Another Walk...Newstead Abbey

Malcolm walks beside a cornfield with poppies

Tourist and statue at Newstead Abbey

Stirring the stew

The old railway track

A green lane

Newstead Abbey - not many tourists!

Lake and stables

Wildflowers beside the path

Linby village and our car

Lunch pub - once owned by our family!

A walk in the Nottinghamshire countryside

Today we took our car and drove to a nearby village called Linby.  We parked in the pub car park where we had a chat to the publican.  I told him a relative owned the pub in the mid 1800's (actually, checking up on my family tree this afternoon I realise 3 generations owned it).  He told us that when Jacob Jennison (Jake)passed the pub on to his grandson he used to come and stay in the out-buildings and he was very eccentric.  He hid a stash of money in the loft and when his grandson finally found it the mice had used it to make nests from!

Anyway we had found details of a circular walk online and set off from Linby along a disused railway track.  It was full of wild flowers - more than I could name, and butterflies and birds.  Then the path led through a lodge gate into the grounds of Newstead Abbey.  This was a medieval Abbey that had been destroyed by Henry VIII and a mansion built on the grounds beside the ruins.  There are lakes and amazing gardens.  It was the family home of the poet, Lord Byron.

First stop was the tea rooms, then we had a wander around the gardens before continuing our walk through a wood, along a green lane, across fields and finally back to Linby in time for a pub lunch in the pub that could have been still in the family but unfortunately isn't!

Hey Faith - pub lunch, ham and mustard baguette with cider



Salmon and prawn salad





Back home, mum's garden

Punting

The punting gang!

Off we go...

...past the colleges that border the river

Malcolm takes over from our punter/guide

scenery...

...more scenery



Yesterday we were in Cambridge where we met up with Jo and Alistair and Ian and Maxine.  In the afternoon we went punting on the River Cam.  We hired a punt with a guide who punted us.  he told us the history of the old colleges that front onto the river, and about the various bridges we went under.  Malcolm had a go, I think Alastair will have good photos of this.  It was really hot, 32 degrees.

In the evening we went to an outdoor performance of Romeo and Juliet in the Fellows garden at King's College.  It was a beautiful, warm evening.  Some of us enjoyed the show, others were less impressed.

There were thunderstorms in the night and the weather was less hot today.  Malcolm, mum, Jo, Alistair and I went on the open top double decker bus tour for an hour and a half.  Then we had lunch in the centre of Cambridge.  Jo and Alistair left us to continue with their adventures and we drove back to Nottingham where we have had more thunderstorms.  the heat wave is supposed to continue, however...

Just eating and drinking

coffee in the Lime Lounge

breakfast in mum's garden

Sunday July 21st.

We've been here 5 days now and have had 3 days of heat-wave and 2 cooler ones. 
The first couple of days we spent organising stuff.  We bought a car and have it in a garage as it needed a couple of things doing.  Also got a new sim card for our phone and various other things like that.  It was so hot that we spent quite a bit of time just lounging around in the garden.

On Friday we drove out to a nearby village, West Hallam, that had a scarecrow festival.  They are quite common here in the summer apparently but I don't know when they started, sometime in the last couple of decades.  We had a great pub lunch and a wander around looking at the various creations.  All very English.

Yesterday we went to Derbyshire (the next county to Nottinghamshire) but very different in scenery.  Derbyshire has lots of stone buildings whereas Nottinghamshire has brick ones.  Derbyshire has lots of moorland and it's fields are bordered with stone walls where we have hedges.  It was a greyish day so we didn't take many photos.  We went to a village called Bakewell which is famous for inventing the Bakewell Tart and the Bakewell Pudding (they obviously bake well there!?)  We have eaten before at both the claimants to be the 'original' Bakewell pudding shop so tried the Lime Lounge where to my surprise they had excellent coffees, flat white and cappuccino.

Today, another greyish day, Malcolm and I went for a walk in the morning.  we had only been gone about 20 mins when we stopped for a coffee at a café in a garden centre that was just off the footpath.  The walk went through woodland and fields and along the canal side.  When we got home 3 hours later we felt like we deserved lunch so took mum out to a nice place we all know.  Malcolm was going to have salad until he saw he could get a Sunday roast lunch with dessert from the 'Golden Years' menu at a cheaper price!

 

This is our car

scarecrow festival

Spot the scarecrow!

er...scarecrows (not Malcolm and Heather after too long in the village pub)

 

Here we are in England - enjoying the heatwave - it's been 29 degrees.  Today we went to a nearby village that had a scarecrow festival.  Some were not traditional scarecrows, we saw Zebedee, some bears, etc.  We had to have a traditional pub lunch in the village pub, the Punch Bowl.  Then we came home and spent the afternoon lying on loungers in the garden listening to the bees buzzing in the lavender and pigeons cooing in the trees.

Leaving for England

Here I am - leaving for England.  This is actually a cake, amazing!  This was given on my last day at school and shows me with my book on a battered old suitcase covered with stickers showing where we are headed to.
After lots of leaving eating and drinking we are almost on the way.  Our suitcases are packed - even if they don't look as classy as this one.  Tomorrow we just have a few things to do - and eat more cake!
Monday we fly out from Whangarei.

Saturday June 15 2013.
Finally - part one of our escape is completed!  We have moved out of our house and we're at Tikipunga at the motor camp.  We are settling into the bus and refining our living arrangements.
Only 4 weeks of working then we embark on the next stage of our adventure.