A week long journey that felt like a moment, or an
eternity!
A journey that we will treasure in our minds and hearts!
This page has taken almost half a year to make complete! I have
had about 1300
pictures and almost six hours of video film to go through.
There are short stories with pictures and movies from London with surroundings like Little Marlow, Henley on Thames, Windsor with
Legoland (an entire day in sun), Beer in Devon (Pecorama an entire day in rain). Lyme
Regis, Chesil Beach, Weymouth, and Bournemouth in Dorset.
Many months afterwards, that eventually has become years, we still sometimes have to tell each other
that it wasn't a dream, our journey was for real!
Little Marlow
in Buckinghamshire
The Green in Little Marlow.
The Cricket Field with Old Barn Cottage in the
background.
The most picturesque cottage imaginable!
And we got the opportunity to stay here for a whole week!
The garden is a delight.
Pure joy every evening arriving back to Little Marlow,
knowing we will get a full nights sleep, and the next morning a full
English Breakfast!
The white house in the background, The Manor Farm, has a little green in
front, with the entrance to John the Baptist Church to the right from
here. It has been used for scenes in the Midsomer Murders Television
series.
Flowers seems to be at least a month ahead of us, at
least compared to
our own neighborhood.
The Nightingales however, seems to be singing the same tune in both
England and Sweden almost simultaneously!
This goes for the Blackbirds too!
I couldn't help noticing that English Pigeons are singing the same interrupted
tune like the Swedish and Russian counterparts for instance. The tune
starts and ends in the middle of a sentence. :-)
Early morning view from our bedroom, over the cricket
field, the asparagus fields, and beautiful oat or
wheat fields north of the village .
You can surely understand why I didn't want to go home
again.
Quentin and Anthea's Full English Breakfast was also a part of it! :-)
Anthea and Quentin opened their door for us, and their
hospitality was almost without limits! We had to try to set the limits
ourselves, especially for Henrik. :-) When Henrik and GT found each other,
the entire house and property was explored.
We felt very much like a part of the family!
GT (Gin & Tonic)
And just around the corner...
Queens Head
I should for sure keep the secret about this Marlow's little secret
Queens Head, but I can't, it wouldn't be fair to neither presumptive visitors, nor the owner of the Inn.
This is the first glimpse,
beyond the huge Tulip tree!
And here a full view!
This is also the place where scenes for the Midsomer
Murders were taken, both outside and inside Queens Head.
Sharp-eyed viewers may notice on the board that the village Little Marlow
has entered the competition for "Best Kept
Village" in Buckinghamshire again.
As first prize winner in 2004, and second prize in 2005, the village has
an earned reputation to live up to!
Let's keep our fingers crossed!
Oh! It has taken me a long time to get the proper
information, but now in December I dare tell you that "Big" Marlow seems to have
won one of the awards in 2007, for the second time in four years!
Congratulations to the people in Marlow!
This achievement also seems to have caused a small amount of envy in
neighbouring villages, at least from a part of the Hazlemere area! ;-))
I had no idea that it actually seems to be a certain amount of jealousy
or arguments around the High Wycombe postal address too, in both Hazlemere
and Holmer Green? I can understand that!
Henrik found a mate to play with in the garden. He was out on a bicycle
excursion with his parents.
Note the marvellous tandem bicycle!
We had a nice chat about the neighbourhood and bicycles and the Red
Kites flying around above. They told us it was much thanks to a successful
governmental supported breeding program.
Earlier in the day we counted to 26 of them in one sighting, or more
correct, we lost counting at 26, there were more of them. An astonishing
sight from the car out on the M40 I couldn't photograph!
Now afterwards I have red that in 1989 there was actually six Swedish
Red Kites released in Scotland and four in Buckinghamshire for a
re-introduction of the bird.
It has been followed by released birds from Spain, Germany, and Wales.
Heading back over the fields home to Marlow.
SeeYa!
What a coincidence, especially since we never have sighted a Red Kite
here at home! Not even when we visited the village Mölle in Skåne, which
is supposed to be the stronghold for these birds!
Now, When I know there was in the entire England counted to a total
amount of 388 birds in 2006, it's even more spectacular to have seen more
than 26 of them in a single occasion! Don't you think so too?
