Uttlesford District

Great to be back in the van again. We left the keys with the agents and set off north to Saffron Walden, where we had booked a site for four nights. Severals Farm CL site was full when we got there with people who were going to the Audley End music weekend. We did not realise there was a whole weekend of activity at the site of the old house, and on Friday evening everyone disappeared to watch Boy George and Culture Club perfom on the outdoor stage. We had booked seats for the Sunday night to see Russell Watson perform a Last Night of the Proms set with the London Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. On Saturday we cycled into Saffron Walden which was very busy with people attending the Saturday Market in the main square. We had a look at the old Walden Castle and returned to site in the afternoon to see everyone disappear to watch Van Morrisson.
On Sunday we enjoyed a lazy day with the Saturday papers before cycling down to the venue in late afternoon. Fitrst up was Mark Kingswood who presented a mixed set of swing, jazz and r and b., followed by The NHS choral 19 choir who received a very good response to their first ever live performance. The LPCO then took to the stage to perform The Dambusters and old war movie theme tunes whilst we had a 10 minute display from a Spitfire which performed loops and victory rolls galore.
Russell Watson was outstanding and clearly moved to be back on stage. One of his ITU nurses happened to be in the NHS choir which was a big coincidence. The highlight for A was seeing him perform Barcelona with a guest singer Christina Johnson.
Our neighbours on the site picked up with us after the show and drove us back to site with the bikes on the back, which saved us a cycle in the dark.
On Monday we returned on our bikes to Audley End and had a look around the house and gardens - an English Heritage site. This is a Jacobean mansion, whose owners had very close links to the monarchy in the 16 and 1700s, all set within a landscape designed by Capabity Brown.Læs mere