July - UK

And so we took our leave of England and a very smart, newly thatched cottage and returned to Calgary for the second stage of our Summer Holidays - read on.....

I think this is Aliya's shot using my camera - B on lavender - not bad eh?

Dad took time to sort out Dan's clock.  Why wont people just leave it alone!  Anyway Dad thinks that there is a cog missing off one of the wheels which means it skips 5 O'clock.  One day Dan you will get is mended I am sure.

When Deborah, Stephen and Dad visited us at the cottage, Margaret had to stay in Lancs to see to the Tatton Hall garden show.  But we visited Stourhead and Gold Hill. Amongst other places.

I just love this cottage - recently renovated in Stourhead's gardens.  A rare shot too as it includes John.

Our kids.  How many memories are stored in the crook of those ancient limbs.

We do have wonderful forests to ski in, walk in and photograph but the oaks of England can't be beat.  This is an oak, right Al?

This looks like the skin on my elbow but really it is a study for some more art I must get back into this soon.

And then Angela and Adrian arrived for a hike around Fonthill Bishop - after a decent lunch at River Barn of course....  It was a lovely day - see it wasn't really such a bad British summer was it... I see no umbrellas on this blog entry at all.

The National Trust were looking for volunteers to  offer their support to the castle this summer.  So we gave them the children - excellent buttressing kids.

The tuck shop next to the National Trust shop is always a favourite stop.

Next we met up with Steve and Romilly and that was sooooo great.  Train-spotting from Corfe Castle, what a dream. (Yes, I am now an anorak - read subsequent posts to see how this happened.)

The old and the less old.  The CIS Tower is a protected building... built in the 1960's it is the tallest office block outside of London (in England!). Take the above link to learn more eg., in 2005 Tony Blair the then Prime Minister switched on solar panels that had been added to the South side.

Manchester - redbrick. Victorian. Where is everyone?

Verbers and Keslers - Our time in the NW was spent visiting Evelyn, and the Millsons.  But also across in Lancs we met up with The Verbers and Keslers, had a lovely time eating them out of house and home and then we tried to find coffee in Rhyll which now has been designated as an adjective as in "It's very rhyll" meaning dull (an understatement if ever we made one, JAM).  Will this stimulate hate comments I wonder.  This photo is on Llandudno pier... what a blast from the past being there was, and I think some of the metal work dates from that time when I was about 12.

More eating... the Ship Inn in Burcombe did very well out of us this holiday and no wonder, the food is excellent and the service delightful.

Next, the Waltons at the cottage - They very kindly drove over from the far South West...Lovely to catch up once again.  Here, an action shot in Wilton House gardens.  Will we ever outgrow the place.

First on our social agenda - Robin of course.  This is a photo of a quick bite at our house... Catherine, Stuart, and Rosie joined us later... but we met up initially at Mompesson House in The Cathedral Close, Salisbury for a lovely afternoon tea (yes the focus was certainly on food).  

But it all went very smoothly and here is Dan looking cool as viewed from under the rose and honeysuckle that garlands our cottage doorway.. note also the lavender and the hollyhocks.  No rose-tinted glass memories for us... we create real tear jerkers for ourselves.

Fly to UK - Time at Calgary International airport was spent sorting out the iPhones -  so that we didn't have to sell one of the children to pay the mobile phone bill on our return to Canada, it pays to plan ahead.