Our English Sojourn continued

I am typing this in Montpellier while the local men play boules (petanque) outside our kitchen window literally under the arches of the ancient Roman Aqueduct that stretches for the full length of this street (a lot longer than Faircroft Ave). Their are loud exclamations in French and the sun is shining! What more could I ask for?
Stowe Maries, Essex Sunday & Monday nights
Our stay with Pam's cousin Henry & his wife Liliane in Stowe Maries, Essex was lovely. As our earlier post indicated they have lots of animals including 3 horses (previously their daughters, but now looked after by their daughter and themselves), 3 cats, a rabbit and a chinchilla (sort of like a guinea pig but very soft and shy). Both daughters and their 3 year old grand daughter came for lunch, which was lovely. As Alan posted earlier, Henry loves his cars and took Alan for a spin in his TVR. We both went for a ride in the Jag. Pam and Liliane also went for a walk on the local public / bridle path past the lovely old church and through the backs of Henry's fields and the local golf course. It was nice to get out and stretch my legs.
Newport, Cambridge Tuesday & Wednesday nights
On the Tuesday we left Henry's with directions printed out from Google maps (saves buying a road atlas) and headed over to Pam's other cousin Frank in Newport, Saffron Walden a small village near Cambridge. Frank & his wife Jill live in a beautiful historic barn, converted into 3 houses several years ago. The barn has a Tudor exterior and cathedral ceilings & exposed beams in the living area with all the bedrooms and bathroom on a mezzanine floor built into the barn. All Franks kids (Pam's 2nd cousins?) came for dinner on the Sunday night. It was lovely to catch up with Samantha & Reece, Alexander & Charles again as they have all been out to Australia in the last 5 years (as a gap year world tour or as part of a school exchange). On the Wednesday, Frank took the day off work and showed us around Saffron Walden, a fabulous historic market town crammed full of genuine Tudor buildings and traditional East Anglian decorative rendering. After Saffron Walden, Frank drove us into Cambridge and gave us a personalised tour of Cambridge which was great. Frank has a detailed knowledge of how the education and university system works which is essential to understanding and appreciating all that Cambridge has to offer. Along with the traditional old buildings, it was great to see the new science parks and modern additions to Cambridge. The only disappointment was the English weather which was wet & windy (although not as bad as Melbourne we have since been told!!!), but it did prevent us walking around as much as we would have liked. A quiet night at Franks on the Wednesday. A quick photo trip back into Saffron Walden for Pam on the Thursday morning before heading off to Birmingham, this time with the assistance of an AA maps printout from the computer.
Birmingham Thursday & Friday nights
Met up with Chris & Kim at one of the roadside services on the southern outskirts of Birmingham. Must say the roadside services are much improved - almost like mini shopping centres. Followed Chris & Kim back to their lovely new house in Alvechurch, a small village a few miles south of Birmingham. Their house is a converted brick kiln factory . Again a large historic building converted into several very nice houses. This particular setting is literally at the end of a dead end road right next to one of the main canals leading into Birmingham. It is a beautiful setting and fortunately the public towpath is on the other side of the canal, so they get no passing traffic but can see all the boats and walkers passing along the canal! There are trees and lots of birds and it is truly a beautiful spot.
Friday night our other friends from Birmingham (John, Jim & Barbara) came over to Chris & Kim's for a beautiful meal that went till well after midnight. Chris & Kim had visited Melbourne twice in the 1990's but we hadn't seen John, Jim & Barbara since 1994. It was lovely to catch up with them all again and it is amazing how we all just resumed relationships as if we had not been apart. For those who don't know, John was the Chief Librarian of Birmingham City Libraries in 1994 and was the person who organised my scholarship time their and who made us so welcome at the time. It was this group of friends who made Birmingham such a special place in our memories).
Friday - After a slow relaxing morning, including a walk in the rain into the village and along the canal for Kim & Pam; we all trooped over to John's place in the Bourneville Estate (think Cadbury's Bournville Chocolate Factory) for a rather long but fabulous lunch that started at 1.00pm and finished at midnight! We were met by John and Baaarbaaara, a large woolly sheep that John won in a raffle and the humour descended from there! After a lovely "French" lunch prepared by John & Barbara, we sat around catching up on the news and watching videos of John's investiture by the Queen of his OBE for Services to Libraries in 1999 and also of his scuba diving exploits of the Barrier Reef when he went there in the late 1990's. Chris & I also visited Jim & Barbara's place next door to look at her quilt and patchwork collection - she is a fabulous quilter - the nearest equivalent to Deb Reynolds that I know of. I really envy people who can do needlework like this, but too many other interests take a higher priority for me!
The highlight of the afternoon / evening would have to be the surprise 50th birthday cake they presented me - a beautiful Victoria Sponge with gorgeous floral icing decorations. As I had not organised a proper birthday cake for my party back in February, this was truly special. Like Frank earlier in the week, John had taken the day off work to spend Friday with us and this was truly appreciated. Also, although we had not known before our arrival, Jim was recovering from a serious illness, so it was lovely to see him last the distance and it was great to see how he and Alan caught up with all the medical marvels they had both received. We also found it quite novel that we went to Birmingham, but never made it into town! - a return visit is on the cards before we head back to Australia.
Shrewton, Witshire Saturday & Sunday nights
After a slow start Saturday morning Alan & I once again hit the road with our AA map printouts to head off to Alan's Aunt Joyce in Shrewton, a small village between Salisbury & Devizes on the Wiltshire Plains. the road trip was uneventful, but tiring as it was pouring with rain all the way and the traffic still travels at 70+ miles per hour on the motorway, so you have to stay alert all the time. In addition, we left at approx 12.30pm and didn't feel like lunch till around 2.30. We felt like a nice pub meal to warm us up, so headed off the motorway but found that all the English pubs stop serving food after 2.00pm and as we had passed all the "Services" by then were getting quite hungry and tired by the time we reached Salisbury. Fortunately we found a bakery that was still open, so settled for a pie & coffee and went on our way to Joyce's.
