Our guides Paul and Lorraine
Sunday, June 1st
Took the Elizabeth line to Heathrow for our flight home. Spent time in the United Lounge having breakfast and then boarded for home. Uneventful 10 hour flight that went by very quickly believe it or not. Then greeted my nonchalant feline family at home and glad to be back on B.
Saturday, May 31st
Saturday, we were worn out and met the group for breakfast then everyone took off to their new destinations. We had one more day to spend in London and very little energy to run around touring. So…we rested until noon and then took off to the embankment for a little walk on the Thames, a view of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower with Big Ben plus the London Eye. Weather was a beautiful 78 degrees and many Londoners and tourists were out and about. We ended up getting a salad at Little Waitrose near the Mad Hatter Hotel where we were staying and having dinner in a local park. Shared some wine and it was very relaxing, just what the doctor ordered for our last day.
Friday, May 30th
Today was just Hampton court, an eclectic palace with both Tudor and Rococo palaces that abut each other creating an unusual combination of visual effects. Lovely gardens and grounds plus some interesting rooms in the palaces. The Tudor palace was added on to and lived in by King Henry VIII. The Rococo palace wing was built by William and Mary. William was from Holland and ruffled some feathers by eating in private without courtiers. The audience Hall consisted of a series of rooms adjacent to each other in a row. The rooms one got access to for the King depended on your status moving from low to high as you got closer to the Kings more personal rooms like the sleeping chambers. Only his closest servants and confidants would be in the final room and each audience room previous to that room would indicate your closeness to the King and thus your status.
And of course….no tour would be complete without a farewell party. We went to Founder’s Arms for our final tour party. Here are some photos from our last get together.
Thursday, May 29th
Kew and only Kew today. Kew Gardens is a world-renowned botanic garden and UNESCO World Heritage site, home to a vast collection of living plants and extensive botanical and mycological research. It’s known for its diverse plant collections, scientific expertise, and role in plant conservation and sustainable development.
Kew, Richmond, London, TW9 3AE
After we were Kew’d out, we took a cue from our stomachs and we walked over the Blackfriars Bridge and into the City of London for a meal. We found this lovely little Italian place and got a pizza and salad. Afterwards, we were astonished at the number of thirty somethings that were queueing to get in and spilling out of the pubs onto the streets in this little rabbit warren of a neighborhood.
Wednesday, May 28th
Travel day to London from Royal Tunbridge Wells by train. Met a lovely woman who adored hearing about the garden tour. I showed her pictures of my gardens and she said she had lived in the US as well. The time passed quickly and then we were in London at the Waterloo East station and walked to the Mad Hatter Hotel .
At 2pm we had an arranged tour of parts of London, including Londinium and the City of London with a perky, knowledgeable tour guide, Catherine, who trained for 2 years to get the credential of tour guide.
Ended up a little water front pub and sat outside to enjoy the lovely weather.
Tuesday, May 27th
Today we only had one home on our tour left and it was Rudyard Kipling’s home, Bateman’s However, afterwards we did tour an abandoned abbey.
Bateman’s
The family home of world-famous writer Rudyard Kipling, known for The Jungle Book and Just So Stories. Built in 1634, this Jacobean house is in the Sussex countryside.
Bateman’s Lane, Burwash, East Sussex, TN19 7DS
The wall covering the dining room is handmade of leather with a tedious process of tanning and dying.
Monday, May 26th
Made it to Groombridge later in the day. My friend Andrew has a cottage here and adores it. The tour guide said I must get a picture in front of the Groombridge sign and this is for you Andrew.
Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst are on the agenda for today. We drove to Scotney and needed to wait a bit until it opened because apparently castles sleep in on bank holidays too.
The property has two dwellings, a fortified manor house and a more modern house built in the 1840s because the owners preferred to move uphill for a view. The place has been inhabited since the 1110s and the original manor house with large imposing moat was built in 1378. This fairytale manor house with moat is absolutely charming and the grounds are beautifully tended.
Reflections…
The new manor house was built in 1840 and built at the top of a hill with a view of the earlier fortified manor house.
Sissinghurst
A crown jewel in the National Trust’s collection of manor houses and gardens.
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
Historic, poetic, iconic: a refuge dedicated to beauty. Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson fell in love with Sissinghurst Castle and created a world-renowned garden.
