Day Trips with British Airways

I have an epic case of itchy feet.  I want to go to all the places, all the time.  But Matt has it much worse.  He loves loves loves to travel!  Even the not so fun things like airports and flying (I still really hate flying.), he loves this stuff.  This is a man who has a spreadsheet showing every flight he's ever taken (over 600) and exactly how many miles he's flown (over a million).  He's even been known to fly out in the morning and return in the evening, just so he can go somewhere.  In fact, he's taken several day trips like this.  It's usually with his mates because I've been reluctant to suffer two flights in one day.  But I did join him for his latest trip to Hamburg, Germany.  So, I'll let him tell you all about taking a day trip with British Airways and I'll show you some photos from our time in Hamburg.

A day at Hampton Court

I think I've mentioned before that Matt and I keep a list of things that we want to do in London.  Hampton Court Palace was at the top of that list for a long time and late last year we finally made the journey.  The royals used to travel from Hampton Court to Westminster via the Thames, passing through the locks along the way.  It sounds so romantic. I knew that I needed to combine that Thames boat trip with our visit to the Palace.  So on a beautiful fall day, we crossed this one off of the list.  

I Spy Friday (with Smell-o-vision)

 

We visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage last weekend

and spent a quiet moment on the loveseat in the center of this Lavender Maze

with the bees and the butterflies.

It just smells wonderful.  I brought a sachet home and have it sitting on the table next to me.

  It smells so clean and almost medicinal, but in a good way.  

I also love it because it reminds me of the Lavender Farms in the Texas Hill Country.  

And look what I did with one of my photos.  I think it turned out pretty good.

Now it just needs Smell-o-vision.  

Have a wonderful weekend, my sweet friends!

xoxo

Selena

Birthday Celebration in Folkestone

 Sunday was my 46th birthday!

The four of us headed South to Folkestone to celebrate with TE's parents. 

I've written about Folkestone before, here and here.

 But, first we stopped at the Battle of Britain Memorial to take in the views.

 TE showing the in-laws the view of Folkestone, where he grew up.

Momma & Mr. B

 This lab was so sweet.  When he saw the dog statue he ran up to it wagging his tail, 

eager to make a new friend.

They touched noses and he looked so deflated when he realized it wasn't real. 

Then on to Folkestone.

We stopped at TE's childhood home for tea and cake.  Love my glam cake!

But, I make cutting it look so perplexing.  What's that about?

 These gorgeous, massive sunflowers are in his parent's garden.

This one is well over 7 feet tall.  They're so pretty.

We took Mom & Mr. B down to the Folkestone harbor area for a quick tour.

One of the few sand beaches in England.

Then we had dinner at Rock Salt before heading back to London.

I've been picking up a few gifts for myself over the past few weeks.

 A carry bag for my Kindle made from a suit sleeve.

And my new friend, Jerry the wellie wearing duck.

Mom & Mr. B gave me a warm, cozy scarf which will be perfect for this winter.

TE surprised me with a new camera lens and a shutter remote...woohoo!

But, the best was spending the day surrounded by loved ones

and receiving so many birthday wishes from family and friends. 

 Thanks for making my special day so very special!

xoxo

Selena

The New Forest

The New Forest is a bit of a misnomer as this royal forest was created in 1079 by William I.

It was set up as an area for royal deer hunting.  It's now a National Park. 

The New Forest National Park is in Southern England close to Southampton.

Last weekend we decided to get away for a B&B night and explore a bit.  

We arrived on Saturday and started with lunch at a local pub, The New Forest Inn.

This was the best lunch!

Ham, salad, cheese sticks, baguette, pickled onions and the most incredible parsnip soup.

We then headed to Lyndhurst to check in to the B&B.  (It was just okay, so I won't recommend it.)

Then we hopped on to an open top bus tour to get an overview of the area.  At 120 square miles, this is the largest area of unenclosed pastureland in the UK.  It's made up of green lawn, heathland and forest areas.  

We were lucky enough to be there when the Heather was in bloom.  I've talked about the colors of England being blue and green, but now we have to add purple to the mix.  

And it smells heavenly!  I want to bottle the smell of the forest and the heath.  

People who live in the area have common rights to allow their livestock to roam the area.  There are over 4,000 ponies loose in the park.  By the way, common rights is where the term "commoner" comes from.  

There are about 2,500 cows in the area.  She was talking to us.

There are a couple of hundred donkeys in the mix also. You will often see them in the little towns.  

There was only a 20% chance of rain when we left, but it did rain all day on Sunday.  It's only a few hours from London, so we know we will go back.

We just spent most of our time driving around.  

There was only a 20% chance of rain, so I didn't take my wellies.  But, of course it rained on Sunday.

I'm going to start just keeping them in the car trunk (boot).  

You aren't allowed to feed the animals, but when we stopped to take a photo he came right over to the car.

Then he wouldn't move.  TE was a little nervous about the new car, but the pony just snuffled the windshield a bit.

There are several villages in the park to explore with fun shopping and good food. 

Burley was one of the cutest.

It's famous for a white witch who lived there in the 1950's so there are a lot of little witchy shops.  

There are tons of pubs to stop for a bite to eat.

I didn't get a picture, but we had another terrific meal at The White Hart.  

 And wouldn't you just LOVE to live in this little cottage!?!

We also drove to the South end of the New Forest to take a look at the coastline.  

You can see the Isle of Wight across the water.  It's also on our list of places to visit.  

These beach sheds are so cute.  Families flock here during the summer and set up camp for the day in these little boxes. School starts this week and it was raining so the place was empty. 

We also used our English Heritage cards to pop into the Calshot Castle.

We only had 12 minutes to explore because they were closing for lunch. 

It's not really a castle as much as a bunker.  It was built by Henry VIII in the 1500's as a part of the coastal defense chain.  It was use up until the 1950's to protect the coast. 

It was interesting, but 12 minutes turned out to be plenty of time.  

We loved our quick trip to The New Forest and will definitely be going back.

I can't wait to see it in Winter and Spring.  

Mom & Mr. B arrive tomorrow morning and we have a packed itinerary.

I'll try to pop in for a few quick posts but I will probably be pretty scarce in blogland for the next two weeks.

But, then I'll be back with a ton of new pictures and posts featuring my adorable Momma.

We are even squeezing in a trip to Paris!

See you soon!

xoxo

Selena