Wychnor Park Timeshare: July 12th-18th

On Saturday morning we left Coventry to drive to Wychnor Park, an old stately home and estate that has been converted into a timeshare property. We were meeting Dianne & Peter for lunch at "The Boat Inn" pub in Alrewas, just a couple of miles from Wychnor because we could not move into our accommodation until 4:00 PM. Unfortunately, "The Boat Inn" was "out", because when we got there, P&D were there, but the pub had closed down! Fortunately, we had made good time on our journey from Coventry and had taken a quick detour to "Fradley Junction" which is where two canals meet (the Coventry Canal and the Trent & Mersey Canal). From looking at the map Bob thought he recognized this as a place where his dad had taken him fishing as a child. It was a very pretty spot, with lots of canal "narrow boats" (used as houseboats) moored and others meandering along the canals and negotiating the locks. Also, as luck would have it (a coincidence indeed), there was a lovely old pub called "The Swan" at the junction of the canals which was well and truly open. Consequently, we informed P&D of our find and quickly relocated ourselves to the canalside pub and had a lovely lunch, after which we enjoyed a lengthy stroll along the canal before returning and making our way to Wychnor Park where we booked into our log cabin named "Kestrel" (not part of the original 1,000 year old estate!) and unpacked and settled in before having dinner. Afterwards, we walked up to the main house and enjoyed a drink in the "members lounge" and met Michael, the "Activities Director". This was the only time during the whole week that we spent in this lounge or partook in any "group" activities. We retired to bed early.

The next morning we had breakfast in the cabin (which we would do for the next seven days), before jumping into the car to take us to the start of our first walk of our week's stay at Wychnor. We drove to Barton-Under-Needwood, only a few miles from Wychnor, parked in the village hall parking lot and commenced our walk to Dunstall via a public footpath. We walked across fields of sheep, who were utterly unconcerned about our presence and hardly looked up from chewing the grass. We also came upon another stately home that is still in use as a private residence, "Dunstall Hall" described as follows: "Dunstall Hall is an outstanding stone Grade II Listed country house near Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. The property is of considerable stature and is set in a secluded yet prominent position with extensive views across mature parkland. Still essentially a private residence. Records show that in 1145 the Dunstall Estate was owned by the Earl of Derby". We returned to Barton at lunchtime and after having a pint at "The Middle Bell", decided it was too much like a restaurant and not enough like a pub, so we moved to "The Shoulder of Mutton", which was highly satisfactory to everyone in all categories! We all slept well on Sunday night.

On P&D's "must do" list was a visit to Lichfield Cathedral, and Monday was the day chosen to do it. An unfortunate things about Wychnor Park was that the internet connectivity was archaic with just one computer available for guests to connect to the Web, and no USB ports for memory sticks, so it wasn’t possible to post photographs or have access to Word documents that you might have written on a laptop. This meant there was no way to connect a personal laptop to the Web. Going to Litchfield was on Bob's list so that he could find somewhere that had Wi-Fi available! Lichfield is another town in the UK that is pedestrian friendly in that no cars are allowed into the very center of town where historically, the streets are so narrow. Everyone parks on the edge of the center and walks into the center of the city (only a few blocks). It is very effective and provides a very pleasant atmosphere. The center of Lichfield, where a weekly market has been held since permission to hold a market was granted to Bishop Walter Durdent, Lord of the Manor of Lichfield by King Stephen in 1153, is very historic. There is a very old church there, St Mary’s, which still has a Sunday service at its East end, but also now houses a day centre for the elderly, a tourist shop, a café; and upstairs there is the Heritage Centre. On the wall of the church are plaques commemorating martyrs burnt at the stake or "disembowled alive" in Lichfield Market Square. After Alison's lengthy description of Holy Trinity Church in Coventry, we won't bore you with more historical facts about Lichfield Cathedral, only to say that it is the only medieval cathedral in Britain with three spires and the building of this Gothic Cathedral commenced in 1195 when it replaced a Norman Cathedral built in 1085 which had replaced a Saxon church built in 700! We had a lovely walk in Lichfield before returning to "The Acorn", a pub we had spotted on our walk that had a sign that said "Free Wi-Fi" in the window! We were able to pick up and send email! You can get more information about Lichfield Cathedral at: http://lichfield-cathedral.org/history.html