Beautiful interior!
I can't resist enclosing the menu from Queens Head, from the last week in
May 2007.
It may have been altered since, but after tasting four different courses
with the same delight, I dare recommend it, highly!
In case you get totally lost in the neighbourhood of
Marlow, look in the sky for this balloon, and it will lead you to Queens
Head!
After a Foster, or two, you will surely find your way
home safely!
And just around the other corner...
The Kings Head
Unfortunately I can't find the pictures taken in The
Kings Head's back garden. Henrik and I tried to catch a glimpse of the
pub's own mole in the far end of the garden, while waiting for dinner. We
did only find the piles of soil. But they were so fresh that we believe we
were only a few minutes late.
Good Food!
Good Mood!
Serving food on lunch times and evenings every day, and
all day on Sundays.
There was a fun "incident" on our second visit
to the pub, when we entered the almost full bar and I leaned towards the
bartender and asked if we could order dinner, I can swear the buzz in the
room disappeared so one could have heard a needle fall on the floor
between my words. When the other guests realized I was a foreigner, but
still from planet earth, the buzz rose back to normal level again, and I
could relax. :-)
...at Stansted Airport in Essex, where we picked up a Toyota
Prius,
considered one of the most environmental friendly cars in serial
production. It's driven by an electric motor which is assisted by a petrol
engine that also drives the generator. This engine starts automatically when
needed, and shuts down completely at low speeds. It's a wonderful
experience to just cruise through villages without the noise and exhausts
from an engine, or standing still in a traffic jam without letting out
exhausts. It feels just right! A little strange is that after eight days
and around 900 miles, I still can't stand the sight of the car from behind
or in profile, I have to think about its inner values instead. But it works!
Heating and AC works fine all the time.
Wouldn't you stop by if you found a village with your
name? I liked it, seemed to have a good pub too, The Earl Howe! The
village is a part of the town High Wycombe. I had noticed the name
earlier, but it was Quentin that reminded me, and persuaded me to go, it was just 15
minutes away from Little Marlow.
I had to test the acceleration once on the motorway, and
surprisingly it did feel almost as good as my 170 hp Volvo at home, and
with the advantage and amazing feeling of not having a disturbing gearbox
changing gears at all. I tried it up to just above 100 miles an hour.
I love this car! I want one!
When the Volvo is worn out.
The car we rented had the steering wheel on the right
side, which for me is wrong side! And so was the driving too, on the left
side. This had been my biggest concern since we decided to go to England.
But we talked about keeping left all the time. Margarita often reminded me
in crossings and roundabouts, "think left" "keep
left". And we never took the car after dark.
I think my driving was approved by the other English motorists. Only two honking
in roundabouts (justified, because I was in the wrong lane), and one guy that said a few well chosen words, when I
wasn't attentive fast enough to let him out.
He may have been talking to somebody else in a hands free cell phone, but
he had sunglasses so I can't really tell.
Six Month Later
Now, half a year later, we are the happy owners of a Toyota Prius!
Waiting for us on delivery day!
I can't really say Love at first sight.
We ordered the car in late September, and didn't get it until early
February 2008.
The long wait was to blame the Guvernator of California!
When he bought one he created such a rush for the car. ;-)
The car is almost fully equipped, it does even park itself, backwards,
normal parking on a street, or in a parking lot. The park assist
software works, but I'm doing a better and faster job myself! ;-)
This is the first time Henrik is using the front passenger seat, it's
just because the rest of the car was loaded with summer tyres.
The view in the display however, is much better than in the back
mirrors, so I think it was a good choice anyway.
We weren't going to park here,
just waiting for Margarita as you actually can see hurrying to the right
in picture. :-)
The last farewell!
It was sad to leave our Volvo to strangers like this.
Hatfield
Heath and Colchester
in Essex
I have previously referred to Harlow, but just found out
where on Earth we have been, and corrected it.
I hope there wasn't too much harm done in the meantime!
The White Horse in Hatfield Heath.
I took the liberty when parking a car for the first time in my life on the
British Isles, to use a patrons parking place.
It felt all right to do so!
