CONNIKA

WIND IN THEIR HAIR

   

Towards the end of my trip to the UK last month I took the train north to visit my sister Amanda and her children Kieran and Leonie who live near Edinburgh.  Amanda and I have "snatched" times together down through the years - I moved to Australia when she was nearly 4 and we didn't meet again until she was 18.  But when we do meet, it's as though we have never been apart. This visit was very short - only 3 days.

As a surprise, she had organized for my wee brother Alan to be at the station when I arrived in Edinburgh and as I had just climbed the stairs and was adjusting my case, I turned and saw him.  "Alan!" I shouted and we threw our arms around one another!

This photo was taken on a beautiful walk on Seacliffe Beach near where she lives.

NICE HILLS

A view from our walk in the hills above Nice. 

AN EARLY START

To say that we made the most of every moment we were in Nice isn't an exaggeration.  Here's our early start - street lights still on and the moon still up!

NOTHING BETTER FOR A MAN...

How's this for a coffee shop?  It was a rainy day, so Emma, the boys and I decided to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum.  It was mobbed with children especially in the area where we headed - the "activities" for young children!  The theme was jewellery and the children were given a clipboard and sent off to look at the jewellery section of the museum.  They were asked to then put down some ideas of what they would like to make.  Angus and Hamish decided on a crown, belt and ring!  After the jewellery making, we headed for afternoon tea in the coffee shop.  Along the wall - if you have a look at the photograph - about what you would consider to be the picture rail was written, "There is nothing better for a man than he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour."  Rather appealed to my Presbyterian upbringing!

BEAUTIFUL ENGLAND

Another photograph taken in Cliveden Gardens in Buckinghamshire.  Beautiful, beautiful England, you are so green!

HOME

It's 2.26am!  Arrived home late Friday.  For those who pop into my blog, you will have noticed that I haven't been posting much!  Did have a go - the computer at Emma's was in the bedroom I slept in but by the end of the day, I was too tired!  So, in the next few days, I'll pop up some photos of the wonderful 3 weeks I spent with family. 

On this side of the world, it is very dry but we have been promised some showers this weekend (which is nearly over)!  Spring is starting to show it's face with a few blossom flowers out on the trees.  Shall follow it's progress over the coming weeks.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!

On the first day that Emma and I arrived in Nice, we decided to take an hour's bus ride around the city to get a feel for the place.  The bus took in the esplanade area, the old town and the hills above Nice. 

The earliest "tourists" to come to Nice were Russian - and some eventually settled there building huge homes overlooking the bay.  The architecture in this area is described as Baroque.

NICE

Yes it's Nice in France!   Emma and I flew over for a long weekend this past weekend.  Although we were only there for 3 nights, we walked our socks off in seeing the place.  This is one particular walk we did which took us up into the hills around the city.  On arrival, the first thing that hit me was the art deco architecture, the "world" walking on the esplanade, the rocky beach which is broken up into private and public bays and the blue, blue sea of the Cote D'Azur.  This photo is over the small harbour where ferries come in from Corsica and Sardinia and the war memorial in the distance.  More postings on Nice to come. 

CHITTY CHITTY BANG, BANG & THE VICAR OF DIBLEY

Had a great day yesterday with Emma and the boys.  When we were in London the other day - in a gorgeous bookshop, Emma picked up a lovely little pocket book about "adventure" walks in Britain.  The book features 25 walks in Britain, but written in such a way as to make them interesting for children.  The first walk in the book is to a village called Turville which is where the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and set and was the setting for various scenes from the television series The Vicar of Dibley. One of the highlights for children is the windmill on the hill which can be seen (if you look very carefully!) from the village.

John Nash who was the Architect and Surveyor of Woods and Forests back in the 1930's commented in the Shell Guide to Bucks (published in 1936), "A village in a beautiful woodland setting near the Oxfordshire borders with Ibstone on the narrow spur of hill above, and Fingest in the next valley, it forms one of the most beautiful and still unspoilt corners of the county.  The chairmakers are always to be found there working beside their cottage doors."

It is a tiny village and the book said the walk should begin at the red telephone box outside the pub near the village green and the church.  Hamish just loved all the directions - Emma read out the instructions and we all looked for the telephone box! 

The church tower of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin dates from about 1340 and the first Vicar of Turville recorded on the roll in the Church porch was a Benedictine monk from St. Albans called Elias in 1228.

We all plonked ourselves down on the village green (between the church and the pub), spread out our picnic rug and had "morning tea".  The boys had a ball.

After packing up, we headed off for "the walk" which was just spectacular.  We didn't realize it would be quite the walk it was and Emma had to carry wee Angus for a lot of the way, but the two of them did very well. 

The walk took us through long tunnels of trees, over gates, over stiles, through fields, down country roads and all the time the red kites (which were reintroduced to the area) above us. 

We arrived back at the village at 3.00pm very exhausted and very hungry!  After lunch, Hamish wanted to climb up the hill to see the windmill which he and Emma did while I walked round the village with the wee man in his pusher.  By the time Emma and Hamish arrived back, Angus was fast asleep!  It was a wonderful day and it  really would be wonderful to do all the walks in the book one day.  Photos to come for this posting...

CLIVEDEN MANOR

Yesterday (Tuesday), Emma, the boys and I went to Cliveden Manor for the day. 

The estate is quite near where Emma lives and the drive through the Buckinghamshire countryside to get to it is quite breathtaking - long country lanes with very heavily wooded areas on either side.  Occasionally signs of autumn can be seen and you feel that summer is on its last legs, but generally everything is still very green.  I can only imagine how beautiful it must be here in autumn. 

Cliveden is a beautiful estate - gardens are spectacular and the house itself is now in use as a very upmarket hotel.

Little snippets I learned - Nancy Astor the first woman MP to take her seat in Parliament lived here.  She was quite the hostess of the area and in the Orangery where we stopped for a cuppa a poster said:

"Weekend parties might contain people of high society or people of no society.

...I don't know which was more pleasant, to appear at tea time in winter when the tea was set in the centre hall before the big fire or in summer when it was laid out with infinite details,under a pavilion roof at the end of the broad terrace.

There was a table for tea, a table for cakes, a table for children, a table for grown-ups, a table for more grown-ups, and generally a nomadic group coming and going somewhere in the neighbourhood of Nancy herself."

Walter Elliot MP

This photograph is of the parterre in the grounds and dates back hundreds of years to Charles 1 (think that's the right Charles!)  The manor itself is built with commanding views of the countryside including a view of the River Thames although the view has been curtailed by the growth of the trees down through the centuries. 

The property managers and head gardener are working at restoring the views by eradicating many trees and thinning out others.  The aim is to have a filtered view of the Thames through the trees.