Summer in England 2016 – part 3 – family

My trip over top the UK is really about one thing.  Family. Centered around my kids, of course, but also seeing my parents and my sisters and their kids. Feels good to get together and I’m glad we usually get lots of time together.

Summer in England 2016 – part 2 – Hever Castle

We’d been to Hever before, but it was over 6 years ago (see the link at the bottom of the post) and the kids couldn’t remember going. They both wanted to go and play in the maze and the day was looking sunny and it seemed like a good idea!

Summer in England 2015 – part 8: Aylesford Priory

Sadly, time always passes by so quickly and our time together was almost done.  We had a few hours to spare on the last day, so I thought we could have a quick trip just down the road to Aylesford. I used to play in a band when I was about 17 and 18 and we used to practice in one of the band members…

Summer in England 2015 – part 7: Fossil hunting at Folkestone

Fossil hunting! This is one of the things that I enjoy most.  It’s pretty much how I got to be where I am today, career wise. Yes, I know I work in IT (and the business end of IT at that) but its because I was taken to a quarry on a primary school field trip and found a fossil that I took the…

Summer in England 2015 – part 6: Camber Sands

Sometimes the summer in England really delivers. The forecast was looking really good, so my sister and made a plan to go to the beach early and make the most of it.  After all, in England, you never know how long the sunshine will actually last for. Once again – off we went complete with a packed lunch, to the old favourite, Camber Sands.

Summer in England 2015 – part 2: rowing on the river at Tonbridge

The next day was overcast and had rain forecast, but we’re made of tough water resistant English stock – no hiding inside for us! We had wanted to hire a boat and cruise down the river at Tonbridge, but the exchange rate was terrible and my $AU are now worth about 30% less in £GBP than last year, so we had to downscale our…

Summer in England 2015 – Part 1: Arrival.

It’s that time of year again when I go back to spend some quality time with the kids in England. English summer is a magical time and really shows off the country to its absolute best – if you’re going to go – then July and August, even though it’s probably the busiest time, is probably the best.

Easter in England 2015 – part 5

The magical mystery tour continued – I was thinking we might go see Rye harbour and Rye castle but the kids weren’t keen, so we popped into Camber Sands for an ice cream and a paddle in the sea. I like Camber, we go there a bit as it’s safe, easy to get to and family friendly.

Easter in England 2015 – part 4

It’s getting towards the end of my trip now.  It was a gorgeous day forecast and none of us were sure what we wanted to do.  So I made an executive decision – we’d go on a magical mystery tour. First stop, one of the old towns along the Kent and East Sussex coast – Rye

Easter in England 2015 – part 3

We met up with the my sisters and their kids at Bedgebury Pinetum.  It’s a fair drive from my parents place and we got a bit lost (note to Bedgebury folks – the directions were a bit crap and the place isn’t really marked on my GPS).  Still – it’s getting lost through amazing countryside, so it was no big deal. After a quick coffee, we booked…