The white cliffs of Dover
As we approached Dover we could see the white cliffs ahead. Land ahoy! Driving off into the UK was an interesting exercise, driving a left hand van on the left hand side took a little getting used to, particularly around roundabouts and bends. We often repeat the phrase “left is best” to ensure we do not drive into oncoming traffic. It was nice to see that we weren’t the only people struggling – there are lots of mainlanders driving erratically around the Dover area!
Our first stop in the UK was a campsite in a town just next to Dover called Kingsdown, while we were parked on quite a slope (felt like 45 degrees) it was certainly worth it for the view. We opened the double doors at the back of our van as it was getting dark and from our bed we had views across the English Channel, the twinkling lights of Calais reminding us from where we had just crossed. We took a stroll along the beach, where the weather was still and sunny. Annie adorably got excited about the stones on the beach in particular the flint, picking up and examining pieces of flint as we walked along. Something about Clan of the Cavebear.
The first order of business in Dover was taking our van to a mechanic for some much needed love. Having held off on taking Fran the van to a mechanic somewhere language would be a barrier, we found a place with good reviews in Dover who gave Fran new break pads and disks and made her headlights ‘uk compliant’ in a day. While the mechanic tinkered with the van we visited Dover. First stop was to a cafe, where we had a full and ridiculously oversized English breakfast, the plate was bigger than our heads! Then we walked into town and visited the Roman painted house, an archeological site of a Roman building built in 200 AD that was then covered by a building in the 1970s. The exhibitions themselves hadn’t changed since the 1970s but overall the information was fascinating as was seeing such an old roman building in such great condition. Underfloor heating in 200 AD… there are Canberrans who would kill for such things.
On from the Painted House we went to the Dover museum, we asked at reception about a free walking tour and within minutes a man called David had been summoned to give us a free, private tour. David showed us around Dover telling us of the history and pointing our buildings of interest. He even picked up the keys to Englands smallest chapel, these large keys arrived in a cloth bag and we were able to open up the large wooden door to St Edmonds Chapel built along with the Priory in 1130 for the Augustinian monks. After a great overview of Dover we went and picked up the van and onto my old haunts of Eastbourne/Seaford we traveled without squeaking breaks!
Old School
On our way to Seaford we popped up to Beachy Head for a walk along the cliff, which was a lovely walk and blast from the past. A few years ago I heard news on Facebook that my old boarding school had closed down, the land sold to developers and the grounds due to be turned into a housing estate. Having spent many years at this school I really wanted to see it one more time, but my expectations were that building work would have already begun. You can imagine my surprise when we turned up outside the grounds to see the school exactly as I remember! After much debating about the clear ‘no entry, no trespassing, dogs on duty’ sign we decide to chance it and walked up the long drive way up to the headmasters old house and knocked on the door. As we did, we saw a car coming up the driveway and with spectacularly good timing got chatting to the caretaker Matt, his brother and friend. Matt was so gracious and took us on a tour around the school, through the buildings that I remembered so vividly. Matt had been involved with emptying the school of its bits and pieces and through this process I could tell he had grown quite an attachment to the school and its long history. Both he and Annie listened to stories from my time at the school, my memories flooding back as we walked through different sections of the old building. Memories such as where I had my first kiss, where my bunk bed had been, the phone box I used to call home from. So many memories of my childhood and many other childhoods, its so hard to imagine the school will never serve as it did since 1854 when it was founded.
Annie and I had intended on going to a campsite that evening, but as we explored my old school we realised we would have to cut my walk down memory lane short if we were to make it to the campsite before the reception closed at 5pm. So we asked if we could park the van up on the school grounds for the night, Matt warmly said yes and told us we could stay as long as we wanted. So we drove the van to outside my old music room! A very strange experience indeed, perhaps I would be the last pupil of the school to sleep on the grounds? Whatever the case it felt like such a privilege to be there and explore these memories once again. Aside from it being slightly creepy, 1800’s abandoned school and the fact that to keep trespassers away a radio was playing softly all day and night – sounding like people/ghosts were talking inside the building. While staying there Annie and I got to see the couple of resident foxes chase prey across the back field. One fox approached the van closely and even pooped right in front of us, sending us off into giggles and scaring it away.
So that we could shower we on impulse popped into the near by leisure centre to try to beg a shower- turns out this is normally 2 pounds per person, but the lovely girl on the front desk let us come in and shower for free. We would keep this handy service in mind when traveling around the UK!
