Cows, crowds and countryside – a family getaway COMPLETED - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Cows, crowds and countryside – a family getaway COMPLETED
Cows, crowds and countryside – a family getaway
21 September – part one: on the “rollercoaster road”....
Dates: Friday 21 – Sunday 23 September Adventurers: Me, Cheryl (39) and DH Mark (47) Destinations: Plush, Dorset Celebration: celebrating Mark’s dad’s 70th birthday
There had been many discussions about what to do for Mark’s dad’s 70th birthday. Everyone wanted to do something and the first discussion had been to go to their villa in Spain.... well, that was until I asked if anyone had checked flight prices to get out there. As it was September, we figured the prices wouldn’t be too bad. Unfortunately, that didn’t prove to be the case, as when I checked, it was something stupid like £200 each. There was no way everyone could afford that.... so that idea could quickly ditched.
Eventually, it was decided that we’d go down to Dorset for the weekend, with a place that would sleep all 18 of us. you did right that right!
It’s Mark’s parents, Barb and Dave, the two of us, Mark’s oldest sister Jane (he’s the oldest out of the bunch), her husband Alan, their son Karl and his fiancée Sophie, their daughter Holi and her fiancé Dean, Mark’s middle sister Sara, her husband Tom, their daughters Evie and Daisy, and Mark’s youngest sister Anne, her husband Sean, their daughter Hannah and their son Oliver. don’t worry – I appreciate you won’t remember any of that, but heck, at least I’ve run through it once for you...
We’d said quite early on that there was no way we could take the Friday off to go down. With me just having changed jobs, I didn’t have as much holiday as I’d had in my previous job (it’s still a lot though! ) to afford the extra day, so we said we’d have to come down in the evening. As time wore on and with all the extra hours I’d worked, I agreed with my manager that I’d take a half day and Mark was able to as well, so at least that was something and we shouldn’t have to drive down in the darkness, which was a bonus.
Although some of the brood would be going down first thing, we weren’t the only ones who would be leaving around lunchtime, as Sara and Anne would also have to go at lunchtime, as they couldn’t take the kids out of school for the whole day and it turned out that we all left pretty much at the same time...
That’s the pre-trip report... now on to the trip report proper.....
So, as you can see from that, the idea today was to go into work, have a half day and hopefully be on the road down to Dorset, which is about a three hour drive from us, by lunchtime. It just about worked out that way, although me getting called back into the office unexpectedly didn’t help matters.
Finally, we were off at around 1:45pm, which in truth was a bit earlier than I thought we’d get away, so that wasn’t bad going. The drive wasn’t at all bad around the notorious M25. We hit a bit of traffic just before we got off that motorway, but it only slowed us down a bit and we didn’t stop – and that’s always a good day on the M25.
Around Heathrow we saw this...
... and a little further down, one of these:
We came off on to the M3 to head down to the south west. I’d been texting Anne and I knew they were about half an hour ahead of us, so I was really surprised to discover they were now behind us. They’d had to stop at a service station to pick up Tom, Sara’s husband and apparently had to wait quite a while for him.
They soon overtook us, as we stopped at some services for some chocolate supplies (I had only eaten a cheese sandwich all day so far!) and to get some money. Now they were ahead of us....
We got some lovely views as we travelled down – some sign of fall colours starting....
This sky was quite something!
We started exchanging phone calls, as one of the roads we could’ve taken (not the one I was ever going to try) was closed off, so we carried on the motorway. It was all fine until we got near to Bournemouth, which is where my grandparents used to live, then we hit the traffic. We started to head towards exactly where my grandmother and grandfather used to live, which was slightly freaky. I wasn’t expecting to get that close, which was nice. Had it not been for the traffic, we’d have gone right past where they used to live, but we ground to a halt and went a different route instead. By now, I was getting text messages from the others, saying they were all stuck in traffic as well.
We ended up taking a different route, through Wimborne Minster, named for the Minster at its centre, which is beautiful. As I passed through places, I had vague recollections of them from my childhood, which was lovely.
