A last-minute invite for a weekend away by Bill and Viv. (We are always available at the last minute!) We were to meet them, plus Valerie and Norman at the National Trust’s Upton House and Gardens. There was to be music on the lawn. We arrived ahead of schedule and sat on the lawn in expectation. Eventually a solo singer female singer with backing music track came on. Not particularly inspiring. We then had a wander around the groundsbefore going into the house on our booked ticket. We had been to Upton House back in 2011. The theme of the house had been tragically changed. In 2011 it was very much themed on upstairs and downstairs. This time the theme was on how Lord and Lady Bearstead had upgraded the house. It was not so inspiring, and this time I could not play on the snooker table ☹. There were also an exhibition from the Country Life magazine, with one glaring error, where The Flint House on the “Waddestone estate” was located in “Bedfordshire”! Rosemary appalled. I must hasten to state this was not a National Trust error, but Country Life’s error.
Our friends arrived, and booked their tours, we all had tea and I don’t think anyone saw the solo singer on the lawn other than R and I.
My pictures this time were all from the garden, which we never looked at in 2011. The Garden is on a steep hill with some sharp drops. From the house you don’t see the valley and the ponds, when you walk out over the lawn you come to a six-foot unfenced vertical drop which then continues on down to the ponds. It is all rather fabulous.
After leaving the house we went on to the nearby pub / hotel of The Castle at Edghill where we sat and drank some Hook Norton ales, and looked out over the battlefield. Revived, we set of to Leamington Spar to stay the night at Bill and Viv’s where I was entertained with a Negroni and we all ate an excellent fish stew. Oh, and I was entrusted to choose the music!
Compton Verney and Rowlands Emett’s Marvellous Machines
So on the Sunday we all went to Compton Verney which we had visited with Bill, Viv, Norman and Valerie back in 2016. This time, there was an exhibition of mechanical devices, ranging from a minute, walking Faberge Elephant owned by the Queen to larger room-sized Marvellous Machines constructed by the artist Rowlands Emett. All highly entertaining.
Yeah, we were off to the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 to see Paloma Faith, our third time attending and camping, AND the weather was going to be gorgeous!
The Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza is held every year, performed in the Glastonbury Abbey grounds and organised by Michael Eavis. This year it was a sell-out, and so was the camping ground. It was speculated this was because there was no Glastonbury Festival and that a few Glastonbury regulars had decided on this event. Yes, most of the campers we spoke with were Glastonbury Festival regulars.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Friday
We set off at 8.30am, forgetting about the roadworks in Bicester which delayed us considerably. We aimed for Pilton Farm office where we arrived at 11.32 for me to buy a couple of tickets for the Pilton Party. The tickets had gone on sale the week before and had sold well, but there were still a few available. Yippy! I was able to show Rosemary the carpark where we would be camping on the 31st after the party!
We drove on to Glastonbury and parked the van at the campsite. We parked at the top of the hill, sideways on to the slope. Then we walked into the town down the main A361 road. You do take your life in your hands on that road, large trucks, sometimes one of the trucks has to pull over to let one passing in the other direction pass by. The pavements are also very narrow, with poorly cut back hedges. W e made it alive! Looked at a few charity shops, bought a few CDs and headed for ‘The Who’d A Thought It’ pub. I’ve always had a reasonable pint and something nice to eat there, BUT it does seem to have gone downhill this year. Should have noticed the lack of people in the garden where it has always been busy before. Ah well, won’t be eating there again, everything seemed to have been cooked in old oil, and the craft beer was past it.
Lovely walk back by the back roads and up to The Tor before descending to the Campsite. The views were not quite as good as a couple of years ago, considerable haze, though you could still see Hinkley point. Interestingly, the fields were far greener than at home where they all look scorched. At the campsite we were asked to move our van to face up and down the hill so more vans could park. No idea why we weren’t told how to park when we arrived. We moved in the morning. At these events it is interesting walking around and checking on the other vans, seeing how they had been converted and h are being used.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Saturday
Morning, breakfast and a lovely day as we walked into town. Today we drank at the George Hotel and Pilgrims Inn. We had rejected this several years ago as it looked dirty and insalubrious. I don’t know why, it very quaint and interesting place to be in. It also had a very good selection of craft beers. We didn’t eat there, we had decided to eat at a Vegan restaurant called the Excalibur Café.
