After brekky we packed the car and left at about 9.30am, driving on motorway after motorway to East Bergholt and Flatford Mill. We were very lucky - it was the last day the National Trust shop was open until April, and we found that we could walk around the whole area for free - we actually saw where John Constable painted The Haywain from - the house is still there!!! There were ducks and geese everywhere. It was really magical. After that we drove to the airpo...

This morning we went off to Allyson's (my penfriend since about 1968) house. We met her boyfriend Chris (he moved in last week) - they're getting married next May. Chris is really nice. We had lunch (lasagna) with French and Australian wines. Andy came home for lunch, and late this afternoon we all went for a walk around Chipping Campden. The villages in the Cotswolds are lovely - very picturesque. It was a lovely, relaxing day. Then we came home, had dinner an...

This morning we drove up to Stafford where my Henry Abbott came from, and walked up and down the little street he lived in (Sash St) - I don't think the houses there would date back 135 years to 1860. We walked along the main street and went to the tourist bureau where the lady told us that back then the shoemaking industry was very big and that area was where all the cobblers lived and a bit further out was where they worked. The Tourist Information Centre was i...

We had a sleep-in today. Tom's had enough of cars, driving and touristing, so the girls and I headed off without him!! We drove across the big bridge at the mouth of the Severn, and on down across Somerset. Dunster Castle appeared out of the blue (we had a look in its National Trust shop, built in the stables). We had an interesting drive across to Lynmouth/Lynton - up big hills (with a gradient of 1:4), arriving at 11.30am - in time for a Devonshire Tea in Devo...

Today we got up early and drove through Abergavenny and Rhayader on our way to Llangollen. We couldn't find the canal museum, so we went and had a look at an aquaduct and had lunch by a canal. They seem to be only about a metre deep. We drove on from there to Harlech. We were lucky, it was the first day of using a new entry - for the last 3 months people have had to climb 182 steps while the old tatty entrance steps were replaced. Harlech Castle was small but ni...