Welcoming the torch

I am not really a sporty person at all, but as the Olympic flame was coming to Stratford upon Avon this afternoon, and as this is one of my favourite places, we thought we would go and cheer it on its way through the Midlands.  It was such a fun day, there was also a River Festival happening, so more pics of that to follow when I have loaded them.  There were lots of canal boats on the Avon, decked out in bunting, and there was a wonderful atmosphere.  


We went into the Shakespeare Theatre, and I bought a copy of the script of a play the RSC performed last year called Written on the Heart, written by David Edgar.  It is about the making of the King James Bible.  I look forward to reading this in my own time and savouring the text, as sometimes you miss things during a performance.  

We didn't take this one!

I won't be blogging for a couple of days, as Real Life is going to be claiming my time, real people, real places, real conversations, I'll tell you all about it when I get back.  In the meantime, I am leaving you with a picture from the Jubilee weekend that Mr Letters From Home didn't take, as unfortunately we don't own a world war two war plane,or in fact any other kind of plane, now I come to think of it! 

(Google images)

This is a fantastic shot, taken from a Lancaster Bomber as it flew over London, showing Buckingham Palace and the long snake of hundreds of thousands of people filling the Mall on Tuesday afternoon.  The dark circle in the middle is a solid body of hundreds of thousands of people.  You can also see the London Eye in the background, which I've been on a few times.

Have a great weekend!

More pics

Hope you are enjoying the royal pics, we had a great vantage point outside St Paul's Cathedral on Tuesday morning, and all these pics were taken by Mr Letters From Home.

This is royal correspondent Jenni Bond.....

And here I am, with her, just in case you thought I was just getting pics from Google!

Yes, I was really there, and it was such a fun time, the banter in the crowd was brilliant, we had such a laugh.

Here are the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Queen's youngest son, arriving at St Pauls, with their daughter.

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Various participants entering the Cathedral.

I still have more pictures to publish, including one me in the middle of the crowd, so you know what to do, the more comments, the more pictures!

The Day I Saw The Queen!

Today has been such a wonderful day, full of excitement. Mr Letters From Home and I took a very early train this morning and went to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, in plenty of time to see the Royal Family arrive for a service of thanksgiving for Her Majesty The Queen.

We saw every member of the Royal Family, but a special thrill for me, which I will never forget, was seeing The Queen.  Her car drove very slowly past the spot where I stood.  Her Majesty actually made eye contact with me and gave me such a beautiful, beaming smile.  Only a second or two in time, but at that point, time seemed to stand still.

There will be pictures of the day to follow, when we get them uploaded.

We also met some lovely TV presenters, including Susanna Reid from the BBC Breakfast News, and Nicky Campbell.  The most surprising thing was that as we were leaving to go to the tube station, we found ourselves walking with Jenni Bond, royal reporter for Sky TV.  Mr LFH whipped out his camera to take a photo of her, then she put an arm around my shoulder and suggested a picture of us both together, how kind was that!  She was so lovely and friendly, and down to earth.

Shortly after our exciting morning, we got on a train and visited our daughter, son-in-law and baby granddaughter Poppy, and spent a lovely day with them.  We watched the rest of the royal proceedings on TV, whilst madly waving the flags I had kept from this  morning, which of course Poppy loved!

I'm off to bed now, as it's been a very long day.

The more comments I receive, the more pictures of today I will publish tomorrow!  Goodnight everybody.

The House of Trembling Madness

During my trip to York last week, as well as visiting Annie Softpots, we had lunch in The House of Trembling Madness.

If you are ever in York, I can highly recommend a trip to this unusual, fascinating pub, which is in Stonegate, in fact it is right opposite Softpots.

The pub is a stone's throw from York Minster, and we could hear the Minster bells ringing as we ascended the creaky staircase.  We could see the Minster from the windows.

We were joined by a whole menagerie of animals!

The bar was originally a pulpit in a local church.