On the route out of there, we ended up on what we called the “rollercoaster road” – and again, I remember going down here with my dad when I was a kid. Then, we used to see if we could “take off”, but thankfully today was a lot more sedate.
What a nice surprise to find TWO TRs from you this morning! I'm sure it's been a nice break for you, but it's been very odd to have none of your TRs to catch up on for the past few weeks.
Sounds like a nice family gathering is in store. I remember the names from some of your previous reports. Beautiful countryside-- such wonderful, dense trees. Must have been nice to pass so many remembered spots from your childhood.
What a nice surprise to find TWO TRs from you this morning! I'm sure it's been a nice break for you, but it's been very odd to have none of your TRs to catch up on for the past few weeks.
I was hoping to have the Legoland one going a lot earlier, but it just didn't work out, due to issues with Photobucket... that I discovered were resolved yesterday morning. Let's hope they stay that way now!
Number three will be starting shortly as well... see my countdown...
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Great start! We had a road like that on the way to my Grandparent's houes too. We called the hilly road. We stopped taking that when the dog got sick one time from too much up and down.
Great start! I love the pictures so far, thank you for sharing. Just looking at the buildings and the countryside makes me want to hop on a plane and head over there.
Wow, two new TR's in one day! This is our lucky day! I too had a road near my grandparents' house when I was growing up that we called the rollercoaster road. And yes, I think we did get airborne sometimes!
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Soon we were coming off the main road and on to the twisting and turning lanes, but as Mark said to me, I did surprisingly well with them. Part of that was the beautiful views we saw along the way. I saw the name Milton Abbas and knew that I knew it from somewhere, but I couldn’t think where from. As we came into it, I spotted a pub and instantly remembered that was where we’d had lunch for my grandmother’s 80th birthday.
A little bit further on, we got some stunning views of Milton Abbey, complete with the kids from the school there playing rugby on the fields outside.
There were lots more beautiful villages as we drove along...
... and then we found a place to stop to see some cows.
A little further along, we stopped again and there was a guy by the cows. Obviously used to having to give out directions to lost tourists, he asked if we needed any help and I explained that I just wanted to take photos of the cows, so he immediately excitedly started to tell us about what breeds they were.
He then asked where we were heading for and, when we told him, he said “oh yes, that’s my cousin’s place”. Altogether now.... “it’s a world of laughter....” etc.
We found the place a couple of minutes later, although we did go in the wrong entrance, which apparently everyone else had already done. we were the last to get there, but it didn’t matter. We’d taken a lovely route that had been well worth the extra time.
Immediately we arrived, everyone told me that I’d be in my element, as there were loads of cows – and they weren’t joking either. They were literally right outside the house, so of course, forget greeting the rest of the family, I had to go and check out the cows – and they were beautiful.
Finally, it was time to have a look around the house and my goodness, it was a massive place. Then again, in fairness, it did need to be to accommodate 18 of us....
The dining room The stairs down to the basement... ... which is home to a hot tub... ... and a games room The kitchen One of the living rooms
We were on the first floor, along with Mark’s parents and two of his sisters and their kids, although we had a bedroom with an en suite bathroom that worked fine for me. I don’t do sharing bathrooms well....
Our room Our en suite bathroom The view from our room over the side of the house... ... and out towards the front of the house One of the twin rooms The other twin room on this floor Mark’s parents’ room, complete with four poster bod The bell system that I assume was once used for/by the servants...
What a beautiful drive through the country villages. That house looks wonderful. Big enough for 18 to spread out in! Love your room with the en suite. That's a great herd of cows-- is the house part of a dairy farm?
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There was no way everyone could afford that.... so that idea could quickly ditched. 
you did right that right! 
don’t worry – I appreciate you won’t remember any of that, but heck, at least I’ve run through it once for you... 
We started to head towards exactly where my grandmother and grandfather used to live, which was slightly freaky. I wasn’t expecting to get that close, which was nice. Had it not been for the traffic, we’d have gone right past where they used to live, but we ground to a halt and went a different route instead. By now, I was getting text messages from the others, saying they were all stuck in traffic as well. 
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