castles (part3)

So, the last castle we actually went to visit properly was Hever Castle, only 30 mins drive from my mum and dads house. Hever Castle is another fairytale castle, complete with moat, drawbridge and portcullis, surrounded by sculpted parklands with a maze and a Tudor village too. Its a fabulously beautiful place. Similar to the others, it has its foundations in 13th Century, with…

castles (part2)

Leeds Castle was cool, a bit too cool actually, we ended up tired and cold and missed the driving rain by seconds as we got back to the car. The next day was completely different – sunny and warm with a gentle breeze, so we went about a mile down the road to Ightham Mote, a wonderful moated medieval manor house, dating from 1320,…

castles castles and more castles (part 1)

The thing about England (and the rest of the UK come to that) is that almost everybody lives in a castle. There are simply millions of the things scattered about the country that if you don’t live in one, you live next door to one or a pile of stones that used to be one. I’m not even kidding – where I grew up…

more tall tales..

so, how far did I get? I’ve been so busy and also sick (with special thanks to my children for their so far unblemished record in handing over the lurgey baton when I see them) that blogging was placed on the back burner. So, Easter Sunday was spent at my sisters: Ava is my youngest sister’s smallest child – she’s ever so sweet, very…

tall tales from the motherland

So, as my one regular reader will know, I’m back in England for 10 days to see my beautiful children. I’ve had a great week so far, starting with breakfast at Pat and Nicky’s straight out of Heathrow. They weren’t up when I got there, but Nicky and Anna (their cute very nearly 4 year old) soon answered the door and made me coffee…