Since we arrived to England in the morning, and had been
up since dawn, and I mean dawn in Sweden, which is an hour ahead of
England, we felt we deserved something to eat, but the Pub wasn't
open yet, so we made some shopping in the convenient store next door, and
only used the Pub's table. (Besides the use of their patrons parking place)
:-)
We would call this a "Mobile Open Preschool"
where everyone is welcome, and think it's a fantastic idea for smaller
municipalities, or any municipality that can provide this service wherever
and whenever it's needed. For long term, or short term use. And fun too!
The bus arrived and parked on the green in Hatfield
Heath while
we had our brunch outside The White Horse.
Now, In late autumn 2007, I read in our
local newspaper, that the Botkyrka municipality in Sweden where we live,
actually has purchased a bus for similar purposes! I believe this is it, The Field Bus.
It's said to be out in the forests with kids every day!
Not as charming or spectacular as its English counterpart, but a step in
the right direction.
Ho Hoo! Now it has
gone almost a year, and I have discovered that I was totally wrong!
The "Field Bus activity" is nothing new, they just purchased a
new bus last autumn.
The mission started in 1988, and the goal has been that every fifth grade
student in the municipality will together with an ecologist do excursions
during two days. One day each for forest and aquatic ecology.
The bus is designed for 27 students and teachers, with a laboratory and a
library.
When time allows the bus is used for other excursions, like archaeological
or for new immigrants, and tailored ones for high school classes. A number
of excursions for the public is performed every year, free of charge for
Botkyrka municipality citizens.
I hope I have corrected my previous mistake by bringing you this
information!
I do promise a mistake like this will never happen again! :-)
When leaving Hatfield Heath we were out on the motorway
discovering the sun on
the wrong side of the car, and realizing there must be some fuss with the GPS,
because it could not possibly be
the button pusher's fault!? What the h... , let's have a look at
Colchester too then!
Colchester's Celtic name was
Camulodunon, which means the fortress of the war god Camulos.
It is probably Britain's oldest town, and was conquered by the Romans in
the year 43 AD. The town served as first Roman capital of Britain, but was
destroyed only two decades later.
We met a modern town, and we met tide for the first time in real life. It
was so strange to watch the ships standing on the river bed along King
Edward Quay.
All three lanes on M25 came to a complete halt, and
after 20 minutes I opened the window and asked a neighbouring motorist
-Sir, we do have eight days only in England, and would rather drive around
the whole country than sit in a traffic jam, since we already have enough
of them at home!
He came smiling out of the car and told us it was an
accident ten miles further down the road and it probably would take an
hour or two to clear up.
He was on his way home to Bournemouth and thought the
best were to stay put. We had a pleasant talk, and then motorists in the
other lanes moved a little, so we could squeeze ourselves out to a nearby
exit, and find other nice roads through London suburbs all the way to
Little Marlow.
Later on we came to think of this man from Bournemouth
as a look-a-like to the Chief Inspector in one of the British criminal
series we use to watch on TV, we just can't figure out his name right now,
it's not Chief Inspector Morse, and certainly not Chief Inspector Barnaby.
Hmm. I'll be back.
It was a look-a-like to Sir David John White, with the
stage name David Jason, who plays the role of
Detective Inspector Jack Frost in
"A touch of Frost" of coarse!
I remember first meeting him in the hilarious "Do Not Adjust Your
Set" in the late sixties.
Later in the afternoon we passed the reason to that this
our journey became a reality at all, the TAC-Satchwell plant on Farnham
Road in Slough,
that I visited in January this winter.
A short trip that awoke my curiosity about England! Not the curiosity,
because it has always been there in the background, but the feeling that
one could actually go to England without a reason, just to have a look! :-))
From the movies "Went The Day
Well?" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
and the TV-series
"The Vicar of Dibley", "Midsomer Murders", and
"Marple"
among others...
Up through the Chilterns.
On narrow calm roads.
Another Pub on the way.
The Chequers Inn in the village Fingest.
Right? Left?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, No!
Right then? Right! Keep on the left side then?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, Yes!
At last!
Just around the bend! Or next bend?
Yes!
The Green with the Pub to the left and church in background.
The Bull and Butcher
Unfortunately not open for dinner for
another hour. We couldn't stay that long because Henrik really needed
something to eat.
