In July 2022 I went on a nostalgic coach tour holiday to the Isle of Man (IOM). It was where I met my dear late Scottish wife, Christeen, on holiday in July 1967, almost 55 years to the day – the first time I had been back. I and my brother, Rob (our other friend…
I was unable to get a decent photograph of the stone circle because of its size and I could not get any closer. They are situated in the small village of Stanton Drew, not too far from East Harptree where I stayed. It is the third largest complex of prehistoric standing stones in England. Unlike…
For my annual Somerset holiday, I stayed again in 2022 at Lookout Lodge in East Harptree, Northeast Somerset, on the north facing slope of the Mendips, looking out towards Chew Valley Lake. The holiday accommodation is on the same site as the Viewing Platform. This was the last remaining WW2 cabin existing in the UK…
During my annual holiday in Somerset in May 2022, I visited St James Church in Cameley – about 5 miles from my home village of Timsbury and on the edge of the Mendips. It has an impressive fifteenth-century tower built of red Mendip sandstone with a handsome parapet and the rest of the church built…
On day three we visited the La Mare Vineyard La Mare Wine Estate in the parish of St Mary at the north of the island. It is set in the peaceful grounds of a traditional 18th-century Jersey granite farmhouse and covers 25-acres. Our guide, Bob, showed us the rows of vines and told us that…
On day two we had a free day. Some went to the swimming pool, others to St Aubin on the mock railway along the front but I visited Liberation Square and spent the rest of the day in Elizabeth Castle, built on a tidal rocky islet in St Aubin’s Bay and which has defended Jersey…
On day one we had a full Island tour and our driver was the knowledgeable Sean, originally from Yorkshire – but we did not hold that against him. There are twelve parishes of Jersey (Les pâraisses dé Jèrri), all have access to the sea and share a name with their ancient parish churches. We must…
Thanks to our organisers our arrangements for our first Leyland U3A holiday went flawlessly – it was even arranged the added excitement of our coach to Liverpool airport getting a puncture just before Charnock Richard services. We were able to pull in to the services and a replacement coach came within 30 minutes and we…
I have been doing my family tree, concentrating on my paternal side. My grandmother, Rose, was an Emmett from Longridge in Lancashire. She was daughter of John Emmett and Alice Chapman. In a stroke of serandipity a DNA match with a man living in Canada, threw up clues to my Gran’s maternal family which I…