Author Archives: kimandsally

We were keen to stay in Eastbourne because of our affiliation with the NZ Eastbourne (we lived there for a few years when I obtained my first teaching position). A lovely seaside town (as is its NZ counterpart) but a lot bigger, a traditional English pier and many beautiful old hotels. It was easy toContinue reading “Eastbourne”

Our main reason for visiting Worthing was to catch up with some of Kim’s relations- his cousin Celia and her family, and his Uncle Trevor. We hit it off straight away with Celia and her husband Chris (in spite of the fact that the last time we’d seen Celia was about 40 years ago inContinue reading “Worthing #2”

Was a much nicer today as Celia, Chris, Kim and I headed off in the car to Arundel castle. Last time Kim had been here was in 1979! Although we have seen many castles by now, we particularly enjoyed this one as it was a living castle, with the family living on the premises. BecauseContinue reading “Arundel Castle”

Left our housesit in Croydon and trained to Worthing. Lovely day until we got off the train and the rain started. Dropped our bags at the AirBnB then went to visit Kim’s cousin Celia and her partner Chris, and two daughters Ruth and Charlotte. Our host kindly drove us there because of the weather. HadContinue reading “Worthing, Chichester & Brighton Pavillion”

Today we hopped on the train bound for Windsor Castle. On our arrival we had a six minute walk to the castle. When we bought our tickets, we were informed we would not get in for another hour, so we went to have a look around the little village of Windsor and grab a coffee.Continue reading “Windsor Castle”

While doing our house sit in Croydon we thought we would revisit London and see some places we missed out on during our previous visit. Croydon is only a twenty minute train journey to London, so an ideal opportunity! On this day we thought we would put Covent Garden and Westminster Cathedral (we had alreadyContinue reading “Covent Garden”

This was started in 1099 by Rufus, the son of William the Conqueror, and like most palaces was added to over time. As you can imagine security is tight, especially since someone tried to blow it up. Some guy called Guy Fawkes I think. Anyway, it is airport standard security checks to get into theContinue reading “UK Parliament at Westminster Palace”

This is an old Palace built by Cardinal Wolsey who was chief minister to Henry VIII. It was started in 1514 and completed 30 years later. When Cardinal Wolsey fell out of favour with H8, he gave him the Palace to try and mollify him. H8 brought all of his wives here (not at theContinue reading “Hampton Court”

The wreck of the Mary Rose. When she sunk she turned onto her side leaving one side exposed to the elements. This side rotted away but the other side, preserved in layers of silt, survived. One of the many attractions at the dockyards in Portsmouth was the Mary Rose museum. This included the actual shipContinue reading “The Mary Rose”

This iconic vessel was built in 1765, she is still on active duty as the flag ship of the home fleet. This photo is off the internet as she is undergoing a 20 year restoration and is covered in scaffolding on some of the exterior. This ship was Nelson’s flag ship for the Battle ofContinue reading “HMS Victory”

It was a damp day when we made our way back for our third day in the Dockyards. We caught the 11am boat across to Priddys Hard in Gospel to visit the Explosion museum. Had great views of the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth on the way. It came past us as we were walking upContinue reading “Portsmouth #2”

We discovered that the Isle of Wight is only a 10 minute Hovercraft ride (yes Hovercraft!) from Portsmouth, so decided to spend the day there. On arrival at the island we caught a train to Smallbrook Junction, to connect with a steam train. A cute little station! This was a lovely trip of about 30Continue reading “Isle of Wight”

Next stop was HMS Warrior. It was the largest warship in the world and the pride of Queen Victoria’s navy. This warship was the most technologically advanced for its time, although by the time it launched there had been further advances so it was already outdated. It had a complement of 700 men, including 150Continue reading “Portsmouth – HMS Warrior”

Next stop was the Submarine Experience. We’d never been in a submarine before so this was pretty cool. The submarine we went on was built to take on the Japanese in WW2, but the war was over before it launched in 1945. The Alliance is an A class submarine and performed many different roles allContinue reading “Portsmouth – Submarine museum”

18th – 22nd July Lovely train journey from Bath to Portsmouth, just over an hour and the scenery very much like parts of rural NZ. The AirBnB we are staying at is near the beach and the dockyards. The beachfront is very 1920’s when people used to come to Portsmouth and ‘take the sea air’.Continue reading “Portsmouth”

