Navigating Tiny Roads and Big Adventures: UK Trip Report with Merry and Chris Paxton

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A tiny Fiat 500, four weeks on the road and a quest
for castle ruins and scotch eggs.
Mary and Chris's fifth UK triphad it all From VE Day in
Plymouth to Roman ruins inrandom neighbourhoods.
This one's full of charm,laughs and great travel tips.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
In this this podcast, tracyshares destination guides,
travel tips and itinerary ideas,as well as interviews with a
variety of guests who sharetheir knowledge and experience
of uk travel to help you planyour perfect uk vacation.

(00:38):
Join us as we explore the ukfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands and
from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Hi and welcome back to the UK Travel Planner Podcast
.
I am Tracey Collins and this isepisode 162.
So today I'm joined by thedelightful Mary and Chris from
Minnesota who've just returnedfrom their fifth trip to the UK,
and this one was a beauty.
Over four weeks they roadtripped their way around South
Wales, cornwall, the JurassicCoast and East Anglia, all in a

(01:18):
tiny Fiat 500, before wrappingup their adventure with a few
days in London by train, ofcourse, no driving in the
capital.
Along the way they discoveredeverything from crumbling castle
ruins and Neolithic stonecircles to VE Day commemorations
in Plymouth and Roman ruinstucked into quiet corners of
British towns.
They share how they planned theroute, how they balanced

(01:40):
must-sees with spontaneousexploring, and why driving in
the UK isn't as scary as manypeople think, especially when it
leads to scenic routes, cosypub chats and the occasional
scotch egg.
But before we get started, a bigshout out and thank you to
Venetta Thomas, one of ouramazing monthly supporters, who
helps keep the podcast going.
If you'd like to support theshow too, you can do so from

(02:02):
just three US dollars a month,and the link is in the show
notes.
And if you've got a question,comment or just want to say hi.
You can leave us a voicemessage anytime via speakpipe
and you'll also find that linkin the show notes too.
But let's dive in and chat toMary and Chris and hear all
about their brilliant UK travelstory.
I'm so glad to have Mary andChris on the podcast this week,

(02:26):
which is brilliant, and it'salways amazing to do the Trip
Report.
They are my so my favoritepodcast on Trip Report, so it's
absolutely fantastic to welcomeyou guys on this week.
So would you like to introduceyourselves and say whereabouts
in the United States you arefrom?

Speaker 4 (02:42):
I'm Mary and I'm Chris, her husband, and we're
from Minnesota in United States.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, we just chatted about that because my geography
wasn't very good, so you'veexplained where it is, so now I
know exactly where Minnesota islocated, so that's really useful
for me when I do a visiteventually get over that way.
Now, how long were you guys inthe UK for?
And I guess you traveledtogether and, as you were just
chatting before we started thepodcast, actually this wasn't
your first visit to the the uk,you had been previously.

(03:12):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
This was actually our fifth time, and this last time
we were there for exactly 28days, not counting the day that
we arrived or the day we leftwow, so that's.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
That's a decent length of time basically four
weeks, isn't it?
And the fifth time as well.
So you are repeat offenders.
You are repeat visitors to theUK.
So, bearing in mind you've beenthere five times, how did you
go about deciding on a four-weekitinerary, where you wanted to
go and what you wanted to do?

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, let me do it Sure.
Well, I think each time we'vejust had places that each of us
wanted to see and that we bothtogether wanted to see, and you
know, we try to group themgeographically to some degree
right.
And so, for example, our lasttime, this most recent one, and

(04:04):
so, for example, our last time,this most recent one, we'd only
been to Cornwall for like twodays I think before on our first
vacation.
So we really wanted to see moreof Cornwall and we had explored
Wales, but it was mostlycentral Wales and then north
Wales, but we hadn't really donea lot on south Wales.
So we thought, well, we'll doCornwall then across the Bristol

(04:25):
Channel there in South Wales.
And then we also hadn't been toEast Anglia, we didn't know what
happens there.
And so we thought, well, youknow, we'll just kind of start
off in South Wales, go toCornwall, then work our way east
across kind of the south, youknow.
And so we did that.
After Cornwall we stayed inDorset on the Jurassic Coast,

(04:48):
and then made our way up intoEast Anglia and we stayed at a
place near Bury, st Edmunds, thenearest good-sized town there,
and that was kind of our homebase for exploring that whole
bulge of eastern England there,and then we ended up in virginia
water um just south of well I'msure you're familiar with

(05:08):
virginia water um not too farfrom windsor, and uh, that was
quite lovely as well.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
we could take the train right into london and
didn't have to worry about allthat, so that was nice that's
really good and I was gonna saythat's really smart as well,
because the fact that you kindof you, you, you chose your
areas as well so you weren'tbombing all over the UK I think
that's something we do recommendso often, because you can

(05:34):
actually spend a lot of yourtrip just kind of going from one
place to the next.
So I think grouping it by areasand choosing places that you
hadn't explored before is such asmart move and obviously,
because you've been there quitea few times before as well, you
knew exactly what you wanted todo and see.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
Yeah, the first time we went we did a real overview.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
We drove a lot, we drove a lot.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
I mean we did all of Wales.
We went all the way up to JohnO'Groats and then all the way
down to lands and and yeah, wewent all over the place.
And so then we thoughtliverpool, and we were, we were
all over yes, um the scottishborders, and so we decided that

(06:17):
was just too much too fast, andthen we wanted more time it was
great, but it was a lot ofdriving.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah, that was only three weeks and then the next
more time.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
It was great, but it was a lot of driving too.
Yeah, that was only three weeks.
And then the next time wasreally that was five weeks, and
we threw Ireland in there, andwe'll never do that again.
We're just much better just toconcentrate.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Never do five weeks.
Ireland was great.
No, no, no, no, sorry, sorry.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Definitely would love to go to Ireland again, but not
all part of the same Five weeks.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
We figure four weeks is probably the limit, you know.
Just yeah, for us anyways.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
So, after those overviews, that was when we
decided okay, now we're going topick specific areas, spend more
time in those areas and do alot of exploring, which is a
really good idea.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, so, and I know before we start recording, you
mentioned on the last tripbefore this one, so I guess the
trip before that and the onespreviously you didn't have
access to things like my podcastand website, so this is me
asking for a bit of praise here.
Have you found the resourcesthat we provide really did help?

