Easter Holiday Get Away, High Wind and Rain

So, at last, we get away for a week's holiday over the Easter weekend. Carol finished work at Milton Keynes Academy on Thursday and we packed up the car in the morning of Good Friday and left for West Sussex where we had booked a cottage not far from the National Trust property, Petworth. This had been pre-booked for several months, all paid-up through a company we've used on several occasions, formerly known as 'Cottages For You' but now merely called 'Cottages.com'. It was something of a difficulty getting everything in to the car, together with the dogs, Alfie in his cage in the back along with Poppy, who rides happily in the remaining space in the back of the car. Alfie has to be put in the cage because he won't sit still anywhere in the car. It's no use even attempting to have him anywhere else in the car because we've attempted and he will try and get into the front and get tangled up in the gear-stick so in the end he has to go in the cage. He's a good deal better at riding in the car than he used to be, but getting him on his lead is a bit of an ordeal because he barks and gets very excited and so we got him a harness to wear which he seems to like and seems happy with it on. Actually better for him when he's on a lead because it means there's no pulling on his neck which there would be if the lead is attached to his collar. He did make some noise at first when put in the cage but he soon settled down as the journey progressed.

We got on the A34 just beyond Bicester and the journey seemed to be going well until the traffic began to slow to a crawl. We could see the long tail-back ahead on the road, but there's not a great deal you can do on a dual carriage-way in terms of finding an alternative route as the junctions are so far apart. We were going to continue south and had a route planned as we didn't fancy using the M25 as it was likely to be just as busy and no doubt the traffic would be similarly stationary due to the fact that so many people were going away for the Easter break the same as ourselves.We eventually left the main road and began to follow the instructions to Kirdford and Petworth which we had been given by the owners of the property. Unfortunately our sense of direction isn't particularly good but we did eventually manage to find the property and got there just after 2.30. I think it would have been much quicker if the traffic hadn't been so heavy. We did stop at a spot on the way called Beacon Hill, as the dogs needed to have a break and a run and we attempted to climb the hill, but it proved a good deal more difficult as it was muddy and slippery so we returned to the car and continued our journey. Carol wanted to see Highclere Castle, which is one of the locations used in the television series 'Downton Abbey' but on finding the  entrance there was a sign 'not open to the public' so we couldn't just drive in and 'have a look' as we had wanted to. A pity. We had been past a couple of years ago when we'd visited the Sandham Memorial Chapel at Burghclere which features paintings on it's walls done by the artist Sir Stanley Spencer.

We have been staying in a recently converted egg store. It's been done really well and we really couldn't have hoped for a nicer holiday rental. The people who own the property even left milk and eggs for our consumption. There's a wood-burning stove which I lit with ease but there is a very efficient central heating system.

The weather has changed dramatically, unfortunately. It has been reasonably dry and sunny on the way down from Milton Keynes. On Saturday we took the dogs to Petworth park for a brief walk, but the wind was beginning to rise and it was really chilly. We went on to Portsmouth, with the intention of visiting the Historic Dockyard. I've never seen Nelson's Victory or anything about the Mary Rose, which I would have liked. We had to take the dogs with us, because we're not supposed to leave them in the cottage on their own. As usual Alfie became somewhat noisy but settled down as we got further into the journey. We found a multi-storey car park in Portsmouth city centre, but the traffic entering the city was extremely heavy, probably no more than usual, but made more heavy because of the Easter weekend. We walked with the dogs into the city centre, but it became extremely windy. Poor Alfie is not used to being in a city, what with traffic and people everywhere. He is terrified of sharp noises, particularly the sound to car horns and all those feet. At one point, near the bus station, he almost had a wheeled case land on top of him. We have never taken him into any town centre like that, so it's no wonder he was frightened. We then found we couldn't take the dogs into the Historic Dockyards area, so that was the end of that. We got sandwiches and drinks from a Coop and sat and ate our food sitting on a bench near the Hard. We really wanted to see more, which would have been possible if he hadn't got the dogs with us. So we left, unfortunately. We did some shopping at a Sainsbury's, enough for the rest of the week and the returned to the cottage. 

