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?

Collaboration

It's my turn at Vision and Verb again today and because of a series of incredible adventures in England recently, I've decided to start off with Meet-Ups!

Forget the fact that YOU don't have a clue who they are!
They're all fellow Shutterchancers and 4 of them are new from when we were in England a year ago.
The man in the center with Astrd and me is Chris, our host for the six days there.

Chris was the one who finagled with everyone to meet up at Dudley's Black Country Living Museum a week ago Sunday, 4 September. Many have become like family to both Astrid and me. We have The Three Stooges. We have The Three Muskateers, of which we are two, plus Tracy, top level, third from the left.

The extra-special treat was having CherryPie show up, from Vision and Verb.
She visits me at SC and makes the second V&V blogger I've now met.
This is what I mean by Collaboration!

So, on Sunday a week ago we went to Dudley...

...but stopped first at Bill's to meet his family and swap cars and drivers.
Bill and Chris are two of The Three Stooges. See how fun it is to collaborate?
And how lucky for us to meet Ange (Bill's wife) and two daughters, plus cat.

The meet-up at the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) reminded me of Oslo's outdoor Folk Museum last April, remember? Except that this one is all about what the Black means: think industrial SOOT. Anything that made a city black back in its day is what this living museum is all about.

Not that everything was black, mind you...




...but there were certain dead give-aways if you paid attention.

Like the blacksmith's shop, for instance. Hot and "black." Poor guy.


The glass-etcher's corner of the world was brighter and cheerier.


They even had a delightful little chapel right in the center of things.
In an age of Black, that seemed appropriate.

There came a point at which we all had to eat and everyone knew exactly where....

Chris had been telling us this place offered the most authentic Fish-n-Chips he's ever eaten.
It's the beef drippings, you see. Enough cholesteral for the rest of the year, right?!


While waiting in line, we watched fellow SCer, Richard, start a conversation with these two gentlemen, who became excited about becoming famous. So many photographers wanting to take their picture!
We're still not sure about the story behind them....


Once we all found a place to sit and eat, Penny whipped out a cake she baked that morning for Chis,
whose 63rd birthday was the day before.
One ingredient at a time, she soon had the toppings ready for our dessert.
The birthday boy was delighted to no end...and couldn't stop talking about it.


By then it was definitely time for another walk!
I'm used to canal boats here in the Netherlands...but these are so narrow.


I especially loved watching Astrid and Bill getting the lay of the land.
What a great venue for seeing industrial Britain's past!


By then, almost everyone went on their way for the day.
A few of us remained behind to view some last-minute displays....


...and then said Good-Bye to a fabulous outing together.

I guess you had to be there but this is what Collaboration is all about when it comes to the WWW. It still amazes me that we can actually meet each other...if we're lucky!

That's how I feel about CherryPie, too, over at my Vision and Verb today....

**********
ADDENDUM (Wed. 9/14): I just made my first YouTube! HA!
It's all people shots from the day for posterity (and to see if I could do it!).