I'm sure the Costswolds arent in Wales!

For K-Man's birthday a few weeks ago we decided to have yet another boozy weekend away.  This time we headed for a cottage in what we thought were The Cotswold's.  As it turned out, the cottage was actually in Wales.  We didn't realise this until we arrived and drove past signs welcoming us to Wales, giving us directions in both English and Welsh and farewelling us from England.

13 of us hired 4 cars (excessive I know) and departed after work on Friday.  Unfortunately our car got a tiny bit lost because of all our gas bagging.  We ended up going over a bridge at Bristol which we couldn't exit for miles.  Our google maps lost reception on our phones and it was touch and go for a little bit.  We found the cottage at about 11pm (it was meant to be a 2.5 hour drive from London) after driving past it a few times.  K-Man came through with the goods yet again and booked us an incredibly lovely cottage (see photos below).  Green, green everywhere - the landscape was so lush.

When I say boozy...I mean boozy too.  The first night we arrived we stayed up long enough to see the sun rise.  I think the game of "kings" may have been responsible for this.  There were quite a few sore heads when we woke up the next day.

The next day, hangover or no hangover, we went shooting.  Yep - you read that right.  We went clay pigeon shooting with real guns and real gun powder.  I think its safe to say that we all had the BEST time doing it.  E was quite the little shooter.  She hit 8 clay plates while S hit a mere 7!!!!!  It was really difficult and took a lot of skill.  E ended up with a massive bruise on her collarbone from the kick back of the gun, but it was all worth it.

On Saturday night we had yet another boozy night - this time we hit the town of Chepstow.  Surprisingly, this little Welsh town went off.  It was absolutely freezing but all of the locals were out in their mini skirts ready to party.  We found a "nightclub" and danced the night away (Stav was in heaven - at last a holiday with some dance music and a club!).

On Sunday, we had a slow lazy day as surprise surprise most of the gang stayed up and saw the sun rise yet again.  We drove to the charming little town of Ross-on-Wye for a pub lunch and then headed back to the hustle and bustle of London.

Happy birthday K-Man...thanks for another great weekend away.

xoxo

E&S

S's first time shooting



E perfecting her excellent shooting skills

The Cottage

 

The view from the yard of The Cottage.

 

The boys favourite passtime when we are on holiday

The Weird and the Wonderful

S and I thought we would take a moment to record some of the weird and wonderful things we have encountered about living in London so far.  There are so many similarities but there are also some massive differences.  One minute you can feel totally at home and then the next you see/hear/notice something that reminds you that you aren't.  It's absolutely fabulous.

So here goes....

Wonderful:

• Park after park after park.  The parks here are amazing! When the sun is out everyone heads to the park.
• The hidden gardens - getting lost in this city is fun because it is likely that you will stumble across a beautiful little garden full of peony roses, tulips and daffodils when you least expect it.
• Home delivery fast food - last week we ordered sushi by home delivery and it was awesome.  Anything you want you can get delivered straight to your door.
• Transport - it is so easy to get around!
• The shopping is magical. E's heaven on earth.  Most areas in London have a High Street on which there are loads and loads of stores. One of E's  favourite High Streets is Marylebone High Street.  She also loves Upper Street at Angel.
• One word - VARIETY.  Variety of food, variety of shopping, variety of things to do and things to see.  We also love the variety of people and areas.  The pretty tree lined streets in the West End are so utterly different from the grungy trendy streets of the East End.
• London is so trendy - we love it!
• Food - E's favourite topic.  There are so many markets selling fresh produce like olives and cheese and bread.  Then there are thousands upon thousands of restaurants.
• Pub and Street Names - We love looking out for quirky pub and street names.  One of E's favourite lane names is Huggin Hill.  Another is Man on the Moon Lane.

