Bonjour!
We have been in France now for a couple of days but are finding it hard to get internet access so this will be a writeup for England and we’ll get to France at a later stage.
We arrived at Heathrow on the 18th and were collected without any dramas and then drove to Glouscester. We had a quiet afternoon with Nev and Jo because Stuart and I were exhausted so we visited Stuart’s Nan and Pop in the afternoon and then went to bed early! The next day Nev and Jo took us for a trip around Glouscester and into Wales to visit the Forest of Dean, Symonds Yat and Tintern Abbey. Tintern Abbey was founded in 1131 but was disolved by 1536 as part of King Henry VIII’s policy of abolishing religious life. It was an impressive set of ruins nonetheless! On the 20th we spent the day with Stuart’s cousin James and partner Fil and they took us for lunch at an English pub, then we went sightseeing in the Cotswold’s and had tea and scones at Burford which was a really pretty little village. We obviously watched the rugby grandfinal and Stuart took great delight in stirring the pot with the disappointed English! On the 21st James took us to visit a grand estate, Highnam Court, which was renovated by a family friend and we had a walk around the gardens. We also had time to visit Glouscester Cathedral which was spectacular and we were lucky enough to have a tour of the crypt. The cloisters in the cathedral were used during the filming of the first and second Harry Potter films. We then had a beautiful lunch at Stuart’s Nan and Pop’s with the family. We didn’t have a lot of time in England but what we saw gave us a taste and we will be able to further explore it when we move there in a couple of years.
On the 22nd Nev and Jo drove us down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to France and we were able to stop and take a photo of Stonehenge over the fence. The ferry crossing was smooth and very enjoyable – eating, drinking, reading and sleeping until we arrived at Caen in France where Adele and Ian were waiting to collect us and drive us back to their place.
We’ll give our France update in a few days! 🙂
Hope everyone is well and we will be back in touch soon! 🙂
Best wishes,
Stuart and Sally