The School Lane
The Cobstone Windmill
From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Turville is situated at the bottom of a narrow valley in the Chiltern
Hills.
It was so quiet and
tranquil in the village this afternoon that we got a feeling our presence
were annoying.
Our talk and gravel crunch under our feet was so loud and disturbing.
We didn't stay long.
However, We did
ourselves enjoy the short visit very much!
A sort of a once in a lifetime experience!
Windsor and The River Thames
in Berkshire
The Castle is still too big to visit for
Henrik. Next time!
The Crooked House in Windsor, from the backside.
Margarita and Henrik are trying to fit into the environment by leaning,
even if it's hard to decide in which direction. :-)
The backside of both The Guildhall and Crooked house are even nicer than
the front.
The Guildhall on High Street.
When I heard The Queens Guard coming, I called a
workmate and asked him to see if he could take a picture of us through the
web cam on High Street. They change view now and then, and it only
refreshes every 5 minutes, so this is the result. Margarita was standing
to the right of me out of the picture.
This is the only picture I've got.
When I switched to film function and started filming another tourist
stepped in front of me. I said EXCUSE ME! I'm a quick learner! But when he
moved and I started the camera again it didn't start, and this without me
noticing its malfunction. Better luck next time!
HODI No 3
French Brothers took us for a 30-minute sightseeing upstream to the next
lock.
HODI No 3 from the river
Mimosa, A famous yacht that participated in the evacuation at Dunkirk in
June 1940.
The title may be an exaggeration, our visit was around
the London Eye. Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus and Buckingham Palace
was seen from the car only. Hyde Park, however, we explored on foot, and while
doing so we discovered a new tree! A species unknown to us.
The Golden Lady at the Waterloo Millennium Pier.
Such wonderful movements, and perfect expressions between the movements
as well!
Look, There it is!
This is a view I've never thought of being able to photograph. It's not
especially well depicted, but it's mine.
This is my view now! :-)
I believe the performance lasted at least six hours.
Admirable endurance!
The Wizard was amazing too!
It's a pity this isn't a sound photo,
because it was a lovely beep from the bulb on the stick, when he tapped it
on Henrik's head!
Who can resist an invitation from the Galactic Empire Storm Troopers?
Neither me, nor Henrik have got the powers with us to do anything that even
remotely resembles any resistance.
Margarita however, have got powers from Salvador, and made a certain amount
of resistance. Even if she has one foot in the Star Wars camp like us,
Dali's powers were stronger this time.
We had to split, Margarita went to the Dali and Picasso exhibition, and
Henrik and I joined the storm troopers for the Star Wars exhibition in the
London County Hall.
Can you imagine? We were introduced to Obi-Wan Kenobi!
Can you imagine this then? When I was away to pay more money to the parking meter,
Dart Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi came out together on the quay to greet Henrik and
Margarita, and no one but strangers were there to depict it. So, If you see
a picture of Henrik, Dart and Obi-Wan elsewhere on the Internet, please, let
me know!
:-)
London Aquarium
A fantastic event! The fish seemed to enjoy us as much as we enjoyed them.
They actually came forward to be touched by us.
A once-in-a-lifetime experience!
The London Borough of Lambeth has neglected to keep the standard of
their parking meters at an acceptable level, in compliance to what a modern
society require, frankly, just the simple fact of accepting credit cards!
The meter did only accept coins, and by a strange reason £4,20 per hour
only, and only in multiples.
This in combination with shopkeepers in the neighbourhood that reluctantly
exchanged notes to coins, made me run back and forth three times during the
day and after having paid around £18 in total, I get a fine of £100 one
(1) minute after the last ticket went out.
It's strange, but the reason we were late was actually because of a
discussion with a ticket sales lady for a sightseeing tour on the Thames and
that she would only accept my card for an amount above £20, but on the
other hand she couldn't offer a tour above £20.
Her annoyance was probably because she realized how stupid the rule
was. She even refused to change my last note to coins which I should have
used for the parking meter.
In addition to this is that I had to pay
a congestion fee of £8 when entering London Town.
All this for a Toyota Prius, which in other countries, and world cities
is released from both congestion and parking fee's, just because it's
considered the leading and most environmental friendly serial produced car
in the world!
I sincerely hope that my penalty charge will contribute to modernize
London Town!
