Exploring England

As you may have read in previous entries, the children have a lot of holiday breaks. That is one thing these Brits sure do enjoy...their "hols"...that's short for holidays. Jack, Owen and Kate were dismissed for end of term break on March 25 and did not return to start the Summer Term until Thursday, April 15! That is a lot of time off from school. Unfortunately, just because the kids are off doesn't mean John can skip out of work and take a fabulous vacation...which is really too bad for me! Just kidding.

Although John couldn't take any time off, I knew we had to do something for my sanity. So, we decided to spend a couple of weekends exploring England. The best part for me and John was that Nilda could come with us and she insisted on staying in a room with the kids! We were really happy to have her join us since she has never been anywhere other than London and Sheffield, where her sister lives. The kids were delighted too - it was a win-win for all.

The first weekend - March 26-28 - we took a train to York..."WALLACE HAS SACKED YORK!' We were very excited to see this town, quite popular for weekend getaways because it is only a two-hour ride by train. We left on Friday afternoon and arrived just in time to take a quick walk through town and find a spot for dinner. We admired the York Minster and looked forward to returning the next day to take a look inside.






Although Kate kept referring to the town as "New York" we assured her that this was indeed the original York. Some of our highlights included Clifford's Tower, the Jorvik Viking Centre, walking along the city walls and of course, the York Minster. It was a fabulous weekend - and only two hours away by train!

Over Easter weekend we decided to take a drive to the Channel Coast. We left on Good Friday morning and drove towards Dover, stopping first at Leeds Castle, considered to be the most beautiful castle in England. We spent the better part of the morning exploring the castle and its grounds. Henry VIII loved the castle and visited often, escaping the plague in London! After a few hours at Leeds we decided to carry on to Dover. We checked into a darling country house and found a quiet pub for lunch. Then we drove over to Dover Castle where we admired the White Cliffs of Dover and the history of Dover as a strategic port. We returned to our Country House for dinner and Jack scoured the guide book for where to travel in the morning.








During breakfast we decided to visit Rye and Battle, the location of the Battle of Hastings. Rye is an ancient and charming town that was added to the original Cinque Ports, which were granted the right to levy taxes in return for keeping the royal fleet supplied with ships and men. We had another quiet lunch in a pub on the main street of Rye before setting off for Battle. Thanks to Jack reading the guide book we discovered that the Battle of Hastings was actually in Battle and not Hastings! We took a really lovely and poignant audio guided tour of the battlegrounds where William the Conqueror defeated King Harold to become King of England.




After Battle we carried on to Brighton, where we stayed for two nights. Brighton is a resort town for Londoners and although a bit on the cheesy side, the kids had a blast on the Pier, which was a lot like Atlantic City or Coney Island...amusement rides, junk food, arcade games, etc.








We also visited the Royal Pavilion, which was the home of Prince Regent, who became George IV in 1920.

But the highlight of Brighton was definitely the Pier - the rides and games were perfect for the kids not to mention the "Jumpzone" - a combination of trampoline and bungee jumping!





On our way back to London we stopped at Hever Castle, home of Anne Boleyn. There was a hedge maze and lovely gardens and of course the history of Queen Anne Boleyn!


We had a great weekend seeing the coast of England. Now we have decided that if we can't get away, the short weekends in England are lovely!

Cheers!