We were staying at a lovely little hotel The Royal Oxford, and it was there that Norm and Karen, freshly arriving from Moscow met us for breakfast. It was so lovely to see them and start the three non stop days of catch up conversation. We strolled around the lovely downtown Oxford area, found the Oxford Real Tennis Court for Peter's game on Monday and prowled through the little streets, peering at the lovely college gardens. Norm found The Turf tavern(not an easy task) and we settled in for a lovely pub lunch. The weather was now perfect and made for some great walking. After a nap we met up at the Oxford Castle for a ABBA night and dinner. Really fun and Karen had another Abba night to add to her collection.
Sunday we met up with Sue Drew who had brought Megan and Madeline to meet Karen and Norm. We had a good poke around Karen's college(Green) and a nice long stroll and lunch in another great pub(by Christ Church).
Peter and I took in a movie" Beginners" and Karen and Norm had dinner with old friends of Karens. Monday was spent driving through Chipping Norton and on to Stratford for lunch.
And we ended our lovely stay with a special dinner at a Raymond Blanc bistro in the Jericho area of Oxford. A sad good bye to K and N, but they have promised to visit for Thanksgiving at the lake so we will see them in October.
Our drive back to London was easy, our new Garmin GPS, performing splendidly and I am always impressed how Peter get his way through Hyde Park corner.
Dinner once again at the Boisdale (Peter loves the music) with Carol, Mike and Amy Mayhew and Wendy Kidd. A really fun night, once again showing us just how many of our friends have Bajan roots.
We had a lovely dinner at the Crown with Wendy and family..all in good form.
Another evening was spent at the Petworth Festival with an absolutely stunning performance of SirRichard Rodney Bennett and Clare Martin performing Irving Berlin.. BOth are much decorated English Jazz performers... If you get a chance to hear them.. do so!
We left West Sussex and headed for to see friends in Wiltshire. Peter manage to get our GPS system pointing the way on all the little roads... We had such a lovely drive through the exquisite English country side, ending in the little village of Luckington in Wiltshire.
We had met a lovely young man in Barbados, named Bobby Dundas who mentioned his mother had turned her house into a Band B.. We were able to catch a local polo match with Bobby playing at the Beaufort Polo Club, and dinner with the family at a wonderful local restaurant. No one can even say the food in UK is not good. Even the simplest pub now serves lovely meals.
After a huge breakfast, we are off to revisit Stonehenge... Such strange place.. If you go be sure to take the audio guide.. It helps explain the surroundings and the history.
And back to revisit Bath... another stunning place. We had lunch at a dear wee pub,(not on the tourist radar) and were on a bus tour as the rains hit... Great timing all round.
Off on Friday to Oxford.. another lovely drive through the countryside .. (and the rain)
Met up with Mike Hollingsworth for dinner who spends a lot of time in Oxford and has had a long history working in the media so stories of Murdoch and Black abound. We were joined by his 18 year old son Jake.. a lovely guy whom I suspect we might see in Canada sometime
They only place I could find on the net when I booked that did not cost a huge amount and had room, was the Royal Oxford. It has been totally redone. It would not be a five star by any means, but has been done over with great care Great value for money.
We have heard tonight that Norm and Karen have arrived in Oxford.. Reunion tomorrow!!!!
On Friday we headed to the little pub around the corner "The Westminster"..not a spot that would even win the prettiest pub contest, but a great spot for fish and chips.And we ended our London visit with a lovely evening with Geoff Hughes and Zuzanna at the Chelsea Arts Club. Great fun to catch up with two such lovely young people.
Off to the countryside on Saturday. The weather has changed and the rain begins. It takes a long time to get out of London, but we make our way to the wonderful Crown Inn on the green in Chillingford., on the border of Surrey and West Sussex. From across the street the bells of St. Mary's are peeling signalling the start of a summer wedding.To Jodi Kidd's for drinks and dinner with Rachel Carpenter and Wendy Kidd at a most wonderful pub, The Checkers Inn... Truly historic food..
We had the most typical of English Sundays... to St. Mary's for church, lovely service and very friendly congregation, (services have been performed here for 900 years) to The Swan in Petworth for Sunday lunch, and to Cowdray for the Gold Cup of Polo. Needless to say this was all done between pouring rain so we got quite soaked but 15000 people still turned up for the polo.
And that night we ended the day with a visit to the Petworth Festival and a performance by the cellist Julian Lloyd Weber --truly a historic evening in the Petworth St Mary's church .
Monday to Petworth House, one of the true gems of the National Trust, with a truly great art collection. The various Lord Egmonts have been great custodians of this property and continue to this day. The third Lord Egmont was a great supporter of JW Turner. He spent much time at Petworth and many of his well known paintings were done here. Apparently in Turners day there were very few public art galleries, and Turner was able to spend much time looking at the wonderful collection.The grounds and parks have always been open to the public,--rare among this class.
