England Midlands - March 2004

I had a week that I had to use from last year, so I decided to surprise Kim and Seth with a trip to see the land of Robin Hood -- It was off to Sherwood Forest and the land down south. Travellodge had a special deal - £5 / night for certain locations on certain nights. Unfortunately we didn't get this deal on every hotel, but if you've ever stayed in Britain, even a couple nights at that rate is a really good savings. As usual, we had no actual plans or directions. We knew we had to see the Sherwood Forest and Cambridge, but other than that, we were just (as usual) planning it a day in advance.

England - Sherwood Forest - According to our maps, our hotel was only about 45 miles from Sherwood Forest. One problem with the UK is you will se a couple of signs 20 miles from where your destination, and then from there you are supposed to guess exactly which of the many winding roads to take. As well, there are so many tourist attractions in the UK, the roads would just be filled with numerous directional signs. At least we would be able to find where we were going. Anyways, after about an hour and a bit, we found Sherwood Forest.

Here is our first look at Sherwood Forest, taken from the privacy of the parking lot. As you can also see, the arrow is on the wrong side of the road.

Here is an artist's rendition of Robin Hood and Little John having a little sparing match. In the Disney version of Robin Hood, didn't he have a little green hat and a beard? It also looks as if Little John is going to knock poor Robin Hood into the water. This sculputure was created in 1988, so don't think that it's an original.

The next three pictures of "The Major Oak" that Robin Hood and his merry men used to hide in.

Since the tree is so big and old, it has to be supported. This tree has to be kept alive at all costs, as it is the major tourist draw. Just on the right side is where Robin and his crew would sneak into the tree.

Here is a close up of the entrance. As well, to stop the spread of diseases and misc cuts or breaks, they also try and repair the tree.

Here is a little poster about the Mighty Oak.

Here is Seth and me enjoying a little sun infront of a minor-oak.

The one thing I imagined Sherwood Forest to have was millions of Oaks. Maybe it was the Disney cartoons, maybe just Hollywood, but that's what I would have expected. Actually, a lot of the oak trees were logged, and many of the older ones have survived not due to conservation, but because they wouldn't have made very good timber. Now, of course, every oak is sacred, but a couple of hundred of years ago, they didn't have a tourist park, so making a living selling the timber was more important.

Here is Kim and Seth posing for a picture infront of another (but different) mighty oak. As you can see, there's a big fence around the path, but muppets still jump the fence and parade around it. If you also notice, the fence is also made of oak.

Here's another picture of Kim and Seth. In this picture, you will notice that Kim is hovering above the ground. This forest is magic.

Ooooh. Who's the cheeky munkie? We have Seth strapped into his pram, as I was taking him for runs along the bumpy path, and sometimes it gets a little bumpy.

This is quite an amazing oak. The base is barely there, and it appears to have only a third of it's top, but it still manages to survive.

Behind our hotel, was a driving range. As we had a long day of Robin Hooding, we decided that a good way to relax was to kill a bucket or two. When we tried to purchase a bucket, the machine wouldn't take our Scottish money. The attendant sneered, and changed our money with a tatty English note. When I pointed out to the attendent that the Bank of England was established by a Scotsman, Pound Sterling was named after Sterling in central Scotland, and that golf itself was invented in Scotland and that the silly money should be all but greatful to take Scotish notes. He wasn't amused.

We took a little detour, and found this man made lake. We wondered around, and noticed that you could rent bikes. We hired a couple bikes, borrowed some duct tape to hold Seth down, and were on our merry way.

Whinnie the Pooh, Whinnie the Pooh... Seth had one of the best vantage points for the entire trip.

Along the way, we encountered hills and rain. The rental place mentioned the hills, but they definately didn't mention the rain. I'm a little soaked, but Seth had a big rain sheild, and was relitively dry. The lake is in the distance, where the bike path detours through a field. I'm hoping it's corn, and when we come back in the summer, we'll have lunch there. On our final 3 miles, the skies really opened up. First came the wind, then a light sprinkle. Seth didn't mind this too much, as I was taking most of the rain. Then it really started to downpour. After we had reached saturation point, it started to hail, and Seth began to wail. He wasn't a happy chappy.

England - Cambridge - The next day we ventured to Cambridge. I think it's easier to start with a map. Here is Christ's College. In Cambridge they have the same system as in Oxford, where there isn't one massive University of Cambridge campus, but Cambridge is made up of many colleges. Exams are sat in one of a few locations, where one might be writing a chemistry exam next to someone writing a history exam. I don't think I would like this system, as it would make it harder to cheat.