Speaker 4 (07:25):
Very much, very much.
And there's well, first of all,you're very enthusiastic and
supportive and give a lot ofgreat information, and then I
also found that other peoplethat have done similar type
things you know are very helpfuland you know we had basic ideas
.
So actually I think it was thelast three trips I was aware of

(07:47):
your, your information, and wegot quite a bit from it.
But, like, even when we werethere, I, we both really wanted
to see Tintagio Castle, but Iwas just so nervous because of
what I had heard other peopletalk about when it came to a lot
of the climbing.
So I that's why I threw outthat the post regarding that and

(08:08):
just got so much greatencouragement and support and it
was just, it was really reallyhelpful.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Oh, that's good.
I remember putting some photoson the Facebook group as well to
show you what it's like,because if you don't like
heights and I guess that if Iremember right, that was there
was that what you were a bitworried about crossing over that
bridge yes, it was more amatter of the like the what I
think of as kind of a slippery,slippery type area where I feel
like you can, I can go up reallyhigh.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
But if I feel like I'm gonna fall in like kind of
like um climbing type areas,that's what makes me really
anxious.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
But yeah, I know, I understand that and and this is
the thing this is part of thereason we've got the facebook
group as well, because you cango in and ask those questions
and people who've been there, um, like I put photos on people
could reassure you and say thisis what it's like, and so you
went and had a great time, andthat's exactly what we kind of
aim to do, which is so that's.
That's lovely to hear that youdid that.
You asked that question and yougot your answers, you know.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, the forums are just great, you know, for people
to share information and answerquestions and yeah, it's always
just great.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, it really helps .
So let's talk about okay, let'stalk about the highlights of
your trip, because obviously, 28days that's a lot of ground
that you then in terms of placesthat you saw and where you went
.
So should we talk about eacharea and what were the
highlights in each area, becausethat would be fun.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
So in South Wales.
Talk us a little bit aboutSouth Wales and what you really
enjoyed there.
Well, we stayed in a kind of asuburb I guess you would call it
, of Cardiff I'm trying to thinkof the name Whitechurch, I
think it was called orWhitchurch, whitchurch, maybe it
was Whitchurch, but anyway, itwas really great because you
could take the train places that.
The place that we stayed at waslike less than five minute walk

(09:55):
to the train station and wedon't have access to trains like
that here in the US and we justloved that and so we had taken
the train into Cardiff and wejust love being able to just
walk around places like that.
They're just so walkable and somuch to see.
And we also found on our veryfirst trip um, I know I'm

(10:17):
backtracking a little bit, butum, the air, the, the B&B that
we stayed at, the woman hadsuggested a ruin at Ruin Castle
near Norum, first time we'd everbeen to a ruin castle.
The castle is Norum Norum.
Sorry, the castle is calledNorum, yeah, and we just loved
it.
I mean much more so thansomething like Windsor Castle.

(10:40):
You know, it was just that'sbeen maintained, right.
We just find them absolutelymagical, and so after our first
trip, we would look for whereare their ruins, and we would
either ask people or look atthose that are just out there
off the beaten track justdecaying.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Right, you know it's slowly over the city and they're
just, they're just amazing,yeah and there are so many of
them in wales as well.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
They're just loads of them, and whales are off.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yes, there are so many of them in Wales as well.
There are just loads of them inWales at all.
Yes, there are.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
So that was a highlight, I'd say in Cardiff
was some of those that we wentto.
What was that one?

Speaker 3 (11:13):
castle that we went to in Wales, that we climbed
around in, isn't thatNeighbourhood?
Oh, I'm blanking on the name.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
I have to look up the name.
It was one of one.
We went to three of them thatwere ruins.
Um, I think I put it on myposter.
I'd have to look it up, butanyway, um, those are just so
fun to explore, um, and it justamazes us, some of them, where
they built a neighborhood aroundit.

(11:39):
I'm thinking, oh my gosh, thesepeople that live right here,
they can want to go castle.
You know kind of, some people goback yeah, or like over over in
East Anglia there were theseold Rowan, this old Roman oh
yeah, ruins, and right themiddle of a neighborhood.
You know it just yeah, we justthat.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
So fascinating it is amazing and you don't get sick
of that, because my grandmotheractually opposite her house
where she lived in Wall's End,which is end of the Hadrian's
Wall, um there were ruins thereand I, I just actually looked it
up recently because I waswondering what those ruins were.
They're actually an old church.
But you know, I just I assumedthere was something to do with
Hadrian's Wall but there weren'tan old church.

(12:20):
But you just get used to thatwhen you live in the UK that
there's just kind of, you know,maybe a roman villa here or a
bit of roman, yeah, yeah wedon't have that in america, yeah
, so we really love that.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
It's quite fun.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Oh no, I was gonna.
I'm just gonna ask, actually,because one thing I didn't ask
was what time of year that youwent, because it's it was only a
few months ago that you werethere, wasn't it?

Speaker 4 (12:42):
so it was the warmer month may, yeah, yep, so, um, uh
, august, or to me april 27th,um, and then we left um may 28th
, may 27th, so warmer, warmerand a nice long days as well, so
it's a nice time of year tovisit.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
I do.
May and september are my twofavorite months actually yes, it
was the warmest.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
We were told by people all the time that it was
extraordinary weather, that it'snever and of all the times
we've gone, it was the warmestand it only rained a total of
about an hour the whole time wewere there.
It was very strange.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, I was getting concerned because I thought you
need the rain.
This is England, right?

Speaker 4 (13:23):
concerned because I thought you need the rain.
This is England right, but fortraveling it was quite nice.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, no, that is good, it does rain a lot in
Wales.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
I have to say I just looked it up we were talking
about Coyde Castle.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
It's just one of many .

Speaker 3 (13:39):
It's just there in South Wales in a neighborhood.
I just love that.
Maybe there's a fence, maybethere's not, and in a
neighborhood and uh, yeah, Imean it.
Just, I just love that.
You know it's, maybe there's afence, maybe there's not,
there's a wall, so a lot of themyou just walk in, it's like a
park, basically you know and uh,yeah, it's, it's wonderful.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Uh, so, after Wales, where did you head down to
Cornwall?
So how did you get there?
Did you drive or train?

Speaker 3 (14:01):
yeah, we always rent a car, but every time we've been
here, we just, in fact, it'salways a Fiat 500.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
And he's six foot four and loves driving a little
Fiat 500.
He always says that's part ofthe adventure.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Because it's just enough room for the two of us
and our luggage.
Right, and with the narrowroads right, you know, wherever
you are, cornwall or England orIreland, it's fine, you know,
it's completely adequate.
And so, yeah, good gas mileage,fun to drive, enough room, and
that's what we've done for fivevacations now.