The Excalibur was very busy. We ate well, though Rosemary didn’t like the ‘fermented cabbage smelling’ shot; I did! After lunch I walked to Tesco to buy some camping chairs; . Yes, we’d forgotten they are needed at the venue. Then it was more wandering around shops before joining the queue for the show. We parked ourselves just behind the walk way from one side of the arena to the other. It’s reasonably close, and because of the walk way, you don’t get people standing right in front of you.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Glastonbury Town Band
First was the Glastonbury Town Band, recently reformed. Rosemary and I agree they chose the wrong music for the occasion, a more upbeat programme would have been better.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Yazzy
Next on there was an 19 year old solo singer, Yazzy, she had performed at the Pilton Working Mens Club and Michael Eavis had given her this slot at the festival. She was accompanied by a keyboard player and made many references as to how proud she was to be supporting Paloma Faith, and thanking Michael Eavis for the chance to perform.
Then came the bad news, Paloma Faith was not going to perform, she had laryngitis and apparently pulled out at the last moment. Yazzy implied she had been speaking with her only minutes before she had gone on stage. Were we going to be leaving early? Instead Michael Eavis had managed to contact Tom Odell. He was dragged out of a family BBQ and helicoptered into Glastonbury as a replacement. While we waited we sat, ate, drank and amused ourselves to a DJ Jason Bryant, ace photographer of Glastonbury Festival.
A performance from Yazzy, from Glastonbury Extravaganza 2018. This is her promotional video from the event..
The helicopter arrived in a nearby field, and then we were entertained for 20 minutes by blue grass guitarist Rodney Branigan, a Texan now living in Norfolk. He played Blue Grass, two guitars at the same time and had the crowd on edge. Fantastic performance.
A performance from Rodney Branigan, again not from the festival
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Tom Odell
On came Tom Odell playing piano and singing. He’s an English songwriter who won the Brits Award in 2013. He has a new album, Jubilee Road, out in October 2018. Tom, and Rodney before, were admirable replacements for Paloma Faith. Some and I won’t say whom, believe there were a much better substitute. The crowd, or at least those around us, were very pleased with the replacement. Well let’s face it, most of us had booked before we even new Paloma Faith was the headline. It’s a lovely event with lovely people and a great atmosphere.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 Fireworks
Finally, there was the usual fabulous firework display. Then it was back to the campsite on the free coach.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Sunday
Away early so we could pop in to see some friends who live near by for coffee. The idea was to have coffee with Sue and Ken and then go on home. Plans never quite go that way, so it was lunch in the pub across the road, from them, and then home. Good to see them both.
R and I were up early to attend the second day of the Game Fair at Ragley Hall. The event celebrates the countryside, shooting, fishing and hunting. We were inside the fair before the opening time of the stalls. Traffic was not too bad. We had a long wander around all the stores. Some neat outdoor cooking systems, including a wood fire semi-portable pizza oven. The price put us off it!
Of course, we checked in at D B Guns to say hello to Dawn and Brian. I am happy to say they were very busy, so couldn’t stop and chat.
We ate lunch on the food alley which has masses of vendors selling goodies, and of course beer and cider in one of the many bars. Food most definitely has improved in recent years. A few years back we complained is was only hotdogs and burgers.
We watched the dogs agility show. It was not a competition but a showcase from the Kennel Club. Fun, loved the longhaired dogs when the jumped. There were also a myriad of retriever competitions going on as well.
