TASHY TRAVELS
These are some stories from my travels in 2019.
I hope you enjoy the text and the pictures.
COTSWOLDS 1 - July 29 2019
We arrived back from Belgium on the Friday night and by 10.30am the following day James and I were putting up a couple of gazebos ready for my 70th birthday party which was to be held on the greensward at Frinton, a suitable place for an old person's party. However, as the party was being organised by my beautiful daughter, the intended activities were nothing like being suitable for the old folk of Frinton. Contrary to the picture on the right, other people did turn up. In fact I have put a selection of photos below. After eating from an amazing selection of food we were organised into teams for a few games of rounders and then took part in a sort of "It's a Knockout" competition, the main purpose of which seemed to be to allow the grandchildren and a few of their friends to throw wet sponges at the adults who had to walk along imaginary balance beams, dress up in a strange costume and skip. Over 50 people turned up, some of whom I had not seen for many years, and it was a most enjoyable day which finished with some evening drinks at the Kingscliff hotel. Thank you to any who came and are reading this and thanks to Jen, Dave, James and Rachel for just being there.
We set off separately but met up at the town of Cirencester where we had a quick walk round, visited the church of St John the Baptist, took a late lunch and then headed off to our accommodation. In the market square where, not surprisingly there was a market, a very persuasive man manged to sell most of us a selection of fudge and, by cutting each piece into eight small pieces we made them last our whole holiday, despite them being left within my grasp each night.
Most people these days pronounce the town as sarransester. However my mother always insisted it was promounced sisister and she would appear to have had a point as this is how the locals used to pronounce it.
I found this limerick which only works if you do pronounce the town as sisister. Well done mother, although actually getting your tongue around such pronunciation is not the easiest thing in the world. Mother also used to say whoever told you life was easy so this may just have been her proving her point. As some of you may know, if I ever lost anything she would always say it will be in the last place you look. At the time, it never occured to me how stupid that saying was.
Off you go, try it out.
There was a young lady of Cirencester
Whose fiance went down to virencester
By the Great Western line,
Which he swore was divine,
And he couldn't have been much explirencester.
While I have been rabbiting on about the pronunciation of Cirencester, you might have been looking at a few pictures of the church. The church was very pretty and had an elaborately decorated roof to the porch entrance.
It was a little difficult finding somewhere to eat as by then it was getting on for 3.00pm. But after popping down several small alleyways we came upon a small tea rooms and replenished our appetites.
We then, sort of in convoy, drove on to our accommodation in the Cotswold Water Park, once again chosen by the King of Airbnb, James Rowland.
The setting was simply stunning and even more so once dusk settled over the park and the houses that were occupied switched on their lights. Needless to say there was a fair amount of water around and this just added to the views. The whole area was gated and so only those living or staying in the park could have access. It was exactly what you expect being quiet without being eerie, with a large number of homes without seeming overcrowded. The park covers an area of 40 square miles and has over 150 lakes.
Our accommodation was a four-bedroomed home with a put-you-up bed in the lounge. As the person most likely to wake up first, it was decided that I should have this bed but my lovely daughter insisted that James and Barry should make the bed up each night so I didn't have to lift anything heavy. This was a lovely thought and much appreciated. However, no one was up in the morning when I awoke so, each morning I re-made my bed into a sofa. Maybe these things are lighter in the morning but I came to no harm in doing this.
On the way we had done some shopping and that first night we cooked a meal. I cannot remember what it was but Jen has no doubt made a diary note and, in 25 years time, will be able to tell everyone still alive exactly what we ate.
We all fitted round the large dining room table which we later used when playing a few of the games we had brought with us.
The accommodation also provided a lot of sports equipment with canoes, more later, paddle boards, more later and tennis equipment. Despite the fact that it was now getting on for 8.00pm and the light was beginning to fade, we all set off to find the tennis courts and have a little go. By the way there was also a games room with pool and darts, and an outside chess set and quite a few other ways in which you could entertain yourselves. The following photos are a selection from that first night on the tennis courts with appropriate comments from me.
First there is New Zealand's answer to Simona Halep, though many of you may be asking what on earth was the question. A slow starter but by picture four the jumper was off and Wimbledon seemed just a few steps away. Big steps. well. gaint steps but effort must be applauded and, despite changing her name, all hope was not lost.
