Europe

Well - not all of Europe - 4 countries will do very nicely - Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.  Here's the plan......

A -  Rome                   B -  Tivoli                 C -  Orvieto                D -  Monteriggioni            E  -  Lucca                 F  -  La Spezia     G - Pavia                    H - Wassen              I  -  Altstaetten           J  -  Fussen                        K  -  Munich              L -  Mondsee   
M -  Kirchberg           N -  Verona             O -  Venice

Flying into Rome and out of Venice, most of our time will be spent in Italy.  All up we'll be covering about 3000km, which spread over 35 days will be just perfect.  I'm going to be driving from Orvieto (letter C) onwards L but at least it gives us total flexibility J.

Off we pop....

Goodbye Billericay

I think we’ve all fallen in love with Billericay.  It’s hard not to when you have

Cute little squirrels

Long golden twilights 

The beautiful Mill Meadow 

Gorgeous hanging baskets

Green fields just outside your front door

Acres of woods to explore 

Cold frosty mornings

and snow that transforms the scenery and makes everything so quiet and peaceful

This last year has been brilliant and I know we will all miss Billericay.

London Eye and the Crown Jewels

Okey Dokey - time to start squeezing in some last minute must do's, starting off with a visit to the Tower of London

The lion sculptures are made from layer upon layer of chicken wire.

to see these beauties.

Then we wandered around the Burrough Markets (mmm mmm) and along the South Bank

Until we got to the London Eye

Where we got spectacular views of my two favourite London icons - Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Wimpole Hall and Audley End House

A few weekends ago we went sightseeing and ended up here......

Wimpole Hall - Built in 1640 Wimpole Hall is sited on 3000 acres and encompasses a working farm, gardens and country estate.  Prior to becoming the property of the national trust, Wimpole Hall was home the grand daughter of Rudyard Kipling, author of the classic Jungle Book.

We saw loads of animals - the little Shire foal was only a week old.  His back legs were wonky and the poor little fella wibbled and wobbled all over the place before plonking on the grass exhausted.  And that cute little piggy was fast asleep in the middle of the wiffiest most gag-inducing piggery ever!

There was a big house to explore and a dairy where little children could dress up.....

And there was sheep sheering, wood cutting and nice little places with "Please do sit here" signs.

But not content with one grand house in a day, we popped over to here ......

Audley End House is an early 17th-century country house just outside Saffron Walden in Essex.  It was once a palace in all but name and renowned as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. Audley End is now only one-third of its original size and though currently in the stewardship of English Heritage remains the family seat of the Lords Braybrooke.

It was a great day out, the weather perfect and tsk, tsk, we all got sunburnt!

Stratford

Stratford and the surrounding countryside represents everything I love about England - the history, old, character-filled buildings, thatched cottages, gorgeous houses and whopping big scones.  I wouldn't normally include that last point, but having seen those beauties below they made a late addition to the list J

The top right cottage belonged to Anne Hathaway - the wife of William Shakespeare.

On the way home we caught up with Jon and Sarah in Rugby, just three days before but number three (as yet un-named) made his appearance.  Congratulations Jon, Sarah, Phoebe and Oscar and thanks for a gorgeous lunch. (slow cooked pork - recipe here J) 

Been really busy recently....

But not so busy Emmy and I couldn't squeeze in a bit of R & R J

Check Daniel out in the background - naughty boy!

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle is brilliant.  It's been developed as a tourist attraction and the grandeur of the castle, the shows and the enacted tours make for an excellent day out.  We were travelling with Ben, Sharon, Georgie and Nick who were nearing the end of their massive tour of England and Europe.

The kiddies had a ball....

The 6 wives of Henry VIII - Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.  Daniel and Jeremy are studying the Tudors at school and managed to name all six wives, and their fates - divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived!

The Birds of Prey show, starring Ernie the owl, Sydney the bald eagle and Nikita the sea eagle.....

And finally a quick wander around Warwick...

And to top off a great day - dinner at the local pub.

Who'd believe it?

The kid's been eating his crusts.  After forever being the squirt Daniel has finally caught up to his (3 minutes younger) baby brother.  Although if shoe size is anything to go by it was always going to happen.  There's nothing squirty about Daniel's big flippery feet and check out those atrocious shoes he's got on, four fifths holes and one fifth shoe!  And yes - they are now in the bin having been replaced by some gym boots that make his feet look even bigger.

Trooping the colour

Although The Queen was born on 21 April, it has long been the tradition to celebrate the Sovereign's birthday publicly on a day in the summer, when good weather is more likely.

Trooping the Colour is carried out by fully trained and operational troops from the Household Division (Foot Guards and Household Cavalry) on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, watched by members of the Royal Family, invited guests and members of the public.

The custom dates back to the time of Charles II in the 17th Century when the Colours of a regiment were used as a rallying point in battle and were trooped in front of the soldiers every day to make sure that every man could recognise those of his own regiment.

Over 1400 officers and men are on parade,

Together with two hundred horses; over four hundred musicians from ten bands and corps of drums march and play as one. Some 113 words of command are given by the Officer in Command of the Parade.

The parade route extends from Buckingham Palace along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall and back again.

This was actually the second rehearsal for the parade, the real ceremony, and the one that the Queen participates in, takes place on the 15th June.

On the way home we discovered The Boar's Head - a beautiful pub in nearby Herongate.  The weather was ideal for the beer garden and it was a perfect end to the day.