Ibis Coventry Centre

With time rapidly dwindling I went down to Banbury way this afternoon to visit my brother et famille before I leave, taking the opportunity to say goobye to two young nephews - one of whom was able to appreciate some of the implications of what I am doing, "But what if you get sick?" he asked. :-)

Back up to Stoke in the late evening. Last day of preparations tomorrow.

Oh what a day..... it started crazy and ended crazy!! but then what else would you expect? Both of our parents stayed over last night, and so were around to help us - thank god! Spent the morning running round like headless chickens trying to make sure everything was sorted for tomorrow. Making sure every little detail was sorted and ready to go over to warwick. At about 12pm we were still making order of services, and having to change table plans and place names (people are ...

The furious countdown begins! Unlike those blasting off into space I have neither the 'hold countdown' or 'postpone' options. It's a 'go' or 'abort' only situation since the plane won't wait. Abort is only in reserve for real tragedy situations so the relentless ticking of the clock is already in risk of mesmerising me into soporific inaction! I DON'T KNOW WHY, but if you ask nicely I could spend some time giving you an answer!

... stop is in a garden pub in Stratton on Dunmore. The name of the pub is 'Shoulder of Mutton', again for me it is a funny name. Jim offered me a glass of Cornish ale, Tribute. John, who is from Cornwall, mentioned that he drinks Cornish ale. He is so proud of the city he comes from. He is a joker. I enjoyed listening to his funny stories, especially when he told the story of Lady Go diva who has to do what she promised. Riding the horse naked! On one condition, no ...

... live and work. It overlooks the plains where the Civil War was fought and was built after the war in 1750. It had a lovely lounge in which we had a drink and then drove back and did our packing.







We walked around to the local for a drink by the fire and then ordered Thai food.

... church of St. Lawrence. We then crossed little streams and did a huge uphill walk in deep mud tracks. At the top of the hill we followed the road back to Chipping Campden for the next 2-3/4 miles. The wind howled at times and was freezing. We passed fields of black sheep and then ...

Brad called & woke me up at 6.30 am... looked outside and there was snow on the cars and rooves.... so pretty. Today was 3 degrees but minus 3 with the wind chill. Stephen and Michele had things to do today so we were entertaining ourselves. We had a lazy start and Nathan did some homework. It was freezing out today and so cold that Nathan just wanted ...

... br>





We had thought to bring spare shoes with us to change into but hadn’t thought about spare jeans. Nathan had mud up the inside of his legs past his knees and so we made him strip down to his undies to get into the car. My jeans were wet and muddy, at least the bottom 8 ...

... and river and beautiful country on the other. It was started in 1068 by William the Conqueror. It was owned until 1978 by the Earls of Warwick and then bought the Tussaud Group. We walked over the drawbridge and explored first in the towers of the Gatehouse and Barbican. They had 2 port cullis to lower to keep people out and if they trapped people ...

... and ducks and beautiful big old trees and willows, past the Shakespeare Theatre up to the locks and then into town past lovely stores, pubs, Shakespeare's birthplace and lovely Tudor buildings .










We stopped at the Crabtree & Evelyn Tearoom for a hot drink. Tried a warm apple juice with cinnamon – bit ...