On Tuesday, as long planned, our friends Peter & Wendy Crozet visited us at Wychnor. Peter and Bob worked together at Bowmaker Plant (UK Caterpillar tractor franchisee) around 1967/68 so they are also friends of more than forty years. Peter was born and lived in South Africa until he met Wendy who was on an extended working holiday in SA. When Peter learnt Bob was leaving Bowmaker to join Ford in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, he told us to look up an old university friend of his, "Saint" Sudano. This we did, and we became friends with Saint & Marian and Marian is Clare's godmother. Saint & Marian now live in Perth, Australia and they are on our "bucket list" to visit in the near future (see a future blog "Australia & New Zealand"!). P&W have already vistited S&M, so they have given us some good tips on "must sees". After a cup of coffee we started our planned walk across public footpaths across the fields to the canal at Alrewas and then along the canal to Fradley Junction and "The Swan" -- quickly written but probably a three mile walk. After lunch we walked back via a different route and got back to our log cabin five hours after we had left. We estimate that altogether we walked 7-8 miles. After more conversation we all drove to "The Shoulder of Mutton" at Barton-under-Needwood again, where we had a lovely meal and a very convivial evening before saying our farewells to Peter & Wendy, who drove home directly from the pub.

Another thing on the "must do" list was done on Wednesday, when we went to the National Arboretum. [Quote]: "The Arboretum is the home of the Armed Forces Memorial which was opened in October 2007. It is a striking and emotive memorial and is quickly assuming national significance. It gives recognition and thanks for those who have died whilst on duty or as a result of terrorist action since the Second World War and acknowledges the enduring sacrifice of those who mourn their loss". It has a similarity with the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC in that the names of the armed forces personnel who have died are listed by name in the year in which they died, with each branch of the services (Army, Navy, Air Force) being listed separately within each year. 50,000 trees have been planted to create a future woodland as a continuing memorial. There were many buses/coaches visiting the memorial and many old timers in their regimental blazers adorned with service medals visiting to show their respects to their fallen comrades. It was very moving and is moving to me as I write of it. From there we drove to Burton-Upon-Trent where we hoped to visit "The Museum of Brewing" and hoped to also vist a "brew pub" that Peter had identified from a website. We followed the "attraction" signs to the Museum, although our efforts where somewhat handicapped as it seemed as if half the roads in Burton were under repair and progress was exceedingly slow. When we did get to the visitors center, we were informed that the Museum had been closed down for two weeks. This may be somewhat related to the fact that Coors has purchased the Brewery that housed the museum - those damn Yanks! The visitors center gave us directions to the brew pub, but we were to be disappointed again as they closed at 2:30PM and we were too late. After quickly referring to the Burton tourist information map in our possession, Alison spotted "The Unicorn" at Newton Solney, a village just outside Burton, that served lunch until 3:00 PM and had free Wi-Fi. Great excitement all round! We were there by 2:45, only to be told that they only served lunch until 2:30 and the chef had already gone home. We pointed out to the bartender that besides being on the tourist map, the lunch sign outside the front of the pub said they served lunch until 3:00 - all to no avail. We ate crisps/chips for lunch, depending on whether you’re in UK/USA. We meandered through country lanes and villages on our way back to Wychnor, as we had no desire to tackle the roadworks of Burton-on-Trent again. We ate a very hearty dinner at the cabin.