I know it's an utopia, I just had to say it!
Since I paid swiftly the charge was reduced to £50, and considering the
inflation rate there will not be more over than to pay the parking
attendant's salary. I was the only motorist parking on Waterloo Road that
day! ;-))
I had to waste one and a half hour during this day, just to
exchange money and walk back and forth to the car three times for £18,
I
don't count the penalty charge now, this is just to calculate that the
tourist industries probably lost more than twice as much on me this day, because I didn't get
the time to join Margarita to the Dali exhibition, or get on the tour on the
river!
Think about that London Town!
And think about who's the looser, in the long run!
I lost this day, but you loose several times every day, and I'm probably not
the only one with a good remembrance of things long past! :-))
They
tried to make us pay a parking fee to shop in their store. Outrageous!
In the seventies Skärholmen Centrum in Sweden tried to charge us for
parking. We made them go almost bankrupt.
No one has dared to try it ever since.
You Englishmen are too polite!
It's hard to believe, but the imbeciles
running our mall dared once again!
Today it is Scandinavia's largest indoor mall Skärholmen Centrum
(SKHLM), also claiming to be the "Capital of shopping" and they introduced once again a
parking fee this spring 2009. A huge
investment with a fulltime staff, new computer system, and new
computerized entrance and exit gates.
At first three hours for free, then when the system was working properly
they charged us from first hour.
Poor souls! They did not realize
what a power we the customers are!
After a six month long trade boycott they have shut the system down. It's
too late though, for the Christmas shopping, we have already done that, in
other malls.
And, They are not going to get out of this with a couple of cardboard
road signs. Most of us will not go back until it's published that the CEO
and her staff has been sacked!
Once again it can be said:
If you don't know your history,
you can't create the future.
Think about this you polite Englishmen!
Power to the customers!
Waitrose update!
I have very recently got the information, from an Englishman, that
Waitrose probably pays back the parking fee when you shop in their store.
If they had informed about this procedure, on the parking meter, or in the
store, I would never have mentioned Waitrose at all.
In some circles they say that even bad advertising is good advertising!
:-)
I'm pretty sure this is a Storö
from Storebro Bruk in Sweden.
"Snögås" translated
to English is "Snow Goose".
I wonder how she came over here?
This mother Swan was so
incredibly gentle!
Cuties!
Must have been a Dutch boat in
the beginning.
The original narrow boat.
Lady Donna
Lady Donna was so familiar at
the first glimpse, but I thought it was just because she is a type of boat
I recognised already in the late sixties, in a British ad for the "Carribean
34", which I believe is the prototype for all modern English
houseboats,
but, judge of my surprise when I
back home, found Lady Donna on my pictures from the first journey to
England earlier in January this year.
Then she was layed up on the dock in Datchet for the winter. View my night pictures
of her!
Australia's
Possum
G'day! Said a gentleman in an
armchair on the lawn.
G'day! Not until later I realized that he probably was the owner to
"Australia's Possum" and wanted to talk. I regret my slow
ability.
In September 2007 I got to understand that the gentleman and owner
greeting me was
Mr Alastair Wight-Wick.
It was so sad to read that he had past away in late summer after a short time of
illness.
Traffic jam when we left Henley,
for miles in the opposite direction, again!
It was not the first time.
Lucky us!
Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire
We spent most of the unforgettable day here, from ten to five.
There are not many pictures from
this day, since I was occupied with the video camera all the time.
We did find a Batman's water
scooter that still half a year later not has come to Swedish stores yet,
and Henrik's mates still envies him. :-)
Windsor Castle in the
background.
Stonehenge in
Wiltshire
a glimpse at least
a wonderful landscape to travel through
Impressive building, especially
the thatched roof!
There were many erected stones
in the fields long before we arrived to Stonehenge itself.
A beautiful rolling landscape.
Wich way?
I think I got the message,
and here too!
Fun, at home it's equally
important that the signs say's "Swedish", despite the contents
may come from Denmark or Germany.
I suspect the English berries may be French sometimes! :-)
They can't hide anymore! No, not
the police car, Stonehenge! To the right of the bus, just below the
horizon!
I think this was the most
exciting view of Stonhenge for me.
