Arriving in England, as you can imagine, was a bit like arriving home for us, especially after the 'weird and wonderfulness' of South America.And, staying at the Dewings, good friends of the Kellys, in Kent was particularly luxurious and 'home-like'.Milly Dewing and her boyfriend, Tim, picked us up from the airport which was another little luxury compared to our usual arrival in places.And, to add to our delight, the first thing we did in England was to sit outside in the Dewings beautiful green, very English, backyard and eat cheese, bread and paté while sipping on rosé…quite divine really!!Then, our afternoon consisted of a Guiness (for Alex) and a cider (for me) at the local English pub.

The following day we went on a little road trip with Milly and Alice (#2 of the Dewing kids) to Bath, where Milly goes to university.Bath is actually, as we found out later, a World Heritage Site.It is set amongst rolling green countryside and has hot springs, Roman Baths, a beautiful Abbey and Georgian stone crescents.We spent two days in Bath where we wandered the pretty cobblestone streets, had coffee in the afternoon, a typical English `curry and chips` for dinner at a pub and got to visit Milly`s university, which was quintessential country English, with the main building in an old manor amongst rolling green hills.We stayed the night in Milly`s student house where the 4 of us slept on mattresses in the lounge room as the house was getting packed up for Milly to move out.Quite a little bonding session, our Bath trip!We even managed to drive past Stone Henge on the way and sneak a photo out of the car window!

After Bath, we enjoyed a few more days in Kent at the Dewings`, where I did some running and walking through the local fields and village, soaking up the greenness of the grass and the classical Englishness of the cottages, with steepled roofs, chimneys and ivy covered brick walls.I also enjoyed the rare adventure of a shopping afternoon with Milly and Alice in nearby Maidstone, while Alex got to play some golf with Edward and Clive (Dewing).Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Kent and made the most of the luxuries of home life at the Dewings.

Next, we headed to London for one night where we stayed with Toad and Hoppy, old Whitley friends, at their place in Hammersmith.We had a nice dinner and some wine with them before leaving early on Monday morning for France.Next stop: Chambery in the French Alps for some quality time with Alex`s parents.