty scary looking down.

Pretty

Down to the crypt

Deep in th crypt by the only light source other than the electric lights. It looks like Daniel is dancing.

Once in we found it to be lovely. But Daniel had a surprise in store for me. He wandered off, I took little notice and suddenly all the lights in the crypt went out. I turned around to darkness. It would’ve been more scary had it not been for his cackling.

We then went in search of the village pub, for a nice cool drink and some pudding, crumble in particular. We found The Bear Inn and had crumble and ice cream. It was nice, but I have had nicer. Then the walk began. We started off at quite a good pace onto Spencer Road, which would take us about 2 miles. Thankfully it had pavements and we didn’t have to deal with cars for a long while. We sang an Abba song to keep up our spirits.

We walked…and walked and walked. And then we walked some more. Not stopping. Until we reached Coventry! Thankful were we to see that sign, but little did we realise the journey had only just begun.

The lane that went on for 2 miles

Home but not the end of the journey

We had about 4 miles left to walk, through Coventry before we reached home. Each step became more painful, we stopped more regularly, determined to carry on. By the time we had reached near to home, we were both shattered. My legs felt like collapsing and they very nearly did. But we did it. 4 hours of walking. About 9 miles. Well done to us.

Bourton on the water, Cotswolds September 28, 2008

Today I visited the Cotswolds. As the title suggests, the village of Bourton on the Water. The Cotswolds is home to the most wonderful countryside I’ve ever seen, breathtaking scenery (and also the actor who plays Peter Pevensie (William Moseley)…in case you wanted that bit of trivia) There’s not much really to say about my day, other than it was really really wonderful, I love the Cotswolds and Bourton on the Water is a delightful place to go. It’s situated on the River Windrush and there are numerous footpaths crossing it. The water is so clear and lovely. It also has a bird place and a model village…which is the whole village…just smaller. The Fosse Way Roman Road is the longest thing ever…but it is how we got there. Photos of this all…below.

River Windrush through Bourton

Bourton on the Water, Cotswolds

River Windrush, Bourton

Yet more river

I am a giant

Bourton in minature

 

Model Village...inside the Model Village (inside that there's another smaller model village...)

Penguins at the bird centre. I wrote in the guestbook to free them.

Uploading pictures is a boring process….that’ll do. I took 65 pictures in total….I went a bit mad.

Mamma Mia! In London August 21, 2008

I went to see Mamma Mia on stage yesterday! In London. It was a very cool, funny day and the musical was absolutely brilliant.

The coach journey there took over 2 hours. To entertain ourselves we played PIctionary. If anyone can guess the TV show that the picture below is supposed to be (drawn by Daniel) then I will give them a medal.

TV Show ???

We listened to ABBA songs after that, to get us in the mood.

Time flew and we soon arrived in London. It’s rather busy there. I’ve never felt so small. There were so many big buildings and people. I live in a city…but London is something else.

Still on the coach but in London

 

When we got off the coach I was appalled to find I had to pay 20p to use the toilet. And even more appalled when someone who didn’t have change got in for free. We got off and tried to find somewhere to sit to eat some lunch. We had a few hours to kill before Mamma Mia. It would seem in the Victoria part of London there are no benches. Daniel saw a sigh for Buckingham Palace, so we walked for a bit, to find Buckingham Palace was no where near. So we decided to hop on the tube to Leicester Square.

 

I’m not a fan of the underground, I have to say. The trains go too fast and it’s dirty, dark and rat-infested. And rather too crowded. And confusing. We had to go East to Leicester Square on the District and Circle line…we weren’t sure which train was going East…so we just hopped on one and hoped for the best. Turns out we were on the right one.

Underground Map

Waiting for the tube

 

It was strange, when the train is coming down the tunnel, before you can see it you can feel a big gust of wind. Obviously underground it’s not from the air. The train makes it. I don’t like it.

 

We did some sight-seeing when we got to Leicester Square. I’d say we did about 3/4s of the Monopoly board. Pictures are below.

Leicester Square looking up to Coventry Street

Piccadilly?

Somewhere near Regent Street

Near the London Eye

Admiralty Arch

Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square

 

 

Lion and Big Screen in Trafalgar Square

On the way to Buckingham Palace

 

 

Prince of Wales Theatre, just before the show

Stage, just before the show

 

 

 The lions in Trafalgar Square….look familiar? Think back to Prince Caspian, Lucy and Susan running to the station, which was the Strand tube, just by Trafalgar. Obviously not the actual lion used as it wasn’t filmed in London, but still the same.

 

Anyway. Mamma Mia. Amazing. Way better than the film and considering I loved the film….I loved Mamma Mia way more. They sang 22 songs. All of them were brilliant. It was just perfect. Some bits nearly made me cry. I really laughed at other bits. Joanna Monro who played Donna’s friend Rosie, was my favourite. She was really funny. At the end of the show, they came out and sang three songs for us, everyone stood up and danced, clapped and sang. We cheered for them all. It was so worth the money and long journey there and back. I’d love to see it again. I’d recommend it to anyone! Like in the film, the three men, Sophie’s Dads, came on at the end in spandex and platform shoes. Way funny. I miss it all already!

