Our trip to England was SO much fun.
We were lucky to meet up with Britt and Mark on their way back from Scotland.
They went to Huntingdon with us to see the kids.
Then, they flew back to the US of A.
The biggest problem we encountered during the trip was the flu!
Everybody except Britt, Brian and Pearson had to endure a 24-hour bout.
However, we soldiered on and found our way to our cottage in Devon.
It was quirky, creaky and charming.
Our first tour on Monday was to Okehampton Castle Ruins.
It was such a neat place up on that hill.
The audio tour was 'hosted' by the lady of the castle.
She made it sound quite comfortable.
On Tuesday, we took a trip north to Clovelly.
See how steep the hill looks?
We walked down a cobblestone street to get to the bottom.
Some of us paid a LandRover to take us back up the backroad -
you'll just have to guess who.
There are NO cars in Clovelly.
In the olden days and these days, donkeys pull sleds up and down the hill.
Brady and McColley were able to say "hello" to the Clovelly Donkeys.
Next, we went to Baggy Point.
It required a walk across basalt rocks to reach the sandy beach.
The water was surprisingly warm!
On Wednesday, we went to the beach at Paignton, at Quay West.
We did a lot of wave jumping, sand standing and rock hunting (see Katharine's blog).
Mom tried on a designer necklace fresh from the sea.
We also went to Colton Fishacre, a 1920's estate.
There was big confusion over finding the Tree of Heaven...
or is it Tree of Devon...
We believe we sat right under it and didn't even realize it.
Great place!
On Thursday, we drove to Cornwall.
We visited Lanhydrock, a Victorian estate.
Their gardens supply many British Trust holdings.
We enjoyed fabulous weather on our vacation!
Luckily, we dressed as WSU Cougs that day,
because we met another Coug in Cornwall!!!
On Friday, we went to Exeter Cathedral
where we found the Hickory Dickory Clock.
Afterward, we went to a Norman castle ruin called Restormal.
The sheep are safe...not a lot of storming going on in Cornwall right now.
On Saturday, we went to Castle Drogo, the last castle built in England.
It was actually a rich guy's mansion, built to look like a castle - much like Maryhill in WA.
Brian, Brady and I had attempted to go earlier in the week, but that didn't work out.
The sweet host recognized us and thought it was 'lovely' that we had returned.
You had to be there to appreciate just how nice that comment was.
Here's the flag of Devon flying over the castle.
The little boys did a variety of sports before we toured the place.
We all liked Welly Wanging.
Here's Mom showing good form:
We ate lunch at the White Hart Pub in the Cheddar Gorge (home of Cheddar Cheese)...
and did a Stonehenge drive-by on our way to Windsor...
to visit Yego Yand (Lego Land).
McColley and Brady love to drive:
Sunday was my birthday and we were headed to the Olympics!!!
We found a place to lunch in London called The Folly.
Even though this was the only place open, we all agreed it was super.
We shared yummy roasted beef and roasted salmon.
Here we are at the ExCeL Center in the East End of London.
We went to the Mens' Gold Medal round of Sabre (fencing).
Short, sweet and very exciting!
Judge says: "En garde, pret, allez!"
Fencers go: {Ching Ching. Thrust. Parry. Lunge. Touche.}
This is repeated for 3 minutes or until someone gets 15 points.
We are still a bit foggy on how they score, but no matter.
Thank goodness for electronic scoring.
We were rooting for the Hungarian, who won the gold medal.
Then, we watched the athletes get their Olympic medals.
What a wonderful experience!
Our visit to England was incredible.
Our children made it accessible and
our grandchildren made it uber fun.
Hope your summers have been full of good memories, too!
TTFN.