Looks clear, but it was a
dangerous crossing, because it was so easy to get one's attention enticed
by the Stonehenge silhouette on the hill.
At this point I'm beginning to
realize...
...they will not allow us closer
than around a hundred yards or so.
I have better views of this spot
on TV or Internet at home.
I refuse to walk like sheep put out to pasture!
The amount of policemen in the
area indicates that Stonehenge is under a constant threat.
Heading west instead!
I like the landscape of southern
England very much!
A cute name!
Good! An extra lane uphill.
But...
...no one dares to use it,
because of the speed camera in the middle of the sloap!
What did they think about when putting up that camera?
Little Chef
I can't really expect you to believe me, but
this is the story, as we experienced it.
With an
exit directly from the motorway it was a perfect opportunity for a quick meal.
Good parking around the house.
Well inside we discovered it was table service, in a
road restaurant? OK, we got a table after a while, and the menu, nothing
exciting, but after fifteen minutes or so we got to order. Now people are
beginning to really gather in the hallway, casting hungry eyes in our
direction. They don't know we haven't got our food yet, they only think we
are taking up space, probably.
About 45 minutes later we finally get our food, a
hamburger with bread and chips, nothing more. We are stunned! Just sitting
there, not knowing what to do, or say, laugh or cry. There is a ketchup
bottle on the table, old and dry, but we have to try it...
Now the mutter from the couple next to us awakes me,
they sat here when we came, and they call the waiter that has to admit he
has forgotten them totally.
Without any clear apologies (as I could hear) the waiter
asks if they would like to order again, and the couple just say's no
thanks and starts to walk out of the restaurant!
The waiter doesn't even offer them the best the house can
get, for free! He just stands there looking like a goat!
He doesn't do anything to prevent them from leaving the
restaurant in that state, can you imagine?
--------------------------------------------
Well, when it came to our turn to pay, I went to the
cashier, in the very inner part of the locale, stood in line after two
other guests. When my turn I stated our table number, and got the
question:
-Sir, cash or credit? Cash please! Then Sir, I have to
ask you to at first go to the other cashier at the entrance.
OK! I went there, empty, stood for a while until a lady
arrived and asked for my table number? Number 8 I said!
Then she began to calculate from a handwritten note
found on the wall.
She calculated at least three times, it was really complicated, three
hamburgers with chips, one water, one Coke, and one Apple Juice.
When she
was finished I got a note that stated an amount, and I got her verbal
instruction of going back to the cashier in the inner most part of the
restaurant, where I by the way had to stand in a new line, even if only
for a few minutes.
After being released from my debts I passed through the
entire restaurant for the last time and on the way picking up Margarita
and Henrik that had been occupying the table for other presumptive guests
all the time.
I think it took us about one and a half hour to achieve
something that normally shouldn't take more than 20 minutes!
The main reason I have written this is not the worse
fast food, made in the slowest pace I have experienced as long as I can
remember.
The reason is actually that middle aged couple
that had so much politeness and way too much of their upbringing left to
just leave the restaurant with the words "no thanks".
It's for their sake I will tell the "world"
what actually happened at the Little Chef this afternoon.
To Little Chef I can only say:
It's never too late to give up!
Sell to someone that really wants to do this kind of
business.
Cheap!
Listen to this!
In March 2008 I stumbled over an article that mentioned that, believe it
or not,
Heston Blumenthal will try to improve things at Little chef, or at least
one of their 186 joints. Wonder if that will help?
I still think they should sell, cheap,
to McDonalds! :-)
Stourhead Garden
in Stourton in Wiltshire
Probably the most wonderful garden and park we have ever seen.
Breathtaking!
It's silly actually, but the beautiful walk was like in a
dream, so I totally forgot to take photographs.
It was pure luck I remembered to start the video camera.
The movie is as is, hardly edited at all. Everything was so beautiful so I
didn't know where to cut. :-)
A very special village, in a very special landscape!
We will soon be leaving
Dorset...
...for Devon!
Watch out for Mr Bean!
This is the first time in more
than a decade that I have seen a BP station.
The Norvegian Statoil bought all BP stations in Sweden in the mid nineties.
This is for comparison. A rather
new station in Russia, with all facilities, including bakery. Mmmm!
