London at Christmas

London at Christmas is just an amazing mass of lights and mad shoppers. We have had a couple of nights visiting Oxford St, Regent St etc and forget the recession, certainly the lights have not been switched off yet. Shoppers are in a frenzy. You feel out of place if you are not walking down Oxford St struggling with  Selfridges, Debenhams and John Lewis bags.

Yes I managed to locate Santas Pub. Even a British Santa has to have a local. Its a bit blurred but Lucys hands must have been cold.

      Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.                  Skating rink in Hyde Park

      Selfridges at night                                    Harrods at night

The London EYE overlooking Winter Wonderland

Side Trip to Cornwall.

Wedding Anniversary has arrived again so we decided to do a whistle-stop tour to Cornwall. Max found Camelot Castle as a Wedding Anniversary excursion… boy, it was amazing. Standing on the windswept cliffs of Tintagel, it commanded superb views, even from the bedroom window.

Atmosphere was a little bit spoilt because one of the owners called Ted Stourton was a painter and obviously thought his art was good,( apparently he sold a lot) , but the old castle just wasn’t the place to show case his style of paintings. HUGH Pink and blue butterfly paintings just don't gel with rich red carpets and antique furniture.

 

Sampled a few local pubs, and then off for supper in Padstow. Rick Stein country.

Unfortunately we only saw Padstow at night. We found out that Ric and his wife own half of the town, so the visitors keep it well and truly alive. These little Cornish fishing villages find it hard to survive and the only way is through tourism.

We had a lovely meal and a windy road back to Tintagel. He had a small varied wine list with Australian and new Zealand wines,but no French or south African.

Next day off to visit the home of Doc Martin, Port Isaac.  Again a tiny little hamlet fishing village built before cars were invented. So tiny one lane, steep windy very single lane roads and no real access for us tourists, so parking was up on the cliffs and you walked down into the harbour front.

 

 

This is the local sweet/ice-cream/local shop that for 11 days a year gets to be turned into the Doc Martin Port Issac Pharmacy ( below ). They take the whole stock out, and rebuild the inside for the TV shoot. The surgery in the house is actually shot in a barn 3 miles up the road. They are starting shooting again for 4 months from next April if any one wants to visit!!!!

Some signs we saw …………………………….

Don’t you just love them??

Next off to Lands End. The end of the road, the most Southern tip of England.

And of course the last PUB!!!!

Not the best picture, sorry but it was called The Last Pub in England.

And then back via St Ives to Tintagel before leaving the next day to head back through to Looe, and then to Bournemouth and home to Chichester,

The view of St Ives from the road. 

In Looe we caught up with Chris and Paula Roy who we be-friended in Rethall, on the canals in France in the summer. Looe is another much busier, but again small fishing port on the southern coast of Cornwall.

 

Sunday lunch out with Dawn and Alvin in Bournemouth. They took us to a pub called The Candlestick.It dates back 600 years and couldn’t believe it was right next to Ringwood's Brewery, where Max got the help and inspiration to start Newbegins Brewery back in Auckland in the 1980’s.

At least this brewery is still up and running. Max will have to go back for the t-shirt.!!!

 

An amazing 4 days away. We caught up with old/new friends and visited places of such natural beauty, along with the few obligatory visits to the local pubs for a few pints.

Weekend in Wales

Well we decided to have a weekend in the Welsh valleys. Well set off Friday morning as its a long drive down through Cardiff and Swansea and over the Severn bridge which is over 3 k long and spans the River Severn, as we were heading for our first night at the Gwestry Webley ( Gwestry is Welsh for Hotel) in Poppit, overlooking the Teifi River and the Atlantic. The first thing that strikes you when you enter Wales is that every single sign has been written in English and Welsh. All signs are double the size they should be. By the time you read the sign you have driven past it. I very quickly learnt the word for SLOW…….ARAF as its written on the road everywhere. Drove through numerous Welsh villages. One sign even said FREE RANGE PEOPLE AND ANIMALS.They really have a sense of humour and Wales is the most beautiful country.

 

After checking into our Welsh Country Hotel we drove back a few miles to Cardigan and had a pint in The Eagle Pub. The landlord immediately said that we should have been in here yesterday , the water would have been up to our knees. They had a flash flood. But you wouldn’t have known it as all the neighbours and of course customers pitched in and it was gone.The locals certainly made sure that the pub would be open for business the following day. No evidence of a flood. As there are numerous castles in Wales we ask the landlord of The Eagle if there were any around here. His answer was “ There’s one across the bloody road “ The Welsh are so hospitable if they know you are a Kiwi. The say that when the ABs play England they will all be wearing black shirts. Back to the Webley for dinner. He only had 1 chicken and 2 steaks left…On checking out on Sunday he said next week the Hotel was booked out by the local Rugby club and the club choir so he cant rent out any rooms cause there will be too much noise. Only in Wales, a

Rugby club choir….He told us a nice walk along the Pembrokeshire Coast cliffs, overlooking Cardigan Bay and the Atlantic, just a bit further south so we headed there. Although he said the roads get a bit narrow. Anyway we made it and didn’t meet anything coming the other way. The walk was fantastic. Talk about fresh air and scenery.

Next stop was back on the English border at Hay-on-Wye. Stayed at at little pub called The Baskerville Arms. OO  RR OO RR. Next day set off and climbed Brecon Beacon which is he highest point in Southern UK which doesn’t mean much but still our legs were sore for a long time after. The view was amazing. Once again stunning weather. We had been pretty lucky with the weather.