We missed out on the ferrets, only seeing a pile of ferrets sleeping at the bottom of the cage. Rosemary was interested in the fly tying, I have some photographs of the flies, she was interested having read a book about a thief who stole a whole load of old and rare bird skins from the Tring Museum and sold these to collectors. Many of which ended up being turned into fishing flies.
It was a hot day, though a rain storm arrived at the end, so we left mid-afternoon as did so many others so rather tedious getting out of the place. I think next year we may go for the three days and stay in the campervan. There is plenty of other entertainment in the evenings.
We visited Richard and Andrea at their home in Great Saling. We walked around Sudbury and visited Gainsborough’s House to see the many portraits & landscapes painted by this artist. Many were donated by families paying off their inheritance taxes. We even purchased a new frying pan for use on our portable induction hob.
In the evening, driving to our supper destination, we were alarmed to encounter fire-engines racing off to a shout, which was a parched, harvested field, up in smoke. Our evening meal should have been in a community-owned pub, but sadly, it was boarded up & for sale. Instead we ate in The Finchingfield Lion. We’d visited the same pub a few years ago to see the Tour de France procession go past.
The next day we walk around the Salings, taking photographs of some of the many interesting houses. Andrea whipped up a delicious salad lunch. The afternoon proved too hot to do much else, other than sit in the garden.
Rosemary and I visited Ann & Liz in Norwich for an amazing couple of nights. We took our own bed, Morrison the campervan, because the house was full with the residents plus Bob’s daughter and her son, who were also visiting.
The weather treated us well with yet more sun. Ann’s grass was brown from the drought, Earlham Park almost looked like a desert. Were the newly planted trees in the park going to survive? The cost of planting them versus then never watering them in the drought, was a tad odd.
On our second evening we went to watch an amateur production of Tomfoolery,(a musical revue based on the lyrics and music by American mathematician, songwriter, and satirist Tom Lehrer), at Sewell Barn Theatre. Very ably produced with magnificent performance from the cast. I soon understood the meaning of the many pigeon decoys scattered around the theatre. Only downside was the small theatre which was rather warm.
Earlier in the day we had gone to Martham Ferry Boat yard to see the work which Nick had been doing. He is building new electric day boats for hire, and of course hiring them out. We went for a cruise to Hickling Broad, then back and up to Horsey Mere. We were in one of his diesel-powered boats, all the electric boats having been hired out before we arrived. We did come across one of Nick’s electric boats; it glid silently past us like a ghost.
We had an invitation from Ravi and Maggie to see a Shakespeare play being performed in Ely Cathedral. Rosemary was very interested, I was a little dubious having fallen asleep in the last play I saw by the Bard. Well in any case it was a night away, Rosemary wanted to go and who am I to argue, and Ely cathedral is a beautiful grand building. Oh and the sun was shining.
We drove on up and got immediately were caught is some traffic delays around Cambridge, major works building a new interchange for the A14. Be warned this will take several years to complete. Checked in, at the Poets House Hotel and Restaurant, into a huge room, with huge copper bath and separate shower, overlooking St Mary’s Street and The Green. Car parked, and we walked down to the River Great Ouse and sat beside the river in front of The Cutter Inn with a pint in one hand and a very large BLT sandwich in the other. Just as we were settled, out host walked by, Ravi was on his way to Cambridge to give an Economics lecture but would be back for the evening.
We were not the only guests, Andrea and Richard were also on their way and met us at the Inn for lunch. Maggie the other host also materialised, and we sat and nattered.
We did a little shopping in Ely city centre, viewed some frying pans that might have been suitable for Morrison, but ended up not buying. R also rummaged through a few charity shops. I was barred from entering Fat Face. Next, we ended up back at the hotel, changed and made our way to the Cathedral for the play, Much Ado about Nothing. I didn’t realise how small and intimate this performance was going to be. I had incorrectly assumed we would be in the main body fo the cathedra. But no, there were about 40 of us watching, seated on either side of the chancel, with the actors in between us. Oh, we were so close to the actors we could reach out and touch them. Indeed, some lucky/unlucky audience members were picked on and used as props.
