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- Virginia Waters
  
  Posted at 8:22 pm by Kirstie, on Oct 22, 2019
  Autumn is well and truly making it’s presence known, the temperature has dropped, the mornings are darker and the colour of the leaves has changed to those beautiful autumnal reds and browns.
  
  After a very wet week we have been very lucky with a dry and bright weekend, making the most of the Saturday to get some work done down at the allotment we decided to have a family day on Sunday and go for a decent walk. At ours son’s request we headed out to Virginia Waters, a loop around the lake is about four miles, enough to blow away the cobwebs without leaving you pooped for the rest of the day.
  
  To begin with the paths are busy with couples, families, people on bikes, others with dogs. There were dogs of all sizes, from the beautiful, shaggy Irish wolfhound who made a small girl screech by merely loping past her, to tiny little chihuahuas and a Dachshund being carried in a specially designed bag, with just his head poking out.
  
  As we reached the totem pole, the path branches off to the left, in the hope of avoiding the majority of the other enjoying the weather we hope we are taking the path less travelled.
  
  When you do escape the madding crowd you can start seeing beyond the wood to the trees and more.
  
  There are trees growing as much horizontally as they are vertically…
  
  Trees growing out of trees…
  
  Fungi growing out of trees….
  
  Evidence of romances past – I do hope these two are still together…….
  
  Flocks of parakeets….
  
  Then you look down and there is an amazing array of fungi growing all the way around the five mile walk…..
  
  There are also the picturesque waterfalls, once people were allowed to walk all around them, but now they have been cordoned off, health and safety no doubt. Annoying for a teenager wanting to rock hop, but it makes it a lot easier to take a photo without people popping up in the background.
  
  All in all, if you are after a good walk, to blow away the cobwebs and enjoy the fresh air, then this is definitely a place worth visiting – there is even a nice place to stop for a coffee and a bite to eat.
  
  Just be aware of the swans…
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  Posted in Travels, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Autumn, autumnal, fungi, mushrooms, surrey, toadstools, totem pole, Virginia waters, walking, walks, woodlands
- The Vyne
  
  Posted at 8:36 pm by Kirstie, on Oct 13, 2019
  I was full of cold and feeling really rather grotty, so no Saturday paddling for me. Whilst I would have loved to curl up on the sofa with a supply of hot drinks and a few good films the weather was holding off and I didn’t want to waste the chance of a family day, especially with winter looming.
  
  Not wanting to venture too far we decided to dig out our National Trust cards and try somewhere relatively nearby which we have never been to before. I’m not sure why we’ve never been to The Vyne, it’s under 15 miles from us and a beautiful property with plenty to see.
  
  The grounds leading up to the main house are beautiful and I can imagine they would be packed on a warm summers day. With a river graced with elegant swans and deck chairs on the lawn to use, it would be easy to just sit, relax and let the world go by whilst soaking up the sun and people watching.
  
  Despite the seasons changing and the beginning of the autumnal colours, there were still flowers blooming, brightening up the borders. I was particularly looking forward to the walled garden, but I think they are undergoing a bit of a make over at the moment as they were not as spectacular as you would usually expect.
  
  Of course the buildings as a whole are beautiful, but often you need to look a little closer, to see the detail, the funny little bits and pieces which add character to a place.
  
  We all have different things we find interesting, with a place like this I think you could return multiple times and each time find something you failed to notice before.
  
  When entering the main house the first thing that struck me was the ceiling. I remember a minister once saying to look up, that people forget to look up enough. That was many years ago, but I think with everyone burying their heads in their mobile phones nowadays, it is more important to remember now than ever before.
  
  The route you take through the building winds through the various rooms, each one has a guide who can tell you so much more than just a casual look around would afford you.
  
  Whether it was the chapel, with its wood panelling and stain glass windows
  
  Or the orangery with the selection of children’s toys and various carved busts
  
  At the front of the house you have an impressive set of stairs, but personally I much prefer the stairs at the back. More likely for the use of the servants, but beautiful with the turns and that dark wood.
  
