Southwell with Dennis and Sandra

It was another one of our cultural days out with good friends, Dennis & Sandra today (our 13th!). We’ve built up quite a list since 2017, and today we added Southwell and National Trust’s Workhouse (above). Chatsworth House (November 2022)Belvoir Castle (August 2022) Kedlestone Hall (May 2021)Hardwick Hall (August 2020)Castle Howard (December 2019)The Royal Armouries …
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Canons Ashby

Off to National Trust’s Canons Ashby today to meet up with long-time mates, Chris & Gill. Ordinarily, a straightforward journey using the A43, but not so today! It’s F1 Silverstone Weekend starting later and that means only two things – chaos on the main routes plus the local villages seeing an exponential increase in through-traffic. …
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Kedlestone Hall with Dennis and Sandra

We drove up to Kedlestone Hall, near Ashbourne today, to meet up with fellow lovers of ‘days-out’, Dennis and Sandra. We’re building up quite a list of destinations since we started this with them back in 2017. Hardwick Hall (August 2020)Castle Howard (December 2019)The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)Bolsover Castle (October 2018)Belton House (May 2018)York …
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Hardwick Hall with Dennis and Sandra

9.55am: We drove the (just under) 90-mile journey to Hardwick Hall today, to meet up with fellow lovers-of-old-buildings and all-things National Trust, Dennis and Sandra. We last visited here back in October 2010 for a Murder-Mystery evening with Ralph and Karen (BTW, the Butler DIDN’T do it!). Hardwick is a spectacular Elizabethan house filled with …
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Family Weekend

Roger, Jane and Oliver joined us for the weekend! 😍 Saturday The main event for today was a picnic at Belton House and then a walk around the historic Mansion and Gardens. I think it’s our most oft-visited stately home having been there recently (ish) with with Dennis and Sandra back in May, 2018 and …
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First Visit: Farnborough Hall

Another one our of cultural days out, meeting up with Ian and Ann along the way, heading for National Trust’s Farnborough Hall. Located off the M40 between Banbury and Gaydon, the Grade I listed property (and its gardens) has been owned by the National Trust since 1960, when the Holbech family endowed it to them. …
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Worthing or Rust!

Thursday Well, here we are in Worthing, having enjoyed  the best journey-here-by-car ever! (maybe an over-statement) – but it was completely incident-free! We left at 8.10am, dropped into the Health Centre at home to leave a prescription; popped-in to Peter J’s for a cuppa in West Wickham and still managed to arrive at our destination …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 6) – Final Day

It’s our last full day here today in Cider Country – and there’s a storm a-comin’! The local forecast paints a very (very) wet picture of this area JUST after lunch. So, with welly weather in mind, we’re going to cram in TWO properties before the wet stuff hits us. On a more positive note …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 5) – Birthday Boy!

Well, here we are – In Somerset for my 61st. It was good to wake up and (when I eventually got a signal) to see all the good wishes via social media. I think for the first time, there were more ‘happy birthdays’ via the ‘interweb’ than by traditional cards. The main event for today …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 3)

Today is a cultural marathon, where we’ve planned to take in the following locations. In fact, we squeezed in an extra one, so read on, loyal reader… Muchelney Abbey Somerton Lytes Cary The Royal Naval Fleet Air-Arm Museum They’re all fairly local to here, so we’re not planning to drive further than about half-an-hour from …
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Holiday: National Trust’s ‘Strode House’ (Day 1)

After a good night’s sleep and leaving the laptop on overnight to download the photos we’d taken yesterday, I discovered that the router was still at it, having spent all night downloading just TWO! (shown below). For the biggest router I’ve ever seen in my life, it certainly lacked speed! After a hearty breakfast, we …
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Barrington Court – Arrival

Ahh, what a quaint property! No mobile signal and almost non-existent wi-fi (in spite of having the dwelling’s router right next to me). This week looks like it’s going to be fun attempting to post blogs! Sorry reader! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – …
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Birthday 2014 – Steve Serenaded/Men with Pikes/High Points/Low Points/Swans on the Bed/Pigeon Paranoia/East v West/Wow Factor 11

As the title suggests, this year’s birthday celebrations have been especially memorable. Loyal reader, read on… Even before the celebrations began today, I had a rather unexpected birthday-call the previous evening. The phone rang, and I didn’t recognise the number that came up, nor the voice at the other end. The mystery voice immediately sprang …
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