We had another refreshing night’s sleep; the bed was so comfy. To manage my breakfast portion sizes, I chose a few selected items from the full English breakfast.

After breakfast we relaxed in our room before it was time to visit friends (Wiggia and Mrs W). As we left the carpark, we got a bit confused by the one-way system around the Assembly Hall, our SatNav which is normally reliable was just as confused as we were. Perhaps we shouldn’t have had those few minutes in our room after all! Eventually we were on our way, arriving at our destination a short time later.

It was lovely to see them both for a chat and catch up. We were treated to delicious scones and cakes followed by a tour of their lovely garden with its amazing view looking over the countryside. As we were leaving Mrs W presented Mr C with a card and present for his birthday.

Back at the billet we couldn’t find a parking space in the hotel car park so we tried the other nearby car park where there were spaces. Mr C didn’t want to pay the price, we had already paid to stay the Assembly House car park at a discounted rate. We returned to the Assembly House to find one lonesome parking space waiting for us.

It was time to chill out in our room some more before heading to Norwich castle, stopping along the way for a refreshing drink in the same café as the previous day. The castle has only recently re-opened after five years of extensive renovations to make the castle and museum collections more accessible to visitors. We visited the Boadicea and antiquities collections first followed by the Norfolk Regiment’s  regimental displays. Our next priority was the Castle Keep with its related collections and roof top view. I was impressed with the way the castle and museum collections are presented. We didn’t have time to see everything, even though we left just a few minutes before closing. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to return soon to see what we missed and re-visit some things that we enjoyed most.

With time to spare we returned to the Murderer’s Arms for a glass of wine (for me) and beer for Mr C which we enjoyed in the afternoon sunshine before returning to the Assembly House. Back in our room we chilled out some more before it was time to dine in the nearby Paolo’s Italian restaurant. The food, service and ambience were perfect. The sun was shining and as I looked out towards the market square and church, I almost felt I was sitting outside in continental Europe.

The Murderer’s Arms called us for one last drink; the next day we were leaving the Assembly House for Windsor and the Sir Christopher Wren.

For our last breakfast in Stratford, we were seated in a beautiful sunny window where we lingered a while soaking up the sunshine.

After leaving the hotel I photographed the garden and our room windows from outside. Our room was on the same side as the room we stayed in previously but high at the front rather than ground floor at the rear. Overall, I preferred the room of our first visit but I preferred the views from the room on our second visit.

We were grateful for the hotel holding our booking when we had to cancel at the last minute but we found that the hotel had deteriorated in service quality since our previous visit. All that is needed is a bit more attention to detail or, as our friends who are in the hospitality business would say, ‘consistency’.

On our way home we decided to visit Avoncroft Museum, a childhood memory for Mr C, stopping briefly at the Jinney Ring Craft Centre in Hanbury. It is a delightful place with a lovely café and water gardens. I took the opportunity to walk the loop of the pools and enjoy the wildlife whilst Mr C sat on a bench overlooking the nature area.

In Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings Mr C revisited his childhood memories of a school trip, in particular the windmill. The museum also houses the National Collection of Telephone Kiosks and a mobile telephone exchange. The phones in the boxes and the exchange are fully functional and we were treated to a display of how the technology worked by a volunteer in the telephone exchange. This also brought up memories for Mr C, his father was a telephone engineer. Sometimes he would take Mr C into his exchange so there was much that Mr C found familiar in the Avoncraft example.

We took the opportunity to have lunch in the café before continuing our homeward journey. I couldn’t resist the opportunity of lime and passionfruit cake. Yum Yum.

We detoured to a farm shop to purchase items for our weekend meal requirements. Lasagne on Saturday and chicken on Sunday.

After lunch on Saturday we headed off to Ludlow for the afternoon where Mr C had it in mind to visit the castle. On our way there I suggested we had a quick look inside the Church of St Laurence. I was keen to see how it looked now the Victorian pews had been removed. To my dismay I had learned on our previous visit to the church that the Victorian pews were about to be removed.

On stepping inside the church I was amazed at the transformation. The church looked light and airy with my eye being drawn to the building structure and stained glass windows whereas before the pews dominated the setting. Mr C was inspired to explore the church including the opportunity to climb up the bell tower.

