Adults only – sampling southern England COMPLETED - Page 50 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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well it has taken me forever but finally caught up on this TR. Now that you are off on another adventure I'm sure I am pages behind on that.
This TR is so nice you sure have packed alot of stuff into your days. Sometimes just exploring close to home can be so pleasant.
It should be easy for you to catch up on that one as it's just a little summary of the day! Now when Cheryls, actual TR begins, that will be a different thing as I'll fall behind it as well at times! But will catch up for sure....can't lose out on it!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Saturday 10 May – part ten: some very odd table mates…
We walked the short distance down to the Angel Inn just before 6:30pm.
This place is really deceptive. I thought it was quite small inside, but there’s another big room out the back, which we were taken into.
When we were seated, there was only one other couple there, and we did wonder if genuinely this place was going to fill up, but it did as we ate. We noticed that there was a lot of space between the tables, which was a nice change, but they could add more in if they needed it, and they certainly seem to, given how busy it was tonight.
We did our best to be quick with our choices to try and ensure we were out by 8:00pm. For appetiser, I went for the baked Camembert in a box, red onion marmalade, and bread sticks. It was billed as a “to share” dish, and you could certainly see that when it turned up!
I barely ate any of the bread sticks, but I did make it all the way through the Camembert, which was lovely.
Mark also ordered a “to share” dish, the bread and olives, made up of marinated olives, pesto, focaccia, rapeseed oil, and balsamic. This wasn’t small either!
He also went for the scallops, smoked bacon, and spring onion gratin. It wasn’t what either of us expected.
For entrée, we both went for the special dishes they had on that night. I had the whole baked plaice, crayfish and caper butter, new potatoes, and green beans. It was nice, but to me, there was far too much butter, and the crayfish didn’t really go with the rest of the dish.
Mark opted for the roasted haunch of venison, dauphinoise potatoes, spring greens and peppercorn sauce.
Amazingly, after all of this, we still had room for dessert, so asked to see the menu, and made our choices very quickly. I went for the dark chocolate and hazelnut brownie, coconut marshmallow and passion fruit sorbet, and I have to say it was very good. The coconut marshmallow was a bit weird, but the rest of the flavours went together nicely.
Mark got the rhubarb and apple crumble, although the vanilla ice cream came my way, as he felt he’d already had enough dairy tonight.
We were done just after 8:00pm, which wasn’t bad, and we did everything we could to speed it up. Towards the end, we couldn’t wait to get out of there, something to do with the clientele in there. In particular, the very posh, well spoken family that arrived next to us were already starting to get quite loud. Let’s just say the conversation was a bit depressing as well. The father and his fairly young son (I reckon he was maybe 11 or 12) were discussing Russian history and the current events out there. There was also the woman at the table near us, who loved the sound of her own voice. They were obviously two couples, and the two guys were chatting away. I would say the women were to, but that wouldn’t be fair, as I don’t honestly think the other woman was able to get a word in edgeways anywhere!
We paid up, and this was not a cheap meal. Bearing in mind we’d had tap water at the table (a nice touch, it was immediately brought out to every table and replenished) and only a shandy and a diet Coke, the bill came to £82 (c. $135) including tip. Now that’s a lot of money, and while the food was nice, I didn’t think it warranted that level of charges. I was impressed with the credit card machine. When we came to pay, it offered us the chance to add either 5%, 10% or 15% for the gratuity (over here 10% is the norm). I’ve never seen that before, and it certainly made things a lot easier. It would be nice to see that used more widely in the future.
The Angel Inn
Appetiser 8½ 8
Entrée 7½ 8
Dessert 8½ 8
Service 8 8
Atmosphere 8 8
Value for money 7½ 8
Average score: 8.00
We made our way back to the B&B and settled down to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. I don’t know if you guys know about this, but it’s now into its 59th year and it’s held annually, with countries from across Europe (and some beyond, as Israel participate as well) competing. It’s a good laugh, and usually there are some awful songs. This year was no exception. Good grief, we fell about laughing at how bad some of them were!
We were supposed to have a really good chance with our entry, and I thought it was a darned good song, but we ended up in 17th place out of 26. At least the winner, a bearded woman (I am not kidding here!) from Austria was a good song, and I could live with her winning…
The weather today was a mixture of cloud, some sun and some rain with temperatures in the low 50s. The best thing today was the SS Great Britain. The worst thing today was the weather. The funniest thing today was some of the songs in the Eurovision Song Contest. Today we tried crossing the Clifton Suspension Bridge And the result was it was very enjoyable, although a bit cold on foot! The most magical moment today was going “under the sea” to see the base of the SS Great Britain.