Biddenden Road, near Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 2AB
Sunday, May 25th
It’s Sunday in England so apparently castles sleep in too. Therefore, we made an interim stop at a happy and cheap chain in England called Wetherspoon for a coffee. The chain takes older buildings like this opera house and remodels into a restaurant with tables in the orchestra pit and on stage. They perform one night of opera and this year it was Die Fledermause in February.
Next, because we can’t just let sleeping castles lie….we headed to Hever Castle for a timed entry into what I would call a boutique castle with drawbridge as it’s pretty small as far as castles go.
Hever castle dates to the 1240s and was home to the Boleyn family included the most famous decapitate member, Anne Boleyn, second wife of Kind Henry VII. She grew up here in this dollhouse of a castle and played with wooden toys. She went on to become a smart beautiful courtier and eventually his wife. Until….she couldn’t provide a male heir and was convicted of treason and beheaded. Anne of Cleves was his fourth wife. Some portraits and a drawing of Anne of Cleves below. Which think you the fairer maiden?
Grounds
Water Maze- Try to get to the middle without getting wet.
Hever Castle Water Grottos
Hever- Rose Garden
Hever Castle Walled Garden
Saturday, May 24th
Standen House and Garden
Arts and Crafts family home with Morris & Co. interiors, set in a beautiful hillside garden. West Hoathly Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 4NE
Morris & Co. Interiors
William Morris Arts and Crafts Wall Paper– Gorgeous
Wakehurst
Wakehurst is home to the national seed bank with contributions from all over the world. Their mission is to preserve seeds for the future for a black swan or other event where they are needed. This property was donated to Kew Gardens and is a second home for the London institution that outgrew its city locale. The property comes with a large country manor and extensive grounds. We had a very gracious and thorough tour of the property by William who is a volunteer for Kew. Rare specious abound on the property and the seed bank has a concrete vault which supposedly could withstand a nuclear bomb detonation.
Beautiful Manor House and Walled Kitchen Garden
Beautifully Lush and Relaxing Grounds
Friday, May 23rd
Ightham Mote
Friday we drove about an hour to a charming house and gardens that dates back to the 1200s called Igtham Mote (pronounced “Item” mote). This home with gardens and fish ponds was built in this location because of the wonderful springs that feed a small creek which provided drinking water and waste water draining for the home. The home does actually have a moat with bridges on two entrances.
Chartwell
We took a 40 minute drive to Chartwell which is Winston Churchhill’s home and is both Ightham Mote and Chartwell are lovingly taken care of by the National Trust. I found out they they zero pounds in government funding so put them on your donation list.
Chartwell was amazing for its beautiful gardens and a home tour where we could see the efforts of this multitalented influential man. He painted, he laid bricks as a hobby and gardened all at this lovely estate with rolling hills and green lawns
Gorgeous Gardens
Huge, Rambling House Where the Real Action Was
Thursday May 22nd
Thursday was basically a travel day with a long luxurious morning to have breakfast and take a walk to nearby Cavendish Park and stroll through Westminster.
After a lovely breakfast and stroll, we took an Uber to Charing Cross station and boarding a Hastings train via Tunbridge Wells and we found a seat with enough room for our luggage and enjoyed the 53 minutes of train travel through London and rural southeast England, arriving at Tunbridge Wells. We schlepped our luggage uphill and around a large common to get to the Spa Hotel. Our rooms were ready so we checked in and headed to the rooms. One of the rooms was a little sad, so we changed that up with a wonderful manager and took a tour of the lovely grounds.
Wednesday May 21st
Some rain today and we knew that so switched our British Museum date to today. Headed off for a 20 minute walk to the museum after a delicious breakfast at our hotel. We had tickets when we arrived so no need to stand in the longest line; however, we did stand in a shorter line for security screen prior to entering.
First, a little theme song for London I discovered today.
Because I hadn’t been to the museum since the early 1980’s (yes 45 years!), I wanted to head directly to hotly contested Elgin marbles from the Parthenon. We went through a couple of galleries to get to it and went swimming upstream as everyone else was headed in the opposite circle. When we arrived, we took in the beautiful entablature frieze, metopes and pediment.
After the museum we were a little peckish and walked about 10 minutes to Dalloway Terrace restaurant for a light lunch. I had a smoked salmon starter and some delicious beefy tomatoes in a lovely shallot and olive oil, lemon marinade. Maye had a yummy kale and spinach salad with a delicious lemony dressing as well. We share some amazing truffle fries with small pots of ketchup and mayonnaise.
