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England 2025
  • Stephen and Debbie

England 2025

Our sightseeing tour of England, including time in Liverpool, Manchester, London and the Cotswolds, but the highlight will be 4 weeks touring through the Lakes District. Read more
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  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Hampton Court Palace

    June 4 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We travelled today to Hampton Court Palace by train - it is about an hour out of central London and on the banks of the Thames. The palace and its extensive grounds were once the home and hunting grounds of Henry VIII and then William III. Building began in 1529 and continued until 1694. It is a historic and highly interesting place to visit and our time there was a real highlight of our trip. It is definitely worth going to.Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    London

    June 4 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We returned to London from Hampton Court and got off the train at Waterloo, then walked across the Thames to Westminster. We then walked through Whitehall and past No. 10 and were then just in time to catch the daily 4:00pm Dismount Parade of the Kings Guard at Horse Guards. Good timing. Next was Trafalgar Square, followed by the walk down the Mall to Buckingham Palace, then to St. James Palace and through St. James. A trip on the tube from Piccadilly took us back to Paddington.Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    London

    June 5 in England ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    This morning we went to the London Docklands to see Tutankhamun - the Immersive Experience. It is a vertical reality journey through the world of Tutankhamun, as well as a display of original and replica artefacts. It was really good, we beat the crowds and also had a bit of fun.Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Moreton-in-Marsh

    June 5 in England ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    We arrived in Moreton-in-Marsh this afternoon and although we have only been in the Cotswolds for half a day, already we love it. Luckily the weather cleared and things look pretty good for tomorrow, when we will walk the 13km to Stow-on-the-Wold.

    There has been a settlement in Moreton-in-Marsh since the Roman times. Dince the 1200's it has been a market town and the wide main street is so that sheep could be brought into town for the weekly markets. There was a RAF base and airfield for Wellington bombers here in WWII.

    We enjoyed a drink in the historic Bell Inn, a 200 year old coaching inn and said to be the inspiration for The Prancing Pony in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    The Cotswolds

    June 6 in England ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today we walked from Moreton-on-Marsh to Stow-on-the-Wold via Bourton-on-the-Hill, Longborough, Donington and Broadwell. It was a day of rolling green hills and the quaint, stone buildings the Cotswolds are famous for.

    We had a wet start but sheltered under a tree for half an hour and the rain passed and the rest of the day was perfect weather.

    We visited three churches, all of which have parts of their structures dating back over 1000 years.

    We had dinner at the Porch House, which is regarded as Englands oldest pub, with parts of the building dating back to the year 947. Their food was great. They've had plenty of practice we figured.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    The Cotswolds

    June 7 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Another day of the Cotswold countryside as we walked a circuit from Stow-on-the-Wold to Maugersbury and then to Upper Oddington and Lower Oddington. All were pretty villages with homes full of character. From there we headed towards Broadwell and retraced a section of our route from yesterday back to Stow. This however gave us a chance to call in to the Fox Inn at Broadwell again for a welcome refreshment.

    We were back in Stow in the early afternoon, so there was plenty of time for another look around. Unlike the villages we visited earlier, it was full of tourists and day trippers and every tea room (it has heaps) and pub was full.

    Dinner was at the very old Kings Arms - another successful choice.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Upper & Lower Slaughter

    June 8 in England ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    A terrific day today as we walked from Stow-on-the-Wold to Bourton-on-the-Water. This walk took us through pretty countryside and villages.

    Going down the hill from Stow we walked through Netherswell Manor and Equestrian Centre, across the River Diker and then on to Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter, both on the River Eye.Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Bourton on the Water

    June 8 in England ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    After leaving the Slaughters, it was off to Bourton-on-the-Water on the River Windrush. It was absolutely packed with day trippers and you could barely move - apparently normal for Saturdays and Sundays. But by 5:00pm they had all gone and it was very quite - much better.

    We had looked forward to the Sunday roast at the Old Manse Inn, but they had run out when we got there!! Oh well, schnitzel and fish and chips instead.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Woodstock

    June 9 in England ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We made the short journey (about 90mins) by taxi, train and bus from Bourton on the Water to Woodstock this morning.

    After arriving in Woodstock we walked around the town and had a relaxing afternoon - just what we needed after the last few weeks.

    We really like Woodstock. It is still in the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire, is extremely historic, but very quiet and no tourists.

    We are here to see Blenheim Palace tomorrow, but nearly all its visitors do it as a day trip or part of a tour. Therefore they miss the most impressive entry point to Churchill's birthplace and home to the Dukes of Marlborough (the Churchill family), for over 300 years. You can only enter from this point by walking in from Woodstock.