(14:36):
Fiat 500.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Well, that's cool and you're confident driving.
I guess after five times overthere, you're pretty used with
the roads.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
It was never a problem because, even though
you're on the other side,everything's reversed,
everything just flows the same.
You know what I mean?
It wasn't I.
I wondered would it bedifficult or unnerving?
You know, driving on the otherside in a backwards car to us,
and uh no, I mean we adaptedreally quickly, it's not a
problem and as far as the tinyroads, he actually says he
thinks that's part of theadventure too.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
It is fun it is.
You never know what you'regonna get around the corner.
Do you any tractor or sheep, oryou don't know what's coming?
Honestly, especially with thosehedges in cornwall where you're
driving through, and yet it'slike a tunnel and you're like,
okay, I'll just go slowly,because then there's a tractor
or there's a whole.
I had once a whole herd ofsheep and you're like, right,

(15:30):
okay, but that's, that is partof the adventure, absolutely.
So you drove down to Cornwall,so tell me about Cornwall, what
did you do in C?

Speaker 3 (15:39):
Oh boy, okay, what was the place we stayed at?
We, we stayed in Airbnb wealways stayed at Airbnbs.
It was a woman named Sue whohad this farmhouse.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
What were we near Gosh?
What am I thinking about?
The name of the?

Speaker 3 (15:53):
We did.
Tintagel Castle, we went to.
What was that fishing village?
We went to.

Speaker 4 (16:00):
Oh, we went to a few of them.
I could look them up.
But one thing that was reallyreally special when we were in
Cornwall is we went to Plymouthon VE Day.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, we were in Plymouth so that was really
special.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
The observation that was really good.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Yeah, it just happened to be well.
I mean, it was that week.
We saw some things in someliterature.
We thought, hey, this is comingup, ve Day is coming up.
And oh, hey, this is coming up.
Ve Day is coming up and oh,look, they're having observances
in Plymouth.
So we thought, well, we wantedto go to Plymouth anyway.
So, yeah, we went there.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
We're there for that it was great.
Calington, that's the name ofthe little village that we
stayed in, calington, and it waslittle but it was great.
I mean, the woman was wonderfulthat owned the place and it had
a hot tub and and it was just,oh, and she told us about some,
um, what do you, what do youcall those?
Like some stone circles?
And um, what was the othercheese ring?

(16:53):
What was?

Speaker 3 (16:53):
the other one that, yeah, we did.
Okay, we were.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
I'm finding where we were here, um, give me a minute,
but it was just really uniqueand, once again, just out there,
like you wouldn't see a sign toit if you didn't know where you
were going.
That's something that's sodifferent than here in the US.
Here they would turn it into anyou know a national park, and
then there'd be big signs andthere'd be a lot of people there
.
Here you can be the only personthere and it's you know, out in

(17:19):
the middle of nowhere and it'sjust, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
It seems more adventurous no, no, it's lovely
down's lovely down there, alsostaying at a B&B.
I think what's really useful isthat you, because the local
people will tell you places togo and eat, go and see, go and
do that.
Like you know, I won't knowbecause I'm not.
I don't live in that particularvillage or that particular area
, so that's always the usefulthing to do as well, and usually

(17:49):
you get a good breakfast aswell, so that's always nice when
you say a B&B as well.
So you went to tintagel, sowhat else did it?
Did you do quite a few miles inCornwall, because I do try to
find one.
We've done quite a bit drivingaround to see everything we did
so.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
We drove down the Lands End and Lizard Point yeah,
it was the lizard, the lizard,and we went to Mevagissey
Mevagissey, yes, that was one ofthe places that we went to one
of the fishing villages, and Ithink I already mentioned
Plymouth and we stayed Calingtonis on the edge of Bodmin Moor

(18:20):
and there on the Bodmin Moor's,these the hurler stone circles
some of that the Neolithic, youknow Stone Age type things,
right, you know like yeah, so wesaw that there was also that
Trepithy Coif yeah, yeah this isan interesting stone structure.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
You know Stone Age once again, just in a lot
between some houses.
It's amazing In a neighborhood,the hurler stone circles and
also the what was that formation?
It was actually natural.
It looked kind of like thepancakes, the rocks.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
The cheese ring, yeah the cheese ring.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
That's just some things on the bottom and more.
We went to the Lizard, st Ivesand Land's End and then Plymouth
Jarring myself here I couldeasily spend a lot of time there
.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
There's so much to see.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Cornwall is beautiful and it's an area which actually
deserves quite a bit of time.
I know quite a lot of peoplesay they just want to go down
for a day or two, but honestly,cornwall you could, and it's a
very popular destination withbrits as well.
We love going down there.
In fact, my ancestors come frompart, my ancestry comes from
down there.
But we stayed on bodman morelast time and saw the wild
ponies.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
Did you see the wild ponies when you were there
because they're just amazing tosee as well oh, I really wanted
to, but we we did not get achance to see them, but that
would have been nice and wherewe stayed was just, just,
absolutely.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
It was outside of calington but it's absolutely
beautiful and the the airbnb wasso nice that there were a
couple days where we stayedthere half the day or I think
one day we just stayed all daybecause it was just so beautiful
, you know, and it was sopleasant just to stay there.
And then we did a lot of thingsthat were just local, because
our host and it's always thecase that the host will always

(20:17):
leave you information on what'slocal you know to see, you know
and so, yeah, we did this bighike on Bob and Me Moore, we met
some folks there, you know, andended up having, uh, lunch with
them a mother and her daughterand um talked about the horses
and ponies and all that.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
But we did a lot of walking, a lot of different
walks, just so so nice, you knowit's going the trails um.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
So yeah, Cornwall is very beautiful.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Definitely, and also because you're there in May, you
can sit outside at the pubs aswell, which is always really
nice in the pub gardens.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
Yes, and Dorset, we did that a few times.
There was a place right on thebeach that was just oh, it's
just absolutely beautiful, wejust absolutely loved it.
And, um, we stayed nearbexington I don't know if you're
you're familiar with it.
Yeah, yeah, and there's um,what was that called?
There was a gardens right bythere.

(21:15):
That was really lovely.
Um, it wasn't bexington, but itwas right near west bexington.
I mean like really close.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
You were there just for the nice gardens as well
that time.
Yeah, it's always a good timeto go in there.
There's so many to choose fromas well, because there's some
stunning ones.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Oh, and it's so beautiful.
Just driving around, like youwere talking about the hedgerows
, but especially that time ofyear, everything was in bloom,
like just all these wildflowersare just just absolutely
stunning.
We just were just kept saying,oh, kind of pointing out, oh,
look at those and look at those,and it just wasn't even the
ones that were in a garden, butjust as you're driving around.
That's one thing nice about,because we did go in september

(21:59):
one year and I feel like youkind of missed that aspect of it
.
Not everything necessarily inbloom and, um, yeah, the
weather's not cold, it's stillfairly pleasant, but I think in
the spring I think it's muchmore beautiful.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
My personal opinion from what we've seen, I prefer
that yeah, it's a good time togo and see all the gardens, for
sure, that's what I love.
That's my favorite time to goto the Cotswolds and, uh,
because there's some beautifulgardens there that I love to go
to.
It doesn't matter how manytimes I go.
I'm quite happy to go everyyear to go back and back and
back and see them becausethey're so lovely.
And so the Jurassic Coast.