The play is quite complex, but luckily, we had read a Wikipedia entry as we were driving up to Ely, so we had some idea of what was happening. The actual play is set in Messina, but this performance was set in France after the WWII with a mix of French locals and English squaddies and commanders. It started off with a short farce all spoken in French, I became extremely worried, thinking I was going to have to concentrate hard to understand a complex play in a foreign language which I had failed four times at O-level. Luckily, it all became clear, the farce ended, and the play started with a mixture of English and French and a bit of Allo Allo! The company abbreviated the play a little removing a few characters, but the essence was there. It was fun and funny with no chance of me falling asleep.
The company performing the play [Antic Disposition specialise in showing plays in Cathedrals in intimate settings. They also perform the plays in the UK and France and have both French and English actors.
After an interesting evening we headed down to Ravi and Maggie’s home for a late-night repast before heading back to the hotel for the night. The next day we had breakfast with Ravi, bade Maggie goodbye and headed home for an even longer delay on the road around Cambridge.
It was bike night at Ludgershall again. Lovely warm, dry, sunny evening for the event. As is usual, a thousand or so bikes turned up for the event. Various bars, fish and chip stands and hog roasts materialised to keep us fed. As well as motorbikes, new and vintage, there were quite a few other vintage vehicles and some Steam Punk.
Andrea and Richard visited us for Friday and Saturday. We had an enjoyable afternoon in Oxford visiting the Bodleian library to see the exhibition of Tolkien’s work. Our journey to Oxford was interesting. Due to an accident or road works, the A34 looked rather busy, so car and bus were ruled out. Instead we opted for a return ticket to Oxford from Bicester Village. This is the first time I have used the new line. The cost of the ticket off-peak was very reasonable, and we were also given a group discount.
The exhibition was well worth visiting, especially as these exhibitions are free, It featured Tolkien’s books, his original art work, manuscripts and maps used in his books. There was fascinating stories of how originally he wrote his short stories for bed time telling to his children. When he came to write the Lord of the Rings, he plotted out the journeys on a map of Middle Earth. Tolkien was also a linguist and created his own language for the elves. One book, which defeats most who have bought it, is the Silmarillion. I have yet to find anyone who has completed reading it. I keep seeing the book on friends’ bookshelves, but when I ask,, they’ve never finished reading it.
Afterwards we headed to the Eagle and Child for a drink before heading back home on the train.
Hurry, you can still see the exhibition, it is on until the end of October.
On the Wednesday we set off for Guernsey in Morrison our VW T5 campervan conversion. Arrived at Poole in plenty of time for the hydrofoil trip to Guernsey. The hydrofoil ferry was late leaving, it seemed to take an eternity to load and was totally full. Larger vehicles were asked to reverse on, including one caravan. Needless to say the caravan made a pig’s ear of this and had to give up. We later heard that the previous day’s ferry had been cancelled and that this was why our’s was so crammed.
Eventually, the ferry left in sunshine and made its slow way out of the Harbour and along the coast of Studland. At the Old Harry Rocks it accelerated for the trip across to Guernsey. But at this point sea fog arrived and accompanied us all the way across to Guernsey. We never saw Alderney nor the Casquet Rocks.
On entering the waters between Herm and Guernsey the ferry stopped, turned around and went around the far side of Herm and entered St Peter Port from the south. The lack of visibility and yachts caused the Captain to take a safer, more prudent route. We disembarked and made our way to the Fauxquets Valley Campsite arriving at 8.32. We were welcomed and parked our van for supper and the night.
Thursday Saint Peter Port and the Victorian Shop
Today we walked down to King’s Mills and caught the bus to St Peter Port, where Rosemary found a couple of charity shops, so bought more books (oh and a CD for me). Lunch at the White Hart pub and then to the National Trust Victorian Shop. Lovely warm day and it was good looking around St Peter Port.