Cat Sitter Photos for Today
Tuesday May 20th
Quick photo of brekky an then off for today’s agenda. Eggs Florentine.
Queen Mary’s Rose Garden
Today we were going to go to the British Museum; however, with the weather hovering at 70 degrees in the afternoon, we decided to head to an Antique market and then decided spontaneously to head to the Queen Mary’s Garden in Regent Park. Queen Mary’s Gardens are world-famous gardens named after the wife of King George V. In 1932 when Queen Mary’s Gardens opened to the general public, the first superintendent planted a rose garden which was completed in 1934.
The rose garden is London’s largest collection of roses with approximately 12,000 roses planted within the gardens. There are 85 single variety beds on display, including one which is home to our very own ‘Royal Parks’ rose. Examples of most rose varieties, from the classics to the most modern English roses, are present in the gardens.
Roses are not the only treasure of the gardens. The Delphinium border has full National Collection status. The Mediterranean Borders are well established, and the Begonia Garden, with its 9,000 begonias, is twice yearly planted with seasonal bedding.
I was seemingly the only soul there who was stopping to smell the roses and then Maye joined me. Some lovely fragrances. Nice meandering paths with benches overlooking ponds and a huge waterfall. Roses were not in fully bloom yet and many of the beds had new plantings for summer visitors. Very nice spot to hang on a beautiful day.
High Tea at the Langham
We met Ruben at Oxford Circus then headed across the street to the Langham Palm Court for high tea and boy was it high. Large selection of teas, finger sandwiches, champagne, scones, clotted cream, pastries with chocolate and what I consider the finest “fruit cake” ever with a loose crumb and really more of a spice cake with fruit. We had a fun time and the service and food were delicious. I only have this one little picture before the food orgy began.
Nosh at the Nest
After the high tea, Ruben took off to visit his cousin’s before leaving the next day back to America. We were almost too stuffed to think of food but…..this is vacation so around 8pm we decided to head upstairs at our hotel to a rooftop bar called the Nest. The bar has wonderful 365 degree views of London and it was full of young, hip Londoners. We agreed that we outranked the guests and the staff by many years of age and no-one really of our demographic. They seemed amused by us older folks and the music was loud with nary a moment to pause and have silence.
Monday May 19th
Today is the first day of getting out and about in London. On the agenda is an EBike tour of London neighborhoods, Hop On Hop Off bus tour and tickets to see the classic Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap at the St Martin’s Theater.
Bike Tour
When I walked to the meeting point for the 9:00am tour, I got a call from the guide asking where I was and it turns out the meeting point had been changed so I missed the morning tour because it was too far away to make and I didn’t want to hold up the group. He offered the 1pm afternoon slot instead and I accepted so took an Uber to the location (all Uber cars I have taken thus far in London are Chinese BYD and very comfortable and quiet).
Walk Back to Hotel from EBike Tour
The weather was beautiful and I had exercised so decide to be brave and walk the 48 minutes back to the hotel on the thoroughfares of London. I stopped at a little tapas bar for a lovely glass of Portuguese red and some bruschetta with white bean paste. I met two Australians and we commiserated about the state of the US and our damaged world brand. Then took off walking some more and these are some photos.
Mousetrap at St Martin’s Theatre
The evening was for theatre and Italian food. Charming, typically British performance of Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap at the St Martin’s Theatre.
Sunday May 18th
Great flight. Relaxed in the United Club and boarded for the voyage and it went by very fast. We both got some sleep and were and ready to tackle the Elizabeth Line to Bond Street station. Piece of cake as the tube takes ApplyPay. Nice walk to the Treehouse Hotel and got checked into a room that overlooks the London skyline and is right across the street from the Langham where will be having high tea on Tuesday after the British Museum. We took an hour roundtrip walk to Hyde Park and sat next to a lake with swan, geese, ducks and other waterfowl. Ate a little snack of lager and chips which was perfect.
I am posting these photos around 5:47p local time and found myself nodding off so got up and sat at the desk where it’s harder to nod. Heading out to find a pizza and salad joint somewhere nearby in Londinium. Early to bed and EBike tour of neighborhoods at 9am after breakfast. Weather is in the high sixties so ideal for walking.
