Sisters, Aunts and Grand Kids

 Finally we drove back to our old favourite Arrowe Brook Farm.

You may see that I have returned to English spelling of some words. It’s my blog I can do what I want!

I hooked up with a Wirral art group

A fun day.

The return to Arrowe Brook and the Wirral was due to my Aunt Maud having passed away just before we flew in. Aunt Maud had a good run, reaching almost 97 before she slipped away at the care home she has been in for at least 10 years.

My sisters have been looking after her affairs all that time bless them.

I always remember her as a dainty lady and the leader of a dance school where both of my sisters learned tap and ballet. As a tiny kid in short pants I would go to their rehearsals for the annual Christmas show they would take part in. As I got a little older I would help out behind the curtains hauling in the scenery. Not that I did much hauling as I was probably 8 or 9 at the time, but I felt like I had helped out.

A spinster all her life, her house was always full of little trinkets, china ballerinas and music boxes. When they played the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” at her funeral the memory of the music boxes came rushing back.

We hooked up with Ken and Angie again for a trip to Liverpool for the celebration of the end of the Battle of the Atlantic. Fought between the German U Boats and the Allied convoys that crossed the North Atlantic during World War 2.

Big crowds

The famous "Ferry across the Mersey"

Hurricane, Lancaster and Spitfire

It was very crowded as there were Navy ships in for visits, Royal Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine exhibits. Historic military vehicles, helicopters, planes and seemingly endless soldiers, sailors and airmen showing off their hardware.

The highlight was a flyover by the Lancaster Spitfire and Hurricane of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. All very rare authentic WW2 aircraft and the Lancaster one of only 2 worldwide still flying.

I had some maintenance chores to do on the Motorhome and finally got the “Leisure” (house) battery to charge up. A hidden blown fuse was all that was stopping it.

We grabbed the chance to visit one of the historical places around Liverpool  - Speke Hall which dates to before 1066.

A genuine Tudor House

Lots of places in UK are said to predate 1066 and the reason is that William the Conqueror invaded England that year and after he had defeated the English he had a survey taken of everything in the country, The survey is known as “The Doomsday Book” and if a house is listed in it then naturally it has to predate 1066.

Most of these old houses have reverted to the government due to scandalously high estate taxes which forced the families to sell or have them seized by the government. There are a few “Trusts” who oversee the running of the properties, the main one being “The National Trust” who manage most of the big intact houses, and the other the “English Heritage” who seem to have all the ruins!

Speke Hall is English Heritage and we bought a membership which gets us in to all their properties free plus lets us park free where non members have to pay.

While we were around the Wirral we took the opportunity to grab our Grandkids and take them to a country fair in rural Cheshire. Much like a US County Fair with fairgrounds, animals, old cars etc.

Niail was having a Mohawk day!

They had a blast and so did we although I think we were more tired than they were at the end of the day.

Flying chairs

The "Twister"

Kaitlynd on trampoline

A model steam engine named aptly "Maud"

Vintage cars.

My sisters had reservations for “The Everly Brothers Story” at a local theater and we managed to get seats next to them, we all had dinner at a Turkish restaurant before the show (And it was excellent). All in all a very enjoyable evening.

Then it was time to move on again, but with my other Aunt Sheila’s celebration of life coming up in a few weeks we decided not to head for Cornwall just yet but instead to visit some more English Heritage sites in what is called “The Midlands”, which as the name implies are in the middle of England.

History is all around in UK from the town of Greasby near our home town which dates back to 8000 BC thru the Angles and Saxons, Romans, Vikings, William the Conquerer, Tudors, the English Civil Wars. Take your pick.

Next episode will be heavily into all that!

The National Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port.

Step 2 in UK

 All in all a great day out. Thanks Ken and Angie.

Finally it’s time to move on.

Seems like ages since we got here but it’s only 2 weeks! We have been avoiding thinking about heading out. I suppose we are in denial, wanting to go but not wanting to think about where we should go.

My Aunt recently passed away aged 97, and we have been hovering in the wings as my sisters have organized the funeral, started the probate process and moved her belongings out of the care facility she was in. Now we face the funeral which is going to be in couple of weeks. We will have to plan on being back for that and we have made reservations at Arrowe Brook Farm again.

Which means our plans for Cornwall in the far South West of England have had to move back. It’s not a problem as we don’t make plans or reservations except on Holiday weekends.

We came up with a short trip to York, a city in Yorkshire. About 150 miles east (well the way we went it was) it got us into the travel mode again.

Ken had mentioned a campground on the River Ouse south of York that had a water taxi that took you into the city.

We found Poplar Farm Caravan Park about 3 miles south of the city that had a bus stop outside the gate with a bus direct to the center of the city and also a pier from which the boat went also to the city center.

Camped right next to the river.

What could be better? How about it being right on the banks of the river with a nice pub next door? Sounded like heaven to us, and they had vacancies for the weekend!

The Ship Inn next door!