The pictures were taken with one and a half months in between, so
they are even good for price comparison.
The Russian petrol costs only half the British price! The Swedish price at
the time was about two thirds of the British.
Now we are crossing the double
decker tramway crossing in Colyton
Typical! When I turned my head,
there it was!
Listening for his master's
voice?
3 Queen Street, Seaton.
or,
31 Queen Street, Seaton.
On top of the hill, now it's
downhill all the way to Beer.
Narrow
road
This is the road Barline in
Beer, where we stayed for two days.
Unfortunately I have lost the
pictures of the house Bay View Bed & Breakfast where we stayed, so you
have to settle with the views from the house instead. :-)
I want to tell you it was a good looking house with large windows
towards the sea, and an open designed interior.
Can you imagine that this is the
view from our bedroom windows?
I think there was a retired
lighthouse keeper living in one of the three houses in centre of the
picture, or maybe a lighthouse keeper wannabe, but one of his outdoor
lanterns were twinkling all night! :-)
A very nice garden behind the
house!
Behind the property is the road up to Pecorama. It was steep, it's only
125 metres from here, and 20 metres difference in height! I assure you we
felt it in our knees! :-)
I think this is my luckiest
photo of the whole journey. The sun came through the clouds in the morning
on the third day, departure day!
Downtown Beer
It was so picturesque
We encountered a reluctance from
pub owners, to let people with children in, there were actually notes on
the doors that we weren't welcome with children.
We have never experienced it anywhere at home so it came almost like a
chock to us.
Finally we gathered around six
families at an Italian restaurant that seemed to be the only restaurant
that accepted children.
But the good mood was gone, and still is!
The fishermen's area
Sea Hill
The East Beach
A panorama of the East Beach
All the fishing boats look so
nice when they rest on the shore.
I understand how they winch them out of the water, but not how they
push them back into the sea again.
Well maintained, and a smart
rudder solution!
Barbara Jean took Chief
Inspector Barnaby in Midsomer Murders out to sea in Down Among The Dead
Men.
Pecorama in Beer
The most wonderful tropical garden,
with lots of trains in all sizes, both indoors and outdoors!
Please, enjoy!
If you have some time to spare, enjoy the movies too, further
down in this chapter!
Beer Victoria Station, where also the wonderful
restaurant coach were put up for display and use as café.
I wonder how on earth they managed to get the coach to
this spot. Probably from over the hilltop, because the narrow and steep
roads in the village must have been impossible to use.
Space for three locomotive
engineers.
Scale 1, or 1:32
British Rail, 50 years or so
ago.
British Rail, 5 years or so ago.
A part of Switzerland.
The thatched cottages here in
Highwater Downes are so incredibly well made!
I asked the staff how the roofs were made, but they had no idea.
I wonder so much about their secret?
Note the aqueduct in background.
The narrowboat was slowly moving
back and forth on a string in the aqueduct.
It was a delight to see!
Very well made models!
Weal & Drew
Brewers of fine ales
From around 1870 according to the engine moving back and forth on
different tracks. :-)
A beautiful display too!
The man in the shed was actually
taking a sneak smoke.
A LED in his mouth disclosed him. :-)
Catalunya in Spain.
A very spectacular display, with seagulls singing, and lights showing day
and night, and dusk and dawn in between.
Despite the amount of rain
falling this particular day, or maybe thanks to the rain, without it the
queue might have been too long for train rides.
We managed to take two rides, the first in pouring rain, the second ride
for us, and
last for the day was almost dry!
It doesn't matter, it was a once in a lifetime experience!
A real surprise to us was actually the tremendously beautiful and intriguing
garden, with flowers and tropical plants and tropical birds in their own
house with large outdoor cages, and dedicated garden rooms with art and sculptures on terraces on the slopes
of the Beer heights. Not to mention the marvellous shell grotto.
Exhausted in late afternoon,
after a whole day with so many new impressions, we were all happy to have managed to get to Pecorama this very
special day, the Pecorama Day Of The Year on Sunday May 27 2007.
This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event for us!
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
The Pecorama Garden itself is well worth a day excursion.
I think it's the most beautiful garden I've seen!
So, if you like gardening and trains, Pecorama is heaven on earth!
