Sudbury Hall

Helen Couch, Craighead's first Gapper in 1994/95 came down from Huddersfield with her husband, Howard and her two children, Ben(10) and Mabel(6) and we went to Sudbury Hall and its Museum of Childhood. Sudbury Hall is another National Trust property and is a grand 17th century mansion. The children had great fun in the museum, which had interactive activities. We three girls experienced a Victorian schoolroom with old- fashioned low desks joined together and a very bossy teacher, who kept picking on me and made me cry!! The children also had a go at being chimney sweeps. It was a really lovely autumn day and again the autumn colours were lovely.

Cotswolds

We drove back to Poole today via country roads in Wiltshire and the Cotswolds, through very pretty rolling countryside with hedgerows instead of stone walls. We stopped for a coffee in Shaftesbury overlooking the much photographed Gold Hill. This is an ancient, steep cobbled street which runs beside the walls of King Alfred's Abbey and looks out over Blackmore Vale. This was shrouded in fog today, but this view often appears on English calendars.
As we got into the Cotswolds, the stone and flint stone houses of Wiltshire changed to the mellow yellow Cotswold limestone. Again hedgerows and stunning autumn colours, especially the beech trees.We had lunch in Tetbury. Charles and Camilla live here at Highgrove, so I had to buy a bag with the Prince of Wales feathers on it!!
We then drove through Cirencester and a real chocolate box village called Bibury. The Slaughters and Stow-on-the-Wold were also very pretty villages. I can see why the Cotswolds are so loved by tourists, as it is a very picturesque area. It was dark by the time we arrived back at Rolleston-on-Dove, because we hit a traffic jam when we were very nearly home.Patience is certainly a virtue for British drivers. It is amazing how quickly you can grind to a halt in a stream of traffic!

Dorset

Today we awoke again to fog, but we decided to do a bus trip around Poole harbour and to Corfe Castle via Swanage. The weather did not clear until after lunch, when we were treated to a watery sun and some lovely views of the very picturesque village of Corfe and the castle ruins on the hill above. Corfe Castle is an iconic medieval castle and one of the most visited in Britain. After the Battle of Hastings William the Conquerer swapped a church in Gillingham for the land where he began to build Corfe Castle in 1086. In the 1200s Henry 3rd and Edward 1st modernised the defenses and the last royal owner was Queen Elizabeth 1st. It now belongs to the National Trust and it has a spectacular site with lovely views from above. A steam train runs from Swanage to Corfe.(see photo)
At night we had a delicious fish meal in a little French bistro in Poole. Ali and Steve have been wonderful hosts. We have had a lot of fun and I have seen and done a lot during my 3 weeks in Britain. I am hoping to see Chatsworth tomorrow and Helen Couch, Craighead's first Gaps student is coming from from Huddersfield with her children on Saturday. Weather permitting, we will take her children to an adventure park and I will be winging my way home on Monday.

Poole

Left Scotland at lunchtime on Sunday (21st) for another 5 hours on trains to get back down to Derbyshire. The train from Carlisle to Birmingham was absolutely chock-a-block, so I am glad I had booked a seat. It was a very pretty trip through the Penines and Yorkshire Dales again but this time bathed in sunshine. We went via Penrith, Lancaster, Preston, Warrington and Wolverhampton, then I had to catch another train from Birmingham up to Burton- on- Trent. My last train trips for a while, thank goodness!
This afternoon(Monday,22nd) we travelled down to Poole in thick fog.We met Angie in Winchester, where I had a quick look around the cathedral.It is an enormous Norman Cathedral which was consecrated in 1093.It is full of ancient graves, including those of Canute and Jane Austen. We had dinner with Angie in Southampton and arrived in Poole about 9pm.Ali and Steve have a really lovely apartment here near the quay.
Today (23rd) we went to Hengistbury Head near Bournemouth on the little green train in the photo! It is a bird sanctuary on a sand spit and had the cutest little beach huts all the colours of the rainbow. We drove past Sandbanks, apparently the third most expensive real estate in the world,also built on a sand spit with the sea on both sides. Also Compton Acres, reputedly one of the loveliest gardens in England.Weather grey and drizzly but winter is a' coming in England.