July 2008 - UK trip

This month we spent in the UK catching up with friends and family. It was very busy and even though we were there for a month we didn't manage to do everything we wanted to or catch up with everyone, so sorry to all those we didn't see, but we couldn't fit everyone it unfortunately.
The first few days we stayed in Luton seeing family and a few friends. We had a lovely meal out with Kim, Paul, Cassie & Kyle, it's amazing how much kids can grow in 4 years!



The following evening we headed out to Maulden and caught up with Joe's sister Connie and the kids. Michael enjoyed catching up with his cousins.



We then headed of to see the Evans Clan and spent the Saturday at the Goodwood festival of speed. I shan't bore you all with the details but I will say if you like cars you'd love it!! It was lovely to catch up with Monica, Trevor, Phoebe, Finlay, Alfie & Rafferty. A very relaxing few days.






After a day at Goodwood, we heading on down to Cornwall to see my brother Ian, future wife Julie and their lovely son Aston, and Jack who had grown quite a bit!! :-D









We had a lovely couple of days with them all and we were lucky enough to see them again before we left to return home.

Back in Luton we took a day trip to Laverstock, Salisbury and visited Joe's Auntie Margaret. We had a lovely day and her garden looked wonderful.



Joe and I took Zoe and Emily to Tring reservoirs and had a nice long walk. It wasn't the best of days weather wise, we hadn't had any nice weather at all at this point.



Joe showed them how to play Pooh sticks, they said they had never played this before.



We were lucky to time our walk just as a Narrow boat was making it's way through the locks









We then headed off to Tring Natural History Museum, and had a look at all of the exhibits there. Zoe and Emily dressed up in costumes, I think they may have been better swapping dresses!!



Dunstable Downs was out next port of call and we had ice cream, although I think I would have preferred a hot chocolate!



Out last visit was to Doolittle Mill for a little bit of Webber family history. This mill was powered by, steam, wind and water. The sails sadly are long gone, but it has been nicely restored, although it passed out of family hands some years ago. It apparently is listed in the Domesday book. It can be found at Totternhoe, Dunstable



That evening we were at Lynn & Steves for a Caddington Tiger reunion party! A great time as usual and great to catch up with everyone. And how those wee lads have grown!



On the 21st we headed off for few days with friends to Ballyliffen, Donegal, Ireland.



This was a much looked forward to get away that had brought us all together from all over the globe. Tracey, Liann & Lily from Phuket, Robert from Hong Kong and us from New Zealand. It was quite a fantastic effort from everybody and thanks to Kim & Carolyn for organising it! There were four families in all, including Kim, Paul, Cassie & Kyle, Jim, Carolyn, Robert, Louise and Catherine. Sixteen of us in total and we met up with Mick, Caroline and their family, Paul, Joseph, Cara and Ryan(sp?)











We had a great time and it was great to see everybody together again. next time will be in Phuket in four years time!



No sooner were we back from Ireland we were flying up to Scotland to see Joe's sister Liz, hubby Pat and all the family.

It was great to see them all and lovely they they all were able to spend so much time with us. We had a very nice meal at the Cruin over looking Loch Lomond, especially as the weather was so glorious.






A day trip out to Stirling castle on probably the hottest day of the year, was very interesting as we decide to follow one of the tour guides around. We had a very informative history lesson that day.




Looking out through the cannon ramparts we could see the William Wallace monument...Braveheart to you and me!





On the way back from Stirling Joe and Michael took a dip in the Loch. It wasn't as cold as they thought it would be!









Another visit that was over too quickly and we were on our way back to Luton.

One last trip and visit took us up to our old holiday stomping ground, Holland-on-Sea. We drove up and picked up Auntie Lenna on the way. We wanted to see my cousin Sue in Great Bentley. as her lovely husband sadly passed away a couple of weeks before we came back to the UK. Eddie will always be in our thoughts, he was a wonderfully generous man and he'll be missed always.
It was another glorious day, and we really enjoyed catching up with everyone.



One last visit before we headed back was to Holland-on Sea where we used to have our beach hut and some great summer holidays. When we got there it was great to see the Birds family all outside their beach hut, so we sat and talked for a while and caught up on all the gossip. The plan was to have fish and chips on the beach, but that didn't happen as the local chippy wasn't up to much we were told





For the last few days of our visit we spent with family in Luton, Ian, Julie & the boys came up from Cornwall so we could all spend some time together. A new discovery centre had recently opened at Stockwook park, which is only up the road from mum and dads. So we all headed up there. It was great, so much to see and do, I would think that in a couple of years or so the new plantings will come into their own.

The kids had a great time 'discovering' :-D




The discovery centre had been built within the already existing museum which houses the huge Mossman collection of Horse drawn carriages. It looked like it had had a bit of a revamp too.









The dummies are pretty lifelike!!





Also worth a look is the walled Victorian garden, it's quite formal but very pretty.





Coffee was good but you need a mortgage to pay for it!



That evening we had a very nice meal at the Balcony which is at Vauxhall Motors Brache Sports club














Some family photos:














Phew! That's it folks! ;-D