Even during a rainy gale! :-)
Lyme Regis in
Dorset
I could have stayed here!
We made two visits to Lyme
Regis, the first time was during a lunch brake from Pecorama, when it was
raining. The second visit was the day after in a mostly sunny weather.
This is the reason there are so big weather differences in the pictures,
as they are posted more or less as if you travel through town from west to
the centre, and out of town to the north. :-)
Bridge Street was a broad street
all the way down to the bus station where this building stood in the
middle of the street. Funny!
I think this CoastLinx bus had a
very nice paint scheme!
Behind and below the bus there were a parking lot in the form of a
roundabout just beside the beach. We just drove in and got the last free
space. It never happens at home! :-)
This is from down the parking
lot. The bus stood up there a moment ago.
Greetings!
Henrik together with a few other
guys, tried to through back what the sea just had flushed up on the beach.
The Cobb in the background,
where Meryl Streep stood in the storm in the movie "The French
Lieutenant's Woman".
The powers in each wave scared
me.
If Henrik should stumble...
The pebbles came rolling in with
a roar in each wave.
It's no wonder the pebbles were
so polished and smooth.
The Cobb again.
The entire pebble beach, with a
small part of white smooth sand in the far end.
We walked along the narrow streets, and along the brook through town.
The Lyme Fossil Shop was a
real experience to visit!
The staff were so nice and helpful.
I believe an
explanation is in its place here!
The larger shells and the coral branch in our showcase at home shown to
the right, was brought home a long time ago, long before thoughts about,
and regulations for environmental protection was introduced in our
societies.
Now, in the days of enlightenment even higher demands has fallen upon us
to protect and take extra care of the things that in ignorance already has
been picked from their rightful places in nature.
The Sea Stars and the grey
Ammonite to the left of them was purchased in The Lyme Regis Fossil Shop.
The fossilized shell in the outer left, and the stone to the right that
looks like candy we picked ourselves on the beach.
This is a fossil of a mollusc, a
common genus of Dactylioceras, an Ammonite from
the Jurassic period (about 180 million years old). This one was found on
the coast at Lyme Regis.
This Ammonite is abundant in Europe
This stone, and what we think is
a fossilized shell to the right, we found on the beach, together with many
other beautiful pebbles and shells, so many that when we were departing
England we were afraid of getting our luggage too heavy, so Margarita took
it all in her handbag.
It was both funny and embarrassing
at Stansted Airport when a member of the staff, in the security check
after the x-ray, turned Margarita's handbag upside down, stared for a
while at the content, and then shouted out in the big hall full of people,
"Who's got pebbles? And shells?
We were allowed to take the pebbles and shells with us, but they kept a
small bottle of perfume and a nail file, and happy were we!
I'm not used to signs like this.
It's a little scary at first.
Chesil Beach ending with
Portland Bill to the right at the horizon.
Such a beautiful landscape!
It might be Lyme Regis to the
right in background.
A wonderful sight!
St Catherine's Chapel with Chesil Beach and Weymouth in the background
Seventeen percent is steep!
The Atlantic Ocean.
Road to heaven!
It was belly tickling when we passed the summit!
:-)
Chickerell Hill.
Thatched cottages in Abbotsbury.
The thatched roof looks almost
brand new!
Osmington White
Horse in Dorset Downs
Huge!
Margarita saw it first, on the
other side of the valley.
Now we know it's King George III, carved in 1808.
He was a frequent visitor to Weymouth as one of the first sea resorts.
The carving is about 100 metres high.
Bournemouth in
Dorset
I could have stayed here too!
Somewhere between Weymouth and
Bournemouth, for mile after mile we had this breathtaking view.
It was difficult to concentrate on the traffic for all the beautiful
Rhododendrons..
Can
you believe this?
The Royal Bath Hotel has used this very picture, my very leaning picture
taken through the windshield for their advertising!
I thought they could afford a professional photographer, or that in the
worst case someone in the staff could step out on the street and shoot a
picture with their cell phone.
I am not complaining, not at all, I am honored!
Permission granted!
;-))
One hundred and fifty thousand
inhabitants and a nice calm pace.
Can you imagine?
Normandie just below the horizon!
Only 110 km away.
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