We had a few days emptying and cleaning Gus the motorhome. We did get out for the occasional walk. The trees are turning lovely colours. We had a walk around RSPB Swell Wood bird reserve – an ancient wood. But we didn’t see a bird. We did however see some lovely autumn nature. It is…

We headed off to Somerset and stopped for lunch at another National Trust property Durham Park. It’s a bit of a walk to the house from the carpark – and we took the long way via the lookout over the countryside with the Severn Bridge in the distance. We then walked down to the house…

We had a late start and a bit of tidying up and organizing Gus before we went out for lunch. Fiona drove us and Helen out to the Black Boy pub in Oving. The Black Boy building is from 1524 and the name refers to the swarthy Charles II when he was in hiding. We…

Helen was busy doing accounts with Fiona who was visiting for the weekend. So we took the opportunity to visit nearby Bletchley Park the code breaking centre during the war. When we were driving in we saw all these people walking in wearing wartime fashions. It turned out it was a 1940s weekend! We were…

We had a busy morning sorting out the food in the van – we won’t be cooking in it anymore this year. I hoovered up a massive amount of couscous from the cupboard – it got everywhere! We got all remaining food sorted out and in boxes – very satisfying! In the afternoon we all…

We packed up and left the Airbnb in York around 9.30am. It is a 3.5 hour drive back to Aylesbury. We stopped approximately half way at Belton House near Granton in the Midlands – where Maggie Thatcher came from. We first checked out the garden with the huge greenhouse. Pineapples were very fashionable in the…

It was another sunny day – we have had good weather during our trip to York. There were good views over the Vale of York on the way to Hovingham for brunch. Unfortunately the cafe we were heading for didn’t exist anymore. But there was a good bakery where we had bacon and egg rolls…

We started the day very slowly letting Helen catch up on some sleep. Once all showered and breakfasted we started the walk into town. We checked the river route first- and amazingly the river had abated and we could now walk along the path. However it was a little muddy! I had a big skid…

We were enjoying breakfast in our Airbnb when 2 workmen turned up in the back garden. There is no back fence at the moment and rubble and rubbish on one side so there’s obviously work in progress. Soon they had a jack hammer going and also cementing a paving stone outside the window. We phoned…

We were going to York with Helen for a few days to visit Georgina (George) our friend from university and her partner Lech. We travelled through many lovely towns. Winslow in Buckinghamshire was very oldy worldly had many lovely cottages. We had a halfway stop at National Trust property Hardwick Hall just off the M1.…