We entered from St. Andrew's Street, passing through the Great Gate, and into the First Court. A lot of schools will have a grassy courtyard, but many times you are not allowed to walk on the grass. Occassionally, you will see rebels - usually expelled (or soon to be expelled) students sitting on the grass, but it is usually frowned upon. As well, all the cobblestones make it really hard to rollerblade (and push the pram as well).

In the back of the college, they had this beautiful, quiet pool. I'm sure a hundred or two years ago, it was really nice. Sadly, now the only ones allowed to swim in the pool are that of the winged variety.

Looking across Fellow's Garden, are some of the dorms. Pretty posh. Much nicer than the ones they had at UCC. They had taste - they didn't make ugly prefabbed concrete housing back then.

Here are couple more of the dorms. Up on the top is the observation post, where the deans could watch all the drunken students arriving from a night at the social. If anyone was caught arriving after hours, they would have to stand facing the wall, outside just under the observation post. It was much worse to get caught in the winter, as it would be quite cold and rainy.

Sadly, we were reduced to eating lunch at a McDonalds. It is often hard to find a pub that offers wayne grubor has pram access, so, sometimes McDonalds is the lowest common demonitor. As you can tell, Seth doesn't seem to mind, although he does like to Supersize his Big Mac and fries. He usually can't finish his coke, and it really makes him belch.

I think he's thinking "Thank gawd I don't have to eat what mommie and daddy are eating. It smells like my nappie".

After a typical Mc.Fayre, we continued wondering down the streets of Cambridge.

In the middle of the square are a bunch of tourists, meeting to go into to the cathedral, which is just out of the pic on the left.

There is a church tower, and the cathedral in the background. We are waiting for a double decker tour bus to take us around the town.

The next handful of pictures are from our double decker tour. Unfortunately some of them are a little blury, but that's only becuase at some points we were on the top floor of a bus going 60mph in March. Brrrrrrr...

This picture is of the cathedral and some of the university dorms. If you stayed in these dorms, you'd pretty much be required to go to church on Sunday.

Most of the dorms have their private entrances. This one seems a little extreme, but it just shows the amount of wealth in some of these places.

Here is the US War Memorial. Behind the walls were rows and rows of crosses.

The next two pictures, could be almost anywhere. But, rest assured, it's from Cambridge (do a properties on the pic - it doesn't lie!)

I'll show you a better picture of the roundish building on the left very shortly.

A quick look from the back of the bus. At that Do-Not-Enter sign, they had these little pistons that would prevent a vehicle from going past. They gave passes to the locals or to the tour busses, but that was about it. It keeps the road traffic low. They are doing this type of traffic scheme to try and reduce traffic congestion. London now has a charge if you travel into the city centre.

This was a neat little round building, which was made specially for the monks of the church. I can't remember exactly how old it is, but it's at least 500 years old.

The benefit of being on a coach tour, is that you can peek over all the walls, and see how the privilidged do. These are more Uni dorms. Obviously quite a posh one, just judging on the coat of arms on the 12 foot iron doors.

Across the river (you'll see that in a bit) was this little country park. It was quite nice, as most of the gardens were either walled, gated or you had to be a member of the "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" society. As it was March, we didn't spend much time in the parks, but it would be annonying in the summer to see all of these green areas and not be able to use them.

Andhereisareallyquickpictureasweareflyingbytheparkonthebus.

The next few pictures are of one of the cathedrals.

You really don't notice really how high something is unless you stand right under it, and look up. Wayyyy up. And, we're already on the top of the double decker bus!

Only after we reviewed these pictures, did we notice the blinding light across the cathedral. Is it a sign??? The figures on walls and tops of the roof were quite intricate.

Here is a little clearer view of the cathedral and steeple, as we drive away.

It's good that the tree didn't have any leaves, or else this picture would have looked totally different.

It's really a shame that this 300~400 year old cathedral is sourrounded by 1960's ugly flats and offices. Still, it's a jewel on the street.

The red brick building is Queen Mary's University. Not only did Queen Mary fund the building of the uni, but, as part of the deal women were allowed to attend. I know that it's no big deal now, but that was hundred of years ago.

And, what's a uni, if there isn't a pub close by. The Anchor Ale House is there to serve that need.

If you ever come to the UK, you will hear the locals call someone call another a "punter". Well, at the bottom of the picture is a real live punter.

