Across the Pond to England - Part 1

My mom and I started our trip to England on July 14th...our plane was scheduled to leave at about 7:10 pm or so but was delayed until just before 8 pm. It took 9 hours & 5 minutes to get there...not bad. But I found it really difficult to sleep on the plane, even though I had gone to bootcamp at 5 am that morning. Thank goodness for the blinds (mask) because that helped.

We arrived the next day @ Heathrow Airport - Wednesday at 1:30 pm...we waited for my sister's plane to arrive from Seattle at 2:15 pm. My uncle Paul was there waiting for us...my mom's brother.

Duckie...I haven't seen my Uncle Paul since my sister's wedding in 1995. Isn't he lovely? After we waited for Michelle we went straight from the airport to see my Grannie & Grandpa. They live in Thame near Aylesbury, about an hours drive Northwest of London.

Oh my grandparents are so sweet...my Grandpa is 90+ or 90 'ish' as he says. He is so funny...and my Grannie is as sweet as ever. It was such a blessing to see them...I haven't seen them for at least 6 years or so.

Wallace Farm - Bed & breakfast

Wallace Farm was a great place to stay. It's over 400 years old...the beams in this house were amazing. The grounds are beautiful...and the 3 dogs Wallace, Tess, & Poppy made it so fun, especially at breakfast time.

It was about a 10 minute walk to Paul & Judith's house in Dinton...near Thame, Buckinghamshire where my Grannie & Grandpa live. These are just pictures along the way.

Everytime I saw a building like this...I said, 'Oh look at that castley thing!' Paul would laugh and say, ' that's a church.' So it was pretty funny the whole time we were there...I thought everything was a castle! It turns out they are churches...but yes, they really do have castles there. Below are stocks that they used hundreds of years ago to put the naughty people in.

I absolutley love the doors in England...they are so different.

This door is the perfect height for you Michelle!

The thatched roofs made out of straw are amazing. They still make them like that today. This one is so English and everyone has a garden.

Paul & Judith's House - in Dinton.

The address of all the houses here are names instead of numbers...this is the front of where Paul and Judith live in Dinton, Buckinghamshire.

They have the most lovely garden that they have made...apparently everyone loves to garden in my family, I wonder why I didn't get those genes?! (If anyone has been to our house, you know what I mean. Bless us, we try.)

Paul grows his own potatoes...they picked these from his garden and we had them for dinner about 30 minutes later, they were so good. We also learned about 'chitting' potatoes. This was a funny conversation...click here to see what that means. It's pronounced as it sounds...although someone could accidentially say it a different way. Judith made us a lovely dinner, and we were so tired after all the traveling so we headed back to Wallace farm and went straight to bed.

Grannie & Grandpa - Thursday

Now I can picture where my Grannie & Grandpa live...and what they are doing. Above is their wedding picture where they got married in West Wycombe, Bucks in 1941.

My Grandpa has always had a workshop for as long as I can remember...he still has one with all his tools, and his vice that he loves so much. Below is his Grandfather clock that was made in 1741. It is my Grandpa's prized posession after Grannie.


Every Thursday my grandparents go to lunch to visit with the other people in their community...so while they did that, we walked to Thame and had lunch and looked around the town.

Thame -

Having Lunch...



A brie & bacon sandwich...yum.


Thank goodness I love coffee...I had quite a few of these over there. Latte's were my drink of choice on this trip. Really, any form of coffee was great...especially in the french press.

This is in Waitrose...a really nice grocery store. I thought it was funny that their cashier's sit down but it makes sense really if they are there all day. Over here they stand up...lol! After a day of visiting with Grannie & Grandpa it was time to go to the Pub.

This is the best pub!!! And it's about 4 houses down or so from Paul & Judith's house. It was great! I had bangers & mash...yum! Very English...it was pouring with rain when we were done, thank goodness we got a ride home in Paul's car.

Next time we go we're going to sit here by the fire...put my reservation in now then Paul!

The Trains - Friday - Going to Sherborne, Dorset...for the wedding. We hopped on the train from Haddenham and took it to Marylebone...got the Underground 'Tube' and took that to Waterloo station...where we caught a 2 hour train ride to Sherborne. Whew...

The Tube is way Underground...

Catching the train to Sherborne...

Look who was there waiting for us waving a Union Jack Flag...Sarah & Matthew, our English Cousins!!! Duckies! We were so pleased to see them before the wedding, so it wasn't so rushed.

Matthew gave my mom and I a ride...and Michelle went with Sara & Ben...the bride & groom. We decided to go to the Queens Arms Pub, (where my sister Michelle is staying for 2 nights) for a light lunch.

I said, 'Michelle I'll take your picture so you'll remember where your staying...it's SO English.' Well, these men happened to be from Austrailia, and to call them English is not polite. (Lol!) I thought it was pretty funny.

This was so good...I especially loved the cheese and chutney.

Lunch at the Queens Arms...me, Matthew, Michelle, Ben (groom) Sarah (bride) & my mom.

Plumber Manor Country Hotel - in Sturminster Newton, Dorset.

This was an absoluelty amazing place to stay...it was pretty far away from the castle, but I loved it here.

Our room...

Having tea in our room before dinner.

The sitting room upstairs. I seriously thought I walked into a movie...like Pride & Prejudice or Emma. It was SO different than America.

Around the grounds...

The Castle -

MORE PIC's to come...this will take FOREVER!!! I'll keep adding so check back frequently!!!