Monday September 2, 2019 – Chateau to Paris, Ebbsfleet and Wokingham.
The O’Neill’s drove to Tours, dropped the car, caught the train to Paris and the ‘plane to Toronto. Diana, Nelson, Anne & Roger drove to Paris (the car was packed to the gills with little breathing room) where we handed in the rental car at the Gare du Nord, boarded the Eurostar and got off in Ebbsfleet. Anne and Roger were on the earlier train by 1 hour so got the nice Jaguar SUV rental from Enterprise (a much more pleasant experience than Europecar to the point we decided to wherever possible, not return to Europecar again) and back to pick up the Cliffords to enjoy the 1 1/2 hour drive to Wokingham and a fun dinner at ZiZi’s with Alex, Courtney and Peter.
Tuesday September 3, 2019 – Cliffords to the Lake District, Coopers to Stowe & Aston Clinton.
The Cliffords took the train early into London and then up to the Lake District to visit the Slaters. We decided we would visit Highgrove Gardens (HRH Prince Charles Residence), but in chatting with Judy, she mentioned that one needed reservations and having contacted them, none was available for that day. So after a visit to see Peter, we decided to go to Stowe to visit the school and end up in Aston Clinton at The Bell Pub for dinner.
We had been meaning to visit Stowe many times and it was great to finally make it. A spectacular place and it was fortuitous that it was the day when all the New Boys were starting school so all the doors were open and we had a free access to all areas. One such area marked as a library, we wandered in, found a gentleman who we assumed was a librarian and ended up that we barged into the Headmaster’s office. He was charming and we ended up apologizing for the intrusion which resulted in a 45 minute chat about Stowe then (when I was there in 1963) and now! A big change. Very kind of the HM to take the time to chat with us. We were also fortuitous to have a tour of the Theatre where I got my start in the business I am involved with today.
By 5 pm we left and made our way to The Bell at Aston Clinton which going back to the 1960’s and even some 20+ years later, was a very elegant dining experience with a very fine and extensive wine cellar. I was a bit disappointed as it is now a regular gastro-pub slightly higher quality than many, but not the elegant dining I had expected.
Wednesday September 4, 2019 – Cliffords in Lake District, Coopers to visit Barty’s in Chislehurst.
We set off from Wokingham to Chiselhurst for a nice lunch and get together with Trixie and Sue Barty. That evening we had arranged to have dinner with Suzanne & Neil at the Giggling Squid in Wokingham. The Clifford’s were in the Lake District visiting her friend – Diana Slater and family.
Thursday September 5, 2019 – Judy for Lunch & West Green Garden, Cliffords for dinner at Rossini.
Thursday was another fun family day. We had arranged to have lunch with Judy at our usual Mill Restaurant, which is always fun and equidistant from our homes. After lunch Judy had scouted out a National Trust related garden nearby – West Green. We had a terrific time seeing the various parts of the garden for an hour and a half. We parted ways and returned to our respective homes. By the time we were back in Wokingham, the Cliffords were back from Windermere so we wandered into town to have a nice dinner at Rossini’s.
Roger & Anne Travels 