You could rent out the river boats, and we watched more than one group going around and around and around. I've never piloted them, but they can't be that hard, can they?

Remember from above, I said that Queen Mary's Uni allowed women. This bridge could only be used by women, and it allowed them safe passage into their dorms, from those pesky men. And you thought it was just a bridge.

The one thing I'd like to point out to all my friends to the west, is remember that this is March 25. Look at all the daffies and blue flowers. Just remember that when you're shovelling snow.

The punters in this boat appeared to be a bunch of very rich tourists. Unfortunately their wallets were totally unrelated to their driving skills. This is the aftermath of them crashing into the bank. About 5 minutes later, they were trying to get close enough so that some of the passengers could bail. I think they had enough. We weren't laughing, only admiring the beautiful river and flowering trees. Ok, we did smirk a little, but they were far away and didn't notice. They were too concerned about staying afloat rather than being concerned about who was watching them.

Looking to our right, still on the same bridge, there are more dorms, and behind that is the other cathedral. The dorms on the right have a very impressive and spotless courtyard. The reason for it's impecable greenspace, is that little black and white sign that says: KEEP OFF THE GRASS. Now, for you and me, there's very little penality for crossing the vast open area, however, if you are a student, if you cross it, you'll get a one way ticket to Oxford. Oh, the shame.

Press the left/right arrows to see the mini-wideangle pic.

This is the rest of the courtyard, which, unfortunately, I couldn't attach to the above shot.

Here is Kim and Seth sneaking through a dorm to get to the high street. Sshhhh, just don't tell that we're sneaking through their presious walkway. Often dorms will have their gates either guarded or locked, so you can't get straight from A to B without going the long way around.

Unlike the nice little picket fences of home, they are serious about people not crossing their property. I might be able to make it over the fence using the vine, but it's just too hard with the pram.

It's good to see some of the stonecutters had a sense of humour. Nahhhhhh!!!!

We found that if you look like you belong, you can sometimes just blag it and go straight through a dorm. Either that or they took pity on us as we had Seth. Some dorms were actually so posh, that they would have tours and charge £5. Off to the top right, you can just see the cathedral.

A picture showing the scale of the cathedral over the dorms. Imagine waking up with a hangover (as uni students may occassionally have) to the sound of a thousand cathedral bells? A good location on all days but Sunday.

And, our last picture from Cambridge is the side of the Cathedral. It's amazing when you think that a building that tall has only the ground floor.

Town - Unknown

On our way back home, we stopped at this little town and had a very nice pizza. As you'll soon see, it's quite a nice wee town, however, the moral of this story is to name your pictures as soon as you take them. If I remember, I'll update the website with it's propper names. Silly thing is that we've been to this town 3 times now, and every time I keep saying, "must remember the name of the town..." All I can remember is that it's somewhere along in the boarders.

Looking down the hill towards the cathedral and river.

Standing on the bridge, they're having a wee carnie. Couldn't have picked a nicer place to hold it.

And, looking downstream from the previous picture. Off to the right is where we had our wee pizza. If I could remember the name of the pizza place (it was a chain) then I could find the name of the town. Think, think, think.

And, one last picture as we finish our journey to this unknown toon.

Unknown stately house / castle

And, since I've forgotten the name of the above town, I've also forgotten the name of the stately home that you're about to see.

Unfortunately, as it was only March 27th, and still in winter(ish), the actual house was not open. We were able to wonder around the grounds, so for that we saved a couple of quid. The normal entry for these types of houses is about 5~8 quid per person, and sometimes they will also charge for Seth, even though he's only 1 at the time).

This is the front grand entrance. Since Kim accidentially dropped a crumb, she was charged with 7hrs community service, and had to pay this back by being a guard for the day. At least she has a nice little house to hide from the elements.

This is a very grand entrance, with guard post and a very high, secure fence. There was even a shallow grass filled moat / ditch around the sides of the road.

Here is me poking me camera through the fence to get a better picture. It's pretty grand, don't you think?

Here's is the house and it's front yard.

And a shot from the side.

Here is a shot from the side, where just behind the tree on the left, would be the main entrance. The gold door would of course, be the servants door. Now, what I can't understand, is why have a guard and a big fence, if you're going to leave a nice big door out in the open.

Still on the estate, we've found a little river/pond that meanders through the property.

From the above picture, I was standing on the middle of this old bridge. As you can see, there's gates at both ends, so cars are not allowed across, as it just wasn't made for that type of weight.