(22:34):
What did you see and do in theJurassic Coast?
I'm glad you went there, by theway, because that's another
gorgeous part of the UK to visit.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Oh, definitely, we went to, was it Weymouth?
Yep, we went to Weymouth andwalked all around Abbotsbury.
Oh, abbotsbury was the name ofthe gardens was the tropical
gardens, which was really seemedsurprising for Britain.
But of course there's a longstory as to how they they
started that, that garden, butthat was right by where we were
staying.
That was beautiful, but we tookone day and drove to Weymouth
and then we found out about awalk.

(23:09):
It was like a seven-mile walkand then we ended up in the city
of Weymouth and it was oh, yes,yeah, that was a lovely, lovely
walk.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
And also in West Bexington there's the Harvey
Trail or Harvey Path.
Harvey was an English author, Ithink that was from Dorset, and
wrote some famous novels thatI've not read, but anyways, he's
a famous guy and these trailsare named after him and I just
explored these long paths thatjust went off.
You didn't come with me thatday, no, no, but just gorgeous

(23:42):
there from.
That just went off.
You didn't come with me thatday.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
No, no.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
But just gorgeous there from West Bexington.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
And we also visited Dorchester.
That's not that far from there,yep.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
The city of Dorchester.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
That was a nice place to go.
And then when we left Bexington, on the way to the next place,
we went to Winchester Cathedral,and that was, of course, that
was more remarkable than Iexpected, which sounds strange.
Obviously it was remarkable,but it was one of those
surprises.
Like I enjoyed it way more eventhan I expected to, which may

(24:16):
sound kind of strange, but thatwas almost a whole day that we
spent there.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
The thing is it's a bit like castles.
We have so many cathedrals aswell, so you kind of it's a bit
sport for choice.
But I have to say, if, if I was, if I was pushed to choose, uh
I would say winchester'sprobably my favorite.
I should probably say thatbecause I do love westminster
abbey, but winchester cathedralit's huge.
It's huge to start off, um, butthe history, the history around

(24:42):
it, is fascinating.
It's also where you'll findJane Austen was buried.
It's a fascinating cathedral tovisit, and Winchester itself is
an amazing city as well.
Yes that was really nice.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
We love it when you find a city like that that you
can just walk.
There's just so much to see.
You can just keep on walkingand it's not like you have to
move the car to go somewhereelse.
There's just so many things tosee.
Very nice.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
So then you headed over to Bury St Edmunds, so I'm
guessing you obviously drovethat way.
Did you stop off along the way,or did you kind of go all the
way from Jurassic Coast to Buryor Well, winchester was one of
the stops.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
Winchester was the stop that we did.
We didn't spend the nightanywhere, but we went from West
Lexington, stopped at Winchesterfor a good part of the day and
then went from there to Bury StEdmunds.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Okay, that's good planning.
So then, what did you get up toin East Anglia then?

Speaker 4 (25:38):
So we took the train from where we were staying and
went into Cambridge, and thatwas another one.
That was a surprise.
I mean, I knew that we weregoing to like Cambridge, but we
did the punting boat and we dida ho-ho bus that day to get a
big overview.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Where everything was basically yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
And then once again did a lot of walking.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
We just walked all day.
After that, we walked all day.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
All over the town and it once again there was a lot
of walking.
We just walked all day.
We walked all day All over thetown and it was pretty exclusive
, loved it, loved Cambridge.
Would definitely go there again, very, very nice.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
It's another one of my favorites.
You've gone to a lot of myfavorites during the trip, but
Cambridge, I just think, isthere's something magical about
Cambridge Again, that is it'sjust again a hugely historic
city.
We follow them, but it is justI don't know.
It's got a lovely atmosphere,cambridge, I always think, and
you can go punting on the RiverCam, which is you just can't
beat the summer, when it's warm,it's just the best way to see

(26:34):
the backs of the university andjust, oh, I don't know, it's
just fabulous.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
To see things that you wouldn't normally see, which
was really nice.
To see things that you wouldn'tnormally see, which was really
nice.
Now, one thing that weconsidered doing before we we
left home and we're stillconsidering that for a couple
days while we were there istaking a long train trip up to
York and going there just forthe day and actually Doug was
was helpful, um, because I was.
I posted about that because Ifelt really uneasy about it.

(27:02):
But but then going online, itjust seemed like it was not a
good idea.
It just seemed like it wouldjust take all day, from morning
to night.
It seemed like we'd beexhausted and the cost of it
just did not seem to make sense.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
It was just really too distant from where we were
really it wasn't practical.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
I was just trying to get my gin.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, I think it was based on where you were, because
where you were it's moredifficult to get to York by
train.
But if you were actually inLondon, it's a very it's
actually an easy enough day tripto do.
You can do that, but from whereyou were, yes, it was too
difficult, and that's the thing.
That's what Doug's reallyhelpful being able to sign up to
say is it doable or not or howcould because he's a train
expert, he knows all about that.
So, yeah, so it was good to askhim Did you do any tours when

(27:46):
you were there?
I meant to ask you yes, yes,what did you do?

Speaker 4 (27:58):
So we did a tour of Winchester, but this time the
only official other tour besidesthe Ho-Ho Bus was the black cab
that you recommended in London,so we did the four-hour that
was so fabulous.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
No, we also did a rock and roll walking tour.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
Oh, that's right, that's right, that's right.
Yes, yes, we did that too.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
That was at least two hours or so.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was really good too.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
It kind of centered around Soho and different
landmarks where you know veryfamous people did different
things you know david bowie andyou know and the who and and the
rolling stones and anddifferent bands and pointing out
different landmarks.
It was very, very it wasfascinating nice just yeah, just
to see these places.
You know that I read about orsee them, album covers or
whatnot.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
So, yeah, yeah.
So that day we got to see aplay, we saw Mousetrap, which
you know, you've probably seenbefore.
It's been there for so long,but that was quite good.
It's the longest running playin Britain.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, do you know where I saw the Mousetrap?
Because it wasn't in London.
I actually saw it when I livedin Toronto, so I've seen it for
a long time ago.
Yeah, so I must apologize,because I kind of jumped forward
there and we've skipped whatyou were doing.
So you went to Cambridge, let'sgo back rewind.
Rewind myself.
So you went to Cambridge.
So what else did you do whenyou were based in very St

(29:20):
Edmunds?

