Easter with donkeys, historic homes and a spa COMPLTED 4/26 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sounds like you're having a great weekend in Bath with National Trust properties spa time and seeing your other boys! Too bad the weather wasn't a bit more cooperative to make it an even better time for the two of you!
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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!
You guys always seem to find the most interesting places to visit. Glad you had fun with the donkeys. We find more and more historical buildings that do not allow cameras to be used inside. We just enjoy walking through and then usually we will buy a book so we get the pictures. Hope the rain does not hinder you too much.
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Sounds like you're having a great weekend in Bath with National Trust properties spa time and seeing your other boys! Too bad the weather wasn't a bit more cooperative to make it an even better time for the two of you!
Well, the one thing you can't control is the weather and trust me, it could've been so much worse. The storm we were expecting came through overnight and was vicious, but it's done and it's all quiet outside now, which is good. At least we're not going to be driving home in it.
You guys always seem to find the most interesting places to visit. Glad you had fun with the donkeys. We find more and more historical buildings that do not allow cameras to be used inside. We just enjoy walking through and then usually we will buy a book so we get the pictures. Hope the rain does not hinder you too much.
We are so lucky that the National Trust haven't gone down that route and I hope they never do, as it would be a real shame if you couldn't take photos at their properties.
Well, we are home and I had a chance to write up a few instalments of the trip report while we were gone, so without further ado... let's get this show on the road!
Friday 25 March – part one: this place is absolutely mobbed!
The alarm went off at its usually unsociable time of 5:45am, and we got up not long afterwards. It’s not the best way to start a vacation with such an early start, but we needed it, as I wanted to be on the road by 7:30am.
Well, that sort of worked out… ish! We were heading out at 7:40am, but then needed to get fuel (gas), and Mark said he’d head towards one garage. I was a bit surprised, as I thought he’d go to the supermarket, but he knew better… except he didn’t. We got there, and the tanker was about to deliver, so it was closed, so no prizes for where we head next… you’ve got it – the supermarket! At least I could go and get some cash out while he filled up, as neither of us had much money to hand.
Finally, I think we got going about 7:55am, but thankfully the car was telling us we’d be at our destination not long after 10:00am, which was good, as that’s when it opened. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.
The M25, otherwise known as London’s car park, was very nice and quiet, no doubt due to the early hour. The car, which we got new a couple of weeks earlier, decided it knew a better route when we got to west London, and decided to show us… except it wasn’t quicker at all. The roads it thought were 70 miles an hour were generally either 40 or 50 miles an hour, so we quickly added time to our arrival time.
Finally, we were back on the motorway, and off again, and this was really the first time Mark had had the chance to experience the wonders (not!) of the car’s adaptive cruise control. I don’t know if any of you have this, but essentially, it’s supposed to keep you safe, and a good distance from other vehicles. I’ve had a couple of weeks of driving the car to and from work, and I’ve discovered the pitfalls of it, with a near emergency stop at one point when the road ahead was clear, as it was still picking up the car that had turned off. Let’s just say Mark got to find out about this, as he got audio warnings for driving too close to cars, and we did have a couple of instances of panic breaking, shall we say. It got so bad that at one point, he turned it off altogether, although later proclaimed it would be fine, but it “just took some getting used to”. We’ll see what happens…
We kept hearing reports on the radio about traffic jams up ahead, and kept seeing the overhead signs warning that there were 30 minute delays, starting from the junction we were coming off at – and eventually we hit it, but thankfully we were just a mile from the junction, and it only took us a couple of minutes to get off – phew!
The first National Trust property we were heading to, Dyrham Park, wasn’t that far off the motorway, and we were soon there. We couldn’t believe how many other cars were entering, given it was now 10:15am, and the property had only opened at 10:00am. The place was absolutely mobbed!