Another "must do" at the beginning of the week was a trip to Alton Towers, a UK theme park with rides named "Nemesis", "Oblivion" and the like! Unfortunately, Thursday was designated to be yet another inclement weather day and in addition, when Peter had phoned to purchase tickets in advance, we were warned of large crowds of school outings to the park and the last thing we needed was for us "senior citizens" to be queueing up with a bunch of screaming children. Consequently, we decided to give the park a miss. By this time, I was already having nervous breakdown symptoms relating to not having posted to the blog for so long and desperately was looking to catch up. However, we didn't want to have Peter & Dianne sitting in a cafe or pub for three hours while we posted the blog (yes, it can take that long) so we decided to split up for the day. D&P went off to Tutbury Castle (11th Century), where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned by Elizabeth I (her cousin) at least twice. Of course, while she was in prison, she continued to plot to overthrow Elizabeth, who finally had had enough and signed the warrant for Mary to be beheaded, which she subsequently was at Fotheringham Castle in 1587 - Isn't England's history nice and gruesome! (Watch "The Tudors" on Showtime). Meanwhile, we headed back to "The Acorn" at Lichfield with free Wi-Fi where we spent three-and-a-half hours working on the blog so that we could bore you all to tears. In that time, we had one beer, lunch and a cup of coffee and no one bothered us at all. At about 3:30, we got a call on our cell phone from my cousin Colin who said he was going to drive out to Wychnor to see us. He had a little bit further to drive than we did, so we beat him back to the timeshare by 5 minutes. Colin is a little bit younger than I, and reminded everyone that it was all my fault when he got into trouble as a youngster, because I was the one that decided all the naughty things we were going to do and he just followed my lead -- the memories of youth. Colin drove home (we'll see him again later) and the four of us decided that tonight was going to be our last night out, so we set off to the "George & Dragon" pub in Alrewas where we had a nice meal and a few pints. Dianne drove us back to Wychnor. I should also mention that today was the start of the British Open Golf Tournament and it started on television at 9:00 AM, so the television was on pretty much all day when we were in the cabin. If any of you watched the first few hours of play, you will understand the farcical description of the present season here as "summer!".

Friday we had the golf on during breakfast and then left to take a walk at Branston Water Park, which is not a water rides amusement park as those from the USA would expect, but a wildlife reserve, created mostly naturally from old gravel pits filling with water and then being taken over by the local government. From there we made our way once more to Barton-under-Needwood and the "Shoulder of Mutton" where we had a lunch appointment with Jonathan Slim and his wife Ann. This is where I have to relate another "power of Google" story. Most of you readers are aware of our three month trip to South Africa last year. A few weeks after we returned, we received an email from son-in-law David with another email attached. David's email said "If you actually know this person, it is really amazing". The attached email was from a Jonathan Slim who had written to David via M&D's blog "Journey to our Daughter" and said (paraphrasing) "Hi, my name is JS, I was browsing the web looking to see if there is a reunion of Marist high school in Port Elizabeth next year and I came across this blog on South Africa. I think the person who wrote the blog is Bobby Brookes who I used to work for in P.E. in the early 80s. His blog didn't have an email address but there is a link to your blog on his site and you have an email address so I am writing to you. If he is who I think he is, could you forward this email, as I would like to get in touch with him". Well of course I was who he thought I was and he did work for me at Shatterprufe in the early 80s. I had assumed that no one would be able to get to my blog unless they knew the link: bobbyandalison.blogspot.com but now realize that Google is indexing key words (such as place names - Port Elizabeth) in every blog that is posted and that, if you type the right words into a Google search, you will find "private" blogs – mind boggling even to those of us who are "computer professionals". I wrote to Jonathan and we corresponded and then when we told him we were coming to UK, discovered that he lived a few miles from the timeshare at Wychnor and regularly drove through Barton-under-Needwood on his way to the office. Jonathan now runs his own software company, specializing in baggage handling systems (had nothing to do with Heathrow Terminal 5!) and is obviously quite successful. Another nice reunion. We returned to the timeshare and the golf and were routing for Greg Norman to continue on his winning way - which he did on Friday. In the evening, I explained the object of Sudoku to Peter and we did a number of puzzles in the newspaper. According to a subsequent conversation that Dianne had with Angela, Peter has been going through all the old papers he can find around the house, and has spent his days working on Sudoku since they returned home - it is definitely a sickness! We had our final dinner at the cabin with all the leftovers of the week, after which we took our last walk from the Wychnor Church down to the canal (Trent & Mersey) and along the canal to where it merges with the Trent River for 300-400 yards before they split again. On this walk we saw Mr & Mrs Swan with six of the biggest cygnets we have ever seen. It was a fitting end to a lovely week.