Weird / Different

• The coffee or should I say "lack of coffee".  There are hundreds of cafes in this city but the coffee is awful.  It is soooooo weak.  The Brits should just stick to what they are good at - Tea.  They are only just introducing a flat white here and even then it isn't a proper flat white.
• Littering - everyone litters because in the early hours of the morning a council worker comes along and makes the streets beautiful again.  There is a serious lack of bins here.  In fact, in the tube stations they don't have bins as a security measure to stop terrorists putting bombs in them!
• The shop assistants in the grocery store sit down and they don't even pack your plastic bag for you.  You have to do that yourself.
• As soon as the sun comes out, the Brits drink on the road and footpath outside the pub. It's funny, we Australians to a bar or pub to drink in that pub.  In Spring/Summer, the Brits grab their drink from the pub and head for the street or the park across the road.  They then return their glass when they are done!
• Some of the things the Brits say - "You're right", meaning "Hi, How are you?" (of course that makes sense - NOT) and "Hiya/Heya" meaning "Hello". "Innnit" - Still haven't figured that one out yet.  A zucchini is a courgette and a sweet potato is a squash.  They have never ever heard of the term Macca's either.
• By law, no household can have an electrical power outlet in the bathroom - it can often make straightening your hair very tricky.

xoxo
E&S

Normandy, France

For the Royal Wedding and Early May Bank Holiday we decided to take a road trip with six others to Normandy in France.  I know that you are probably thinking "why on earth would you leave London when the wedding was on".  The reality is that we probably would have watched it on TV anyway and it was utter wedding hysteria here.  Plus, we wanted to take the opportunity to get out of the UK.

We left London and crossed the English channel to France by driving in the Chunnel.  Actually, we didn't drive in the Chunnel we drove into a train that could hold cars which took us through the Chunnel to Calais.  It was then a loooong drive to our Chateau in the little town of Vassy.  By little town, I mean tiny town!

We couldn't believe our eyes when we arrived out our Chateau!  It was perfect and was exactly what you would expect from a house in the french countryside.  Our Chateau was built in 1814.  We spent many conversations wondering who it's first owners may have been and what they would have farmed on the land surrounding the house. 

The area where we stayed was full of cheese farms, cider houses and rolling meadows.  It was so peaceful and calm and the fresh air was delectable.  Camembert was not too far away so you can imagine the cheese we were feasting on.  We also bought two cartons of amazing apple cider with the view to bringing some back to London but instead we finished all 12 bottles in one night.

We feasted in the open air on cured meats, croissants, cheese and bread.  It was heaven.  We also drank plenty of french wine because it was so darn cheap.  My favourite was the rose from Bordeaux.

We spent lots of time in the garden (and the sun when it decided to visit) and the boys played lots of football.  Us girls even got involved.  Although I did cop a ball to the face and one to the stomach so it was game over for me.

One night we went for a lovely three course french dinner - we found that ordering dinner was incredibly hard in a little french village even though a number of us knew a little bit of french.  Nonetheless we had a lot of fun trying to decipher what was on the menu.  We managed to have only one yucky experience where some sausages looked a little bit questionable (I think there may have been some brains included in that dish).  The desserts were absolutely delicious.  I adore french food so I was in utter heaven.

On our last day we visited Mont Saint Michel.  A massive Abbey and charming town built on an island off the Norman coast.  The Abbey sits high on the island and its origins are based on the legend that the Archangel Michael appeared to St Aubert in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet.  When you see it, it is an imposing structure that has the feeling of an angel sitting above the land.  We enjoyed a lovely late lunch of crepes and fresh muscles in a cafe under the Abbey.

We had such a lovely relaxing time in the french countryside.  We also had a few rowdy nights which prompted the slow moving days.  I think we all came back feeling a little bit energised and it was so nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of London (without phone reception!).

Some photos below:

E&S
xoxo

The Chateau Bremnisil which we had to ourselves.

 (I adore the heart shape windows!)