We decided there wasn’t enough time to do the castle justice and that we would leave it for another day, although we visited to the castle shop  to see if there were any interesting books. We came away empty handed as we did on our subsequent visit to Castle Bookshop.

Then it was time to seek out a tea shop for a naughty cake. We has almost given up hope of finding the ‘perfect’ teashop, then we saw Carvell’s The Art of Tea. The tea shop was inviting with china cups set out on the table and a cabinet of interesting cakes to tempt. We choose to share a wedge of courgette and avocado cake, it was delicious. I was so busy enjoying the experience that I forgot to take photos. Visiting the castle will be a good excuse to go back and sample some other tasty delights and maybe I will remember to take a photo or two.

We had an afternoon jaunt that ended up with a visit to Stokesay Castle.

After our visit we enjoyed afternoon refreshments (including lemon drizzle cake) from the tea shop. I am so out of touch with ‘almost normal’ days that I forgot to take a photograph of the tasty indulgence.

Breakfast was just as quirky as on previous days, never knowing when the toast would arrive. Today after a reminder the toast arrived late and cold. Too late to accompany my breakfast!

As we stepped out of the hotel, we found that the weather was wonderfully sunny with a bright blue sky and fluffy clouds. It was a little bit chilly out of the sunshine but lovely and warm otherwise. Our first port of call was Jedburgh Abbey, the size of which is impressive.

Shortly after we arrived a Scottish Heritage volunteer came over to us and gave us a guided tour of the abbey. The tour was very informative and after we explored the abbey further. I purchased a CD from the shop (the music was playing in the abbey’s museum) and was told that this music plays in the crypt of Dryburgh Abbey. We chose not to have an early lunch in Jedburgh thinking we might eat later at the Chain Bridge Honey Farm.

First we visited Dryburgh Abbey which is a beautiful ruin in a tranquil landscape setting with the graves of Sir Walter Scott and Earl Haig in its grounds. As we were viewing the crypt and listening to the music another Scottish Heritage volunteer came to impart some information about the abbey.

Next we made our way to the Chain Bridge Honey Farm for lunch on its Bus Cafe. I decided to have Honey Cake which was the obvious choice. The cake was delicious and because the weather was so nice we decided to sit outside rather than on the double decker.

We had arrived at the farm from Scotland via the Union Chain Bridge and had parked at the side of the road as we had always done in the past. It looked rather quiet with only one other car parked but when we got inside the Farm was buzzing with people. It was then that I noticed a car park that had not been there on our last visit.

There was also the new addition of a Bee Keepers garden. The garden was a delight, filled with plants to attract bees and butterflies. As we walked around the garden we noticed the entrance to the car park which we would have seen if we had arrived from the other direction of England rather than Scotland.

Before leaving we visited the shop so that I could buy some honey lip balm. As we were choosing our purchases a young lady brought a piece of cake to the lady who was serving and as she gave her the cake mentioned that there had been an article in a Scottish newspaper about their lip balm. Mr C told them both that I had been using their lip balm for years which they found pleasing.

We got chatting about Telford and Thomas Telford, who hailed from Scotland. The conversation got onto the Coach House where we have previously stayed and we learned that the owner was an opera singer and used to burst into song whilst serving the guests. That was news to us but, having met her once many years ago before she moved abroad leaving the Coach House to be managed by others, it didn’t surprise us.

We had some time to spare so we returned to Flodden Battlefield and the lanes nearby to see if we could locate the Cherry Pie Tree. This time we were successful. The tree hasn’t changed very much in all those years since I photographed it last time. Mission duly accomplished, we took the short walk up to the Flodden Memorial before returning to the hotel to freshen up before enjoying a Sunday Roast in the nearby Bluebell pub.

We had a good run down to kent stopping off for lunch at Cherwell Valley service station. For a motorway service station it has a rather good selection of food options. We both had a Turkey and Stuffing roll off the carvery bar. We arrived in Lenholm around 3pm where we quickly popped into the medieval town to pick up some flowers for our hostess. When then retraced the short distance to  my brother in laws house which was our destination for the weekend.