After a couple of hours drive we were checked in and all set up. The bad thing was that the house (Leisure) battery appeared to be dead and that ruled out a “Pub Stop” we had been looking forward to. Without a house battery we couldn’t get lights and some controls to work. A commercial campground like Poplar Farms has electric power hookups and we could happily run on that.

York is an ancient and very picturesque city with Roman ruins, a Minster (Cathedral) dating back to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, lots of Viking history, English Civil War battles. Lots to keep Barbara and I busy.

York Minister

We decided to search for a city pass similar to those we bought in London and Dublin last year we found one.

This would get us into all the major tourist sites, onto the Hop on Hop off buses and even on the boats that went right from the campground. As Senior Citizens we could get a discount so we bought a 2 day pass. It easily paid for itself just on the boat fares and Hop On Hop Off buses for the 2 days. The entrance fees for the York Minster, Yorvik Viking Museum, Clifford Castle and York Castle Museum were a bonus. We heartily recommend getting a city pass if you are exploring York.

The old part of York named "The Shambles"

We walked and walked! Luckily the center of the city is fairly small but our legs were tired for the next 3 days.

Cruising the Ouse past the Campground.

We extended our stay by a day for a couple of reasons. Barbara’s cousin Malcolm lives about 50 miles away and when we contacted him he arranged a meet up of the rest of the local cousins who we haven’t seen in several years.

The city walls of York

I wanted to see the National Railway Museum too and we took the opportunity to walk along the top of the city walls to get there.

The world's first passenger train (Went from Liverpool!)

And also the Bullet Train at the National Railway Museum

After a long walk around the walls and museum we were too tired to walk back, so a taxi did the work and we were soon out in the gorgeous Yorkshire countryside visiting all Barbara’s cousins who had gathered at Malcolm’s cottage.

It was scary to find how long it had been since we saw Brian and Dianne but thankfully we had met Janice and Malcolm fairly recently. Malcolm’s neighbour John came by and we all sat out in perfect weather enjoying each others company and eating Malcolm’s delicious food. We had so much fun we clean forgot to take pictures!

Our next destination was Thirsk which is only about 45 miles to the north of York. We had a reason for the short trip, a destination we both were looking forward to.

Huge campground and so clean.

We found a campground on the North side of the town called Otterington Park, a really spic and span place with huge gravel spaces, a shop/office and huge bathroom buildings. All surrounded by farmland and withing a 10 minute walk of a nice pub called the “Shorthorn” named after the Shorthorn cattle.

The reason for the trip was connected to one of our favourite TV shows on PBS and some of our favourite books from the 70’s and 80’s. I think most people have heard of the series “All creatures great and small”?

World of James Herriot Thirsk

It’s about a veterinary surgeon in a town named Darrowby in Yorkshire and it’s set just before World War 2 in the 1930’s.

In the series the vet’s name is James Herriott and his books became world famous. They describe the country vet’s life in the Yorkshire hills and the hilarious local characters he is involved with.

His real name revealed

Sorry to break the spell but James Herriot was not his real name and Darrowby wasn’t where he lived and worked. The hills, farms and character’s however are all real.

His real name was James Wight and the real town was Thirsk. His real house wasn’t called Skeldale House, in fact I don’t think it has a name, but it’s here in the delightful market town of Thirsk and is now called “The World of James Herriot”.

The real entrance hallway

The real dining room

Seeing the real house seems strange as it’s not very like the TV sets that we are used to. Finding that he had a partner and mentor but who wasn’t named Seigfried and who in turn really did have a brother but not named Tristian made the whole lot come to life.

The TV set hallway

The TV set dining room

Stories from the books and TV shows came tumbling back as we walked around the extremely well presented house where exhibits showed their actual lives and the parallel TV show including the sets in which it was filmed.

Just to complete the experience we went to the pub for lunch and true to form it wasn’t called the Drover’s Arms! We went to the Mowbray Arms in the old Market Square and had a very tasty meal (And a couple of excellent pints of Theakston’s Best Bitter).

Mowbray Arms

Pub interior

I don’t think we’ve enjoyed a day out as much in a long time.

I got a few of my favorite things fitted in also. We stopped at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington where there were lots of airoplanes to see. The one I particularly wanted to see was a Halifax bomber from WW2. Most enthusiasts know about the famous Lancaster bomber but the Halifax was the other heavy bomber that shared to load. The one here is assembled form a collection of parts, it’s the only complete one in the world and is painted to represent an aircraft named “Friday the 13^th”. All the symbols represent bad luck but the aircraft actually survived 128 missions only to be scrapped at the end of the war.

Halifax Bomber Friday the 13th

We also stopped at a place called Sutton Bank and for an early birthday present I got to fly a two seat glider.

Putting on the parachute

Instructor running thru the emergency proceedures.

The instructor did the take off behind the tow plane and the landing but I flew the rest of the 1/2hr flight and really enjoyed doing so. Thanks Barbara!

Finally we drove back to our old favourite Arrowe Brook Farm.

Starting out for 2023

 By the time we were due to leave the cold, of course, had eased. The trip back was uneventful and we were soon back in Sundance working on our next adventure.

Stay tuned for that !

