First frost

Yes. Today we had the first frost and it's only getting colder from here......

Weekend in Cornwall Part 2

Did I mention in part 1 how Ella slept in the car from Port Isaac to Plymouth . Well as a result, day 2 started very early in the girls room at 5:30. Ella's reason for this was that she was well rested from the previous day and was ready to get going. Sarah wasn't convinced.

After a good breakfast we went for a walk around Plymouth harbour. As usual some family members were unhappy about walking. Ben also informed me that he needed to visit the aquarium in Plymouth. When I said to him he had already been to the one in Sydney and also in Hong Kong. He replied with his usual foolproof logic that he needed to go to an aquarium in Europe now.

We saw the steps where the pilgrims had left for America. Unfortunately the Mayflower replica is currently in America as well.

Our next stop was the Eden project, which is an Eco project. In a reclaimed quarry a few domes have been constructed to create a rainforest environment and a Mediterranean one as well.

Each dome is triple glazed and gets very warm. In the rainforest dome there was a cool room for people not coping with the heat. Before entering the domes we were all rugged up for the cold and were wearing thermals. The photo of Ben and Ella is from the top of the dome where it is about 30 degrees. We were all quite sweaty.

There were some giant insects outside that amused the kids as well.

After the dome we drove home to get ready for the next busy week at school.

Weekend in Cornwall part 1

A few weeks ago we had our first overnight trip, which was to Cornwall. Once again we went with my work colleague Phil and his family. On Saturday morning we drove to Tintagel via a stop at Exeter ( Some tips: the highway services at Exeter are nowhere near the highway). Along the way we experienced the joys of getting stuck behind first a tractor and then a caravan.

Tintagel is an old castle from the time of King Arthur. It is situated high on a cliff and it was quite wet and windy. We really felt in England. There was a bit of walking involved which resulted in the usual whinging just to make you feel even more in England.

After a quick home-made lunch in a local car park we headed down some very narrow roads to Port Isaac where Doc Martin is filmed. Sarah kept on saying that she thought the road was a one way road because it was so thin. She saw that she was wrong when we saw cars coming the other way. We were lucky that they stopped for us to pass. Our friends were not so lucky and had to do quite a bit of reversing.

It started to rain a bit in Port Isaac so after a quick walk around the town we went into a little cafe for ice cream. Someone (guess who) had a cup of tea instead.

The Doc's house is to the right of the two white houses in the middle row

After the snack we headed to our hotel for the night in Plymouth, which was meant to be about an hours drive away. After the tractor and the caravan, we were stuck behind another evil of the English roads - the horse truck being driven by a learner driver. We made it into Plymouth just before 6pm and had a nice meal in the hotel. Ella had a sleep on the way so it was quite a peaceful drive. We split up in the hotel into a boys and girls room.



Stay tuned for part 2 : "Don't wear your thermals in a rain forest"

Legoland -- one of the key attractions of England

Yes, if you are a young boy Legoland is one of the best places ever!

The kids got to drive little cars around a track and get a  Legoland driver's licence.

There was a huge exhibit of Star Wars Lego with footage from the movie and soundtracks.

There is a little person inside this exhibit!

And there were several cities from around the world all modelled in Lego.

A great day was had by all but the colder northern temperatures of sub 5 degrees were a bit of a shock for us antipodeans!

This is where we live.

As I write this I am looking over to Portland Harbour. It is wet, grey and a fierce wind is blowing. Luckily it was sunny when I took the photos of the house. There have been numerous requests for further details of the house so here are a few photos.

Yes, the house has a name

 

  

This is the front of the house looking North

The house is one of three almost identical houses and is the middle one. Here is the back of the house which faces South so gets all of the sun.

See we already have a trampoline

Now for a bit of the inside - just like an episode of "Escape to the Country". We have three bedrooms on the bottom floor along with the garage. The kid's bedrooms were too messy to be shown on the blog at this time and I didn't get a chance to take photos of the master bedroom (hopefully they will appear in a future entry).

The photos below are from the upstairs living area. The door in the first photo leads to the guest bedroom, which has an en suite (email Sarah for rates and availability)

TV World, we have had sky hooked up

 

Parent's world with a views of Portland

The final photo is the view from the balcony, looking out across Portland Harbour.

View of Portland Harbour

Stay tuned for future posts with pictures of some of the other rooms.

One of our local castles

Just down the road from us, on the Rodwell trail is our local castle: Sandsfoot Castle. One Sunday morning Ben, Ella and I walked down to have a look. We are quite lucky because the castle was closed for a long time and was just reopened this year. I was lucky because the cafe was not open but I still had to outlay for an ice cream at a local shop on the way back.

It wasn't the largest castle to start off with when it was built and quite a lot of it has fallen into the sea due to erosion and some of the stone was taken for other buildings.

Not to worry though, we have been managing to visit a castle every few weeks, so we should be able find a bigger one.

English Schoolgirl

 

I know that certain people have been waiting for these photos.

English Schoolboys

Ben loves his blazer and cap. Unfortunately Simon is not so enamoured.....

Soon to come -- English schoolgirl.

Swanage and Corfe Castle by Steam Train

Along with Michael's colleague, Phil,  and his family, we took a day trip to Swanage and Corfe Castle and rode a steam train.

Swanage is a typical English seaside resort with little English beach huts.

Corfe Castle is famous as the inspiration for Enid Blyton's castle on Kirrin Island. There is even an Enid Blyton shop. Unfortunately Sarah didn't get to browse in there but maybe she can go back without the kids......