The fountain was installed in Goswell Park, Windsor in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Fountain was inspired by the crown jewels and features 60 different water jets. There are also lights which make it a magical site at night. There is a garden area around the fountain where you can sit and admire the fountain.

Sadly the gates to the garden where the fountain is installed were closed on the day on the day we chose to include it as part of our walking route.

As we finish our Christmas celebrations and start to focus on New Year celebrations I am reminded of my holiday plans for the coming year.

We hope to visit Lincoln at Easter so that we can partake in the Easter morning communion service and we are planning to continue our travels in Italy from where we left off last year.

With Italian travels and the upcoming New Years Eve celebrations in mind, I share Prosecco on the balcony

The east front entrance to Powis Castle has been closed to the public since the castle was donated to  the National Trust in 1952. In more recent years the stairs had started to crumble and one of the retaining walls in the terrace was in danger of collapse which could have undermined the structural stability of the entire east side of the castle.

In 2015 the National Trust launched a public appeal try and raise funds so that repair work could be undertaken. It hoped that £300,00 of the £500,00 needed for the project would be raised and that grants could be arranged for the remainder of the funding. In the event all the funding that was needed for the project was raised from the appeal. In addition the National Trust applied for additional funding from conservation trusts.

Following the completion of the conservation work, the donors were invited to an opening ceremony that took place today. Inviting donors was a first and Powis Castle was pleased to be able to do so.

Guests assembled at the top of the east front stairs where the property manager, Emma Thompson, explained about the project and pointed out key members of the restoration project team who were present for the opening ceremony. Following her address the ribbon was cut by one of the donors allowing members of the public to walk on the steps and stand on the terrace for the first time in more than 50 years.

The east front entrance has seen King George V, Queen Mary and Queen Victoria (as Princess Victoria) walk up the grand staircase and stand on the high terrace to enjoy the magnificent view over the Breidden hills.

After the opening ceremony, afternoon tea was served inside the castle. We were treated to daintily portioned cakes and scones with jam and cream, topped with strawberries, all accompanied by a glass of bucks fizz; what a delight!

A few years ago in December 2013 when the castle was only partially open to visitors, the door to the east front which was not normally open, was opened for visitors to step through to enjoy the view over the staircase and terrace to the Breidden hills beyond. I took some photos which I share with you so that you can see the extent of the repair work’s transformation.

I  arrived home this evening with thoughts of cooking this evening’s dinner and plans for the weekend ahead. I had only been home a few minutes when Mr C came to sit with me, after a few minutes he started to study a piece of paper. I enquired about what he was looking at and he gave an enigmatic reply; a recipe. After further discourse it transpired that he had found a suitable recipe for an impromptu celebratory dinner and that he was going to cook it!

Earlier in the day he learned that he had got promoted at work. Congratulations Mr C

As Mr C started to cook dinner I enquired if he would like a pre dinner sherry, he didn’t seem too keen on the idea. I wondered why until he confessed that he had put a bottle of Champagne in the fridge in the anticipation of the good news.

The meal was Parmesan Chicken with Mushroom Wine Sauce, hasselback potato and broccoli. It was delicious.

The castle gates remain closed until 10 o’clock so after breakfast and checking out of the hotel we visited a small garden next to the lawns. By the time we had finished in the garden it was still to early for the gates to be open so we took the long way round to visit the Russian Doll shop and a second hand book shop, only to find that the shops didn’t open until 11 o’clock. I did however manage to replace the wash bag I had ruined due to leaving my shampoo bottle open on our journey to Lincoln.

We didn’t want to wait until 11 so we made our way back to the car, through the castle grounds. We then said goodbye to Lincoln and set off towards Newark to visit the National Civil War Museum, which we found very interesting. After visiting the museum Mr C set off into town in search of a cook shop which we failed to find. This left us with time to visit the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene which we found to be quite stunning inside. After the visit it was time to return home to unpack before getting ready to go out for an evening meal to celebrate our anniversary.

As it was a Monday night not many places were open so we went to a local pub carvery where I chose turkey which was delicious. After the meal we returned home to enjoy a glass of champagne on the patio in the warm evening air, watching the sun go down. A perfect end to a lovely weekend.

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.

Last weekend I had yet another mini break in Nottingham.  On this occasion it was to celebrate my brother becoming a certain age.  Hopefully he won’t be looking in on this post so I won’t get into trouble

This one was and even more of a last minute arrangement than the previous mini break there. We arrived at the hotel late on Saturday afternoon with plenty of time to get ready to go out for the celebratory meal in a local Chinese Restaurant.  The food was delicious and so was the cake, although I only had half a very thin sliver of that.

On Sunday morning we called to visit my brother before setting of to visit Calke Abbey and have lunch before heading home.  In the morning the sunshine was glorious, but unfortunately it had turned to rain as we arrived at Calke Abbey.  This meant that the visit to the walled garden had to be called off.  Oh well, an excuse to visit again…

I invite you to join me at Vision & Verb where I talk about my recent adventure in the travel agents. Booking a weekend in Paris should be easy…