The next adventure is the same as our last one! We had so much fun touring Ireland and the UK last year that instead of selling the RV we bought there we stored it near my sisters (and Barbara’s brother and sister)’s houses.

Waiting patiently in storage

Now we have to get back, get it safety Inspected, which is an annual requirement, serviced, restocked and ready for the summer.

T Mobile has been great for this, we have made multiple calls across the Atlantic and they have all been done under their $15 a month overseas calling plan.

Being dedicated procrastinators we now had a ton of things to do and very little time to do it in!

Before we could blink it was time to go and we hurriedly got things packed, had lots of fun with everyone over for a happy hour, and did those things required to keep the house ready for our return.

Ed ran us to the airport and we checked in for our flight to London. Then we discovered the flight was delayed by an hour for maintenance but we had plenty of time when we got to London before our next flight to Manchester in the North of England.

Beer at the 3 Magpies

A pot of tea for Barbara

Almost too much time as some idiot (Me) forgot to check the layover times and we ended up with a 9 hour wait!

Fear not! We have experience around London’s Heathrow airport and our bags were checked thru to Manchester so we took a cab to a pub called “The 3 Magpies” where we ate and drank and generally enjoyed the time spent there instead of hanging around the terminal.

The flight to Manchester was also delayed 1/2hr and we finally got to the hotel we’d booked near the airport around midnight!

Sleep was no problem!

After a very nice (Free) English breakfast at the hotel our daughter Sally picked us up and drove us to my sister Jaqueline’s house which she kindly let us use as our base for getting the motor home ready.

The motor home had sat out in the open at a storage place nearby since last September. We had hopes it would start but both the chassis and house batteries (Vehicle and Leisure Batteries for our UK friends) were dead.

Rental Car a Renault Clio Diesel

First task was to remove the chassis battery. On the way back to “Base” we bought a battery charger and after 48 hrs the battery was fully charged and it started first try.

Next big hurdle was the annual safety inspection. Called an MOT (Ministry of Transport) test in UK it is very detailed and they put the vehicle on a rolling road which tests the efficiency of each brake including the parking (hand) brake.

We failed!

Luckily it was on some fairly minor things like headlight alignment, windshield washer and wiper efficiency, The bigger one was that the braking force of the 2 rear wheels was not balanced. They took the rear drums off and adjusted them to the required settings.

Then we were able to get road tax for the next 6 months which made us street legal and ready to go. We still had a couple of weeks left on last years insurance.

Street legal and parked outside my sisters house

Then we were off to one of our favorite places from last year Arrowe Brook Farm. A very quiet and friendly little campground, close to my sisters and Barbara’s brother plus our old friends from our teenage years.

Beautiful day at Arrowe Brook Farm

All those mundane little tasks like renting a car for a few weeks, charging the house battery, sterilizing the water system, inflating the van tires, shopping, going out for dinner and visiting the local pub made the first week just fly by.

Patriotic crochet top for a local mail box

All dressed up for the Coronation

Another Mail Box decoration.

A little thing called the Coronation of King Charles 3rd came up and we had "High Tea" at a big house called Inglewood Manor (Now a hotel) with both my sisters, our daughter Sally and the grandkids Niail and Kaitlynd while watching the replay of the ceremony and parade.

The family (L to R) Kaitlynd, Sally, Beryl, Barbara and Jacky

My other sister Beryl with Barbara and Niail

Fancy cakes and sandwiches for "Tea"

Plenty to go around

Champagne to wash it down!

Niail getting to try everything

Lawns and gardens

Inglewood Manor, very "Posh"

At last were back in the van and blessed with a beautiful sunny day to enjoy. I for one slept really well not waking up until 9am. We shopped and filled the cupboards and the tiny fridge with food and drink

Niail in blue, star defender.

Our great friends Ken and Angie called and invited us to a local event “The Secret Gardens of Oxton”.

All for local charities

Oxton is a small area of the town we grew up in, everyone calls it Oxton Village, and it was a small village until the town grew up around it.

One of the huge houses at the top of the ridge, one side faces Wales the other Liverpool.

The village is at the top of a red sandstone ridge that runs along the Wirral Peninsular. From the very top you can look south across the River Dee to the hills of Wales. Look North and the city of Liverpool stands out across the River Mersey.

The wealthy ship owners of Liverpool in the 1800’s discovered the quiet Wirral Peninsular and found that from the top of the ridge they could see their ships entering the harbor and also their shipping offices in Liverpool. By systems of flags they could receive messages from the ships and the offices.

Soon the top of the ridge was filled with grand houses.

A garden hidden away behind high walls

The Secret Gardens tour is a charity event where certain home owners allow the public to see what the gardens of the grand houses are like behind the high sandstone walls that typically surround them.

In some little narrow streets the cottages of the original village still stand hidden away and it was a delight to find them tucked away.

The cottages tucked down an small road

The original part of the village.

We lived in the village for a few years before we emigrated to the US and thought we knew it, but the tour revealed places we never knew of.

All in all a great day out. Thanks Ken and Angie.

Last stop for the day, the local pub.