  Whilst I love the grandeur of these stately homes I much prefer the ‘back of stairs’ side to the properties. I guess this is because this is an area you can relate to, you can imagine trying to cook and run a household in the kitchens without all the mod cons we take for granted, no refrigerators, cookers which produce instant and controllable heat, washing machines and tumble dryers to ensure a regular supply of clean clothes.
  
  Unfortunately this tends also to lead to the secondhand bookshops which a lot of the National Trust properties seem to have, this time I managed to escape with only two new additions to my already overloaded bookcase.
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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged autumnal, Basingstoke, chapel, family day, national trust, orangery, swans, The vyne
- Lulworth Cove
  
  Posted at 10:13 pm by Kirstie, on Sep 19, 2019
  Sometimes you can plan everything, other times you just have to wing it. Saturday mornings are now taken up by dragon boating for me, after an hour or so on the water and then the time it takes to put the boat away, stretch and have a cup of tea and a natter with the team that’s the whole morning gone and I wont get home until lunch time, by which time half the day is gone.
  
  This Saturday was one of those days, but having had a stressful week and with my boy away doing his Duke of Edinburgh Silver award trek and husband just back from working away for the week, staying at home cleaning the house was not an appealing option. So, on the spur of the moment we grabbed a bottle of water, couple of bananas and some crisps and jumped in the car and drove – just like we used to twenty years ago.
  
  Okay, twenty years ago we wouldn’t have thought to bring any snacks or quickly book a table for dinner, but I guess that’s what happens when you grow up… a little.
  
  After a mere two hours in the car we arrived in Lulworth Cove, on the Jurassic coast in Dorset. Late afternoon and it is still beautifully warm with a clear blue sky, the car park is busy, but I suspect not nearly as busy as it would have been earlier in the day. The area is so beautiful it attracts a huge number of visitors, each wanting to take in the beauty of the place and the atmosphere.
  
  From the car park you have to walk down the hill, past the tourist traps and expensive ice creams, past some pretty wee cottages, which would be a dream to live in, if only you didn’t know you’d have so many tourists wandering past you window all the time….
  
  It is all worth it when you reach the sea, the cove is idyllic and the light is just perfect.
  
  The beach is mainly the rounded pebbles which don’t hurt your feet, but make it hard to walk as they move under foot, they also make a gentle whooshing noise as the water that has moved in pulls back out, taking some of the stones along with it. Time spent just sitting and listening to the noise of the water is time well spent…
  
  The bet was then on, who could find the first fossil, failure would mean paying for dinner. To my mind this was highly unfair, hubby is a keen metal detectorist with a love of all such things, whereas I am probably the most unobservant person you could meet. It also felt, with all the rounded, almost uniform pebbles, it was a lost cause. Sure enough, as we reached to far side of the cove another couple came round and the woman asked whether we had found any fossils. She was convinced they would be just tripping over them and was disappointed to have not seen a thing – I wasn’t holding out for much more luck.
  
  Once we reached the larger rocks I took the chance to sit and just take in the surroundings, on the water the boats of varying sizes, people swimming, kayaking and snorkelling. On the beach the teenage girls taking selfies, parents with small children paddling, a group of young lads listening to music and clambering down the steep hill, one slipping, laughing at himself and carrying on to the beach.
  
  Then, as I looked down I noticed some more unusual rocks, oh yeah, I found the first fossil. Then, once I had seen one I kept finding more and then before long we had an entire selection of them.
  
  Slowly, as the light faded the people started to drift away the place actually becomes more beautiful.
  
  As we wandered back along the beach we found another interesting stone, I suspect this one was man made…..
  
  To finish off a perfect afternoon we head to the local pub, an hour earlier than our reservation, but they managed to seat us.
  
  Of course when eating by the seaside you have to have fish and, to be fair, they did a lovely fish and chips with the best onion rings I’ve had in a long time.
  
  A lovely meal, with someone I truly enjoy spending time with proved to be the perfect end to the day.
  
  This is definitely somewhere we will be returning to explore further, we took the low road this time, but there is still the high road left to climb…….
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  Posted in Travels, Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged dorset, fish and chips, fossil, fossils, jurasic coast, Lulworth, lulworth cove, lulworth cove inn
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