 

There’s two things I now want: The Mamma Mia DVD and to play Monopoly….

 

 

I will walk with you nicely August 12, 2008

Today has been really quite lovely. I was with the FP seeing as I don’t see a lot her now she’s on placement. She had to go into Uni to give in her work, so I demanded to go too, seeing as I’m quite missing being there. Once she had done that we decided to get a spot of lunch and eat it at the Old Cathedral. To those of you not familiar with Coventry, the Old Cathedral refers to St Michael’s cathedral, which was bombed in the Second World War and only the ruins remain. It’s a wonderful piece of history, situated in a rubbish city. We walked around it, I explained different things to the FP, being a bit of a Coventry History geek and all. We went through the graveyard too. [Edit - below the picture I took, I've posted a picture of how the Cathedral was in 1910, before it got bombed]

Old Cathedral

 

Where the Old Cathedral is

Then we noticed St Mary’s Guildhall. It’s always been there, but I’ve never been in it, I’ve never really paid too much attention to it to be honest.

St Mary's Guildhall outside

Outside, on the sign, we discovered that it was built in the 12th-13th century and the South Wall contained parts of a 12th Century castle. Probably the castle that was in Coventry but no one knows where it was. It was the first seat of local government in the town. It would have been a prime venue for entertaining royalty as well. Mary Queen of Scots was taken there, under the orders of Elizabeth I,  in 1569.

It’s really lovely in there. Really old and so much history.

Paintings in St Mary's

St Mary's main room

The only thing I had a problem with was getting downstairs. And upstairs for that matter. It was a tightly winding spiral staircase. I’m scared of heights and hate being closed in. I got up OK, into what would have been the room Queen Mary stayed in. It was very slanted and not at all straight, which gave you the feeling that you were about to fall. I like my rooms to be straight. I couldn’t get across to the other room as I was scared of the stairs. In the end the FP had to stand one step in front of me all the way down. As you can see below.

The FP and the scary stairs

 There’s a really nice cafe in there, so one day next week we’re going on a little historic tour and going for lunch. I love history. I’m looking forward to it. Wonderful day.

Berkswell….Berkswell Village…Balsall Common August 8, 2008

Well….it had to happen I suppose…a day trip that didn’t go very well at all. We were going to go to Berkswell, just because. So we got to the station and waited for ages for the train (on the platform there was a lovely looking fellow) but 5 minutes from its arrival a woman announced it would no longer be stopping at Berkswell. The next one was half an hour later which did indeed go to Berkswell. Arriving at Berkswell station I was horrified at our choice of destination, there was graffiti everywhere. It wasn’t very nice. But we soldiered on walking down a main road for ages before we saw a sign to Berkswell village. We assumed that was the place to go, seeing as main Berkswell had nothing.

We walked and we walked, eventually arriving at some lovely old houses and a cross roads, passing a fishery. The road to the village was shut, we couldn’t figure out how to get there. The other road turned out not to be a road, it turned out to be someone’s driveway. The fishery was sign posted and it said it had a cafe. So we walked to where the fishery was. It’s shown below.

Fishery and cafe

That’s right. There was nothing there. Unless you want to fish in a puddle.

So we walked to Balsall Common….finding that was also very very poor. Although on the way, there were some blackberry hedges, so we ate some. Although Daniel was a wimp and worried they were posioned, so I had to eat one first. So we hopped on the train home, not before waiting at the station and listening to some chavs talk about drugs very loudly and how they don’t pay for the train, but if they get fined they get their Mums to write a note to appeal. Awww diddums.

Walking home from the station, Daniel got attacked by some huge green caterpillar. It had suckers rather than legs and so it attached itself to his jeans. Screaming and squealing he attempted to shake it off. It stayed put. I was doubled up with laughter. He squealed at me to help him but I could only laugh and offer advice. My advice made him scream more. He eventually got it off with the use of a tissue. It was hilarious.

Birmingham July 25, 2008

I went there yesterday! With Joy, Daniel and Jenny. It was loads of fun. It’s really nice in Birmingham, it has nice shops and places to go.

The train journey there had me in hysterical laughter. Not that anything funny happened. I was just having a moment. Although it still amuses me now. I found a way cool Alice in Wonderland book in HMV, it was a pop-up book, but the pictures were really creepy. I was enthralled. I read the whole thing.

We went past the Hippodrome to find a wonderful old sweet shop. Except it was closed. So we went to Subway, where Jenny spilt all of her drink over her nice white skirt and also the woman sitting next to her.

We got a bit lost and ended up at some Cathedral…church…possibly St Phillips. We sat in the gardens, where Joy became hysterically amused by Daniel telling us about his brother re-naming ABBA songs to things like “Knowing Me, Knowing Poo” and “Thank Poo For The Music,” to annoy him. She laughed forever.

There was a lovely sweet shop on the way back to the station, I bought some fudge. It wasn’t as good as the fudge from Stratford. Daniel informs me that the fudge shop in Stratford was named “Fudge-tastic,” I was highly amused.