We arrived back from Belgium on the Friday night and by 10.30am the following day James and I were putting up a couple of gazebos ready for my 70th birthday party which was to be held on the greensward at Frinton, a suitable place for an old person's party. However, as the party was being organised by my beautiful daughter, the intended activities were nothing like being suitable for the old folk of Frinton. Contrary to the picture on the right, other people did turn up. In fact I have put a selection of photos below. After eating from an amazing selection of food we were organised into teams for a few games of rounders and then took part in a sort of "It's a Knockout" competition, the main purpose of which seemed to be to allow the grandchildren and a few of their friends to throw wet sponges at the adults who had to walk along imaginary balance beams, dress up in a strange costume and skip. Over 50 people turned up, some of whom I had not seen for many years, and it was a most enjoyable day which finished with some evening drinks at the Kingscliff hotel. Thank you to any who came and are reading this and thanks to Jen, Dave, James and Rachel for just being there.
We set off separately but met up at the town of Cirencester where we had a quick walk round, visited the church of St John the Baptist, took a late lunch and then headed off to our accommodation. In the market square where, not surprisingly there was a market, a very persuasive man manged to sell most of us a selection of fudge and, by cutting each piece into eight small pieces we made them last our whole holiday, despite them being left within my grasp each night.
Most people these days pronounce the town as sarransester. However my mother always insisted it was promounced sisister and she would appear to have had a point as this is how the locals used to pronounce it.
I found this limerick which only works if you do pronounce the town as sisister. Well done mother, although actually getting your tongue around such pronunciation is not the easiest thing in the world. Mother also used to say whoever told you life was easy so this may just have been her proving her point. As some of you may know, if I ever lost anything she would always say it will be in the last place you look. At the time, it never occured to me how stupid that saying was.
Off you go, try it out.
There was a young lady of CirencesterWhose fiance went down to virencester
By the Great Western line,
Which he swore was divine,
And he couldn't have been much explirencester.
While I have been rabbiting on about the pronunciation of Cirencester, you might have been looking at a few pictures of the church. The church was very pretty and had an elaborately decorated roof to the porch entrance.
It was a little difficult finding somewhere to eat as by then it was getting on for 3.00pm. But after popping down several small alleyways we came upon a small tea rooms and replenished our appetites.
We then, sort of in convoy, drove on to our accommodation in the Cotswold Water Park, once again chosen by the King of Airbnb, James Rowland.
The setting was simply stunning and even more so once dusk settled over the park and the houses that were occupied switched on their lights. Needless to say there was a fair amount of water around and this just added to the views. The whole area was gated and so only those living or staying in the park could have access. It was exactly what you expect being quiet without being eerie, with a large number of homes without seeming overcrowded. The park covers an area of 40 square miles and has over 150 lakes.
Our accommodation was a four-bedroomed home with a put-you-up bed in the lounge. As the person most likely to wake up first, it was decided that I should have this bed but my lovely daughter insisted that James and Barry should make the bed up each night so I didn't have to lift anything heavy. This was a lovely thought and much appreciated. However, no one was up in the morning when I awoke so, each morning I re-made my bed into a sofa. Maybe these things are lighter in the morning but I came to no harm in doing this.
On the way we had done some shopping and that first night we cooked a meal. I cannot remember what it was but Jen has no doubt made a diary note and, in 25 years time, will be able to tell everyone still alive exactly what we ate.
We all fitted round the large dining room table which we later used when playing a few of the games we had brought with us.
The accommodation also provided a lot of sports equipment with canoes, more later, paddle boards, more later and tennis equipment. Despite the fact that it was now getting on for 8.00pm and the light was beginning to fade, we all set off to find the tennis courts and have a little go. By the way there was also a games room with pool and darts, and an outside chess set and quite a few other ways in which you could entertain yourselves. The following photos are a selection from that first night on the tennis courts with appropriate comments from me.
First there is New Zealand's answer to Simona Halep, though many of you may be asking what on earth was the question. A slow starter but by picture four the jumper was off and Wimbledon seemed just a few steps away. Big steps. well. gaint steps but effort must be applauded and, despite changing her name, all hope was not lost.
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