Thursday July 10 to Saturday morning July 12 – Coventry

Thursday was a "catching up" day, and for Bob it also included a good workout in the gym at the fitness club Angela belongs to. She walked with us to the club in the afternoon and while Bob did his thing in the gym, Angela read, and I wrote some postcards, downloaded photos to our laptop, and then prepared some for posting on the blog. We had a quiet evening at home with Angela and Ivor, chatting and watching some television.
On Friday we went with Angela on the bus into the city centre of Coventry. The buses run very frequently and it’s a much easier way to go into the city than driving and having to find a parking place. We walked to the old part of the city and had a stop by the famous statue of Lady Godiva riding naked on her horse. We’ve seen this monument many times in the past, but took another photo to put here on this blog. From there we went into the really old Holy Trinity Church, where Angela particularly wanted us to see "The Doom Painting". This has been described as "one of the most important discoveries ever made in the field of medieval art". It is believed the painting was created between the years 1430 and 1440. The Doom was so named because of the saying "Prepare to meet thy doom", and in the center, Christ is depicted raising his hands in judgment. To the left the stairs to Heaven can be seen, and other things pertaining to Heaven, while to the right the mouth of Hell is depicted, along with gruesome images associated with descent into Hell. The Doom became blackened over the years and was first restored during the 1830s, but it blackened and deteriorated again and in the 1980s it was feared the majority of it was lost. However, experts agreed on a plan of action in 1995, and renovation began, which was ongoing until 2004 when the finally finished work was publicly unveiled. Any history lovers reading this (Larry Slater, I’m thinking of you in particular!) can learn more about Holy Trinity at: http://www.holytrinitycoventry.org.uk
During the blitz of Coventry in World War II, Holy Trinity was saved from destruction, but the 13th century cathedral was lost, save for its spire and outer walls. The ruins remain beside the "new" cathedral, and have been preserved as a place where one can only reflect on the horrors of war, but where the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation prevails in the plaque at the altar in the ruined sanctuary, and the reconciliation statue built near the center of the ruins.
After lunch in the city we rode the bus back to Angela & Ivor’s home, by which time it was raining (again!). Angela then drove Bob over to her club so he could once more use the gym, and I did a bit more blog preparation work. Ivor cooked us a nice evening meal, and we had a fairly early night as we all had to be up early on Saturday: Bob and I to pack up and continue our travels, and A&I to go to a wedding near Leicester.

Saturday July 5 to Wednesday July 9

OUR APOLGIES TO THOSE OF YOU WHO'VE BEEN WAITING FOR ANOTHER POSTING FROM US. WE'VE HAD PROBLEMS WITH CONNECTIVITY AT THE OLD STATELY HOME TIMESHARE RESORT WE'RE CURRENTLY AT, AND HAVE HAD TO WAIT TO POST AT A PUB IN LICHFIELD WHERE THEY HAVE WI-FI!

Saturday July 5th: Dover to Maidstone.