Brighton
We used my school as a base and the next day we explored Brighton. We traveled by bus, just like I used to when in school. We went down to the Lanes, took a stroll around Palace Pier and as we were walking around we noticed many Trans rights flags and people dressed in their finest pride gear. We followed a stream of people and found ourselves in amongst a large group of people getting ready to take part in a Trans Pride parade. Annie and I watched the festivities and even joined in for part of the parade. After reading the plaques held by the people at the parade and some back reading, it was apparent that there is a terrible amount of transphobia within some areas of the LGBTQ+ community and radical feminist groups. Annie and I have in the past witnessed transphobia within our own lesbian community, which we found absolutely abhorrent, so it was nice to be there to show support. A sit on the pebble beach ended our wonderful day in Brighton, a real British seaside holiday vibe packed with people and bus ride back to Seaford for another night staying on the school grounds.
Visiting the family in Bournemouth
A quick drive from Seaford to Bournemouth saw us staying in my auntie Vanessa’s home. Wonderful sunny weather made for a lovely long walk down to the beach where we enjoyed catching up on stories over a beer, and marvelling at the tiny beach shacks which you aren’t even allowed to sleep in, yet sell for over $250,000.
After weeks without rain and a record hot summer the landscape resembled what we usually see in Australia. Apparently this is the hottest summer since the infamous one of 1976 – a fact which was repeated to us over and over again, with the Brits alternating between being happy it was so hot and complaining that really enough is enough and we want it cold again, thanks. One morning I went to go out into the garden and had the shock of my life when I came across a snake slithering towards the kitchen. Just a grass snake as it turned out, but never ever would I expect to see a snake in the house in the UK!! After much shrieking and door slamming we succeeded in encouraging the snake back out of the laundry and into the wilds again.
The next day we went back to the beach, Annie and I tried our first cockles… which we didn’t really enjoy. Sandy, gritty and tiny – we’d much prefer Wapengo oysters, thanks! and had a lovely afternoon tea of scones and clotted cream after another long walk along the seashore.
That evening we had a wonderful dinner at a pub with all of my aunties and uncles. So lovely to catch up with family after all these years, I do miss seeing my family but such is life when you live so far away.
Historical places!
Highclere Castle
Annie is very fond of the TV show Downton Abbey so it was on the to see list to it in real life, so the first stop after the family visit was Highclere Castle – being the filming location of Downton on the show. Annie said that it looked just like the TV show and boards showing scenes from the show certainly looked the same, right down to the ornaments used. The film crews seemingly just roll up to the historical old manor and start filming – all the paintings, furniture, and furnishings are legitimate and owned by the aristocratic family that still live in the manor. The only thing that didn’t look the same was the colour of the grass, now a hue of yellow when usually rolling green fields. Shame we couldn’t take any photos inside, but you will have to take our word on the TV likeness. I loved seeing how excited Annie was about being there and I enjoyed looking around too.
Avebury
On from the castle we drove to a place called Chilton Foliat for a free pub stay at the Wheatsheaf who did the most delicious goats cheese pizza, and were very into recycling and being planet friendly which we appreciated. Next stop was Avebury to visit the standing stones there, and when we arrived we decided to join the National Trust. They do such great work preserving historical sites and with free access to all National Trust museums and houses including parking and our desire to visit many of these places along our trip it made sense to join. We then went on to visit the rocks, which Annie got up close and personal with but did not vanish back in time, and the Avebury house where you got to fully interact with all display items – yes I did put on a period appropriate costume ha ha. Lunch was at the originally named Red Lion pub, licenced in 1802, this particular Red Lion is famous for being the only pub in the world located inside a stone circle. It also states that it is the most haunted pub in Britain! Sadly we did not see or hear any of said ghosts. Finally in Avebury we visited the West Kennet Long Barrow, a Neolithic burial place of 36 people from around 3,650 BC. As we approached the burrow we heard chanting, at first we thought it was a recording to enhance the overall creepy feeling of the place, but once we got it we found a group of people were standing inside the burrow in a circle chanting and singing together! When they finished there was much hugging and talks of how powerful the moment was. Annie and I were delighted, a bus load of French people who may or may not have been part of some sort of cult. What a moment in time!
Bath
Even though I lived only an hour away from Bath when I lived in Swindon all those years ago I never took the time to visit Bath all this time I have felt that I had missed out on something great. So it was wonderful to have the opportunity to right a wrong and visit this marvellous town. We stayed at a campsite conveniently on a park and ride route which saw us into the centre of Bath in less the 15 minutes. The city of Bath has won awards for their free walking tours and we can testify that this is with good reason. The 2+ hours of the tour took us on a comprehensive tour of Baths history, architecture and abundant charm. Part of the tour was pointing out the less glamorous aspects of Bath’s history, which was wonderful. We had a sit down in Sydney Gardens and explored one of the many free museums to escape the midday heat, before our grand tour of the Roman Baths or Aquae Sulis as it was once known. If you ever choose to go, do what we did and get there around 5.30pm. The place was almost empty which enhanced our experience greatly. We had our audio guides and then for the second half of our visit we had a wonderful included tour. It’s amazing to learn that the lining of the baths are in their original state and work as well now as they did when they were built in 70AD. At the end of the Baths you could taste the Bath water that they once drank, so I tasted a bit. Metallic warm water was not to my taste but I enjoyed trying it all the same! What a wonderful day out in Bath it was, I would 100% recommend visiting this lovely place to everyone.
