My English tour 2010

This post is to tell about my experience in my recent trip to England last May. After receiving so much help from POE I cannot but share it with you all.

First of all, my idea of visiting England was to get to know not only big popular cities but small villages and the countryside as well. I did a lot of research about counties, landscapes, walks and historical places, with a strong influence from my readings of the English classics (especially Jane Austen).

Finally, the chosen places for country walks were:

-Surrey: between Leatherhead and Dorking (including an exhausting climbing to Box Hill)

-Cotswolds: Bourton on the water/The Slaughters/Stow on the wold, and between Bourton and the Rissingtons.

I had the most delightful walks, with views impossible to capture with all its beauty in the narrow frame of a photo. I loved to see the natural grasslands and hillsides with the native flowers carefully preserved, and I understood why English people are so devoted to wild flowers (like bluebells, garlic flowers, daffodils, etc). And don’t want to forget mentioning how nice it was to find people along the way that kindly offered their help when they saw me standing with a map, looking like lost.

 Of course I saw cottages galore and also managed to peep inside some of them thru the windows. And I certainly fell in love with English gardens, so much so that I am determined to try to make something similar out of the sad moorland that my garden looks like today.

A special chapter was Lyme Regis: maybe the first place that I ever decided to visit when I started planning this trip years ago, perhaps as a result of watching “The French lieutenant’s woman” a thousand times, as well as every filmed version of Persuasion.  And of course I was not disappointed with this little coastal town, a perfect combination between a heritage village and the sea, and people kinder that any other place I visited in England.

Bath:  one could easily live there dressed in 18^th clothes and not feel out of place. The city and its surroundings have such an old-times charm that I expected the characters from Jane Austen’s books to appear around every corner. And definitely the Circus and the Royal Crescent are my places in the world to live at.

In London: I spent hours and hours watching every detail of the London architecture; walking some streets was like being inside a Merchant/Ivory film or a Dickens story. The parks are so lovely that one really wants to stay all day rambling around.

About pubs: I tried a few ones for curiosity (I am not really a drinking person), just to discover that all the pub etiquette I had learnt almost by heart was useless: it seems that British pubs have modernized their strict rules and regulations and now lovely young girls are behind the counters to serve the clients. And I also found waitresses that take the food to your table, something really unexpected. Maybe the only “annoying” thing that persists is having to order food from one counter and drinks from another... even when the person that serves you is the same!.  The only oddity I could mention is when I stopped for lunch at The Stepping Stones pub in Westhumble: the average age there was about 70 years!!.

About tea: after considering the many suggestions and options I had in view, excluding those with a strict dress code, the first choice was The Orangery, next to Kensington Palace, an elegant but relaxed place where I enjoyed my first truly English afternoon tea. After that, cream tea was my daily custom wherever I was. I only didn’t get to have tea at some places I liked because of their weird tea times:  2 to 4pm, 12 to 3pm and the like, just when I was somewhere else or didn’t really craved for tea at that time.  I was only bothered by a couple of places that stopped serving tea long before the hour shown outside written on the board.

In general, the weather was not the best, although not bad enough as to stop me. Always cloudy, in ten days I didn’t see two hours of sun together, which explains why English people are so pale! Maybe the only big problem I had to deal with was the absence of public transport during the May 3^rd holiday, having to pay 35 pounds for transportation by taxi from Cheltenham to Bourton... a real steal.

I know that I got to see only a very little part of the country, but I am really happy with my England tour, and of course I will return as soon as I can... providing that you “help” adopting the euro to make my finances easy, je je...

And POE will be there again, with all their kind members...

It sounds as though you had a great time in England, I am so glad for you!  Your careful planning obviously was worth while.

Thanks for sharing your experience, and even more for sharing your photos!  I love the way you took all sorts of places and subjects so that it gives us a much wider view of the villages, towns and scenery that you visited.

I, for one, look forward to your next visit and the subsequent photographs.

Ricardo, what a wonderful report.

You certainly know how to choose some wonderful places to visit, and I'm so happy that it all turned out so well for you.

Maybe next time the weather will be better for you, but it is England, so don't hold your breath.

Great to hear from you. 

Thank you everyone for your nice comments.

Yes, initially it was in my plans to visit the Brontë Parsonage, but Haworth looked a little far away from the rest... so I sadly had to move it for the next time I visit England.

I loved to read whatever your experiences.Living in the English countryside is my dream,I have vsited Cardiff,Durham and London Iam planning more visits.

Regards,Nan Basu

This is indeed a wonderful report Ricardo.You seem to have planned your trip really well.I hope you are able to see the things you missed out on your next trip.

 I am a huge fan of Jane Austen's too and have read all her books several times.Persuasion happens to be my favourite.Unfortunately although I possess CDs of Pride & Prejudice,Emma and Sense & Sensibility ,I have never been able to get hold of one of Persuasion.Did you get to see Ms.Austen's grave at Winchester on your trip?