Lunch with Stewart Collins, the artistic director of Petworth and (also of Holder's Season)Stewart is one of four community directors involved in community arts for the Olympics.
For the first time in two years we are back in London. We flew with Air Transat for the first time. We enjoyed the charter flight(price was certainly right) especially as Peter had booked and paid a bit extra for leg room. Very pleasant crew and they even fed us --rare on planes these days-. All in all a pleasant flight, and through immigration in about 30 minutes. Train to Victoria from Gatwick and into the hotel within 90 minutes.
I have found the only way to beat the jet lag is to just keep going.! Lunch at Chelsea Arts back for a nap and off to see Sue and Gren Collins. Wonderful dinner and conversation and a tour of the amazing amount of work S and G are doing on their home in St GEorge's Square. They did the first bit last year, and are now finishing the last of it .. mainly the huge lounge area. Their place was fabulous to begin with, and will simply be magic when finished .
As per Maggie's request we were at the News agents early Sunday to pick up the last edition of the News of the World. For this news junkie it is a fabulous time to be here. The phone hacking story will not go away. All the Murdoch family members have arrived here in London including Rupert...There have been various inquiries about hacking into phones for some time, but aside one reported going to jail years a few years ago this whole story has been pushed under the rug
Sunday lunch sees us off to Seven Oaks for one of those fabulous Sunday lunches that really only happens in England. Our wonderful hostess, Lela Weavers, hosted a lunch for fifteen people to celebrate Mandy Leacock's birthday. And she had had fourteen for dinner the night before!!
Lots of champagne to start, a lovely started with asparagus and quails eggs(mentioned because they are such a nuisance to peel)three legs of lamb, two different sauces, and I lost track of the vegetables when we got to seven different once... And I lost track of the puddings on the way to the best cheeses... All washed down of course with lots of wonderful claret.
Train back to London and a stroll by The Goring Hotel to observe the Basil's Beach Bar installed in the garden.... complete with sand, and boat...Too funny. Basil's is a very famous bar in Mustique and he apparently came over for the opening. I have not determined why there is a Basil's bar in the Goring Garden but if you are in London this supper have a look. Perhaps the Gorings felt they had to do something after the Middletons decamped after the wedding.
Monday..Peter to Queens for Real Tennis and Sue and I to the Chelsea Arts for Lunch in the garden... We were to have dinner with Henri Brandman, one of our great old friends Henri is now a solicitor in some demand in London and had to cancel at the last minute due to sudden flurry of new clients.... See above story re: News of the World!
We went off to see a new play... new version of Yes, Prime Minister. Cannot say we loved it, but could have had something to do with the really uncomfortable seats in the theatre.
Tuesday night found us heading to the Boisdale Belgravia Jazz Club to see Cousin Alice.. Alice plays a sort of combination banjo ukulele Actually is a niece of Angela Melville(Barbados) and we love hearing her when she comes over. So it was a fun treat to hear her in London.
Wednesday, to us to Motcombs for lunch with Wendy Kidd and Tony Greenberg Tony is a new friend met this past year in Barbados. He retired from his medical practice just this past year at eighty years old. It was fun to be back at Motcombs... we used to go all the time years ago with the Isserstedts.. brought back lots of memories.
And we had a gathering in the garden at Chelsea Arts --put a few people together that did not know each other, but knew us. Sometimes the stranger the mix, the better the party!
We walked Thursday to Kennington to visit Walworth Garden. This is a one half acre site behind the Kennington tube station. We have a lovely friend, named Kevin Moore who runs this facility and we felt it was time to see it. On one little site, there are lessons on gardening to train young people in work in this field. Many of these have been at risk in some way or another and are now employed. They also give lessons to everyone from school children, to neighbours, to adults with emotional problems, to bee keeping,. They provide a contract gardening service which helps pay for Walworth... It is a wonderful idea which is working so well. Kevin is most modest about his success, but it really was a stunning visit.
To lunch with Kevin Mandy and company at a place called Brunswich cafe... Not to be missed if you find yourself in Vauxhall.
We went to the National Theatre to see Zoe Wanamaker in The Cherry Orchard.--this is a very hard ticket to get and you can see why. The whole cast is, as ever, simply perfect. All through this performance of a difficult play, you could hear a pin drop.. Nearly three hours flew by in a flash... And a lovely walk back to the hotel. The whole south bank of the Thames is now so fun and lively, and it does take ones breath away to stroll along looking at the buildings light on the other side... especially Westminster.