Dyrham Park and Lacock
One of the best things about the UK is that you can drive 20 minutes up the road and find another awesome historical place to explore, this was true when we visited Dyrham park just a short drive from Bath. We had seen the Park listed on our brand new National Trust membership book, which was to be our guiding star of much of our wanderings across the UK, and decided on impulse to exercise our new membership and go take a look. The place is enormous, with sweeping grounds and a huge old house. Walking down the drive we spotted their lovely fallow deer hiding in the shade and then made our way up to the manor house, spotting someone’s creative outlet in a hedge that had been sculpted into a face. We learnt about the Blathwayt family who owned the property long before the National Trust took it over. While in the grounds we listened to a volunteer talk about the fountain between the two ponds. Ordinarily you can’t see where the fountain once stood, but due to the dry weather the outline of the foundations of this fountain are clearly burnt onto the grass. While the dry weather has its downfalls, it was wonderful to get to see a part of history present itself from under the soil, how special! There were families everywhere enjoying the sun with kids scampering about the grounds, it is so fabulous that this place is open to the public to enjoy.
After Dyrham Park we went to a village that is also managed by the National Trust, with the funny name of Lacock (pronounced laycock). We quickly visited the Abbey getting in just before it closed, once again winning the game of visiting places when no one else is around. Lacock and its Abbey are famous for their many TV appearances and have been a filming location for Poldark, Harry Potter, Downton Abbey and a whole host of others. We wandered about the town, Annie getting excited every time we found a place she’d seen on Downton Abbey, and had a beer at another originally named Red Lion pub before making our way to another pub for an overnight stay.
Cirencester
I went to college in Cirencester and loved its quaint Cotswold appeal back then so wanted to share it with Annie, and it ended up being even better then I remember. We walked around in Cirencester Park, chatting to a very very posh lady about her dogs, one was named Daaaaarling Betty. In a cafe we got talking to a lovely couple who after sussing us out told us about a secret car park that we then used so we could spend more of our day there, for free! We visited the wonderful Church, and it just so happened that it was one of the few days where they open up their tower for visitors. So we climbed the many, many stairs up into the bell tower where we got to learn all about bell ringing and I even got to ring one of the tenor church bells! The bell ringers sounded like a secret society and it was like seeing behind the veil. Then we continued up to the top where the patron of the Church was standing on the roof, making sure no one fell off. Annie pointed out a very large mansion, saying “Wow that’s ridiculous, no one needs that much house!” The very posh patron overheard and replied *insert very posh accent here* “Ohhh actually I was having a pipe with the owner just before I came here, honestly when you are in the house it feels quite small, when I stay in a wing of the house you wouldn’t even know its large, the rooms are aren’t really that large”. Oh to be that rich, that an enormous mansion doesn’t feel that big. We laughed and told him that we live in our car, which also doesn’t feel that big. After making it to the bottom of the stairs and combatting a serious case of the woozies that I often have with stairs we went to a cute little tea shop and had the most lovely scones and tea with clotted cream.
Chedworth Roman Villa
Another National Trust gem, one that we found by simply seeing a road sign while on our way to another town and on impulse decided to follow it along the very narrow and windy country lanes. We got here about an hour before closing and it was almost empty so we got to look through everything super quickly. There were some absolutely unimaginably beautiful and well preserved roman mosaics, that put the baths in Bath to shame. The ruins of the old bath areas were almost as they were in roman times. This year they are undertaking a big dig uncovering the mosaics along the North Range corridor, these will then be cleaned and scanned to produce a digital record to aid conservation. Memo to self to check back in on the results of the dig in the future!
Stratford-upon-Avon
Thankfully Stratford-upon-Avon has provided camper van travelers with somewhere official to park! Hurray! Right next to the leisure centre, we went in here in the evening and again they let us shower for free. We have discovered the key seems to be turning up when no one else is using the gym – apparently Friday night is a good bet.
We booked ourselves in for a walking tour, while this one wasn’t free like many of the others for 5 pounds each it was well and truly worth it. We visited Shakespeare’s birthplace, his grave and many other key buildings of significance. The best part of the tour were the little nuggets of facts and trivia we learnt. Did you know that the barbers red and white pole represents blood and bandages, because they used to double as surgeons!? After our lovely walking tour we sat in the Avonbank Gardens and watched a performance of Two Noble Kinsmen, though we had to leave a bit early as we had made a reservation for a very popular, traditional and most delicious Sunday carvery at the Old Thatch Tavern (and yes the roof was thatched!). Roast beef, lamb and pork with all the trimmings including Yorkshire puds, I have to say I didn’t realise how much I missed an English Sunday roast!
2 ladies travel 