    It is believed Woodstock was founded in the 1200's by Henry II to provide housing for his servants when he visited his nearby hunting fields. In the 1500's it was the centre of English glove making. Parts of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene date back to Norman times and are 850 years old.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    The Star Inn - Woodstock

    June 9 in England ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    The Star Inn deserves its own post. It wasn't our first choice for dinner. We firstly went in to The Bear, the towns oldest pub, but it was full of well dressed pretentious snobs and we felt very out of place.

    So we went across the road to the Star Inn and it was the complete opposite and we felt right at home. The meals were possibly the best we have had. Fish and chips and curry sauce for 11.95. We have paid double that this trip, but these were the best. Bangers and mash for 14.95. Bargains and delicious. We will be back tomorrow night. The pub also had atmosphere, locals who were interesting to listen to and it felt like a real local English pub. And it was close to our B&B.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Blenheim Palace

    June 10 in England ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We spent today at Blenheim Palace and what a place it is.

    It has been the ancestral home of the Dukes of Marlborough for 300 years and was built between 1705 and 1722 after the land was gifted to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. He had been rewarded for his victory leading the English armies over French and Bavarian forces at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. He was given funding from Queen Anne to build his new home

    On 30 November 1874, it also became the birthplace of Winston Churchill, the grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. It is currently the residence of the 12th Duke of Marlborough.

    Currently the roof is being restored, which means part of the facade is covered in scaffolding. But this means during the work there is access to the roof, which shows the restoration work up close and gives views across the estate. The scaffolding if laid end to end would stretch for 50kms.

    After our day at the palace we walked to Churchill's grave at the St. Martins Church in Bladon, which is adjacent to the palace. Here he rests with his parents, wife Clementine and his children.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    London

    June 11 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    A real change of pace and something completely different today as we returned by train to London.

    We walked from our hotel in Paddington through Hyde Park to visit Harrods in Knightsbridge. Apparently it gets over 100,000 visitors a day. Most of them seemed to be in the Food Hall. Nothing took our fancy in the perfume or Rolex section. Or even in the designer brands for kids section. 525 pounds (approx $1200) for a Gucci t-shirt for babies 6-12 months old seemed a touch excessive. But for those of you with grandkids, we found some stuffed toys you could get for the next birthday or Christmas. We had our eye on one of them, but are bags are already pretty full.

    After Harrods, we went on the Brigits Bakery Afternoon Tea Tour - a 90 minute trip through central London in a 1960's double decker bus. We paid a bit extra to get the upper deck seats up the front and it was a good investment. The afternoon tea was excellent also. We did not need to bother with dinner tonight, nor the box that was offered to take any leftovers home.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Warner Brothers - Harry Potter Tour

    June 12 in England ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    It was another day of something different today, as we went to Warner Brothers Studios at Leavesden in Hertfordshire, for the Making of Harry Potter studio tour.

    It is at the studios where all eight films were made and has the original sets, costumes and special effects from the movies. It was pretty good, even for the one of us that is ambivalent about Harry Potter. It would have been even better if every primary school in England wasn't there at the same time. Not sure about the educational merit, but it was obviously a fun day out for the kids, maybe not for the teachers.

    Anyway, it was fun to see how the special effects were created and see items from the movies.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    Lords - ICC Test Cricket Championship

    June 13 in England ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Here's hoping for a great day's cricket at Lords!! We have been looking forward to this day and have great weather, seats and now all we need is an Aussie win. Even brought the Tatts Cricket Club shirt over for the day. It will be a good way to finish our trip.

    It ended up a good day's cricket - if you are a South African. Australia will need early wickets and a miracle tomorrow.

    Lords is a great spot to watch cricket - you are close to the action and they have padded seats. It is the only cricket ground in the world where you can take in your own grog - 2 stubbies or a bottle of wine or champagne (plenty was sold at the ground to, as champagne corks were popping all day).

    The crowd was overwhelmingly South African supporters, about 80/20. Where we were it was about 98/2 - we were right in the middle of a huge group and they were starting to wear a bit thin by the end of the day as SA got on top.

    Today was our last day in England. We head home tomorrow.    Read more

  • Stephen and DebbieEngland 2025Traveler

    London to Sydney

    June 14 in England ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    It's all over. We left London on this Qantas Dreamliner bound for Perth and have arrived on time. We are now waiting our flight to Sydney. The London-Perth flight is a long one - 16hrs55mins - but was a much more enjoyable flight than on the A380. More room and less people. It seemed to go quite quickly and that was even without getting any sleep.Read more

    Trip end
    June 16, 2025
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