England 2025

 There’s no place like home. Yesterday we drove to London and spent the night at the airport Sheraton. We left there at 2:30 am Madison time and got to our house around 7:00 tonight. Thus ends our 2025 England trip.

 I am NOT fond of all day drives on British roads so we’re dividing the trip to London Heathrow in two. Today we drove from Keswick to Stafford and got here in time to visit Shugborough Estate  for one last stately home. It was low key but maybe it’s just because we were so tired. In any case it was pretty nice. And every grand 18th century estate needs a Chinese house and a bridge. Not to mention a Greek temple.   And other cool stuff. After a couple hours there we headed to our humble abode for the night which turned out to be a super plush place, T he Moat House Hote l. The room is big, the bed is huge, the food is good and the shower has pressure AND hot water. Also, there are canal boats. A very pleasant place to end our trip.

 Our last big adventure was the best: Wansfell from Ambleside. It was a 1400 foot elevation gain and I’ve always had a hard time with hills. When we were here in 2004 with the kids I gave up about 1/5 of the way. In 2012 Victoria and I made it to the top - but I had almost quit. It was only strong encouragement from V. that got me the final ascent.This time my training paid off. It was hard but I finished the climb under my own volition. And the views from the top (and along the way) made it all worthwhile. After the hike we just had enough energy to drive back to Keswick, clean up, and go for dinner before total collapse set in. Spoiler alert - if we return in another 12 years we won’t be climbing Wansfell! We feel very victorious making it up a high fell and back in a day, but consider these chaps: They are truly mad, bad, and very dangerous to know! Today we head down to Stafford en route to London Heathrow. We’re hoping to get to Stafford early enough to see one more National T...

  Ever since the first Cotswolds picture I’ve been frustrated by the disconnect between how gorgeous everything here is and my attempts to convey it in words or photos. So if you want to see how fantastic this all is, start here . Yesterday it was raining again in the morning. Instead of trying another rain hike we got in the car and drove down to Windermere, to see Blackwell House  a much more modern “stately home”. From Wikipedia: When the architect MH Baillie Scott built a holiday home overlooking Windermere for his client Sir Edward Holt he created Blackwell, a perfect example of the Arts and Crafts movement. Blackwell retains many of its original decorative features, including a rare Hessian wall-hanging in the dining room, leaf-shaped door handles, curious window catches, distinctive plasterwork, stained glass and carved wooden panelling by Simpsons of Kendal. The rooms contain furniture and objects by many of the leading Arts and Crafts designers and studios – metalwork...