Just incase one does try and drive their lorrie over the bridge, this wee lion is there to ensure you don't cross. You can just see the back of the lion in the above picture.

Now, the below picture has a direct relation to the bridge picture. Can you see why? (scroll down very slowly, as I'll put the answer at the bottom of the pic...

Stop scrolling! Answer below!

In the above pic, there are two swans. The closest one is swimming along, but the second is actually walking on the water. OK, not really, but he is actually walking on a submerged bridge. This allows the water to flow naturally, provides a little dam, and allows the owner to cross the river without the expense of a bridge. OK, I'm sure that I won't be driving my Lotus across it for fear of filling the cockpit, but would have no problem driving my Mazda (cause I really don't care if it gets trashed) and I also have RAC cover if I get stuck.

This is showing the front and the servants entrance with the big yellowish door. On the far left side, is what used to be the stables and is now more dedicated to the motor pool. Not too shabby, but it's taken hundreds of years to get the smell of wet dog and wet horse out.

As we were walking along, we noticed these little deer frolicing along the road. Now, don't think that the UK has hundreds of deer lining every road, but these ones have escaped. See, their buddies are on the other side of the fence, and they were trying to jump the fence in order to get in to the fence. See, it does always look better from the other side of the fence. And, incase you're wondering, deer are a good way to cheaply improve the cashflow and help pay for some of the house expenses.

This next picture seems right out of a movie set or a Disney movie, but, this is actually the persons private lack at the back of the property, including, of course, a very impressive (although a little small) boat house. I know, you wouldn't need anything much bigger than a rowboat or maybe a 15hp motor, but still.

To view, press and hold the right/left arrow keys to view the entire picture.

With the castle in the distance, the daffies chasing their way to the sun, and even the cherry blossoms are trying to do their part.

At the top of the hill was a little clearing. Not bad eh? March 27, daffies are in full swing, the lawn has already been mowed, and -- hey, what's that running across the green? A pheasant? Yes, in the flesh! And, that one's not destined for the dinner table either! Run Pheasant, RUN!!!!

Looking back at this picture, I wasn't sure what it was, but if you look real closely, you can see the pheasant again. Honest! He blends in very well.

Here is the back of the castle. Now, normally, if you need a little extra space, you'd do a loft conversion or conservatory. Look at what these people settled on -- they've added an entire church! There's a little more, but I couldn't fit it into the picture.

Can you spot the pheasant? Oh, sorry. Already played that game. Here are a bunch of budding (wild) bluebells.

The next few pictures are of the castle, fountain (aka pool for us poor folk), conservatory, and greenhouse. Just behind the greenhouse, is the staff's common quarters, which still looks pretty nice.

This is looking towards the river, with the castle behind us. Directly ahead of us is the river that links the lake with the river that went under the bridge. To the right would be the swans and bridge, and off to the right would be the boathouse and lake.

Now, what do you do with a lot of time on your hands, and a bush that's out of control? Well, get a pair of clippers and make Topiary of course!!!

Here we have a boat...

And a beaver...

And a, um... circle, cylinder type of things...

And a rabbit (with a really long tail)...

And a speeding snail...

And a lazy fox...

There were quite a few of urns around the garden. This one was in a bed of pansies.

This urn was a very old one, even though it doesn't look it. I think it depected the battle of 1066.

Walking back towards the castle (with the river behind me) is our last look at the castle.

Seth's Corner

The next two pictures are of Seth being cute in the hotel. To his right (your left) is Gerome the Giraffe, and Seth is sporting a pair of "Happy Feet" socks (frog socks) which came with the "Happy Feet" book. I've read that book so many times, that I've committed it to memory (and I'll be committed because of that book).

Just call me "Fangs McSeth"

Seth vs the fruit salad

After a couple days back home, we decided to give Seth a treat of fruit salad. Generally, on most occassions, Seth is a pretty clean eater. However, this day, he was angry at his fruit salad, and decided that the salad would pay.

As if devouring and mushing the fruit salad into his face wasn't enough, Seth decides to "get personal" and brings out "the foot of death".

Oh ya! We showed the evil fruit salad! I'm happy now.

INTERMISSION...

Sadly, during the intermission break, there has been a horrible upset! The fruit salad decided to fight back! You'll notice that not only has Seth had to ditch his shirt, but also required a totally new bib! This time it's personnal!

Pardon? What was that?

What do you mean you're not cleaning me up? Sadly, after this picture was taken, Seth had an appointment with "Mr. Bath". Night all.