A nice quiet evening at Joyce's looking at old family photos and catching up on the news.
Saturday we had a nice sleep in before Alan & I headed off for a walk around the village - it was 14 years since we had been there. We were amazed at how much the village had grown in 14 years, but there is still only one general store, a butchers and a pub (there used to be 3) and a garage. Joyce's place also looked different as the government "do up" the public housing every few years, so the row of houses Joyce is in and those around her had been recladded in a different colour and now had high fences instead of hedges. I think it makes them look more crowded and less attractive, but they do at least keep most of the maintenance up - more than can be said for Melb?)
Still the walk was fun and interesting. - We met a nice lady heading out of the village church (The photo on our dining room wall for those of you who remember it) who, apart from heading off to visit relatives in Australia that afternoon, happened to know the lady of the Manor, Joyce Delacombe, and told us to go and visit her as she would love to meet us (we didn't have time to follow this up unfortunately). For those who know the history of Victoria, Lord Delacombe was the Governor of Victoria in the 1970's I think. We also came across some donkeys (separate email coming to Ross & Fi) and spent a lovely time talking with the donkey's owners, some dog walkers (there were plenty of them) and some other locals who came by each day to feed the donkeys. A really nice snapshot of English village life as you imagine it from the toffy end of the village. The owner of the donkeys was very interesting as she had lived in Viewbank (western suburbs of Melbourne) for 2 years and still had friends in Geelong. Her husband was in the English army, so she was used to moving around. Now they have a young child, they have settled down in one place and she now rescues donkeys, brings them back to health and finds them new homes. These 2 donkeys were from Afghanistan and Pakistan!
Saturday lunch time and we are off to a pub in a nearby village to catch up with Alan's cousin Mitzy (Joyce's daughter), her new partner Steve, one of her son's Nicholas and his daughter Janey. A lovely roast carvery lunch followed by an excellent cheese platter & French wine. Meal went well, till Pam sat back on the bench seat and the whole thing collapsed (no rude comments about my food intake or weight!!!) - it was wobbly when we first sat down and got more fragile as the afternoon wore on! Still no-one hurt and conversation resumed until we all headed homewards. It was great to catch up with Mitzy and to meet Steve and re meet Nick whom we met as a teenager 14 years ago, but couldn't really remember. He was a real contrast. He has a shaved head, lots of tattoos and heavy silver chains, but he is a qualified food scientist holding down a very good job which includes lots of overseas travel and he is fabulous with his 3 year old daughter. Appearances can be very deceptive! A quiet night watching tv with Joyce and an early start the next day.
London - Monday
Up bright and early as I wanted a quick look at Stonehenge before we headed back to London. Joyce's village is only about 4 miles from Stonehenge so it was an easy stop on the way. It was nice to revisit - we didn't pay as you can see it quite well from the road, but I just wanted to refresh my memory. They have improved it, as last time I was there you could not walk into the stones and now you can. They still seem a lot smaller to me than I imagine them to be. Alan used to play among them when he was little and came to visit his cousins, so they have a different impact on him.
The ride on the motorway to Heathrow was very easy with excellent signposting, so we had no trouble dropping our hire car back at the airport and catching the train to Russell Square, where our hotel for the night was. It was the Bedford Hotel, recommended by both Frank and John. Dearer than St Paul's but still quite nice, although their free wi fi internet access wasn't working. After settling in, we went out and bought a lovely lunch in a nearby avenue of shops called The Sicilian Avenue - very nice. Then walked back to St Paul's - about a 30 - 40 minute walk to collect our large suitcases that we had left in the hotel storage. We had been going to catch the bus but the shopkeeper in the Sicilian Ave told us it was not too far to walk and as the weather was lovely, we took up his suggestion. It was a great walk, passing the Holburn Inn - an amazing building and containing the house where Charles Dickens once lived, the Holburn Viaduct, Smithfield markets,the Old Bailey and lots of other lovely old buildings. Retrieved our bags quite easily and decided to wheel them back as it was easier than lugging them up and down steps in the tube or on crowded buses. Walk back was just as enjoyable.

Went for a restorative coffee after trying to track down our Birmingham friend John, who literally works 2 doors down from the hotel in Victoria House, the administrative centre for the Ministry of Arts and Libraries etc. After a bit of misinformation from his office, and a phone call from him we finally caught up and had a fabulous evening. First he took us to the British Museum where the original British Library storage was built as a circular domed building in the middle of the museum courtyard. They have now built this amazing glass ceiling over the courtyard and library building and it is just spectacular - highly recommended for a visit. Had a brief look at one of the museum rooms (British museum, library and art galleries are free to the public!!!), before heading out to eat. John first took us to a nice looking restaurant in Bloomsbury Square gardens, one of these lovely garden squares in Londonsurrounded by rows of historical houses, many with name plates on them saying who used to live there. Unfortunately the restaurant was not open in the evenings, so we returned to the Sicilian Ave for a lovely spaghetti meal in an Italian restaurant. Then John had to rush off as he still had to catch a bus and train back to Birmingham. Alan and I went back to the hotel for an early night before catching the Eurostar fast train to France at 10.00am Tuesday morning.
The primary purpose of our visit to England was to catch up with family and friends. This was achieved with far more pleasure and ease than anticipated!