There wasn't much else we could do as it was getting late. The weather was getting worse and worse. We had our meal and went to bed, but during the night the wind was extremely high and it rained, almost like a hurricane, beating on the windows. The bedroom has a skylight in the roof, and the rain was making noises on the glass. There was a stream of water running down the road outside more like a waterfall than anything else.

We had to endure yet another night of extremely high winds and rain over Sunday into Monday. It kept us awake for most of the night. I have never experienced such awful weather such as we experienced. I thought the roof of the cottage was going to be blown off, or a tree outside come crashing through the roof. It went on for a long time. I can't remember anything like it, or lasting for so long. Not only were we frightened (and I have to admit it takes a lot to really scare me. A thunder storm with lightening and 'the works' doesn't usually bother me. Infant, I quite like a good old-fashioned thunder storm.) Both dogs were really bothered by the whole experience. Alfie doesn't like sudden noises and Poppy is scared on fireworks and 'bangs and crashes.' We discovered, fairly early in the morning, that there had been a power cut. Something I haven't personally experienced in quite a few years. Fortunately we had a battery-powered torch to see and it meant that we'd not only have no light, but the fridge would not be working and we had frozen food in the ice-box, as well as having no working oven. Also, no internet (there was wi-fi in the cottage.) and the cooker wouldn't work, nor the television. So we made the decision to go back home to Milton Keynes. We spoke to the owner of the cottage, who lived in a house near the cottage, and she said that power cuts were a regular occurrence in that rural area and that the emergency hotline had said the power would be back on 'later in the day' but no exact time was given, or guaranteed. We made our decision and we started to pack our belongings as well as cleaning the cottage. The dogs were loaded into the car and by around 9.30 we had handed in the key and were on the road. As we left we found the roads around the cottage littered with bits of branch and twig. Most of it was small and inconsequential, but there were some quite big branches in the roads as we drove towards the A3 and back to the A34 near Newbury. It did make the drive home quite hazardous. We got back to Milton Keynes at around 2.30.
We heard on the B.B.C. news on television that there had been a good deal of damage in and around Sussex, including along the coast. So in the end it would appear that our decision to come home when we did was the right one. We have since learnt that the power had still not been switched on again at 5 p.m. and there was a good chance that the storm (named "Katie".) would strike again tonight and which would mean we couldn't cook any food. Also, on the way past we attempted to visit Petworth House, a National Trust property, to be turned away at the gate by staff, telling us that the estate was closed because of the high winds and the danger from falling trees or branches.

Bournmouth Visit

We have been down to Bournemouth today to visit Carol's mum and dad. The last time we went was in August 2013 when we came back from our holiday in Ilfracome and tied in with Chloe and Steve's wedding in Ipplepen. We were due to go last Wednesday but Carol had developed a really bad sore throat and we didn't think it was a good idea to visit due to the possibility of infecting them with the bug. I was also threatening a similar thing but thankfully it didn't develop into anything.