Speaker 4 (29:21):
we took a day in Norwich, which we liked a lot.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah, I know no idea what to expect there and we love
Norwich.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
It was another one of those walkable cities.
You just walk all around.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was a very very big Cathedral, um, which
surprised me, it seems, is it?
I think it's bigger thanWinchester's and it seemed
bigger.
It's also a better condition,you, than Winchester's and it
seemed bigger, it's also inbetter condition.
You know, winchester has gotits structural problems right
that have been kind ofameliorated over the years and
you know, and shorn up and allthat, but yeah, it's got a very,

(29:54):
very large cathedral there andanother just beautiful city with
some, you know, ancientlandmarks and things.
Yeah.
So yeah, norwich was anotherone, and then what was the-?

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Where was the place where the Roman ruins were?

Speaker 3 (30:11):
It was outside of Yarmouth but it wasn't in, it
was that's right, it was in-.

Speaker 4 (30:16):
We wanted to see some little beach communities by
East Anglia so we went toYarmouth and walked all around
there.
That was much more touristythan I thought it would be.
That kind of it wasn't asquaint as, say, cornwall.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
I definitely wouldn't recommend it.
No, that's a.
There are a few places that arekind of the English seaside
towns, that are like morebritish people would go to, and
I would say like blackpool's anexample, great yarmouth's an
example, those sort of, um, yeah, those sort of seaside places
which, yeah, I I haven't beenactually, I'm just thinking

(30:56):
skegness is another one thatcomes off the top of my head um,
that that british people tendto go to, but I have, I must
admit, I haven't been to any ofthose for quite a while.
I should actually include theminto my itinerary at some point.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Um, but, yes, very touristy, because you're going
to get a lot of british peoplethere as well yeah, yeah, that
that wasn't my favorite, um, butI mean the you know, the actual
seaside was nice, but it wasjust a little more how do I want
to say, commercialized, I guess, yeah, best way to put it.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
This, it's kind of Coney Island, ish, yeah, yeah,
the place with the Roman rules.
That was outside ofgreat-year-old.
So it was.
I'm trying to find a referencehere yeah, we stumbled on that
it was great.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
Yeah, and we met this guy there.
That's one of the things welove is just talking to locals.
You know, this guy was walkinghis dog, he lived in the
neighborhood where the Romanruins were and we ended up
talking to him for quite a whileand he studies US politics and
so of course he had to ask someparticulars.
Case Durancy oh, that's rightWith politics.

(32:02):
And so of course he had to asksome particulars.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
Cayster on Sea oh that's right, that was it with
the Roman ruins where we metthis gentleman.
Yeah, we were just in thisneighborhood with this Roman
ruin and we wanted to see it.
And we're looking at it andthis guy shows up with his dog
and, yeah, we ended up talkingfor an hour.
It was great.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
It was lovely.
I love that.
Sorry, say that again.
Sorry, could you say that again, Chris?
Sorry the name of the place,Sorry, Chris.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
Kaster on Sea.

Speaker 4 (32:31):
C-A-E-S-T-E-E-R.
Okay, it's outside of Yarmouth,with our last name being Paxton
.
One of the previous times wehad come, we stayed not too far
from Great Paxton.
Previous times we had come, westayed not too far from Great
Paxton, and so we decided wewould spend a little more time
and we went there and just had awonderful little Paxton.
Sorry.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Little Paxton is actually Big Paxton, great
Paxton.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
It's kind of funny, but anyway, just walking all
around and then we spent a lotof time in the pub and we knew
nothing about which happened tobe on TV.
So there was this oldergentleman who is so into it and
he just thought it was great toteach us all about it, and so it
was just kind of fun to talk topeople that.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Have you know, I think they get fascinated by the
people to the right bar staffright, so friendly.
We start talking about cricket.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
They're explaining it it's a good job.
Look's not here, chris,honestly, because he would be in
this conversation right now.
Honestly, we just traveledaround sri lanka and every time

(33:42):
we got in a car or get into atuk-tuk, the conversation
inevitably was just cricket,cricket, cricket, honestly.
Oh so I'm so happy to hear thatyou spent some time in a pub
and learned a little bit aboutcricket.
Oh yeah, I guess it'll be thesame if I came to the states
learn a little bit, maybe, aboutbaseball.

Speaker 4 (33:56):
Cool, yeah, it was quite fun.
What was the name of that placethat we went to with the
gardens that day that we went toPaxton Beautiful gardens and it
was attached to like a manorhouse.
I'm trying to think of the nameof that place Because some of
the places that we go to arelike out of the way, not like
just Cambridge or Norwich.
You know we found out aboutthis place where there was these

(34:18):
beautiful gardens Outside ofLittle Pa or Norwich.
You know we found out aboutthis place where there was this
beautiful gardens, you know whatI'm talking about Outside of
Little Paxton.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I'll try to find it here.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
I'm blanking, but we were so fortunate to have so
many beautiful days, and thatwas one of them just walking
around this gardens and therewas just, of course, a manor
house.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
You know what I'm talking about.
The one yes, yes.

Speaker 4 (34:38):
I do.
Yeah, you might recognize it.
If Chris finds the name, I'vegot some photos here that are
from there.
Yeah, just absolutely beautifuland very fascinating too.
That was the one that had thatclock, anglesey.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Abbey?
Yeah, that was it, althoughit's not an abbey and it's not
an Anglesey.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
I don't know why it's called that, but it's called
that.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Why not?
Yeah, there are so manybeautiful gardens to see in the
UK.
I'm a member of the NationalTrust and I get their book every
year and also I look through itand think there's no way I
could see all these in alifetime.
There's just so many to go andsee, oh see, but I love the fact
you know you guys, you basedyourselves on a few areas and

(35:24):
gave yourself the time to go andexplore it, make the best of
the weather I mean, you werevery lucky that you had really
good weather the entire time butwhen you're based there and
you're not pushing yourself tolike move on to the next place
quickly, quickly, quickly, youcan have a little bit more
flexibility to do that stuff andgo in the pub and chill out and
have a pint and learn aboutcricket.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
I love it, I love your trick, absolutely it's
amazing.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
And I know just from chatting to you two already,
it's like I can imagine whatyou'd be like in the pub.
You know everybody would begravitating towards you to buy
you a pint, nevermind anythingelse.
So have a pint with you guysand have a chat.
So I and anything else.
So have a pint with you guysand and have a chat.
So I mean, obviously, headinginto london is slightly
different major, major, big city, capital.
Millions of people live there.
How was your experience oflondon?
I guess you've been there manytimes before and I know we've