 Mont St Michel



Cornwall - Part 2

After a heavinly sleep-in in our plush beds we decided to visit a nearby estate named Mount Edgcumbe.  The estate was a large property with a mansion, manicured gardens, orangery and deer park.  It reminded me of something out of a Jane Austen novel and had the most amazing view of the Plymouth Sound.  It is the home of the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe (but is now owned by the Cornish Council).  The estate takes up 865 acres, is rich in history and was heavily bombed by the German blitz on Plymouth in 1941.  Families and locals flock to the grounds for picnics and garden parties.

On Saturday afternoon we visited Whitsand Beach.  Whitsand Beach is one of the ten best beaches in England.  It was magnificent! We drove along a windy narrow road....on one side was a cliff with the sea miles below and on the other was rolling meadows of green, green and more green (and a few cows!).  It was bizarre driving through the middle of beach and countryside. 

When we arrived at Whitsand Beach we had to walk down a path on the side of the cliff.  It was less like walking and more like mountain climbing.  It was so relaxing sitting in the sun and sand watching the funny poms go red.  The water was like a bucket of ice.  The boys dared each other to see who could go in the furthest but didn't last long because of the pain!

On Sunday the boys played golf and Sue and I explored the fishing town named Looe (that's right - it sounds like "loo").  We had a chuckle every time someone said they needed to go to the loo when we were in Looe.

Looe was so so so beautiful and had an amazing little beach.  We wandered around the windy little pedestrian streets and walked to the top of a cliff and lookout.  It was very chilly but the sky was so clear and amazing.  Sue and I took a little boat trip around the beach and then had a lovely warm soup lunch.  We also had scones and tea in a cute little tea shop (no trip to Cornwall is complete without scones and jam).  At the tea house we learnt the difference between a Cream Tea and a Devonshire Tea.  As it turns out there is big rivalry between Cornwall and Devon in this department.  The Cornish think that the jam goes on first followed by the cream and the Devons think that the cream goes on first followed by the jam.  It certainly is a worrying topic!

We spent our last night in Cornwall at the pub with the locals.  I think we tried every single pub in Kingsand!  We even met the town gay and the town drunk.  That last night was a very loose night indeed.

Our drive home was a bit painful with traffic from Bristol to London.  It was made worse by a massive detour at the start where we were heading home in the complete opposite direction.  That will teach us for not looking at the map before leaving.

More photos below.

xoxo

E&S

 Mount Edgcumbe Estate

 Whitsand Beach

 Kingsand



Looe

Cornwall and Lyndale Cottage - Part 1

Over the Easter long weekend we went to Cornwall in the South East of England.  Cornwall is made up of small fishing villages, beaches, moors and national parks like Dartmoor.

We hired a car and drove to the little fishing/beach town where we were staying called Kingsand.  The towns we drove through were so quaint and small that literally only one car at a time could pass. Our talented drivers had to manoeuvre through windy roads with high hedges.  At times it seemed like we were driving through a maze.

Never ever have I seen so many different shades of green.  Mile after mile we drove past rolling green meadows.  Every part of Cornwall that we saw was picturesque.

We arrived at our three storey holiday house named Lyndale Cottage.  None of the cottages had house numbers.  Instead, they had cute names like Hidden Garden Cottage and Old School House.  The cottage was AMAZING and is actually owned by a director of Shell who lives in Australia and owns about five other houses.  The cottage had steep tiny little staircases that felt like climbing up a ladder.  We also had a little deck which we could get to by climbing out of a window/door.  

The towns of Kingsand and Cawsand had a total of 5 pubs (but only 1000 residents!!!!!).  On the first night we went to the towns gastropub named The Devenport  We had the most incredible meal - fresh muscles, oysters and fish in lobster sauce.  We even saw the chefs carry in the fresh seafood straight off the boats in buckets. It was a sensational meal and some of the best oysters we have tasted.

Our first afternoon and night in Kingsand was so relaxing.  It was great to be down near the beach and having a drink by the sea air.  Each of the locals owned a family of dogs and we spent a lot of time oogling over cute puppies (we are deprived here in cement land London).

Here are some photos of the cottage and Kingsand.  Up next, our adventures through Cornwall.

xoxo

E&S