It had a lot to do with the Cadbury’s Easter Egg hunt they had going on here, although in fairness, it was on at a lot of National Trust places over Easter. What we didn’t know, but found out later on, was that the appalling weather forecast for the rest of the Easter weekend may actually mean this place is closed for the next two days, as apparently the wind whips through here, and they’re predicting gusts of up to 60 miles an hour.
We were amongst the lucky ones, and were in the main car park. We heard later on (about 20 minutes later) that the main car park was full, and all those arriving were now in the overflow car park. My goodness, there must’ve been thousands of cars parked up by the time we left!
We made our way over to the entrance, and were greeted with huge lines. We grabbed a volunteer, and explained we weren’t interested in the Easter egg hunt, so were pointed to a shorter line, but even so, it didn’t seem to be moving very fast. Then a woman came out and yelled “members?” and we screamed and she took us straight in – result!
She told us a bit about the property and what to see, and that there was a bus which runs between the car park and the house itself. She told us it was better to walk down, as it’s all downhill, and to catch the bus on the way back. Ok, works for me!
There were some superb views as we walked down the main drive…
Now this place has been undergoing some major renovation, and that work is still ongoing, as you can see…
It would be nice to come back in a year or so, and see it once all the work is finally completed.
As you can see, it was a beautiful spring day, and the literature said you could see as far as Wales on a good day, so who knows – that could well be what’s in some of these shots?
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Adventures in getting to know your car! Sounds like fun.
Indeed a beautiful day. Lucky you guys did get that early start - it sounds crowded! Really looking forward to all the photos in this trip, based on your FB teases!
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Tanya
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We've had adaptive cruise on our Ford Edge for five years now, and we have gotten very used to it. So much so that we've agreed if we ever buy a new car, it will have the adaptive cruise. You captured some beautiful landscape photos of the English countryside. It's beginning to look green there, too. Totally off topic here, I'm reading a novel by a British author that is mainly set in Wales, but the main character is from London. Most of the place names I've had to look up to get an idea of what the towns/villages looked like. But then the main character mentioned she had been born and raised in Maidstone. I knew immediately where that was because of you.
Adventures in getting to know your car! Sounds like fun.
Hmmm... yes and no. It's been interesting, shall we say?
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Indeed a beautiful day. Lucky you guys did get that early start - it sounds crowded!
It was mayhem - I figured it might be, given the weather forecast at that point was for good weather on Good Friday (appropriately enough ) and then terrible for the remaining three days of the Easter weekend.
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Really looking forward to all the photos in this trip, based on your FB teases!
We've had adaptive cruise on our Ford Edge for five years now, and we have gotten very used to it. So much so that we've agreed if we ever buy a new car, it will have the adaptive cruise.
That's good to know.
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You captured some beautiful landscape photos of the English countryside. It's beginning to look green there, too.
That'll be our wet winter!
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Totally off topic here, I'm reading a novel by a British author that is mainly set in Wales, but the main character is from London. Most of the place names I've had to look up to get an idea of what the towns/villages looked like. But then the main character mentioned she had been born and raised in Maidstone. I knew immediately where that was because of you.
I agree with a previous poster that you do find some very interesting places to visit.
Love the hint of green that's showing on your trees and bushes over ther. Nice harbinger of the warmer weather to come!
I checked out the donkey barn link you posted--I was wild about the piebald cutie that was having such fun in the main barn.
Looking forward to more!
Nice start to your weekend away! Tough getting used to the new car with the GPS and seems the car has it's quirks like anything else!
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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!
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Too bad the weather wasn't a bit more cooperative to make it an even better time for the two of you! 
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he knew better… except he didn’t. 
At least I could go and get some cash out while he filled up, as neither of us had much money to hand. 
Let’s just say Mark got to find out about this, as he got audio warnings for driving too close to cars, and we did have a couple of instances of panic breaking, shall we say. It got so bad that at one point, he turned it off altogether, although later proclaimed it would be fine, but it “just took some getting used to”. We’ll see what happens… 
and she took us straight in – result! 
) and then terrible for the remaining three days of the Easter weekend. 
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