(36:10):
just mentioned you did a coupleof tours when you were there.
I know I'm happy that you didthe discovery of london back
characters, because we work withthem and they're they're
fantastic, um, and I love thefact you did a rock and roll
tour as well.
That's fantastic.
But tell me about London, aboutyour experiences in London.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
Well, the first time, I'll just say that we stayed
there, we stayed in London forfive nights In 2019.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
2019.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
Our first vacation, yeah, but we really should have
spent a lot more time there,because one of those days we
took the channel to Paris, andthat was a whirlwind day.
It was great but it took up oneof our days.
But once again we did so muchwalking so we'd take the tube
somewhere and then we would justend up walking instead and

(36:55):
walking back and I don't know,somehow we just decided it was
just more fun to walk and we'dbe exhausted at the end of the
day.
But we did a lot of the majorstuff the first time, like the
British Museum and the BritishLibrary and just looking all
around Piccadilly Circus andTrafalgar.
Square all these places you hearabout, you know you just it.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Sometimes we'd just be walking and it's like, oh
look, this is Trafalgar Square,you know, and like we'd stumble
on it, or Hyde.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
Park.
Oh, I loved Hyde Park.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Oh, my goodness, it was a wonderful, wonderful
little restaurant.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
Look at the map oh, look, you know we've heard of
this.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
We know what this is.
Let's go there, you know.
So yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
But then we didn't go back again until a year ago and
we stayed in Marlow and we tooka train in because we really
wanted to see the Churchill WarRooms, and so we spent a good
well more than half of a daythere and we had this idea that
we were going to then just do alot of walking around.
But we were so exhausted fromstanding the whole time at the

(38:00):
war room that we just kind offelt like we were worn out.
We wanted to find a pub andthen just go back.
So we thought we were going togo back the next day and we
ended up going to Aveburyinstead.
We were just kind of feelinglike, okay, we've just kind of
had enough London for right now.
We were feeling kind ofoverwhelmed.
So that's why this time wethought, well, we'll stay not

(38:21):
too far from London, take thetrain in, you know a few days
and get to do more things likethat.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
But one thing about London, though that of course
you would know, but Americansmay not know if they haven't
been there, is you don't everwant to bring a car into London
you know, so you know, because Ithink there's a daily catch, I
don't know where you'd parkEvery time we've gone there.
We stayed outside of London andtook a train in.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
Except for the first time, the first time we did stay
there for five nights.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
We turned our car in and just used transit, used the
tubes and things.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
That's.
The only reason I've beenhesitant to stay in London again
was the dragging your suitcasethrough the city.
You know, like you take thetrain and then you gotta drag
your suitcase to get to wherethe hotel is and there's not as
many airbnbs and we did inLondon, we did, but it was not
my, because it's not, there'snot as many like elevators or

(39:15):
even escalators going upstairs.
You know, dragging all thisstuff and and every year we try
to like do less, carry less,carry less, and yet somehow it
doesn't always work.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
But that's, that's two really good points.
You said there, chris,absolutely 100, don't drive in
london.
Never, ever drive in london.
A you don't need to, becausethe public transport in London
is sectioned on, it's excellent.
And B honestly, it's crazy.
I have driven in London becauseI've worked and lived in London
actually worked and lived in thecentre of London and, believe

(39:47):
me, this was like, oh, maybe I'mtrying to think, 30 years ago
you could not pay me enough todrive in London.
Now, honestly, seriously, no,not a chance, never, ever going
to happen.
So that's a good one.
And the other one yeah, if you,if you airbnbs there are less
airbnbs in london and there are.
Stick my neck out here, but wehave had times where people have

(40:09):
booked airbnbs and they've beencancelled at the last minute
and that, oh, that reallyworries me about people doing
that.
So that's, those are alwaysconsideration, not saying that
happens to everybody, because wehave had lots of people that
have been very happy and stayedin their B&Bs, but it's always a
bit of a worry at the back ofmy mind about that.
But you traveled in, so youobviously got the train in no
problem.
Yeah, exactly yeah.

(40:32):
And then what did you kind ofpick out to do this time,
because obviously I know you didthe two tours.
Was there anything elsespecifically you wanted to go
and see?

Speaker 4 (40:42):
Well, the wonderful thing about that tour as you
know, the Black Cab tour wasthat I felt like we got such a
great view, such a great kind ofbehind the scenes, if you will,
with him being able to stop soclose to places that you
wouldn't normally get to do, andso it was a really good feel

(41:02):
for when we went back, the daythat we did the rock and roll
one, where we could just walkand go where we wanted to walk
and see what we wanted to see alot more.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
We kind of knew where we were a little bit better,
and we were in a different partof London than we were the first
time, right.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
First time we were by Houston, yeah, because we
wanted to be near St.
And then we were the first time, right, you know?
Um, we were first time we wereby houston, yeah, and because we
wanted to be near saint pancrasstation to be able to walk to
get to the yeah get there atlike 5 30 in the morning, and so
we wanted that was great too,that area yeah, I stayed there.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
I did.
I did that trip to parisactually I've got a podcast
episode about that but you'vegot to be there very early to
get that very first train.
So I set my alarm, but guesswhat?
My alarm didn't go off.
I had literally 5 minutes toget up.
Thank goodness I was staying ata hotel next to St Pancras, but
I literally had 5 minutes toget up and get ready and get to
the train station.
So that's never happened to me,will never happen again,

(41:57):
because I could not believe it.
It's a very expensive day tripas well.
I was like, oh, I'm not missingthis, so you have to stay very
close.
Definitely the Eurostar.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
That was our first trip there, that was one of the
ones I definitely wanted toexperience, because, I mean, we
just remember when theycompleted the channel and they
had it live on television fromthe French side and from the,
you know, and from the Englishside, and they met, you know,
with these drills right, andthey break the rock.
And there they are, you know,they create this high-speed

(42:29):
train.
I thought this is just great,you know, and so that was just a
great day.
I mean, we had a really goodtour guide in Paris who was
actually Belgian, but she livesin London, and this whole.
English, completely London loverbut, but knew Paris extremely
well.
We had a really great driver.
The traffic in Paris isunbelievable this guy got this

(42:49):
bus.
I don't know how he did itthrough this traffic.
He was great, and so we justhad a fantastic day in Paris,
just packed in and got back late.
I just couldn't believe that itwas at the very end of our
first vacation, but-.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
It was the day before we left.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, but it was a great, great day.
Yeah, the Eurostar was great,you know so all that, but Highly
recommend it.
Other things in London we didthe Churchill Wars, we did the
Imperial War Museum, we did theBritish Museum.
Just walked around, walkedaround where the London.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
Eye is and Buckingham Palace.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
We've never done that before because we don't really
go in for that kind of thing.
You just kind of feel like youneed to at least see it.

Speaker 4 (43:35):
It's just one of those iconic things.
One day when we were staying inVirginia water, we went into
Windsor.
We didn't go to the castle, butwith the city of Windsor and
walked all around Windsor.
And what's the other one?
Eaton.
Eaton that's right.

