Country weekend at The Crown Inn

Country weekend at The Crown Inn

#Take12Trips got off to a splendid start this weekend! We enjoyed a thoroughly relaxing time at The Crown Inn, in Elton, on the Cambridgeshire / Northamptonshire border. I hadn’t been able to arrange the Parker diary to visit in December as hoped so we had been looking forward to a wintery mini-break for a…

View Post

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 19 – Dorset “I do”!

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 19 – Dorset “I do”!

This is one of my favourite photos (and days)! Given the camera we had at the time – it is even more amazing! Mr P was in the process of changing jobs but had some time on his hands – so he’d done a bit of ‘shopping’!  Before the new job started, off…

View Post

Travel Advent Calendar – A Rural Retreat for Christmas

Travel Advent Calendar – A Rural Retreat for Christmas

As part of the #traveladventcalendar I am taking this opportunity to tell you about a lovely Christmas we had in the middle of nowhere a few years ago! The year that we got married had been busy so at Christmas we decided on a rural retreat, just the two of us. It was…

View Post

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 18 – The Cheshire Loop

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 18 – The Cheshire Loop

“There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” wrote Kenneth Graeme in Wind in the Willows! And he was right! And what was also interesting was that ‘boats’ don’t have to have sails (my preferred option) – they can actually  have engines and very unpowerful…

View Post

It’s beginning to feel a lot like #Christmas… everywhere we go!

It’s beginning to feel a lot like #Christmas… everywhere we go!

This is actually a post from Christmas 2013, but so far this year my search for Christmas things in the UK has been hampered by a pre-Thanksgiving trip to the USA!  As a result having toured much of the US, I saw just one Christmas tree – so my Christmas count is currently…

View Post

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 16 – Norfolk

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 16 – Norfolk

Now my heart may belong to Cornwall… But Norfolk is not very far behind!  And it is well overdue a visit, I’m not sure we’ve been there since 2010 now? A shocking state of affairs!  Happy news that friends are getting married there next summer… that’ll be a long weekend for the Parkers then!…

View Post

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 14 – Goodwood

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 14 – Goodwood

Another quintessentially british day out – this time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.  This is an annual event near Chichester on a long and winding race track within the grounds of Goodwood House, known as the hill climb.  Cars from different eras make timed runs up the track.  It’s a good place…

View Post

Falling in love on the road… with Cornwall

Falling in love on the road… with Cornwall

Falling in love on the road? Well I haven’t!  I had to think about this – as when we are away we tend to keep ourselves to ourselves, I rarely see anything and have to buy it and I didn’t meet Mr P on my travels…. What else could I have fallen I…

View Post

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 12 – Cowdray Polo

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 12 – Cowdray Polo

We haven’t been for a day out at the polo now for a few years, but it is such a great day out!  Quintessentially English, although that said – the first polo I saw was actually at Apes Hill in Barbados (same set, different location). Cowdray Park is a gorgeous venue for the…

View Post

Flashback Friday travel photo memories 11 – Snowdon

Flashback Friday travel photo memories 11 – Snowdon

New year 2007-08 and we were looking for activities to keep a group of us out of the pub and doing something fun together! Some of our friends live on Anglesey and so we came to the happy conclusion that climbing Mount Snowdon was the thing to do! Looks of preparation and making…

View Post

Flashback Friday Travel Photos Memories 5 – Sailing at Marazion

Flashback Friday Travel Photos Memories 5 – Sailing at Marazion

My husband and I have done a lot of sailing and have been lucky to travel overseas from time to time to enjoy it too, but ask us both where our favourite regatta was and we’ll both say that it was this one – held in Marazion, near Penzance.  It is one of…

View Post

Cornwall I am on my way

Cornwall I am on my way

Hurrah – a long weekend in Cornwall, I am on my way!  5 hours on a train is absolutely worth it!  Next stop Penzance!  I’m not sure the weather is going to be quite what I was hoping for – but no matter, time off in Cornwall is always good!  Perhaps no sundowners…

View Post

Plane racing (not horses) at Royal Ascot – Red Bull Air Race

Plane racing (not horses) at Royal Ascot – Red Bull Air Race

This year the Red Bull Air Race came to Royal Ascot, the horse racing venue just outside London. And what a good idea that turned out to be!  No stuffy suits and top hats, just many many plane geeks and families enjoy a good day out at a stunning venue – and even…

View Post

Staycation favourites – Cornwall, Norfolk and Cumbria

Staycation favourites – Cornwall, Norfolk and Cumbria

The staycation, I was delighted when I saw that this was the link up theme with Rebecca, Kelly, Emma and Mandy. I like nothing better than an exotic trip away, but at the same time – I also know what I like and like what I know and a UK staycation can’t fail to…

View Post

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 1 – girlfriend tests in Cumbria

Flashback Friday Travel Photo Memories 1 – girlfriend tests in Cumbria

I thought I might try something new on here!  When I’m bored I love looking through old photos and remembering a day out or a holiday trip!  So here goes – my new weekly (as work permits) addition to #FlashbackFriday! Anyone that knows me would agree that I’m not the bravest… hence why…

View Post

A great dame – the Chewton Glen

A great dame – the Chewton Glen

As my husband will confirm, I often ask him the question ‘when can we stay at the Chewton Glen next’ followed swiftly by the statement ‘i’d really like to stay in a treehouse there’…  In fact he might go so far as to say I sound like a broken record!  But the fact…

View Post

Lunching in the south downs

Lunching in the south downs

The south downs is great and just on our doorstep – whether you want cycling, polo or just a long and lazy lunch.  We’ve always found it to be a bit quieter than the new forest and also found a good crop of pubs to stop for lunch in, more plentiful than in…

View Post

Basildon Park – a jolly good National Trust day out

Basildon Park – a jolly good National Trust day out

Months ago friends and I agreed to meet at Basildon Park for a girls day of pottering and tea drinking!  Normally such planning will lead to a wet weekend so it was an absolute delight to have the early feel of summer return this morning! Basildon Park is between Newbury and Reading, so…

View Post

Power of the sea #ukstorm2014 #respectthewater

Power of the sea #ukstorm2014 #respectthewater

Hurst Castle is a favourite of ours for a sunshine walk, it is a very substantial spit of land that acts as a sea defence for the western solent. We’ve been there on windy days before and had great fun when it has been too windy to go sailing!! But today we thought…

View Post

A sunny January morning at Lepe – dodging the #winterblues

A sunny January morning at Lepe – dodging the #winterblues

January – it gives me the blues…. I don’t see much daylight in January as it is one of THE busiest months an accountant will have!  So when I woke up early today and could see the sun creeping round the edge of the blind, that was it!  My husband and I were…

View Post

Cornwall in the Autumn

Cornwall in the Autumn

See more of Cornwall at my flickr I’ve written about my love of Cornwall before, much of it related to my own mining heritage and exploring the county with my husband rather than just for short family visits to see my grandparents.  This October we stayed at Umber, BoHo Cornwall – a 1…

View Post

Autumn in Anglesey

Autumn in Anglesey

Newborough Beach is stunning, plenty more of Anglesey at my flickr

View Post