We got onto the train ready to go home, however as soon as we sat down we were told that train had been cancelled and to go to another platform and catch that train. So we ran, so we could get a seat. When we got there however, it was jam packed, there was literally not even any room to stand. So we went to another platform and got on a different train. Damn trains.

I didn’t take any photos. Poor.

Stratford-Upon-Avon July 18, 2008

It’s been a really delightful day today. Stratford is lovely.

We started out getting to Pool Meadow to wait for the coach, after buying our tickets.

Whilst we were queueing up to board the coach, Daniel asked me to guess what the coach driver’s name was. He guessed Dave. I guessed Charles. Daniel was correct, he was called Dave. The journey there was nice, we listened to ABBA and enjoyed the scenery, driving through Leamington where we waved at a man looking out of a window, he waved back and we were delighted. We drove through Warwick and saw the castle, ahhh the memories.

We got there and I purchased a map out of a map dispensing machine. However, just my luck, my map got stuck. So I was there tugging at it for ages. I did get it out though.

We visited Shakespeare’s birth place. The house that John Shakespeare owned and gave to William Shakespeare when he died. It was £9 to get in. Each. Luckily Daniel had vouchers and I’m so glad ‘cos it was rubbish. It literally was just his house…I remember seeing bedrooms…and little else. I could have just seen my own house. I suppose it was nice and old though. And there was an Irish woman explaining about gloves (Shakespeare’s dad being a glove maker and all). You weren’t allowed to take photos inside. I think mainly because if you put them online no one would pay to go in ‘cos there’s nothing to see. I did take photos of the outside though. See below.

That was the front. The back is below.

The street that Shakespeare’s house was on:

We went to a wonderful cafe for lunch, the Courtyard cafe. We were wandering round for ages seeing where to go. We walked twice past a really jolly fat man who was always smiling. We loved him. My lunch was really lovely, I’d so have it again. After that we wandered around again, decided to go to the chocolate shop and then the fudge shop. I had a coffee ice cream from the chocolate shop, even though I was very full. The fudge shop was wonderful, so many things to choose from. I found some really hilarious items:

I didn’t buy any of those. Eating them would have been a challenge. We did buy some fudge though. Well, kind of. We both had a big piece of vanilla and chocolate fudge and then Daniel had chocolate and marshmellow and I had caramel and white chocolate. I’ve not finished eating them yet, they were large pieces and are very sickly. But wonderful.

We saw a nice church also, well a Guild Chapel. It was lovely inside, although falling apart some what.

We went for a drink after this. Daniel felt he had to buy more food, so he ordered a toastie that was supposed to come with a salad. The “salad” is shown below.

Worst salad ever.

After this, we got harassed by a drunk man. All of the people apart from this one gentleman were really lovely in Stratford. However, he wasn’t. He came over mumbling something, Daniel thought he was asking for an umbrella and so told him we didn’t have one. The man then sang the Rhianna song Umbrella to us, which made me cackle but worried Daniel somewhat. He then talked about “Mark” always wanting to do things on a Friday. This was the point at which Daniel decided we should leave him, the man then offered him a book out of his carrier bag full of Magners cider. As we walked away after turning down his offer, he walked after us for a while. I was amused. Daniel wasn’t.

All in all we had a fantastic day. I was cackling my way through. Stratford is really lovely. Expensive, but lovely. Nice day trip

There’s a worm at the bottom of Hampton in Arden June 25, 2008

Today wasn’t going to be a blog day. I was only supposed to be going to either town or Coombe Abbey with Daniel. However, he suggested the War Memorial Park as the weather wasn’t all that nice. I agreed. On our way there we walked past the train station. My simple comment of “I’ve not been on a train in while” turned into Daniel suggesting we hop on the next cheap train out of Coventry. We chose the train to Hampton in Arden.

It was really nice. We arrived at the station, which had only 2 platforms and 1 ticket booth. We walked onto the High Street which definitely didn’t match our definition of a high street. It just had some large houses. We went up a rural road and walked for what seemed like miles. In the end we decided to turn back as it was going no where.

We then found a public footpath through some woodland and fields and went rambling through there. It didn’t actually lead to anywhere but we walked past a really large quarry. We decided to try and find some civilization in the form of a pub for something to drink and eat. We couldn’t find one for ages. The one we did find was really posh and didn’t serve food. We ended up in one called the White Lion, which was just like the one here only smaller and surrounded by prettier scenery. They weren’t serving food either and the village shop was shut, so we sat down and had a glass of pop each. I ordered some crisps. They were the nicest crisps EVER.

We left to go to the Post Office. There wasn’t a great array of shops there at all. We walked back to the station for 4, only to find the 4 O’clock train had been cancelled. We decided to visit the church whilst we waitied for the next train. It was really lovely.

We sat for a while on a bench, passing the time. Daniel amused himself by coming up with the following sentence: “A pastor passed the pasta past a pastor” and repeating it again and again. He then repeated “Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo” again and again.

It was a nice, if not a bit random, day out. We’re going to Stratford Upon Avon next. Hurrah!