Friday Biker Caff
Today we walked down to the coast, to the Biker Caff (aka Vistas Beach Café) for a coffee and the on to La Grande Mare Hotel. We were looking for the Twinkle the cat, but she was not around. Instead we caught the round the island bus to Saint Peter Port where we then caught the bus back to near the campsite.
Tonight was pizza night, we had pre-ordered our pizza and now decided on the toppings. They were quickly cooked in the new wood-fired pizza oven.
Saturday road closures
A lovely hot sunny day, we set off to Kings Mill to catch the bus again to The Imperial Hotel, where we intended to walk along the south coast path. Instead we were ceremonially dumped near to L’Eree. The bus was not going any farther, due to some road works somewhere. We walked along the coast to the Imperial Hotel. The orchids were over in the orchid fields, where we had seen them last year. The succulents were well past their flowering.
At the Imperial we stayed for a pint of beer. Had a lovely pint, can’t remember the name, other than it was a London craft beer. We continued along the coast, looked at the German war defences, admired the twinkling blue light in the sunlit sea. Eventually we called it a day and headed to the Route de Pleinmont to catch the first bus that came along. Actually had hoped to change buses at the airport, but alas our bus was late, so we missed the connection. Saint Peter Port, and then back home.
Sunday Castel Walk
Today we went for a long walk from the campsite through Castel along the green lanes. We headed eventually to the Biker Caff for a light lunch before heading home. Lovely sunset.
Monday Auberge at Jerbourg
We walked down to La Grand Mare to catch the bus going anti-clockwise around the island. The intention and actuality was to alight at St Martin’s and walk to the Auberge. This round the island bus always gets a running commentary from the driver. The journey is a popular trip for tourists and cruise boat inmates.
At the Auberge, which we visit every year, we had a very good meal as usual. Being a Monday it was going to be quiet, so we had not booked. Why does the head waiter proceed with the charade of saying he is going to search for a table? And when we left he thanked us for our unexpected visit.
Caught a bus from outside the restaurant to Saint Peter Port where we bought some food from the Co-Op, then back home.
Tuesday a Mystery
I had turned off location support on my phone, so Google has not recorded my movements. I don’t know what we did today. I think it was a lazy day and we stayed in camp reading. R saw a kestrel dive very suddenly, without any hovering in advance, and retrieve a mouse. We also saw some very large, bright green crickets.
Wednesday to Herm Island
Up early and caught the bus to Saint Peter Port for the ferry to Herm and the Rosaire Steps. We walked north and across the island to Shell Beach, where Rosemary spent an inordinate amount of time searching for miniscule molluscs. I believe she was a little disappointed in the lack of finds.
Now we walked along the east coast cliffs, and around the south to the Rosaire Steps to catch the ferry home. Quite a windy day and the gulls were displaying their adeptness for soaring the cliffs.
Back in Saint Peter Port we stopped at the Terrace Rooftop café for a beer before departing back to the campsite.
Thursday The Beach House
Last day in Guernsey, so packed away and drove along the North coast to Pembroke Beach and L’Ancresse Bay. How can one bay have two sides with different names! Lunch at the Beach House. R again managed to find some books for sale at a kiosk and even managed to read one that very afternoon & return it! On to Saint Peter Port where we had intended on buying some sandwiches from Waitrose for the trip back. We were confronted by a sign say no sandwiches because of a dispute with the ferry companies.
We boarded the Ferry, leaving after 7.00, and arrived back in Pool after 10.00. Watched the sun go down as we approached the island of England. Home shortly before 1am. Lots of diversions and road closures on our drive back.
The start of the festival season, and I was off to Download on the Thursday evening. Never been to Download before, possibly because it was always close to Glastonbury. No Glastonbury this year, so no excuses. The weather looked passable for the weekend with sun and maybe a small smattering of rain on the Friday morning. This is exactly how it panned out.