(43:55):
Yeah, yeah, and that was alovely day too, just walking all
around that whole area.
We just loved it.
It's like Windsor was a lovelyday too, just walking all around
that whole area, we just lovedit.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Windsor's a great day trip from London, whether you
go to the castle or not,actually because you can take a
little ride on the River Thamesand you can have a walk around.
Yeah, it's a nice city, thecity of Windsor, and obviously
it's where the king lives.
We've got the beautiful castlethere.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
I think it's the oldest inhabited castle in the
world windsor castle, is it okay?
Yeah, well, would you believe?
One of the things that wereally enjoy about about britain
is just the, the oldness of it,and the oldness, just just.
I admire the buildings, youknow, like when we were like,
like, for example,henley-upon-thames, oh, yes.
And then Marlow With thehalf-timbered buildings, oh yes

(44:47):
yes, yes, chester.
We loved Chester.
Chester was in that film likethat Shrewsbury, oh we loved
Shrewsbury, stratford-upon-evonoh my gosh, I love
Stratford-upon-Yvonne.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
Everything about that place.
All day just walking everywhere.
It's wonderful.

Speaker 3 (45:04):
It could be any city, any town in England.
It's just so different for usas Americans.
Maybe it's different in theEast Coast.
There's more you see stonebuildings, but it seems like
almost everything in Britain,maybe outside of London, but
even in London, is made of stone.
Okay, and I mean that's no, bigdeal right.

(45:24):
But you know, in Western US andCentral US it's more rare, you
know, and these are ancientbuildings in many cases.
You know hundreds and hundredsand hundreds of years old, you
know, like in Norwich you know,there was that exchange building
.
You know, that was like I don'tknow what it was, like 800 years
old or something.
It was half timbered timber andmasonry.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
It was like that Chester too.
There were some of those thatwere so old.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Chester was beautiful , the walled city, we walked
that.
But so yeah, we just enjoyedjust walking in the city and
just enjoying the oldness of itand the uniqueness of it, you
know, from an Americanperspective, you know.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
So yeah, I feel like every area that we've been to
has its own special charm, Likeit's so hard to say, well, would
you pick a favorite?
I mean each trip, I think eachlittle area, or I shouldn't say
little, but each spot that westayed.
There was so much to see, somuch to explore that it's hard

(46:26):
to say until we love the factthat we can take so much time,
Like next time we want to go upby the Lake District and go more
, like in the central area, anddefinitely want to get to York
and we did one trip that we justdid one.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
I'm making signs that you go, go up, go up, mary, go
up.
So you late district.
Can we go a little bit right ofthat, a little bit up from
Yorkshire, because there's areally fantastic County which
has the most castles and thentire and entire England.
It's the county with the most,it's the one I was born in.
So you need, and also if youwant to see Roman Rooms at

(47:00):
Northumberland, come on, guys,you need to be northumberland.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So a few years back, we stayedin onyx, which is not that far
from there, right yeah yeah,silly us.
We said on wick, and that ofcourse had to be corrected.
But it's a?
L?
N?
W-n-w-i-c-k.
Alnwick, right, but no, it'sAlnwick, but anyway.

(47:23):
So are you familiar with thattreehouse restaurant in Alnwick?

Speaker 1 (47:28):
I am not, no, but I will be next time I go.
Very interesting place, oh mygosh.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
It is my favorite place I've ever eaten in my
whole life, and so that oneactually actually I on 2019.
I found it in a book, just atravel book, and they had
mentioned it, so it's umattached to or it's right by on
the castle, and we didn't evenmake the castle that day because
that day it was pouring rain somuch.
We were fortunate to make it tothe restaurant.

(47:55):
But the restaurant is huge.
It's called thehouse and it'slike a huge treehouse Built into
a huge tree or multiple trees?

Speaker 3 (48:02):
I don't know.
Yeah, it was just absolutelywonderful.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
It's very unique, I think it's called the Treehouse.
The branch is kind of movingthrough the rooms and the rooms
are all paneled in wood right,and so you just see these
branches and this tree kind ofjust weaving its way, and it's
quite large, the wholerestaurant, you know.
So it's very unique.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
I want to go there again.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
Right, well, when I get back because my sister lives
not too far from Annick and Iwas brought not too far I'm
going to take her out for lunchthere because you've definitely
sold it to me.
It sounds amazing.
When I do, I'll get some photoson the group.
But that's a great segueactually into food and what.
What did you?
Are there any specific foods orplaces you like to eat or cause

(48:47):
?
I mean, for me, I go home and Ilike my fish and chips and I
like my gammon steak and chipsand Doug likes to have his
sticky toffee pudding.
That's a favorite for his.
But are there any cause?
You've been there five times?
Or the particular foods go,yeah, you can't wait to have
pasties you have to have pasties.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
Oh my gosh, those are so, so good and um, you gotta
have fish and chips and andwe're amazed that, like some
place we stayed in scotland, thefish and chips might taste
different than in liverpool,which might taste different than
cornwall.
You think they're all fish andchips, but they're not all the
same.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Also, scotch eggs I love scotch eggs.
There's a place have you everbeen to on the way up to
Scotland the house of Brouwer.
Have you been there before?
No, I haven't oh my goodness,it's on one of your motorways on
the way out to Scotland.
It's right outside of whereTracy is.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
Yeah, so it's in Brewery is actually the town.
So the B&B that we stayed at onScottish borders, which was
also called Paxton,interestingly, but anyway, she's
the one, georgina, lovely lady,that told us about the first
ruin that we went to.
And then we were headed up toInverness and she said you must

(50:07):
stop at House of Brouwer on theway.
Now House of Brouwer is morelike a little shopping mecca.
I don't know, I didn't know,it's not, it's a clothing store.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
It's kind of posh.
It's very posh a it's aclothing store there.
It's kind of a rush, it's veryposh.
There's a restaurant and a delithere and they sell a lot of
you know nice stuff and theyhave a.
There's a garden shop and aclothing shop.
It's all very expensive but thethe food there is really
reasonably priced and reallyreally good really good.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
So they have a men's shop, a women's shop.
That was when Chris first gotone of those British pit lockery
.
That's it.
Yeah, british caps.
You know the British cap?
Yeah, it's called a yes yes yes, black cap, that's right, you

(50:59):
have to go to House of Brewer.
It is just so, so nice and allthe food is so good and
wonderful.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
Shopping there, the first scotch egg I ever had was
there, believe it or not.
And we'll get scotch eggs andwe'll get some hot pasties or
some sort of hot pies and justtake them with us and you know,
like on the road.
I mean, the food is really goodthere.
It's really, you know, theprices are really good and it's

(51:28):
a very nice place to stop.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
Very nice.
It's not touristy, it's justvery, very, very classy.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
It's off the motorway , so it's kind of a rest stop,
but it's a very posh, nicerestaurant that you don't have
to spend a lot of money but it'svery pleasant.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
And it had the best souvenirs of anywhere I've been
in Britain.
I mean like the kind of thingsyou want to bring home to
someone you know, likeeverything from the best scotch.
You know what am I saying?
The scotch bread, shortbread,shortbread, thank you,
shortbread, really goodshortbread.