Looked like a good meal, but not as good as you expected! The place looks very nice and glad you ate when you did with the others there!
Glad you were able to find time during your cruise to do this!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
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Sunday 11 May – part one: the coolest teapot ever?
I have to say the bed here wasn’t overly comfortable, so I didn’t get a great night’s sleep. I woke up at 5:00am, but thankfully went back to sleep again, and I next surfaced at 7:30am. As we were due to have breakfast in an hour’s time, I quickly got going, and showered, which took some time, as the shower wasn’t exactly powerful. Let’s just say that while it looked like a nice room, it wasn’t really up to the quality of the other places we’ve stayed in so far. Maybe we’re just spoilt now…
We headed down for breakfast at 8:30am, and we knew we’d be the first ones there. The woman who owns the place had asked us when we checked in yesterday to go for an earlier time, as apparently 9:00am onwards was already taken.
We were seated by the window, which was perfect – look at the photos here!
They also had photos of the post office (so that’s what it used to be) being converted into the B&B…
… and photos of the flooding from earlier this year…
There was a good selection of food available, although unfortunately, much as the cranberry and raspberry juice appealed, I did a double check of it and apparently it had apple juice in it.
The tea pot we had was one of the coolest I’ve ever seen!
I had a couple of bowls of cereal, and we shared some toast, although with our options for hot food. I went for something very different today – a cheese and mushroom omelette. It was very nice and cooked beautifully, but let’s just say the cheese in it was quite strong!
Mark had the bacon, sausages, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms, and boy he got a full plate!
As we were eating, the next couple arrived. We got chatting to them, and it turned out they’re from Sandwich in Kent, about 40 miles from where we live. We told them where we live, and then it got even more freaky, as apparently her brother once lived at the bottom of the road that one of Mark’s sisters now lives in! Altogether now, “it’s a small world after all!”
They had a few issues with the smoke alarm while our meal was being cooked. It went off, and they came rushing out to apologise, saying it was super sensitive. As we said, we were already up, so it didn’t bother us! It went off again later when we went back to the room, so I guess they really do have issues with it…
We headed upstairs and packed up after breakfast, and left at around the time I planned to, as I wanted to be at Longleat for opening time. We got there just before 10:0am, but it was no issue, they still checked our tickets, and let us enter. I was quite surprised, as I was expecting them to only start letting people in at 10:00am, but the reason would soon become clear…
The first thing we saw was this…
… which Mark told me was quite new. It is supposed to rise, and then you can see the water flow down into the pond below, although we didn’t see that. The flowers they had here were in full bloom, and looked stunning.
Then we started to make our way through the grounds of Longleat. Wow, now I see why they were happy to let us in before 10:00am! We approached the house, which looked beautiful…
As we’d left the B&B earlier, we’d decided that we’d do the safari first, as it had been spotting with rain. It was still spotting with rain now, but it started to get a bit heavier, which could be a nightmare for getting photos during the safari. Regardless, we decided to stick to our original plans. I’m so glad we did.
We drove for about 10 minutes to get to the entrance to the safari park. I am honestly not exaggerating here. It was about a mile away from the main house, and the speed limit was just 15 miles an hour. As we drove along, we saw buildings that we assume were originally part of the estate…
Finally we made it to the entrance, showed our tickets, and were handed a CD, which surprised us, but wow, what a great idea it turned out to be! It was timed to give you information about each area of the safari park you’d go into, and if you were longer than the segment, you could just pause it and they’d tell you which point you needed to go next to start it up again. It really added to our visit, as we learnt a lot from it, and I’m so glad they did this.
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Now when Cheryls, actual TR begins, that will be a different thing as I'll fall behind it as well at times! 
But will catch up for sure....can't lose out on it! 
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there’s another big room out the back, which we were taken into. 
The song contest sounds like a hoot. 
I woke up at 5:00am, but thankfully went back to sleep again, and I next surfaced at 7:30am. As we were due to have breakfast in an hour’s time, I quickly got going, and showered, which took some time, as the shower wasn’t exactly powerful. Let’s just say that while it looked like a nice room, it wasn’t really up to the quality of the other places we’ve stayed in so far. Maybe we’re just spoilt now… 
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