We left Milton Keynes at around 7.a.m. and drove steadily towards the M40 and then onto the A34 just beyond Buckingham, the same route we took the other day when we drove for our day out at the National Trust property at Basildon Park. We hit roadworks on the way at the turn-off for Reading and were held up for a while but then the traffic began to flow steadily and we were able to maintain quite a good speed all the way down south. We stopped at a service area near the roundabout which lead westward towards Highclere Castle, another location for the television series Downton Abbey and also further on to the village of Burghclere which we visited several years ago when we went to the Sandham Memorial Chapel which houses painting of Stanley Spencer and also managed by the National Trust. We bought ourselves coffee to share in Costa Coffee and the drove on and eventually arrived at Carol's parents flat in Moordown, just outside Bournemouth. From there we all drove to Hengisbury Head for a walk along the seafront. This is a famous visitor spot in the area between Poole Harbour and Bournemouth and forms part of the main division between Poole and Christchurch Bays. We walked along the patch and stopped briefly at the newly-opened visitor centre. It was quite a walk and we went through some really attractive wooded areas and saw a lot of families with children and dogs enjoying the sunshine. We eventually arrived on the sandspit opposite Muddiford and the Beach House Cafe where we stopped for lunch, by which time we were well and truly ready for a rest and sit-down as it had been a good half-hour walk or more to our destination. I can, for one recommend this as somewhere for families to eat. The service was good and the food excellent, considering how busy it was. On the return to the car-park Carol's mum and dad decided to walk but myself and Carol returned using the land-train which was a pleasant way to travel. I don't, in all honesty, think we would have been able to walk back ourselves as by now we had been driving and walking more or less non-stop since very early this morning so a sit down on this mode of transport was well in order. We left the carpark once Carol's mum and dad appeared and got back to their flat a little while later. We left Bournemouth at around 6 p.m and I drove some of the way back on the A34 and got home to Milton Keynes a little after 9 p.m.

Back To Business

Hello folks! I'm posting to my blog  once again after the Summer Recess. I must say, I had really got into the swing of writing this, but, with Carol on holiday for the past month, we've been busy with one thing and another, so there wasn't a great deal of time to sit and keep this up to date. We had a few days away in Bournemouth a couple of weeks ago, visiting Carol's mum and dad who live there. We usually go down and back in the same day, but it makes for a very long and tiring day, so it was better to book a hotel in Bournemouth and stay over-night and visit her parents and then come back the next day. The hotel was on the sea-front, and preparations were going on for the Bournemouth Air Show, so we found that a lot of the streets around the seafront were closed off so we couldn't park the car, but we eventually found space in the hotel car park (very few spaces left when we got there, but we did manage to park.)

We arrived in Bournemouth on the Tuesday, the journey down seemed to take forever. We got our usual 'full English' breakfast, which was nice. (we don't very often have a fry-up, basically because it's so full of cholestrol, but  I do enjoy it, nevertheless!) After some deliberation we decided to drive to Christchurch and have something to eat. It turned out that we'd go to a cafe and have coffee, and wandered around near the river, where there was quite a crowd of people as the weather was fine. There was large number of swans and ducks and other birds gathered near the water's edge and people were feeding them bread, but they were becoming somewhat aggressive as we walked past.

The next day, having spent the night at the hotel, we got up early and walked along the seafront, taking some photographs as we walked. I may upload some of these onto this blog or my Facebook page when I have time, so look out for them!

On the way home I rather wanted to visit the  Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere. We've been past the exit on the A34 several times on the way down to Bournemouth and back, and, as we're members of the National Trust, and this place is managed by the N.T. it seemed a worthwhile visit. Also, this chapel was painted by Stanley Spencer, who is one of my favourite artists. Carol's mum and dad visit Cookham regularly, staying at a hotel owned and run by John Lewis (Carol's mum used to work for Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership.) and present and former employees are entitled to use this facility (a good company, John Lewis, treating their employees properly, although, as an employee, you are a 'partner' in the company, as they share all their profits, unlike most businesses who 'share' the profits with shareholders who don't usually work directly for the company.) What I'm attempting to get around to is that Stanley Spencer lived and worked in Cookham, and many of his paintings are set in and around that area. There is a gallery there which we have visited, and was recently renovated and re-opened, thanks to a National Lottery Grant. It was very well worth visiting. He was really a great painter, and his genius shows in this chapel. I was struck by how small the place was, and the fact that the painted walls covered virtually every single inch of space from floor to ceiling. Nothing he ever did was like anything else you are likely to see, his Biblical and particularly Christian-inspired work has an originality about it I don't think I have ever seen attempted by any other artist. I can genuinely say that it would be well worth visiting, if you are in the vacinity of Burghclere.