The pub is in an ancient building.  One of the walls was built in 1180 ad.  The beams sailed the seas as ship beams 800 years ago. 

There are many different drinks to choose from (although we only had diet Cokes, not very adventurous!)  The food is sensational, as it is all locally sourced and produced.  I had a pork pie, topped with Stilton.  I haven't eaten a pork pie for years, but this was a special, meaty version.  It was served with salad, and a beautiful Italian bread, which is baked daily in a tiny bakery in the Shambles, here.

The food was amazing, really different, and high quality, and the atmosphere was friendly, bustling and lively, an exciting place to be.

I am gradually getting used to the new Blogger layout.  Why do things have to be constantly changed and updated?!

A day out

(google images)

Had a lovely day out today with my lovely husband to celebrate my birthday!

We had a good walk, (I wish I'd remembered my pedometer!) and had a very nice meal at Strada - with a two for one voucher!  I had chicken in a mushroom sauce with roasted new potatoes and roast onions.  There were not many people around, so it was nice and quiet, and not too cold.

I've been really spoilt! I've had an orchid from my husband, and of course my new coat; Body Shop toiletries from eldest son, flowery secateurs from my daughter, and a lovely personalised card from darling Poppy, with her smiley face on it; flowers from youngest son and a poem he wrote about me!  Ahh, happy times!

Hope you're all having a good day!

A Sunny Walk

Today, was sunny, so Mr LFH, our two sons and I ventured out on a walk around Draycote Water, a local reservoir, which has a 5 mile perimeter track.  It took us 2 hours to walk the 5 miles, but that included stopping to take pics, as well as bumping into a whole bunch of our friends, with lots of hugs all round!

Draycote Water is 6 km south of Rugby in Warwickshire, in the village of Dunchurch, and is owned and operated by Severn Trent Water, to supply drinking water to Rugby.  It covers more than 600 acres, and holds up to 5,000 million imperial gallons of water.  It is by far the largest expanse of water in landlocked Warwickshire, so it almost feels like a walk along the coastline.

We stopped off a little way around to see the alpacas.  The alpaca farm is in a village called Toft, and these woolly beauties have a lovely view while they graze.  You can buy their wool to knit here.

More alpacas.

The sky and the water were really blue, amazing for January.

Here are the boys, wondering which way to go next, while I look on.  Do you like my new coat?  It's lovely and warm.

These were the views of the Warwickshire countryside we enjoyed along the water's edge.

Only one sailing boat braved the water today.

After leaving the reservoir, we had a little wander around the village of Dunchurch, and enjoyed seeing these quaint thatched cottages.

Here is the 14th century church of St Peters, Dunchurch.

I remembered to wear my pedometer, and was pleased to see that by the end of the walk I had clocked up 12,541 steps.  I've just looked at it again and it currently stands at over 13,000 steps.  I am feeling very pleased with myself!

It's been a great day.  I'd like to come back here again soon, as part of my plan to walk a lot more.  

This evening we had the rest of the veggie curry.  It's DH's last day of holiday, so I lit lots of candles on the dining table, and played Eva Cassidy while we ate.  Now we're sitting down and relaxing our tired feet!  

Bye for now.

Birmingham Christmas Market

Today, we went to the Birmingham Christmas Market.  It was really magical. We ate 18" long bratwurst sausages, and stollen cake.  We had the sausages cut in half, and ate two between four of us, as they were very big and very expensive!  The stollen cake was a free sample!  We also drank two cups of Gluwein between four of us, very spicy and very nicey!

We also went in the Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum and saw part of the Staffordshire hoard.  This is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found.

It was found in a field near Tamworth in Staffordshire on 5th July, 2009, and consists of 3,500 items.  Only some of these are currently in Birmingham.  The hoard was valued at £3.285 million, which was shared between the man with the metal detector who found it and the owner of the field where it was buried.  Hmmm.....  I am thinking of putting a metal detector on my Christmas wish list!