Room with a View

This is the view I had sitting on my bed upstairs in England. It is the backgarden of my parents-in-law. It is such a great garden, I know the children will miss it too. There is actually more garden behind the trees at the back (it has a vege patch and a small grass area that the kids LOVED to go to). The path to it is 'hidden' by the way the trees are planted.

Whilst this picture is lovely and sunny we did not have great weather whilst we were there. I have been to England a few times (1996, 1998, 2000 & 2004) and this has been the worst weather yet!...but we don't go for the weather, we go to see family and friends.

My In-laws live in a really pretty village south of London in West Sussex. I was amazed, and disappointed, to discover that the three antique shops in the village have now gone - closed because of eBay, but they still had the lovely gift shops and the 5 pubs! We spent time with family and visiting various local attractions, including Pooh Corner & Pooh Sticks Bridge at Hartfield - and we did play 'Pooh Sticks'. We often went and picked our own Strawberries & Raspberries at a farm near by. The kids loved it, my son now likes strawberries! Freshly picked are always tasty but I think the ones we pick in the UK are tastier again.

We went to Cornwall for a week, staying in a large house as my brother-in-law and his family, and some of his wife's family came as well so there were 13 of us! We stayed in a place call Tregoodwell right next to Camelford. (The biggest town nearby was Wadebridge).

In Cornwall we went to the Eden Project  and Tintagel (the legendary birth place of King Arthur). We did a day trip drive going to Land's End (the western most point of England), through St Ives & Penzance. We had to stop for an immediate toilet break and came to Porthlaven (a fishing village), because it was not a set destination it was one of those pleasant finds. We then stopped at Truro for dinner and found a great restuarant called 'chantek'.

If you are ever in Camelford there is a GREAT restuarant I would recommend called Raval's, the food was delicious, service was great and the place itself was really inviting.

The day we arrived in England my beautiful daughter turned four.

Whilst we were in Cornwall my Hubby turned 40 and to celebrate we all went to Fifteen Cornwall for lunch. It was a really great experience and the food was fantastic. After lunch we got changed and went for a walk along the beach. It was the first time we had seen some sun in a while. It was low tide and there were quite a few  pools of water left along the shore. Whilst it was still cold it didn't stop the kids putting their feet in, so we then took off their shoes! I think this only encouraged them more, before we knew it they were in up to their necks! Oh to be a child, it was great.

We also went to London for a few days, again catching up with family & friends and also to do a bit of shopping. The kids loved catching the tube but I think the highlight for them was the visit to Hamleys, a toy shop with SEVEN levels!, and yes they did come home loaded up with new toys.

The children travelled really well, especially on the way back as we travelled straight thru, including the fact that my son had a stomach bug and threw up at Heathrow airport and when we got on the plane, and we had a three hour delay in Bangkok due to some engine failure. I could not have asked them to have behaved any better than they did, and both of them slept during both legs of the journey. I am lucky to have such cheeky angels.

Comments

[Sharon Manning]

Welcome back Ursula, it sounds like you had an awesome holiday despite the weather. Did you bribe your children to behave so well? Nah just kidding, isn't it a great feeling when they do!
Can't wait to hear and see some more.
Sharon
xxx

[Julie H]

This all looks so beautiful - a children's paradise.

[Megan Pickwell]

How green is that grass! What a wonderful photo of the children being children in the water! Mxx

[Misty]

welcome home. & happy belated birthday to your beautiful little girl & to your husband! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip. xo

[ro bruhn]

I'm getting homesick reading your post Ursula, I love Cornwall, we went to Land's End and had our photo taken with the arrow pointing down under. Did you go to Clovelly? One of the many beautiful villages just above Cornwall, in Devon. Sorry the weather was so bad. Happy birthday to your hubby and daughter.

Ro
xo