Category: Vacations

  • Lancaster Weekend

    Lancaster Weekend

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    nealpp
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    We planned a weekend in Lancaster around seeing Stacey Kent at the new Platform venue in Morecambe. We stayed at the excellent Lancaster House Hotel situated on the A6 just south of Lancaster. We took advantage of a deal which included tours at Lancaster Brrewery and Lancaster Castle, and a bottle of Lancaster ale and…

  • Patriots in London

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    nealpp
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    Ian and me went to Wembley for the Pats against Tampa three years ago. We were incredibly lucky that they were playing again in the NFL International Series game against the St Louis Rams, again at Wembley Stadium. We stayed in a hotel in the City for a change, very near London Bridge. What a…

  • North Yorkshire

    North Yorkshire

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    nealpp
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    We travelled up to Middleham to stay at the White Swan Hotel (www.whiteswanhotel.co.uk) and firstly called at Newby Hall (http://www.newbyhallandgardens.com/). Newby Hall has fantastic gardens as can be seen in the photos, and a very fine Georgian hall. The hall itself is entrance by guided your only which is a bit of bind when it’s…

  • Canada Geese at Kew

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    nealpp
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    Forgot to mention in the last post, Anne had only said on Wednesday evening that she’s seen lots of Canada Geese around, but no chicks. Well, that was remedied when this lot trudged across the rose garden area at Kew the following day!!

  • London June 2012

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    nealpp
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    We’ve just got back from a wonderful stay in London. The main reason for the trip was to listen to Anna Netrebko, the wonderful Russian soprano. She was leading a Gala at The Royal Albert Hall with her partner baritone Erwin Schrott and tenor Ramon Vargas. We travelled down from Leeds via East Coast. Even…

  • Harewood House

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    nealpp
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    With our unexpected day in Yorkshire as opposed to Cheshire, we decided to visit Harewood House (www.harewood.org); somewhere we’d not been for a while, and when we did it was in the winter and we’d not gone in the house. The day was drizzly again but not half as bad as yesterday so we started…

  • Knutsford and Tatton Park

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    nealpp
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    For our ‘post open evening’ weekend away we wanted to visit Tatton Park as we’ve not been there outside the RHS flower show. For this we wanted to stay in Knutsford which is right next door. The place to stay we picked was the Rose and Crown just 2 minutes walk from the Knutsford gate…

  • Batsford Arboretum

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    nealpp
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    It chucked it down today! A nice big blob of rain in the south-west of England. But that wasn’t going to stop us enjoying the last day of our holiday. We wanted to visit Batsford Arboretum (http://www.batsarb.co.uk). This is a really large collection of trees and shrubs from all over the world, well landscaped with…

  • Hidcote Manor Gardens & Bourton Model Village

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    nealpp
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    A must see in this area is apparently the Hidcote Manor Gardens (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hidcote.htm). This National Trust property came into their care in 1946 so has been with them a long time. They reckon it’s where the Trust learnt how to garden! It was created by American Lawrence Johnson who ended up becoming a naturalised Brit…

  • Gloucester

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    nealpp
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    By far the biggest place in this area is Gloucester. It’s only about 20 miles away from the cottage we’re staying in. We visited the cathedral (http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/) which was very pleasant, wandered down to the historical docks to have lunch, and then wandered round some of the craft and antique places down there. Very relaxing!