Piccadilly Circus

With a mere 24 hours in London, we only had time to drop our bags at the hotel, find a bus to get to the tube so we could get to Piccadilly Circus to meet up with Amber for a few hours. We had a great time – we managed to score an outside pub table for 3, right amongst the action, so we supped our beers and ate dinner while watching the crazy world and Catherine Tate go by (she’s starring in a Shakespeare play on Charing Cross Rd at the moment).

Saturday evening crowds in Piccadilly Circus	Mind the gap	Newest store on Leicester Square… 4 floors selling M+Ms
Di and Amber	This was about the 5th Hen Party that went past us	Latest London fashions

Manchester One Nighted

We zipped up the M62 from Leeds to Manchester for our one night stay before leaving for France.  We didn’t actually have time to see Manchester, but spied the massive Trafford Centre shopping complex on our way.  It’s very impressive, and I could easily spend a week shopping here and not even touch the sides, so Linz was pleased we only had half an hour available.  Then we were off to one of the Irish chain hotels, Bewley’s, at the airport.  Apart from taking 20 minutes in a queue to check in, and another 15 minutes in the queue every time we went to Reception, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

	Inside the impressive Trafford Centre	Inserted into the walls of one of the Fashion Stores
Taken through a 5cm gap in our 7th floor Hotel window -  a sea of cars and a fortuitous plane landing		The mind boggles – what do you blokes DO in there?

Leeds & A Bunch of Medievalists

The reason for our 4 day stay in Leeds was Lindsay’s attendance & participation in the International Medieval Congress hosted by Leeds University and attended by 1500 people from around the world.  It was held in part at Weetwood Hall, the hotel where we stayed.  Because the exchange rate is so good at the moment, I thought it a good opportunity to look at upgrading my camera and spent my 4 days in Leeds researching and talking to people in camera shops, driving myself crazy in the process.  I eventually bought one on the last day.

a rushed shot from the car window while zooming round a roundabout	Part of Weetwood Hall Hotel & Conference Centre	“The Stables” pub which is part of Weetwood Hall – a good student hang out and they even have a Tuesday Quiz Night
Er, do you sell vacuum cleaners?	another shot snatched from the car window	Central Leeds Shopping area, very pleasant we thought

***** Happy Birthday To Me *****

While staying in Leeds, it was my birthday.  Linz was at the conference during the day so I shouted myself a new hair do. Huge thanks to all those who ‘phoned, texted and emailed me with your good wishes, I really appreciated that.  Very special thanks to the Seymour-Nash clan, especially Aniela, who went to extraordinary lengths to arrange for the hotel staff to deliver a card and a sumptuous chocoholics delight platter ….. it made my day

a bit blurry but you get the drift

Chocolicious!

May not look riveting from the outside, but we had a beautiful Thai meal here in Headingley in the evening

Worcester Shire Sauce

Another day trip from our base in Droitwich took us to Worcester Cathedral and surrounds …

Worcester Cathedral from the river	Cathedral floor	Linz gallantly climbed the 237 stairs up the tower to bring you this panoramic shot from the top of Worcester Cathedral … not for the faint hearted or the weak thighed!
Creative architecture in the Chapter House	Friar Street	Interesting steps in the Greyfriars House garden
	Here lyeth bad King John of Sherwood Forest & Robin Hood fame	We pondered this gem of information published in the local rag, whilst in a Worcester cafe tucking into our lunch

Snowshill Manor & Charles Paget Wade (still in the Cotswolds)

Our Droitwich hosts Maureen & Dennis told us this was a fascinating place to visit, and indeed it was.  We could have spent a whole day exploring this place and it’s contents.  The Manor is used to house the 22,000 items amassed by Charles Wade during his life.  He was interested in collecting things for the sake of preserving their craftmanship, colour and beauty and started his collection when he was 7 years old.  He and his wife chose to live in a much smaller cottage set in the gardens below the Manor.  Apologies for the poor quality photos – the whole collection is kept in relative darkness as that’s how Charles wanted it displayed – to create an atmosphere of mystery.  Photos of the most interesting things did not come out well.  The Manor is large and each room houses many collections of similar items. 

Snowshill Manor	Charles Wade’s cottage	Garden view from the Manor

The Cotswolds

We only had one day available to make this trip around parts of the Cotswolds and unfortunately it rained most of the time so we didn’t see as much as we’d hoped.

Quaint shops at Stow-In-The-Wold

Unexpected lavender fields

A selection of pretty Cotswold houses
loved the typical country stone walls	Typical Cotswold farm scene	Here’s lookin’ at you kid

Droitwich & The Hayloft

We based ourselves in Droitwich which is half an hour SW of Birmingham, so we could easily reach places we wanted to explore.  We had a wonderful stay at the Hayloft B & B with Maureen & Dennis and could easily have stayed another week.  Thanks Dennis for all our “imagery” discussions and Maureen for just being a fabulous hostess.  Maureen, I won’t mention the toast or the milk, but the beam has to take its place below.

Check out the angles of the Cobbler shop in the sunken street in Droitwich – one of many casualties of subsidence	Hosties with the most, Maureen & Dennis	The sign is PRETTY CLEAR isn’t it?   Maureen said “it must be a NZ thing” that I hit it 3 times – one of them knocking me to the floor - Duh
The view to Wales from our Hayloft bedroom window	The Hayloft farm pets	Dennis, you need to Photoshop the power line out for me!

A Map, A Library and A Bishop

From our base in Droitwich we ventured out on a day trip to the city of Hereford.

A fine old tudor house in the middle of the Hereford shopping area The famous Mappa Mundi – medieval map of the world as it was known in about the year  1300 is in Hereford Cathedral

“Bish” Anthony Priddis, the 104th Bishop of the Hereford Cathedral happily poses for us. He was in his finery as he had just finished a special service for about 500 children from all the local schools, he didn’t just put his garb on for us.

Stunning interior of Hereford Cathedral Also in the cathedral, the amazing ‘Chained Library’ housing 1500 books, a large number of which are hand written