I arrived at Download in good time, and went to the Rest In Peace entrance, where I was directed to the Sleepy Hollow campsite. The Sleepy Hollow campsite was a new operation for the year, Google Maps showed it as a freshly grassed field, and that is how it was; I could see the rows of grass with soil between. The field is also on a slope, so pot luck whether you end up on a level area. The wonderful thing about this campsite is you park the car next to your tent, no lugging stuff around. You also have a reasonable sized pitch. If I had been thinking straight I would have taken the camper. I regretted not taking Morrison by the end of the weekend, (Just have to get it past the co-owner.) Cold nights and the inflatable bed sprang a leak, so I was sleeping on the hard, cold ground.
The Rest In Peace (RIP) option has several different price levels, including cabins, Tepees and pre-erected tents. There are also proper loos and showers on site. They also have a bar and entertainment on the Wednesday and Thursday night. I watched a band and some comedy acts before heading to bed. Unfortunately, the quantity of beer drunk soon before going to bed needed more than one trip to the loo during the night.
During the night it rained, and in the morning there was still moisture in the air. Breakfast bap from the nearby van, which I did every day, and then over to the Arena, a pleasant walk through the RIP village and through the Guest Area and then into the Arena. The Guest Area gives a pleasant spot to get away from the masses and sit down at tables and benches to eat and drink. I used the Guest Area for my meals, becoming a Vegan during the day, eating some delicious wraps with salad, humus and falafel. They were distinctly more flavoursome than the pale coloured meat burgers you could get elsewhere.
So in the arena I went for a wander around, checked out the four stages, and the events arena. Looked at the food offerings, bars and shops. There was a real ale bar selling a few beers including Wherry Ale from Woodforde’s in Norfolk. I was all set for the bands,
Friday
On the main stage I watched all the bands to some extent, though left Bullet for My Valentine early to go and see Bad Religion
Boston Manor
Avatar
Dragonforce
Marmozets
VolBeat
Bullet for my Valentine
Bad Religion
Avenged Sevenfold.
Avatar, Marmozets, Bad Religion and Avenged Sevenfold all provided great performances. Avenged played a cover of Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here”, which was repeated by GnFnR in their set. Coincidence or planning?
Saturday
Cloudy day to start but cleared up and became gorgeous. I stayed on the main stage, but sometimes spent time back in the Guest Area eating and having a Bulleit cocktail. (BLT)
The Pink Slips
Whiskey Myers
Monster Truck
The Temperance Movement
Thunder
Black Stone Cherry
Guns n Roses (GnFnR)
GnFnR played for three hours. There were some long drawn out solos from Slash. Overall it was excellent, Should be, rumour has it they were paid £5,000,000. Despite there being 100,000 there, it was easy to get close to see them. The area between the front crush barrier and back crush barrier had a large amount of free space. I was amazed. I have been at Reading festival where I have been crushed at the back by the force of people pushing me against the rear crush barrier from the front.
Sunday
I was beginning to feel my age, muscles were cramping up. Festivals are challenging work, lots of walking, lots of jumping up and down. Anyway another great line-up I hoped, and I was not disappointed.
Inglorious
Cradle of Filth
Hatebreed
In this Moment
Black Veil Brides
Shinedown
Marilyn Manson
Ozzy Osboure
I think the most disappointing was Marilyn Manson. Ozzy was his predictable self, singing all the old Black Sabbath songs. Again I was surprised by the amount of space at the front.
On the Monday morning I was up and out very early and back home before 8, much to Rosemary’s surprise. I was feeling worn out and stiff from the exertions of the festival. Added to that I contracted a cold.
The campsite was not bad, the showers and loos worked well and were not dirty. The late night and early morning flights into East Midlands were rather annoying. They were noisy enough for me in the RIP area. Those camping in the general campsites would have been directly under the flight path. I was also surprised at the time the main acts ended. I was expecting 11.45, it was more like 10.30.
We visited Richard and Andrea at their home in Great Saling. We walked around Sudbury and visited Gainsborough’s House to see the many portraits & landscapes painted by this artist. Many were donated by families paying off their inheritance taxes. We even purchased a new frying pan for use on our portable induction hob.
