A few trips outside London this weekend

The Powells with Ian (in costume) after his show

Weeeell..... this morning was a VERY ealry morning.  We all awoke at 4.30am to watch the video-stream over the internet of Julia (Tims neice) and Matt's wedding in Adelaide.  Through the miracles of technology we were able to see and hear the whole service, as well as tuning into Skype to speak to every one at the reception and to listen to the speeches.  It was definitely not the same as being there (and we missed everyone terribly), but it was the next best thing!  We then went back to bed for a few hours, zzzzzz....

We woke up properly a few hours later and Kellie and Jem when to Tescos (supermarket), to stock up on Christmas supplies for the lunch that is being planned.  Then Tim and Jem went to pick up the hire car for our trip just outside London.  

Our frst stop was Turville - a lovely village in Buckinghamshire - which was the setting for the TV series "The Vicar of Dibley" that our house loves so much (Zac espescially).  It was a very pretty little town, set in lovely countryside that could have been taken straight from a postcard.  You could certainly see the town square and the exterior of the Church and houses that had been used for the filming of the TV series.  We stopped for some lunch in the one Pub in Turville.... open fires, locals with their dogs and horses passing by the windows - perfect!

Then it was off to Reading (via Henley-on-Thames.... beautiful, even though it was in flood), to see Ian's Pantomime - Beauty and the Beast.  It was a great experience, something quite unique for a bunch of Aussies, with the audience getting right into it!  Ian played the "baddie" and was fantastic and very funny.  It was a great show with lots of current gags and slapstick, and quite a bit of "hamming it up" in between some really good acting and singing.

We then met up with Ian after the show for dinner, along with Gerry and Julia - some of Jeremys friends (also both Aussies, so it was "G'Day mate" all 'round!) - before the trip home.

Zac at Central Steam

We woke up early this morning as we had a lot of ground to cover.  A big drive was in order, right out to Loughborough, near Leicester, to Great Britains only working dual track steam railway.  Zac had watched the documentary series "Central Steam" on foxtel about the Great Cetral Railway and was really keen to visit.  Our trip up took about 2 hours, and we struck some problems on the M1 so had to divert through the countryside (quite pleasent) to get around the traffic jam.  The station was very festive and decked out for Christmas with Santa on the train for the little kids!

The train ride was great, and we got to see some great steam engines and trains, and to travel through some beautiful countryside - there was lots of floooding in the fields and even some of the canals were bursting their banks from all the rain.  During our trip we were served Chrismas Mince Pies and Sherry.... very festive , and a civilised way to travel!  The trip took a little over an hour, at a leisurely pace - just the ticket.

After a look around we were off to Warwick to see the Castle.  We managed to find a pub - "The Lazy Cow" - and have some (late) lunch before quickly looking over the Castle before it closed! A bit of a mad rush, but a fantastic Castle and very traditional.... straight out of the fairiy tale books, and very interactive.  They had wax-work characters similar to Madame Tussauds, and exhibits that brought some of the history alive.  They film the TV series "Merlin" at Warwick Castle too - so there were a few exhibits about King Arthur!  Shame we couldn't spend more time there... particularly in the town, which looked very historic and would have been great to explore.  So much to do, and so little time....... Drat!

Then it was back into the car for the 2 hour drive home.   A long day, but we saw some nice English countryside and had some great experiences at Central Steam and the Castle.