The Travels begin

After hiring a car in Hampshire I set off for Fernhurst in Sussex, mostly to meet up with a local History Society. I am trying to find the lives of 3 families who lived there from 1909 to around 1947.
It was a very successful trip where I stayed for four days in a local B & B.     




B & B -  Fernhurst Sussex

During the four days I was there I visited the Nymans Garden near Haywards Heath, West Sussex. Established in the late 19th century, this garden has some fascinating rare plants. A beautiful garden but my visit was a little too early in Spring (and it rained!). 





I also went back to the West Dean Gardens near Chichester.



I had visited here in 2007 and I was happy to go back for another look. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera with me but was delighted to see the meadow in the orchard planted with flowering primroses, cowslips, daisies and best of all, fritillaria meleagris, sometimes known as The Meadow Fritillary. 



Blue Azalea - Nymans Garden



                



Bluebells at Winkworth Arboretum



                

I managed to drive to most of these places without difficulty as I have now managed to conquer my fear of the dreaded 'Sat Nav' and it has been an immense blessing but I shall always remember my visit to Wentworth Arboretum for two reasons, one it didn't rain and two, my actual approach to the destination was down a disgracefully dark, narrow and very muddy cart track. I don't believe for a moment that it was the proper established route!

The arboretum was delightful, well worth the effort and as the leaflet states "Far more than just a walk in the woods"

The 46 hectares was bought by a Dr Wilfred Fox in 1937 and he experimented with planting styles and different tree species. The result is a glorious display of colour, especially in Autumn. I had just missed the spectacular display of bluebells but managed to find some small 'pockets'.

Many of the paths were quite steep and narrow - so the walk round was a slow process but provided plenty of time to take in the spectacular Surrey landscape. A glorious sunny day, but still early Spring.

 I moved on from Sussex (and Surrey) back to Hampshire and a destination I had looked   forward to for so long. Drove in the pouring rain all the way to Lyndhurst, the centre for information about the New Forest and decided to stay at a small hotel in Brockenhurst, a village about 10 miles away.



The Watersplash - Brockenhurst



They have a permanent ford there which is known as The Watersplash. The locals drive through shallow water on a regular basis but after so much rain and flooding this had become a bit too much! It doesn't show it too well in this photo but the water was gushing across the road and into a large and very full ditch.

I am glad I chose a hotel for this stay as it rained on and off for all of the five days I was there, sometimes very cold heavy showers.

There are millions of walks to choose from -both heath and forest and I managed to find a track or two every day, but got soaked and very cold every time.



Heath walk with large puddles. New Forest.





New Forest from road





        



      



I did enjoy the stay and would love to go back in Summer (and some fine sunny weather). A very special place with some lovely old villages and the usual windy narrow streets. There were a lot of New Forest ponies, some cattle and in one village I saw a delightful herd of small wet donkeys. All these animals (and the wildlife) have right of way on any track or road and they are kept out of the larger towns by huge cattle grids. 

On the last day, determined not to get wet again, I walked right round and through Brockenhurst and came across a village hall holding a needlework show! Very different to the ones I go to in Oz but great fun.

Next stop was Hay on Wye on the border between Wales and England not far from Hereford. This was only going to be a quick stopover but proved to be quite an expensive one!

Hay on Wye, or 'The Hay' as the locals call it, is famous for the secondhand book shops. Over 30 of them in a small town with most of the buildings perched on a steep hillside, with cobbled roads in some places.

Believe it or not it rained so it was a bit of a struggle with wet raincoats and brollies in these tiny shops. Many of them so old the roof or ceiling was leaking to add to the occasion! I don't think I need tell anyone just how many books I found, only that they will have to go home separately!

Because of the weather I indulged in a hotel again. Many of the smaller hotels are a similar price to some of the B & B's and at least you can get a hot evening meal not to mention the odd glass of red!

The manager of this one had a distinct Kiwi accent and I discovered that he was actually born in Melbourne, nor was I the only Aussie guest! 

Moving on again, this time the Sat Nav was set for Wrexsam, still in Wales and again close to the border.

This was a lovely journey as the scenery was definitely Welsh hillside and goodness, are they steep - I'm surprised the sheep can keep their balance!

Turned the sat nav off once I got there which was a mistake as I got quite lost and went around in circles for sometime, trying to find suitable accommodation. It is not just the nuisance of not finding ones way in strange towns, it is the huge cost of fuel (1.49 pounds per litre). At these prices you just don't want to waste a drop!

Anyway two nights here and on the Thursday (my birthday) drove to Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay.



Entrance to Bodnant Garden



I visited this garden with my cousin Margaret in 1991 and it was a delight and extra special to go back and see it again, and some of the changes.

She would have loved it.

It was a beautiful garden then, and it still is. The following are only a few of the many photos I took. For once a cool but sunny day.





Azaleas at Bodnant



                                



Bluebells at Bodnant






The Dell. Bodnant

 

                                     

                       

Once again the sat nav took me safely there and

back, - but so far to my surprise it has never been

able to return me home from any destination by the same route.

This time was no different and instead of returning via the main duel carriage A road it found a 'rural route' which was much more fun to explore.

One of these days I will stop holding my breath when I have to cope with on coming traffic.               

                 

         



The following day it was time to rejoin some family members in Lancashire, and start delving into my heritage. Both my parents and their ancestors came from here and I hope to be able to find where they lived in the 19th century.

On the way there I stopped to revisit one of my favourite historic houses in Wales - 'Erddig' near Wrexsam.

This Welsh name is pronounced 'Erthig'         

Erddig.  Wales

I hope everyone (all 4 of you!) has enjoyed my ramblings. I will not go into detail just how long it has taken me to get some of these photos under control (why do they keep moving around and in some cases disappearing altogether?) and to complete this section of the blog, but I would appreciate a comment or two.

More, with luck, in a few days time.