(52:01):
You know.
The teas, the, oh, justeverything.
We've gotten things for ourgrandson there.
I mean just really, reallycan't recommend House of Brewer.
So whenever we're moving Norththere, I'll you know we have to
find a way to get to House ofBrewer.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
On the Eastern.
Whatever that motorway is, Iforget we always stop there.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
Oh, so two years ago when we went to just Scotland,
we did a lot of Rabby's Toursand I would highly recommend
Rabby's Tours because they'resmall.
I mean, the most I think youhave is about 10 people, maybe
it's 12, but small, a littlemore like a minivan, not big at
all, and they're fabulous.

(52:40):
The guides are so good.
We did about four differenttours with them and then we also
we stayed at jana groats, um,and then we did the tour to um,
orkney island.
So we did a lot of tours, thatparticular trip um, far more
than we usually do, but we justreally really wanted to get a

(53:01):
lot of different areas ofScotland and get a lot of
information.
And then we drove the NC 500and that's very worthwhile.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
It's lovely.
Well, I mean this.
Obviously, you've been back tothe UK five times, so there's a
reason you keep going back andit, I guess it really is.
You just get wherever you go.
You're going to get a differentexperience and I'm just so glad
that you you've explored somuch of the uk and um and I hope
, I'm sure, you'll be backabsolutely we will like I said,
next time.

Speaker 4 (53:31):
We already know that we want to go next spring and we
know what area we want toattack.
Like you said, just the wholemid, mid, yeah, yeah period.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Perfect Right, I'm going to end the podcast because
we've been chatting for a longtime.
It's been lovely to chat withyou guys, but I always end the
podcast with the same question.
I don't know if you want toanswer this separately, but what
would be?
And especially since you guyshave been five times as well,
it's quite interesting to seewhat you're going to come up
with for this.
But we always ask what would bethe one tip that you would give
to somebody visiting the UK forthe first time.

(54:02):
But I would also say what wouldbe a tip you'd give to somebody
visiting the UK.
Maybe if it's a second or thirdtime have you, I guess, been
there five times you might havekind of new ideas or different
tips that you'd share.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
I think that, and you don't after me.
But one thing I would reallysuggest to people, um, that I
love to do is each area thatwe're staying, I like to have
what I call possibilities, sonot a strict itinerary, but
certain things that you know wemay do while we're there.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
A list of places?
Yeah, a list of places.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
Some are a given.
You know that.
We know that we definitelywanted to see Cardiff or
whatever.
So it's good to have a few ofthose.
But I think all the rest it'sgood to just have a bunch of
possibilities.
But then once you get there,don't feel so stuck with that,
because you may just goexploring, you may just go
driving and who knows whatyou'll find, or end up with

(54:54):
suggestions from where you'restaying and there's so many fun
out of the way places and justexciting explorations, and so I
think you have to kind of allowroom for that.
Don't feel like, okay, here'smy itinerary, from seven in the
morning until seven at night.
You know, just have time tojust relax and and see what

(55:16):
happens.
You know, and have time in pubsand talking to people and, you
know, getting to know the locals, and I think that that has been
some really fun.
You know that we really enjoyit.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
But anyway you I would say also is don't be
afraid to drive.
You know, don't be afraid torent a car and see it by road,
because I found that Britain'sroads are always kept in
excellent condition.
I've never had a problem withdriving.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
We had like some northern.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Scotland.
Just that one time it was afterCOVID.
I don't know if maybe there wasa year off with maintenance or
something, but you know, theroads are generally, I find, in
excellent condition and, yeah,it's different.
You're driving on the left, theleft, you know, and things are
reversed in the car, but thepedals are the same, you know.
You're just shifting with yourleft hand instead of your right,

(56:06):
you know.
But I mean, I just love thefreedom of having a, of having a
car and being able to do theout of the way places or to be
flexible, you know, if you havethe time.
You know, not everybody has thetime, you know, they you know,
and in that case maybe having atour is great, you know, but but
I think just renting the carand has just opened up, we could

(56:29):
just go to anywhere.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
We basically want to go you know and and so, and the
train.
You don't always have thatoption.
When we one year we thought, oh, we should plan a trip, we're
just doing the train.
But then then there were somany ruins and out-of-the-way
places we wanted to go to thatyou couldn't possibly get there
by the train.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
So we thought, okay, when we get older and they won't
let us rent a car anymore, thenwe'll go by the train, but I
mean I'm saying Americansshouldn't be afraid to go by,
car it's not that hard, it's notthat hard, it's not that
different, it's not scary,everything just flows the same.
And, by the way, I love allyour roundabouts.

(57:07):
I want more roundabouts inAmerica because it's such a
great solution when you have abunch of roads converging.
How are you going to handle this?
And I love them because you'renot waiting at a stoplight.
You know you just flow and ifyou miss your curve just come
back around to your street.
It's gonna work out, and I,yeah.
So driving I think touringBritain by car is totally

(57:32):
possible and I recommend itespecially with the sat-nav, we
cannot imagine with the map.
Yeah, well we do recommendbecause a hard one.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
Well, we do recommend because we work with Tripyama,
who actually developed a wholeresource for people who are
unsure or feeling nervous aboutdriving all over the world
actually.
But they have a very goodprogram for the UK.
It's not expensive as well.
So we do say to people, if theyhave reservations about driving
on the other side of the road,it's a good way to prepare.
But I'm so happy to hear thatyou had such an amazing time

(58:03):
that you explored and you'vebeen all over the south this
time and that you're going to goa little bit further north next
time.
So I'm always excited to hearthat.
But thanks, thanks so much,mary and chris, for coming on
the podcast and sharing yourtrip.
It's been lovely to chat withyou, oh you as well.

Speaker 4 (58:18):
Thanks for having us.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
So, once again, thank you so much to Mary and Chris
for coming along and agreeing tochat to me about their trip
report from the UK, from theirfifth trip to the UK, which was
fantastic.
You'll find information to theplaces that Chris and Mary
chatted about in the podcastshow notes, which are
uktraravelplanetcom forwardslash episode 162.

(58:42):
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
.
Happy UK travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanetcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?

(59:02):
We love to hear from you and,you never know, you may receive
a shout out in a future episode.
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
.
Happy UK travel planning.

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