On Saturday we left Dover and traveled a short distance to Maidstone. Here we visited Roger & Penny Pocock whom we met in South Africa and have known for over 40 years. About three weeks after we had arrived in SA in June of 1968, having travelled out by cruise ship (funded by the SA government), Alison was at the Automobile Association for some reason long forgotten and Penny came up to her and said “Excuse me, but weren’t you on the SA Vaal?”. Of course we were, and from there they discovered that they were living in the same part of town as us (the inexpensive end!). The two ladies planned that we should all meet and thus began an association that has lasted for 40 years. Roger is an electrician by trade but also a house builder and entrepreneur. He basically wired my whole house that I “owner built” in South Africa from 1973-5 (see South African blog). Roger & Penny returned from SA to the UK in the mid/late 70s and Roger took over his father’s electrical company. They have lived in the same lovely big old house on a large lot/plot for 25+ years, with Roger adding on, knocking down walls, putting them back, knocking them down again (all at Penny’s instruction!). However, a developer wants to buy the house, knock it down and build nine detached houses on the lot and has already drawn up plans and made Roger an offer. Negotiations continue. Roger is himself now retired but, not surprisingly, he has a couple of projects that are keeping him occupied. We walked to one of these projects, which is a major renovation of a terraced house in central Maidstone (walking distance from the town center). I was shocked to hear the price that Roger paid for this house in the original condition that he bought it – I would say “derelict”, and have to say that the price of property in the UK for what you get seems ridiculous when compared with the USA. Roger’s modernization of the terraced house is impressive as always and will make someone happy when it is eventually finished (especially Penny!).
On our walk back, we stopped for a pint at one of their local pubs and then returned home and a nice braai and caught up on our respective lives since they had last visited us in Myrtle Beach. There is never enough time.

Sunday 07/06 - Maidstone to West Wickham

We left Maidstone and R&P after a hearty breakfast and fond farewells and headed for West Wickham, south of London, the home of Jerry (Jay) and Lyn Hodgins. Jerry was in South Africa in the early 1970s and I met him through squash and we played every weekend. Jerry was in SA looking for oil on the land (or underground!). Oil was never found in SA except off the coast, and Jerry subsequently returned to UK and went on to many exotic places looking for oil. However, while in SA, he had met Lyn, a Port Elizabeth lady, and Jerry returned often for visits. They were ultimately married and our friendship has continued through the years. Jerry joined me on my Appalachian Trail hike in 2006 (we have also planned to walk for two days on the River Thames later in the holiday). We had already “primed” J&L that we would be expecting to join them for the Wimbledon final and other major sporting events of the day (Formula 1 UK Grand Prix at Silverstone). Unfortunately, when we arrived, Lyn, who is ladies captain of the local golf club, had duties as a caddie for a club ladies team that was playing that afternoon, but Jerry, Alison and I settled down in front of the TV and began what became a terrific afternoon/evening of sport. The Formula 1 started at 1:00 PM in the rain, which made it extremely exciting and the race was ultimately won by Hamilton who drove impeccably. The major event of the day started at 2:00 PM – Federer v Nadal in the Wimbledon final, but of course, at that time, we didn’t know how exciting it was going be. During change of ends and later during rain stoppages, Jerry was flicking either to golf or to cricket (West Indies v Australia) which was also an exciting match. Jerry had booked a local restaurant for 8:00 PM, but at 7:30, with Federer v Natal at 2 sets all and about to start the final set, he called and delayed it until 8:30. Lynn arrived home and then, sometime after 8:00, there was yet another rain delay of the tennis, which looked pretty major and that seemed like end of play for the day. We decided to head for the restaurant but not before Jerry had got out his instruction book and set the DVR to record for the next couple of hours “just in case”. We had a very nice meal and returned home and started skipping through the recording, fully expecting to see an announcement about play being resumed on Monday, when all of sudden, we could see play had resumed. We then watched the conclusion of that fantastic match and were so pleased that we had recorded it and also that we hadn’t found out the result before we watched it! It had been a great day.

We must add a few words about the birds coming throughout the day to the feeders in Jerry & Lyn’s back garden. Besides the usual variety, there were parakeets—an amazing sight, we thought, in England’s climate; but it appears there are many, many of them in the area south of London, and in fact they’ve become somewhat of a nuisance. Some caged ones must have escaped a few years back, and they’ve managed to survive and reproduce. So the English weather can’t be as bad as we think!