17 July 2023 Warning! Long post ahead! Salisbury cathedral was beautiful (built in 1220 and took a mere 38 years to complete) set in its own Close, surrounded by lush grass and lovely historic buildings. On Sunday morning we attended a church service. This was very special and I was so glad we were hereContinue reading “Salisbury Cathedral (New Sarum)”

We decided to do the 3km walk to ‘Old Sarum’. This was a picturesque trail, meandering through river paths and fields. On this windswept hilltop a castle was built, and the first cathedral. There is still quite a lot of the castle ruins remaining, but very little of the cathedral. It cost us a totalContinue reading “Old Sarum”

We left ourBnB in Bath on a cloudy morning and headed for the railway station. A short journey of an hour or so and we arrived in the picturesque town Salisbury (think Stonehenge, Salisbury cathedral, old Sarum etc) Our BnB turned out to be a cute flat below our host’s house, with a view ofContinue reading “Salisbury”

13th-15th July This was different to most other towns we have been in. A lot of the buildings are of the same age, built in the 1800’s. There are a few older places scattered through, including the Abbey. plus the Baths of course but they were only rediscovered in the late 1700’s. It poured whenContinue reading “Bath”

There are lots of small ferries plying the harbour in Plymouth. We decided to catch one to Cawsand and do a 4 mile walk to Edgecombe house, then catch another ferry back to Williams Yard. It was a pleasant day to be on the water, we could see a some yachts under spinnaker racing inContinue reading “Cawsand & Edgecomb House”

9th – 13th July 2023 So nice to be in a seaside town. It’s been ages since we have heard the sea rolling in, and the squawk of seagulls. Plymouth is about the same size as Wellington, but without the hills and southerly winds. We are a 30 minute walk from the town centre, andContinue reading “Plymouth”

It was a bit cool when we pulled into Cambridge. Our AirBnB was only a 10 minute flat walk from the station so we dropped our bags off and went and explored the town. We found the hop on / hop off bus and did a tour of the town. These are a great wayContinue reading “Cambridge”

3rd July 2023 Two final activities from our Nottingham visit were the City of Caves and Justice Museum. We had no idea that Nottingham was built on such a vast system of caves! Later on the caves were used as air raid shelters during the war. Next stop – Justice Museum (I know, sounds dryContinue reading “City of Caves and the Justice Museum”

While In Nottingham we visited the stately Woolaton House. Apparently the wealthy Mr Willoughby (the original house owner) had the house built to show off his wealth, and to impress Queen Victoria. Unfortunately she did not like the house! We did a guided tour with Ben and one other couple. This was worthwhile to hearContinue reading “Woolaton House”

Today we bid farewell to our lovely house sit. Robin (the house owner) very kindly drove us to the station, even though they only returned home in the early hours of the morning. This time we were bound for Nottingham, an hour and a half train journey. We were surprised to find that Nottingham isContinue reading “Nottingham”

29-30 June 2023 On one of our trips to York, we visited ‘Jorvic’(Viking name for York). This was an interactive experience, detailing the Viking influence in York. It was really well done and the figures extremely lifelike! We also enjoyed visiting the markets, Armoury museum and Leeds Minster in Leeds. The next stop was theContinue reading “Leeds Sightseeing”

We returned to York on a rainy and overcast morning. This was perfect as all of our activities were inside! First stop was the Railway Museum (you would have loved this Robin!). This was very large and included full-size trains, models, and all the paraphernalia that goes with trains! There was even a precursor toContinue reading “York – day two”

While staying at our house sit, we decided to have a couple of day trips to York. This is a beautiful old town, one of our favourites! We particularly enjoyed walking through’The Shambles’, a very quaint street filled with unique shops set in old buildings. Following this we had a look at York Minster –Continue reading “Two days in York – 26/27 June – day one”

We left Birmingham on a hot morning bound for our first ever overseas house sit in Leeds! It was a pleasant two hour train journey. Arrived at Leeds (first impression looks similar to Birmingham), lunch at the railway station then another train to Crossgates It was a short walk to our house sit which turnedContinue reading “Leeds & Hull”

Beautiful morning- sunny (but not too hot) and a light breeze – just right for our return visit to Bournville! First we visited Selly Manor (this was closed on our previous visit), then we caught up with David Eastman, an old Cadbury work colleague of Kim’s, for lunch Selly Manor was interesting- very old buildingContinue reading “Bournville! 21 June”