Our 2023 England Trip Overview

It was May of 2022, last year, when we last visited England, to be with our Shutterchance's photoblog friends, so it felt good to keep the every-year schedule, even if at a different time of the year.

Like last year, we split up our 10 days between two friends:  first it was Lisl and then Bill (with wife Ange).

1.  With LISL in Winsley, Wiltshire, England, from September 4-11:

As we always do with Lisl, we take walks.

This (Sept. 5) was a Winsley parish-church walk that we didn't do last year.

And, yes, we hit the wild-blackberry bushes along the way big time!

The next day (Sept. 6), after that walk, we took a 2-hour train ride, each way, to Abergavenny, Wales,

to visit the city with Lisl's childhood friend, Marie, who lives nearby.  Besides walking through city

center, we visited St. Mary's Priory church from 1070 as well as the nearby castle from 1175.

Signs of the times inside churches these days, I'm afraid.

(sigh)

Obviously the pigeon doesn't know how to read!

But can you blame him/her on a hot day?

By now it's Sept. 7, with no moss growing under our feet, even though we were in a heatwave.

This was the day friend Chris (with friend Katy) took Astrid and me to Great Chalfield Manor. 

The gardens were incredible!

Still can't find who built that but talk about scale!

Astrid and Chris enjoyed hobnobbing with the nobles.

Because of the heatwave, the next 2 days we basically stayed at home playing games!

Oh, yes, and eating good food, like from Lisl's favorite fish-n-chips place.

We called off the parish walk planned for the 9th with Chris, because of the heat.

Sometimes you just have to be sensible.

But Marie from Wales drove over to enjoy the Sunday roast on the 10th at Winsley's pub,

just like she did last year.  It's now a tradition to include her!

2.  With Bill and Ange in Droitwich Spa, England, from September 11-14:

 Monday the 11th was our transition day from Lisl's to Bill and Ange's home in Droitwich Spa.

But first, we had a mini-meetup of 9 of us at Chad and Norma's (where we stayed last year), for

a morning coffee/tea in their garden, followed by a meal at the nearby pub outside of Corsham.

From l-to-r (center):  Astrid, Chris, Lisl, Alan, Ange, Bill, Chad and Norma.

I'm a huge fan of Norma's art studio in their garden...

as well as her accessorizing finesse.

Did I mention how much we love England's hard ciders?!

AND their drystone walls, even when damaged!

Because it rained the next day, the 12th, we changed original plans to visit Warwick

to stay put around home, visiting the Droitwich Sacred Heart church's incredible mosaics,

a coffee stop at an incredible antique dealer's store, followed by another pub meal.

Are you noticing a theme here???

On the 13th, Wednesday, our last full day in England, we had another mini-meetup,

this time at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, with 7 of us:

Bill, Ange, Alan, Astrid and 2 new ones, Martin and Elaine.

It's not call BLACK for nothing!  Fossil fuel at it's worst?

This is Astrid's photo collage of that outing.

Our meetups were cozy groupings this year, without all who sometimes come.

Those bigger groups usually happen every other year, so this was an in-between time.

By the 14th, Thursday, we were ready to fly back to Amsterdam!

Thanks to Bill and Ange's generosity, we left on the happy note of a full-English breakfast,

joined by Bill and Ange's oldest of 2 daughters, Kathryn.

And just like that, another trip to England came and went so quickly.

We call England our second home away from home, our first being Atlanta, USA, of course.

Speaking of which, that's the last big trip on the 2023 calendar, starting October 19th with my kids.

I always tell Astrid that once we hit September, I feel like we're sliding down to the New Year.

I'm saying that, of course, just 6 days before October.

See what I mean?