Category Archives: England

Living it up in London

Posted on October 10, 2017 by

Earlier this year, I spent an unusually sybaritic week sightseeing and overindulging with a friend from the Philippines on her first trip to London: Hampton Court (food), Harry Potter World (food) and Harrods (and more food). Then there was a … Continue reading →

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History Upended

Posted on August 30, 2017 by

A birthday. I forget which one. I was probably about ten. A card arrived from Australia with a $10 bill inside. There was a financial exchange with my father, a trip to the local bookshop, a new book: The Children of … Continue reading →

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North Yorkshire: then and now

Posted on August 8, 2017 by

Once upon a time, my One and Only set out to walk the Pennine Way. This is a challenging, long-distance track that lumbers painfully up the spine of England from Edale, in Derbyshire’s Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales … Continue reading →

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A Classic London Market

Posted on June 8, 2017 by

London has a veritable cornucopia of markets: from Camden to Covent Garden, Brick Lane to Brixton, Spitalfields to Nottinghill and Petticoat Lane, these popular markets attract shoppers from all over the world. Last Christmas, staying downstream from the Tower of London, … Continue reading →

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Sunday Morning on the Broads

Posted on May 31, 2017 by

            A lazy long weekend, a boat, a bag of snacks, and hot, hot sun. Marbled water strung with pearly bubbles. Branches dipping low to sip at the rippled wake from passing boats. Boat houses, … Continue reading →

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Spring Flowers

Posted on April 7, 2017 by

The Cotswolds.  A rural idyll just west of Oxford.  A variable landscape of high, open hilltops, narrow wooded valleys, villages of butterscotch limestone, and dry stone walls edging fields dusted with black faced sheep and their newborn lambs.  Today, in … Continue reading →

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Of Ghosts and Ghouls and Clotted Cream

Posted on October 3, 2016 by

I was hardly dressed for afternoon tea in a smart country house hotel. We had been on the road since 10am and I had dressed for comfort, not style, en route to the Midlands, to deliver our younger son to … Continue reading →

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Childhood Holidays

Posted on August 11, 2016 by

My father found her hanging around outside the Australian Embassy on the Strand in London, just after Christmas 1975. She was already quite elderly, and ran out of puff at the mere mention of a hill. We called her Bella. … Continue reading →

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The Chequers, The Chasers and a Country Market

Posted on July 19, 2016 by

While everyone here has been complaining that the English summer has been grim, with endless pouring rain and much flooding, since I arrived two weeks ago, the weather has been sublime and, thanks to all that rain, the countryside is blooming and exuberantly, … Continue reading →

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Mother’s Milk or Mother’s Ruin?

Posted on April 22, 2016 by

“Red meat and gin.” – Julia Child, on the ingredients for a long life. Ten years ago micro-breweries hit the market with ‘craft’ or ‘boutique’ beers, providing the world with interesting alternatives to the mass-produced European style lagers.  Today, word … Continue reading →

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