Summer in England 2017 – part 2 – Climbing and the Marc Chagall windows at Tudeley

We took the kids to a local indoor climbing place in Tonbridge – they have all these really cool climbing challenges for all sorts of levels of ability with a special ‘auto belay’ line thingo that means they can climb high without worrying about falling off; the thing always lowers you gently to the ground very cool and safe.

Summer in England 2017 – part 1 – Walking in Knole Park

It’s that time of year again – back to Blighty to see my beautiful children. 2 weeks in Kent, chilled out, plenty of fun and hopefully some lovely British sunshine.   Still chasing kilograms and fitness, so I’m bringing my running gear and going to eat as healthily as I can. This time I flew via Dubai on Emirates.  I’ve been that route twice…

Summer in England 2016 – final part

As ever, all good things must come to an end – time was up and we had to pack up and go. We went out for a little wander before I drove the kids off home and played ‘Pooh sticks’ off a bridge over a little brook Simple things but such a lot of fun.

Summer in England 2016 – part 6 – Riverhill Gardens

Gone past this place more than a thousand times and never even been curious to go in, but as we’ve done pretty every attraction within 50 miles, I was looking for something new. I saw it advertised on one of those ‘100 things to do in Kent’ websites and it looked interesting enough for a day out.  The kids took a look at the…

Summer in England – part 5

Day of simple pleasures. Can’t always go out and do huge adventures and long days out – sometimes just staying local and doing simple stuff is needed. Last year we took a boat out and rowed down the river, this year, we played mini golf!

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 2016 – part 1

Because of the injuries I picked up in the motorbike accident in November last year, I was unable to get back to England in the spring, so it had been a year since I saw the kids.   I was really looking forward to this trip. Having had bad experiences with Malaysia Airlines the last 2 times I flew with them, I paid a…

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…