Monday 07/07 - West Wickham to Launton

We were “on the road again” following a lovely breakfast provided by Lyn and Jerry and bidding our farewells to them and West Wickham. Today we drove to the M25 orbital road around London and traveled west and north on that motorway past Heathrow airport to the M40 towards Oxford. Before Oxford we left the M40 and drove to our next “stopover” at the home of Bob’s sister Rosemarie and husband Ian in the village of Launton, near the old market town of Bicester. Nobody was home when we arrived—R&I were still driving home from a weekend with Rosemarie’s daughter and family (our niece Vera, her husband Garry, and our great-nieces Hollie and Leah)—so we drove into Bicester and shopped for some maps we wanted, and when we got back to R&I’s they were just arriving home. We spent a lovely late afternoon and evening “catching up” with them and telling them all we’d been up to since we left Myrtle Beach back on June 13th, but we were all tired, and didn’t stay up late, knowing we’d be back to spend a whole week with R&I later in the month.

Tuesday 07/08 - Launton to Minchinhampton

We repacked a bit and left some things with R&I that we won’t need again until we return home. Then we were off again after breakfast. We were heading westwards to the home of our niece Catherine (daughter of Alison’s sister Dianne and husband Peter) and her family (husband Ben, and our great niece Lois and great nephew Harry), but instead of taking the most direct route, we used country lanes and stopped at various points along the River Thames Path, looking for suitable meeting points, etc. when Bob and Jerry Hodgins walk the Thames Path for a day (and maybe two) later this month when we are staying with Rosemarie and Ian. We found some places, that looked possible on the map, to be very remote, or just on overgrown bridle paths; then another place we’d originally thought not so good, had a great riverside pub there, with a car park; so it was good we did this exercise! We then drove on through some ancient towns/villages until we reached Minchinhampton, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, where Catherine and family live. This little place is perhaps older than all the others we saw, dating back to the time of William the Conquerer! We couldn’t believe that two-way streets were narrower than most one-way streets in other English towns, and the houses open right onto the street in the central part. It was quite an accomplishment for Bob to negotiate these streets in our mid-size rented car! Fortunately Catherine & Ben live on the edge of town, facing Minchinhampton Common, and have a driveway up to their house. However, this too poses problems because cows roam on the Common, and the homes have cattle grids at the driveway entrances, or electrified gates, to stop the cows coming into their gardens! We joked that this is the only place in England where it’s just like rural South Africa! Ben has made huge alterations/renovations/additions to their home over the 6 years they’ve lived there, and we were amazed at what’s been made of an original box shaped bungalow. Well done, Ben (and well done, Cath, for tolerating all the noise, mess, etc. that comes with home alterations!) It was lovely getting to know little Lois and Harry now that they are older (8 and almost 6), and Great Aunt Alison really enjoyed having Lois show her at bedtime her precious photo albums of when she was a baby and toddler. We’re very happy we made this visit in this lovely part of old England, and many thanks Cath and Ben for your kind hospitality.

Wednesday July 9 : Minchinhampton to Coventry

It started raining during the night and was very wet when we loaded our bags into the trunk of the car to continue our travels. Ben had already left for work, but we had to get a photo of Cath and the children before she took them to school, so they had to stand in the front doorway for the picture so as not to get soaked. We said our “Goodbyes” and were on the road right after Cath left with Lois and Harry. Through the rain we took a photo of Minchinhampton Common from the car window, and then we drove on towards Coventry, our next destination, to spend 3 nights with Alison’s sister Angela and husband Ivor. Had the weather been good, we’d have made a couple of stops to visit well-known little towns en route, but the rain continued, and we arrived in Coventry well before our estimated time. Fortunately Angela had guessed we might be early, and already had lunch prepared for us, which was very welcome after the miserable drive. We then went with Angela to the fireplace showroom that her son, our nephew, Bernard manages. He showed us around and answered our questions about the various types of fireplace on display. They still have a weekday “early closing day” in many cities and towns in England, and today was early closing for Bernard. The plan had been to go out into the countryside with him for a walk and then dinner at a nice country pub, but instead, due to the rain, we just went back to A&I’s home for the afternoon and went to their local pub “The Open Arms” for dinner. Despite the rain (3 inches today—as much as the average for the whole of July!), we had a good time, and it was a very convivial evening.