We unloaded our bags from the car and had a tour of the house then took a short walk into Lenholm for coffee and cakes. In my case it was Elderflower water and Lemon Polenta cake which was delicious. We were then given a brief tour of the quaint village before returning to the house for the evening. Not long afterwards my niece and nephew arrived followed a little later by our hostess and her two boys.

With a glass of pre dinner gin in hand we sat and chatted whilst the evening meal was being prepared. After dinner the youngsters went to bed leaving the older generation to sit and chat a while before it was time to retire for the night.

PS:I am getting ahead of myself, the services we stopped in on our journey down south where Beaconsfield. It was Cherwell Valley on the way back

As we were leaving our house this morning I noticed one of the neighbours and a young girl at the end of their drive writing on a flip chart and I wondered what they were up to. As we drove past, we noticed a table with cakes that appeared to be for sale. By now a couple more children had arrived and they all waved at us. We paused at the end of our road and decided to drive round the block to enjoy a bit of neighbourly fun. We purchased three cakes because we were on our way to pick up my mum for bit of curtain shopping. As we were doing this, some homemade lemonade arrived. It looked rather delicious but I didn’t think three cups of lemonade would travel as well as the cakes.

When we arrived at mum’s house, Mr C informed her that he had a surprise for her. After she got in the car, we ate the cakes and then made our way to the curtain shop. Mum purchased her curtain material whilst Mr C and I checked up on the fitting date for our new curtain rail.

Next, we drove to Ellesmere in order to have lunch. I chose an egg salad sandwich and old fashioned lemonade to make up for missing out on it earlier. The first drink however had to go back because when I poured it into the glass some rather strange brown bits fizzed to the top of the drink!

After lunch, we watched the swans on the lake for a short while before returning home via the Battlefield farm shop near Shrewsbury. We bought fresh meat and vegetables and mum tried to tempt me to buy some chocolate that was on the counter. I told her you could only have one naughty thing a day unless you count wine with dinner (it is Saturday ).  As I said this I turned round and noticed a stand with fridge magnets including one that made my laugh after my comment to mum.

I think someone is trying to tell me something!! What do you think?

On Saturday, Mr C, my mum and I set off for Droylesden to celebrate my aunt’s 90th birthday. I had recently upgraded our SatNav so that now we have live traffic information and newer maps. This trip was its inaugural outing. I keyed in the destination and off we set on our journey…

Just after Market Drayton the SatNav surprised us by choosing a different route to our usual one, which takes us via Newcastle Under Lyme and Macclesfield to Wilmslow. The suggested route was to head towards Woore and we decided to stick with it and see where it took us. We were taken through Woore, Crewe and right past Jodrell Bank Observatory where the Lovell Telescope looked particularly striking in the sunlight. We rejoined our usual route in Wilmslow and continued into Manchester until we were again diverted from our usual route of Coronation Street roads and houses. Instead we traveled along wide, open roads and past The City of Manchester Stadium.

The new route was a pleasant change and it shaved 15 minutes off our usual journey time. I confess to having momentary doubt when it took us in such a completely different direction than usual. Had I programmed it correctly??

On arrival at my aunt’s, we sat and chatted for a while before heading off for lunch at The Sheldon Arms where we were joined by my brother and his lady. After enjoying a delicious carvery meal we returned to my aunt’s house for a natter. The house was so full of flowers it looked more like a florists shop. At tea time we cut the celebratory birthday cake before it was time for us to retrace our steps and we decided to entrust ourselves to the SatNav once again.

We usually visit on a Sunday so we didn’t give it a thought that there might have been a match on at the stadium… We got caught up in traffic as Manchester City and Toon (Newcastle United) fans were leaving the stadium after the match. The beautiful moon in the sky on our journey back more than made up for the few minutes delay.

Photo from Theatre Severn website

On Sunday evening we went to the Theatre Severn to see Magical Mozart by Candlelight. Prior to the show we ate a pleasant meal in the theatre’s Foundry Restaurant. The show featured sopranos Diana Evgenieva Vasileva and Li Li, baritone David Milner-Pearce and The European Orchestral Baroque Ensemble “SPIRIT”. The music was excellent, the show was good and the artists were obviously having fun. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.