Clydesdale eating?

Another feature on our familiarisation tour was the Clydesdale Restaurant. An unusual way to see the historic sites around the Windsor (Sydney) area is to be pulled in a dining van by 3 beautiful Clydesdale horses.  We stopped by to check it all out while they were being 'dressed' for the evening's booking.  Beautifully docile animals stood patiently while their dresser plaited and twisted and knotted and decorated their manes and tails.

For just A$185 per person you can be fed a five course meal (collected along the way from the area's top restaurants) and be shown many historic sites in and around Windsor.

What a great way to spend an evening on a special occasion!

Blessings!

CANTERBURY AND CHARTWELL

Bluebells at Winston Churchill's home "Chartwell"

At least Easter Monday was dry - but the wind was still very chilly. We set off to drive to Canterbury - a drive of a couple of hours. The English countryside is magnificent - green and lush with Spring daffodils, primrose, crocus, jonquils, anenomes and ranuculi brilliant splashes of colour as we drove through both tiny, narrow lanes and huge, wide motorways.

The Old Weavers House A.D.1500

Canterbury is no less historic than so much of the United Kingdom. Buildings in the main street dating back to 1500 and still at least from the outside, looked in quite good condition. Painted boards outside the different establishments were fascinating. The Cricketers and The Old Weavers House A.D.1500, only two which took my eye. We had visited Canterbury a number of years ago and had seen inside the cathedral so our first stop was for lunch - a modern little Italian restaurant - quite a contrast in architecture right outside the cathedral entrance. Leading to the cathedral gate, a small circular courtyard was surrounded by old looking shops with ‘busker’s’ performing beside a fenced off monument in the centre.

Busker outside Canterbury Cathedral

We wandered through the main street, battling against the bitterly cold wind and back to the car. On our way again to “Chartwell” the home of Winston Churchill, so famous during the second World War. Unfortunately it was too early in the season for much of the garden (which the home is quite famous for) to be out in bloom but the flowering bulbs were an absolute ‘show’. Loved the vibrant bluebells and particularly the Lenten Rose which I had never seen before but grows from a tuber and blooms during the period of Lent.

Lenten Rose

"Chartwell"

Churchill was a prolific painter and his studio has been preserved as a gallery for the public to view. Interesting pieces were on show which over the years had been given to him as gifts. A short drive and we were back ‘home’ to where we were staying. We were grateful for time to ‘get our suitcases in order’ as we had a very early start the next morning - taxi arriving at 4am to drive us to Luton airport - bound for Aberdeen in bonny Scotland. An early night indeed!

The chair from which Winston Churchill painted

LONDON! again

Easter Sunday dawned just as cold wet and blustery as the day before had been however we were'nt detered and not willing to let it stop us, we rugged up with almost as many clothes as we had taken with us and set off again for London town.

Walked (it seemed) for miles from the station to the Millenium Bridge where the wind was icy and cut through us despite the layers of 'woolies'! Stopped for a few seconds on the bridge to take a couple of photos while fellow travellers (mostly joggers in clothing not suited to the weather) passed us by. St Paul's cathedral in front of us we made our way as quickly as possible toward it. Again, being a tourist venue, and especially being Easter Sunday, hundreds of people were milling around. The most lovely cherry tree was blossoming right opposite this austere building and made a great photo.

We sat for quite some time inside the cathedral waiting for the service to begin. Just looking around and admiring the wonderful building was really enough. Wondered how such a landmark had escaped ruin during the second World War when large buildings just a few metres from it did not. What architecture and presence! It was lovely and warm inside - enough to start shedding the layers!

Mattins was very regal in procession. So much gold! My eyes goggled at the sight. Sounds from the choir as they snaked their way to their seats was glorious! I guess the actual service was rather surprising to me in its formality - not being used to such high church! (Ours - The Salvation Army - is very casual by comparison - and might I say, much happier). The Bishop of London spoke very well for about 10 minutes and the procession wound its way back again - I guess to get ready for the next service which was an hour away.

We walked to the tube station behind St Paul's, viewed the glorious daffodils planted in street gardens, and quickly boarded a train to Oxford Street. On finding The Salvation Army's Regent Hall corps (church) we stepped inside to catch the end of the message, then stayed for a welcome cup of coffee with other people attending. Found a small but very cosy restaurant where we ate excellent food and took respite from the bleak weather conditions outside.

Earlier in the day we had decided we would stay and check out a few more of the London sights but this plan was fairly quickly changed. Being Easter Sunday, the large shops were not open so after wandering down Regent Street for a short while, decided to head back to our accommodation to get out of the cold.

The train was warm, and a comfortable 40 minute train ride with a short brisk walk 'home' saw us back inside about mid afternoon. We were looking forward to driving to Canterbury tomorrow.

ONE MORE DAY

Tomorrow we're off! A long awaited o/s visit to friends and distant rellies in the UK then to stay with eldest son, DIL and two grandies in Austin Texas. How we are looking forward to seeing them all again. For DH it's been 5 years since he saw DIL and the grandies, only 3 for me but no matter the kids will have grown - now at 13 and 11 - quite the young 'adults' to get to know over again.

We plan to attend an Easter service in an English cathedral. Have been looking forward to that. I'd love to get some photos inside but don't know if that's permissable so will just have to wait and see. Up to Aberdeen to meet a distant rellie for the first time then back down to the south coast of England to stay with dear friends we worked with in Zambia. Last port of call in England will be with 2nd cousins right out on the east coast. We hope to see some beautiful English Spring country side.

So friends, I'll be missing for a while - but if I get the opportunity to call in here and there along the way and tell you how it's going, I'll do that. I know we'll have a marvellous and memorable time.

Have a blessed week!